Lady Cultivator

Once Ye Zhenji left, Mo Tiange stared at the tea-stained ground in a daze and remained silent for quite a while.

In between, she only felt her mind turning into a mess. She couldn’t even tell what she was actually thinking about.

A long time later, she finally flung her sleeve, casting a small spell that made the tea stain gradually disappear.

Three years… She’d unexpectedly been out for three years. If it wasn’t because her body underwent a long period of nourishment like Zhenji said, she really wouldn’t have believed she’d actually been unconscious for three years.

In a dream that lasted three years, she comprehended the principle: “one may feel happy when they obtain, but one shouldn’t feel sad if they lose,” but she never expected what was waiting for her to actually be such news.

When she woke up, her heart was calm and happy. She’d discovered the hole in her mental state, so she was already prepared to enter Closed Door Meditation to face her core-formation. However, Zhenji unexpectedly told her such a story.

She really had no idea what she should be thinking about or what could she think about, so she simply stopped thinking. She simply returned to her cultivating room, entered the Virtual Sky World, and proceeded to meditate.

Spiritual aura moved along her entire meridians into her dantian. All of a sudden, she found something that amazed her. In the depths of her dantian, there was a thread of strange but warm spiritual aura. To be exact, that thread of spiritual aura was warm and bright simply because her Yin spiritual aura was originally ice-cold, thus causing her to perceive it as warm.

She tried to control that thread of strange spiritual aura, but she discovered it was uncontrollably entangled with her own Yin spiritual aura and they were gradually becoming a sphere while she was completely powerless to stop it.

Eventually, that thread of spiritual aura and her Yin spiritual aura flowed together, forming a cycle which rotated over and over…

“Time is permanent, space is the measure. The world is divided into Yin and Yang and possesses five elements.

…

Metal meeting Yin points to vigor, that is urge; metal meeting Yang amasses thunder, that is lure.

Wood meeting Yin gives birth to energy, that is spirit; wood meeting Yang expels evil, that is a breakthrough.

Water meeting Yin congeals into crystals, that is an anomaly; water meeting Yang hoists clouds, that is a fantasy.

Fire meeting Yin congregates souls, that is the underworld; fire meeting Yang is inextinguishable, that is nirvana.

Soil meeting Yin is undying, that is peace; soil meeting Yang is strong, that is unbreakable.”

Incantations from the Taiyuan Record automatically emerged in her mind. The five elemental spiritual auras inside her body and that strange spiritual aura were forming a spiritual aura sphere, half-bright and half-dark, just like a Yin-Yang symbol. The five elements were interlinked with each other. Light and dark alternated—they resisted each other, but they also blended with each other. There was me inside you, and there were you inside me.

Metal aura was both urging and luring. Wood aura was both energy and a breakthrough. Water aura was both an anomaly and a fantasy… Each kind of spiritual aura had two kinds of forms.

Mo Tiange slowly opened her eyes, feeling extremely shocked because of her discovery.

She understood—bright and dark represented Yin and Yang, so that small spiritual aura sphere possessed both Yin and Yang attributes, achieving the real condition of the Origin.

What brought about this change was precisely the spiritual aura which made her feel warm. Obviously, that was Yang spiritual aura.

Ever since she began cultivating, due to the Pure Yin Constitution she possessed, Yang spiritual aura was always automatically blocked when she absorbed spiritual aura, so only Yin spiritual aura could enter her body. Even when other people poured their spiritual aura into her meridians, Yang spiritual aura in those mixed spiritual auras would soon be expelled from her body. Consequently, for a long time, she never knew how it felt to have Yang spiritual aura residing inside her body.

That thread of Yang spiritual aura obviously wasn’t ordinary Yang spiritual aura. Instead of scattering, it congealed and took form. It was also extremely pure without even a sliver of contaminants. Although it was merely a thread, it was very stable and firm; it took root inside her body and flowed along with her Yin spiritual aura, becoming inseparable. Where did it come from?

Mo Tiange’s brows were wrinkled as she pondered the matter carefully. Zhenji said that when she fainted, there were two people nourishing her body. Could it be that it was…

With that thought in her mind, she flung her sleeves and went out of the Virtual Sky World then made a beeline for Shangqing Palace’s main hall.

