Lady Cultivator

Initially, Mo Tiange didn’t plan on revealing her identity. She thought using secular world money and treasures to encourage the fishermen in the area to help her collect dragon bones would be good enough. Unexpectedly, this madam was quite astute and recognized her identity as a cultivator.

However, since the fishermen here were so reverent towards cultivators, this made the matter easier to handle. The reverence they held along with the promise of profits would make them work with all their hearts.

Upon seeing the gold beads, the madam’s eyes were immediately fixated on them unblinkingly. Considering how impoverished their life was, they only had access to a few fragments of silver at most, and that was already considered great wealth for them. As for gold and so on, they would only be able to set their eyes upon them when they went to the neighboring city.

Mo Tiange uttered a soft cough then said, “Madam, if you can bring all the bones to me, all of these gold beads will be yours.” This bag of gold beads was a present given to her by Ye Clan when she left the house. Wandering the secular world would be more convenient for her if she had some money and treasures, so Mo Tiange bluntly accepted it. At the moment, it was just enough to make these mortals work for her.

The madam regained her train of thought but for a moment, she was at a loss over how she should respond. On one hand, she was ecstatic, but on the other hand, she was also nervous. “Fairy, are you for real?” Right after she said that, she suddenly slapped her own mouth. “What Fairy said was naturally true; I was too nosy. But Fairy, what bones are you talking about? Where are they?”

Mo Tiange smiled at Xiaobao. “Xiaobao, you know where to find them, right?”

Xiaobao nodded at once. “En. Sister Fairy means that mountain.” After he said that, his eyes widened with curiosity. “Sister Fairy, is this a bone? Why’s it different from the bones father told me about?”

Mo Tiange smiled but she didn’t answer Xiaobao’s question. From her robe, she took out a pouch, gave it to him, and said softly, “Xiaobao, take your mother to that mountain to collect the bones, and these fruits will be yours to eat, okay?”

They were her leftover Bubble Fruits. They were very sweet and were perfect for tempting children.

Xiaobao took the Bubble Fruits. Sure enough, he seemed very happy after he took a bite. “It’s really delicious!”

After seeing how happy he was, Mo Tiange directly turned towards the madam and said, “Xiaobao knows where they are; you should follow him. The earlier you can collect them, the better. It’d be best for you to call a few more people because some of the bones are very big—you don’t need to worry that including others will lessen your profits because your family won’t be able to collect all of them. I’ll reward you more later.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” How could the madam possibly dare to object? She hastily pulled her son’s hand then shouted loudly, “An’an, no need to cook! Go and call your father home!” She then turned towards Mo Tiange and said with a smile, “Fairy, please wait here; we’ll go immediately.”

Mo Tiange nodded with a smile then proceeded to watch as the family began busying themselves.

Before long, the male master of the family returned after he was called home by the little girl. Once he heard the matter described by his wife, he hurriedly came over and kowtowed to Mo Tiange. Mo Tiange then allowed the little girl to accompany her for a chat and sent the couple to collect the dragon bones for her.

Now that the girl knew Mo Tiange was a cultivator, her attitude became reverent. She stood on guard reverently on the side and answered every one of Mo Tiange’s questions.

This was a small fishing village on the coast of the Eastern Sea. Aside from several other fishing villages, there was only one large town called Linhai Town in the vicinity. At the back of Linhai City was precisely the cultivation group known as Bixuan Court. The region was too remote, so it wasn’t even part of any country. Because of that, Bixuan Court held the greatest power here.

This girl was still very young, so she didn’t know much about the world. Nonetheless, after Mo Tiange did some mental calculations, she roughly understood her current location.

Kunwu Mountain Range extended all across the southern part of the Celestial Pole to the southeast. At the end of it was the Demonic Mountain, which kept the Devil Path region in the northeast. Therefore, the southern part of the Eastern Sea was the domain of Tiandao Sect, while the northern part of it belonged to the Devil Path region. According to Mo Tiange’s conjectures, her current location was most likely close to the sea in the northern region. In other words, the Devil Path region was probably to her west.