“Master!”

Lord Daoist Jinghe was sitting on his dragon couch, but he wasn’t meditating, nor was he studying some spells or joking around with his maids. Instead, he was by himself, frowning and drinking wine.

Mo Tiange originally wanted to ask him about something, but when she saw his face, she couldn’t utter her question for a moment. She slowly walked towards him, calling: “Master?”

Lord Daoist Jinghe finished the wine in his cup before he glanced at her. His eyes were rather bleary from the alcohol. “En? Why aren’t you adjusting your breath? Has your body adapted to the current situation?”

“En, it’s because I have some matters I want to ask Master about…” Mo Tiange took a breather then she first asked: “Master, are you alright?”

Still frowning, Lord Daoist Jinghe shook his head. “Let’s talk about your situation first. From what I saw before, there was nothing abnormal with the spiritual aura inside your body—how do you feel? Is there a problem?”

“There’s no problem,” Mo Tiange said, “However, I discovered there’s an additional spiritual aura sphere inside my dantian, and it’s very strange.”

“Oh?” Lord Daoist Jinghe raised his eyebrows. “What’s so strange about it?”

Mo Tiange gave it a lot of thought before answering slowly: “Master, you also knew that although I possess Spiritual Roots of the Origin, I also have a Pure Yin Constitution; my body only has Yin and no Yang, so I can only cultivate a small Origin from Yin spiritual aura, but I can’t achieve a balanced Yin-Yang, five elemental Primal Chaos cycle. But now, I discovered there’s an additional spiritual aura sphere inside my body. That spiritual aura mixed perfectly with my Yin spiritual aura, forming a situation in which they circle each other continuously… I spent some time observing it and found that after my spiritual aura mixed with that spiritual aura sphere, I now have two forms of five elements, so I inferred that the spiritual aura ought to be Yang spiritual aura.”

Upon hearing that, something seemed to flash inside Lord Daoist Jinghe’s gaze. “After your spiritual aura mixed with that spiritual aura sphere, are there any abnormalities?”

“There aren’t,” Mo Tiange said, “After giving this a lot of thought, I discovered this was real Primal Chaos. If I want to practice the Art of the Origin until the peak, this should be the state I’m in.”

“…”

Seeing the slight smile on Lord Daoist Jinghe’s face perplexed her. Mo Tiange said, “Master, where did this Yang spiritual aura sphere inside my body come from? Zhenji said when I was in a coma, you and… and Senior Martial Brother Shoujing were the ones who nourished my body. Could it be that you…”

Lord Daoist Jinghe poured himself another cup of wine with a small smile but didn’t respond to her.

Mo Tiange waited for a while but eventually, she couldn’t help but call again: “Master?”

Lord Daoist Jinghe finished his wine before he finally spoke again: “Tiange, Master wants to tell you something, but you have to be mentally prepared.”

What Lord Daoist Jinghe said made Mo Tiange wrinkle her brows. “Master…” What kind of important matter was it that he had to be so cautious?

“Don’t worry—it’s not a bad thing.” Upon seeing Mo Tiange’s expression, Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled. Then, with a very cordial and kind manner, he personally pulled her towards a seat across him and even poured her a cup of wine.

“Master…”

Lord Daoist Jinghe started to speak: “The Yang spiritual aura inside your body indeed came from us. You also knew about Master’s aptitude; I have a single fire element spiritual root, so my aptitude can be considered terrific. Unfortunately, fate has been against me—in both my core-formation and soul-formation, I couldn’t be considered a genius.”

Mo Tiange stared at him without saying anything. She knew this wasn’t the main point.

However, Lord Daoist Jinghe seemed to have no idea about her nervous mood and continued to speak at an exasperatingly slow speed: “Presumably, you also have some understanding that people with a mix of Yin and Yang constitution also have a mix of Yin and Yang spiritual aura. Because of that, once my spiritual aura went into your body, it soon dispersed. Only pure Yang spiritual aura would be fine enough to remain inside your body for so long. In other words, the Yang spiritual aura inside your body ought to have come from someone with a Pure Yang Constitution, or… someone with a constitution similar to a Pure Yang Constitution.”

Noticing the slight change in Mo Tiange’s expression made Lord Daoist Jinghe laugh. He then said, “Of course it wasn’t Master. If Master had a Pure Yang Constitution, with the single spiritual root Master has as his aptitude, would Master have wasted these past years like this?”

Mo Tiange was silent for ages. The expression on her face continued to change. A long time later, she finally said: “Master, stop teasing me—just finish it at once.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled. “You don’t have to be like this. Your heart’s presumably clear about how I’ve been treating you during these years you’ve worshipped me as your master.”

Just now, in that split second, suspicion indeed emerged in Mo Tiange’s mind. After hearing what Lord Daoist Jinghe said, Mo Tiange pressed her suspicion down then said as calmly as she could: “I know. Master, you should continue.”

She already knew where the pure Yang spiritual aura came from. However, could there be such a coincidence in this world? She already ran into one Tang Shen; how could she possibly have run into another person with a Pure Yang Constitution?

While swaying the wine cup in his hand, Lord Daoist Jinghe said frankly, “In fact, your senior martial brother doesn’t have a Pure Yang Constitution.”

Astounded, Mo Tiange blurted: “How could that be?” If he didn’t have a Pure Yang Constitution, why did he have pure Yang spiritual aura? Her brain continued to run at a high speed. A moment later, she asked, “Could it be… because of some kind of technique?”

“You’re half-right.” Lord Daoist Jinghe nodded then asked back: “Do you know… there’s a kind of spiritual object in this world known as a Yang Spiritual Bead?”

“Yang Spiritual Beads?” Mo Tiange contemplated with a frown etched on her face. She then said slowly, “… I seem to have read records about them in some ancient books, but the records weren’t detailed, so I don’t know what they are specifically.”

“To be precise, there aren’t just Yang Spiritual Beads in this world; there are also Yin Spiritual Beads. When heaven and earth were first separated, Yin and Yang auras were blended, creating countless spirit veins. Nonetheless, a kind of unique things was also born inside those spirit veins, and they specialized in devouring either all the Yang spiritual aura or all the Yin spiritual aura inside the very spirit vein they were born in. Over time, those objects would devour either all of the Yang spiritual aura or Yin spiritual aura in the spirit vein, thus producing either a Yang Spiritual Bead or Yin Spiritual Bead.”

“From ancient times until now, very few of these Yin and Yang Spiritual Beads appeared in this world, so there aren’t many ancient records about them. Coincidentally, about a hundred years ago, your Senior Martial Brother Shoujing happened to have obtained a Yang Spiritual Bead.”

“…” Mo Tiange’s expression changed as she already understood what had happened.

Lord Daoist Jinghe continued to speak: “Initially after he obtained this bead, I only thought the Yang spiritual aura inside his body would flourish, and since he practiced a fire element cultivation technique, I thought they would complement each other well. Later, a change happened… because of you.”

“Because of… me?”

“Yes.” Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled. “As for what change it was in the end, let him talk to you about it on his own. It’s not appropriate for me to tell you.”

The corners of Mo Tiange’s lips twitched. In the end, she couldn’t help but say: “Master, back then… back then when I joined the school, did you… did you…”

“I didn’t,” Even though she hadn’t finished speaking, Lord Daoist Jinghe already understood her meaning. After giving her a clear-cut no, Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled and said, “Although it wasn’t Master’s intention to accept you as a disciple, Master didn’t have any other hidden intentions. Since you’re now Master’s last disciple, no matter how Master usually is, Master would never force you to do anything. In the end, how you guys want to walk your future paths depends on your own selves.”

At this point, Lord Daoist Jinghe showed another smile then reached out to give her a soft pat on her shoulder. “Don’t let your imagination run amok. You’re about to form your Gold Core now; if you focus your mind on other things, you’ll most likely create holes in your mental state—it’s not good.”

“… En.” Mo Tiange nodded as she tried her all to calm down.

Although her nature made her constantly suspicious of everything, she believed in her judgment more. She’d worshiped her master for almost forty years now, and she had firsthand knowledge of her master’s treatment of her. If her master had ill intentions, why would he have treated her like that all these years?

It was just that she couldn’t help but feel shaken upon suddenly hearing this information. What kind of situation was this in the end? Also, these past three years… What did they count for?