Mo Tiange was rather vexed upon reaching this conclusion. This place was likely the Demonic Mountain’s sea which was close to the Devil Path region, so her situation was really precarious. If she accidentally ran into devil cultivators, she’d definitely be in a lot of trouble. Apparently, the best way to leave this place was to look for Bixuan Court. Since Bixuan Court was situated here, it must have a safe way to get in touch with the outside world.

Of course, the most important thing for her now was still collecting the dragon bones. Dragon bones from several million years ago… Although she still didn’t know what they could be used for, the divine dragon’s breath they possessed was real—they would definitely come in handy someday.

However, there were too many dragon bones. When the underground palace collapsed, there must’ve been a lot that got swept away by the water. Mo Tiange felt a bit regretful about this. After all, if she could collect all of them, she would have a much easier time studying them. Right now, she could only collect as many as she could find.

From the little girl, Mo Tiange found out this family was surnamed Shui. The father’s name was Shui San, and the mother was known simply as “Shui San’s Wife”. The little girl herself didn’t have any name. She was the only daughter in their family, so ever since she was born, the adults had been calling her “An’an” which meant daughter, and the others also called her “Shui Family’s An’an.”

What kind of name was “An’an”? There were several dozen families here, and most of their daughters were just called An’an right after they were born. It was only when they got married that they turned into “Someone’s Wife.” When they got a bit older, they would be called “Aunt” until eventually, they became “Someone’s Family’s Grandmother.” From when they were born until they died, most girls there didn’t have any name.

When she saw the hidden envy in the little girl’s gaze, Mo Tiange felt a bit regretful. These two siblings were very smart. Although An’an was still very young, she was very sensible and understood she must be vigilant against strangers. Xiaobao was even smarter. It was already a feat for a child of four or five years old to speak so fluently, let alone when, judging by his family’s financial situation, he likely had no one teaching him.

Mo Tiange truthfully praised them, causing An’an to instantly puff out her small chest with pride. “Xiaobao already started to talk right after he turned one. Everyone in our village said Xiaobao was a celestial star that descended to the world. Father even said that when Xiaobao gets a bit older, he’ll send him to the town to study. Later, he can find a job in town, so he can become a town person.”

“Oh?” Mo Tiange asked with a smile, “Why doesn’t your father tell him to take the imperial examination? That way he can become an official, right?”

An’an shook her head. “Father said… we can’t go anywhere our whole lives. There are monsters living in the west; if we go there, we’ll get eaten by them.”

What she said made Mo Tiange secretly wrinkle her eyebrows. As she expected, the monsters the little girl mentioned were probably people from the Devil Path region.

An’an continued on: “It’s a pity that I wasn’t chosen by Bixuan Court. It’d be great if I could enter Bixuan Court…”

Mo Tiange was surprised. She asked, “How does Bixuan Court choose its disciples?”

An’an answered, “All the girls living in the vicinity of Linhai Town go to Bixuan Court when they turn eight years old to have… have their spiritual roots checked. If they meet the requirements, they can enter Bixuan Court and at that point, their family will also be permitted to enter the town and become a town person.” At this point, An’an suddenly continued on proudly, “Nonetheless, I possess five spiritual roots. The aunt from Bixuan Court who received me back then said my spiritual roots were inferior, so I couldn’t enter Bixuan Court, but she recorded my name. If they lack maids one day, they’ll call me over.”

“You also have spiritual roots?” Mo Tiange was rather astonished. There weren’t many mortals who possessed spiritual roots, yet she actually happened to run into one.

“En.” An’an nodded. There was a faint flush on her face. “The aunt who received me said that I have… have five spiritual roots.”

“Oh, I see,” Mo Tiange said while nodding her head. There were lots of people with five spiritual roots and in her memory, Bixuan Court was a small cultivation group roughly the size of Yunwu Sect. Considering the fact that it occupied a small area near the coast of the Eastern Sea which was adjacent to the Devil Path region, presumably it wouldn’t be much of a problem even if girls with five spiritual roots were accepted as maids. However, it was really unfortunate for An’an. Although her spiritual roots weren’t good, her temper was good and she was also intelligent.

In addition, since Bixuan Court had such a big influence in the area, she better collected the dragon bones quickly and left as soon as possible to avoid news about her and the dragon bones from spreading. Not to mention a small cultivation group like Bixuan Court, but even large cultivation groups would also be attracted to divine dragon bones from several million years ago.

Mo Tiange remembered something then suddenly changed the subject: “Right! Girls who possess spiritual roots can join Bixuan Court, but what about the boys? Bixuan Court only accepts female disciples, right?”

An’an nodded. “En. Only boys who possess terrific spiritual roots will be accepted as Bixuan Court’s outer disciples. From what I heard from that aunt, male disciples can only be considered real Bixuan Court disciples after they perform Dual Cultivation with one of the sect’s female disciples.”

Mo Tiange raised her eyebrows in amazement. This Bixuan Court was really unique. Not only was it established in such an odd place, but it also had such an odd rule.

West of here was the Devil Path region; the mortals here wouldn’t be able to travel much their whole lives, so mortals born with spiritual roots could only worship Bixuan Court despite the fact that Bixuan Court only accepted female disciples. Because of that, in Bixuan Court, the status of male disciples was far inferior to that of female disciples, causing Bixuan Court to become an oddity within the entire Celestial Pole.

From what An’an told her, Mo Tiange had a rough understanding of the situation near the Eastern Sea coast. When it was afternoon, the people who went collecting dragon bones returned one after another.

The Shui couple indeed did as they were told; they mobilized everyone in the village. Some of them brought the bones back by themselves, and some of them carried the bones together, but they eventually collected the dragon bones. The largest piece was a leg bone; about four or five people had to carry it back together.

Mo Tiange gave the gold beads to An’an, telling her to give a bead every time someone brought a dragon bone over and to give a bit more if the people brought a big one like the leg bone.

After obtaining the gold beads, the villagers still wanted to continue, so all of them agreed to go to the beach to search for more bones. Their search lasted until the evening.

Mo Tiange wasn’t in a hurry either. She asked the fisherman family for an empty room and waited for two days until they could no longer find any more dragon bones.

Presumably, many of the dragon bones were scattered when the underground palace collapsed. She tried to piece them up together, but she only got a leg and some loose bones.

However, it would already be good enough if she collected every dragon bone stranded in this area. If the cultivators of Bixuan Court never saw these bones, they wouldn’t harbor any suspicions even if they heard a strange cultivator was looking for bones in the area.

The fishermen in this village were also beside themselves with joy to receive Mo Tiange’s gold beads, especially the Shui couple, whom Mo Tiange gave a few additional gold leaves to—they put even more effort into their search than before.

Once Mo Tiange finished collecting the dragon bones, she finally asked the Shui couple about a few things related to Bixuan Court as she planned to leave.

Sure enough, the Shui couple told her that aside from the sea, they had no other way to communicate with the outside world. However, they only had small boats, so it was very dangerous for them to venture too far into the sea. Moreover, since ancient times, they hadn’t known where the sea led to.

Mo Tiange then asked them how the people of Bixuan Court left the area. The Shui couple didn’t dare to talk nonsense. They said if she wanted to leave, she could go to Linhai Town to ask because Bixuan Court had a shop there.

Mo Tiange was rather flabbergasted. There was only one cultivation group in this area, and that was Bixuan Court; what did they need a shop for? It was only after the Shui couple explained to her that she finally understood. As it turned out, although there was only one cultivation group there, there were still a lot of individual cultivators, especially male cultivators with inferior aptitudes. Since Bixuan Court wouldn’t accept them as disciples, they could only try to figure out the cultivation path on their own. With the passage of time, many small cultivation clans and individual cultivators gathered there.

All in all, Mo Tiange stayed in this fisherman village for a few days. Once she finished dealing with the dragon bones, she decided to take a trip to Linhai Town.

If she wanted to return to Kunwu, the most convenient way would be to request help from Bixuan Court.