Lady Cultivator

During the several days Mo Tiange remained in Kunzhong City, aside from staying inside the small courtyard, adjusting her breathing and cultivating, she also went out and strolled around on occasion.

Although Kunzhong City couldn’t be compared to big cities in the secular world, it was actually Kunwu’s first business city. It would indeed be a waste of an opportunity if she didn’t stroll around while she was there.

Even though cultivators in the Core Formation realm and above very rarely found treasures that suited their taste in this kind of common market square, a business city was a business city after all. In Kunwu, Kunzhong City’s slogan was: “There will only be things you can’t think of, but there won’t be anything you can’t buy”—it had a unique point.

Before they departed, Mo Tiange packed up all the materials used to refine the Heaven and Earth Fan, which the school had prepared for her, and brought them along with her. After looking through them carefully, she realized she only lacked a few things. She already obtained miscellaneous bits and pieces of materials; she only lacked a thousand year old Chalcedony and Qiyun Stone. Qiyun Stones were indeed rare—there weren’t even many people who knew about it. A thousand year old Chalcedony, on the other hand, was well-known, but they rarely showed up in the world. Even if one appeared, it would be bought very quickly.

After staying in Kunzhong City for a few days, Mo Tiange discovered the city held trade fairs specifically for high level cultivators. Thus, she sent a Summoning Talisman to Qin Xi, mentioning this matter.

Qin Xi sent a message back very quickly, telling her what he knew about it and that he would take her to the fair.

This reply made Mo Tiange dumbfounded. The reason why she asked Qin Xi was because he said Kumu and Tong Tianyun were individual cultivators from Kunzhong City. Considering their cultivation levels, they must rank among the administrators of Kunzhong City, so they certainly knew about these trade fairs. However, she never expected that Qin Xi would want to take her there. It would be inappropriate for her to refuse. Besides, on second thought, there was nothing bad about this arrangement. Wasn’t this the nature of a trade fair? Would it matter whether others were present or not?

Sure enough, in the evening that day, Qin Xi sent for her. Mo Tiange tidied up her things then opened her door. Qin Xi was already standing outside.

“Senior Martial Brother Shoujing.”

Qin Xi nodded then said directly without much nonsense, “Let’s go. You want to go to a trade fair and there happens to be one being held now.”

Judging from his attitude, he seemed very familiar with Kunzhong City. Mo Tiange continued to follow behind him silently. They didn’t use any flying techniques; they just walked through the city, making turns and detours here and there.

It was midnight. Kunzhong City, which was bustling with noise and activities in the daytime, was now quiet. There were only a few cultivators on the road, walking in haste, while mortals were nowhere to be seen.

Most of these cultivators had high cultivation levels, and their purposes were comparably the same.

Mo Tiange saw that all of them were walking towards the highest pagoda in the city. Qin Xi was also leading her in the same direction. Unexpectedly, however, after walking for a while, Qin Xi suddenly pulled her hand and said quietly, “This way.”

His fingers were rather cold. It was the kind of coldness unique to a cultivator, but contact was brief as he immediately let go.

The two of them walked into a certain shop on the side through the back door.

There was another secret behind this back door. The moment they pushed it and entered, a low level cultivator said with a low voice, “Welcome, Seniors.” It was a woman’s voice and sounded extremely sweet.

No matter where they were, receiving guests was a task that was bound to be given to female cultivators. Mo Tiange sighed inwardly but said nothing. She continued to follow after Qin Xi with the female cultivator leading the way. They walked into a courtyard then into a tunnel. Some time afterward, an open space came into sight.

“Seniors, please feel free. If anything’s the matter, please call for us.” The female Aura Refining cultivator respectfully bowed towards them then retreated into the darkness.

Mo Tiange looked around. The small hall there was arranged simply. There were many chairs placed around, and a few cultivators were resting as they waited. Among those cultivators, the lowest level cultivators present were those in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. In addition to them, there were also two other Core Formation cultivators.

Qin Xi motioned to her, and the two of them went to a corner to sit. He then raised his hands, placing a Sound-Insulating Barrier around them. “This is the highest level trade fair in Kunzhong City; even the administrators of the city participate in this.”

What he said made her feel rather surprised. “They… also have to participate in trade fairs?”

Qin Xi showed a small smile. “There’s no such thing as a city lord in Kunzhong City. It only has several renowned individual cultivators which constitute an alliance and supervise the business here. Nevertheless, they themselves have no prerogative whatsoever in doing business. It’s just that their news channels are more abundant, so it’s easier for them to find things they need.”

“This kind of management style is indeed unusual,” Mo Tiange mused inwardly.

Qin Xi continued to explain: “The individual cultivator alliance in Kunzhong City has a total of seven Core Formation cultivators, and one of them will preside over this trade fair. At this trade fair, they’ll permit one or two of the best shops in Kunzhong City to present their best treasures to be auctioned. Once the auction finishes, cultivators can make personal transactions between themselves as long as they pay a small fee. In Kunwu, this trade fair is famous; Core Formation cultivators are often attracted by its fame, while cultivators under the Core Formation realm can only participate if they have some kind of background.”

Surprised, Mo Tiange asked, “Does Kunzhong City have that many Core Formation cultivators?” Since there would be time for personal transactions, there should be at least more than ten of them, right?

Qin Xi shook his head. “These cultivators come specifically to do business—they won’t stay here. How can Core Formation cultivators be that easy to come across? Normally, there are only around ten of them in Kunzhong City, and most of them are members of individual cultivator alliances. Otherwise, how could they manage the city?”

True… If there were too many Core Formation cultivators, that so-called individual cultivator alliance most likely wouldn’t be able to keep them under control.

After sitting for a while, Qin Xi asked, “Junior Martial Sister Qingwei, what do you want to buy? Could it be that handing the task over to the steward’s hall still wouldn’t do?”

Mo Tiange had a hard time getting accustomed to the repeatedly-changing titles he used to address her, so it took her a moment to respond. “I need materials for refining my natal magic weapon… The steward’s hall already gathered most of them—I’m only lacking two materials and they’re rare.”

“What are they?”

“A thousand year old Chalcedony and Qiyun Stone.”

Qin Xi wrinkled his brows. “A thousand year old Chalcedony will show up in the market once in a while, but it has varied uses; it can be used for both pill-concocting and tool-refining. More often than not, it’s bought at a high price right after it appears on the market—you’ll need a bit of luck to obtain it. As for Qiyun Stone, I remember I once saw it at a certain small place about a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what that thing was at the time, so I didn’t buy it. It’s been so many years; I don’t know whose hands it’s in now.”

Hearing what he said made Mo Tiange delighted. “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, you know what Qiyun Stone looks like?”

Qin Xi nodded. “But this happened over a hundred years ago. I really can’t do anything to find it.”

“No need,” Mo Tiange said with a smile, “Very few people know about this Qiyun Stone. I’ve asked master before, but even he himself has also only heard about it and hasn’t seen it. He didn’t know what it looked like, so we had no way of finding it.”

Her smiling face threw him into a daze, making him forget to answer for a long time.

Mo Tiange though he was unwilling, so she slowly retracted the smile from her face. “It’s alright if Senior Martial Brother can’t tell me…”

“No.” Qin Xi shook his head. “I’m thinking… but it seems I can’t remember its characteristics too clearly either. However, if I see it, I’ll definitely recognize it.”

Some ores looked extremely similar to each other, but there was a subtle difference in the spiritual auras they each contained. It couldn’t be clearly explained with words, but if one carefully examined them, one could tell them apart.

Mo Tiange was happy, but she was quite disappointed as well. If that was the case, worrying about it was pointless.

Qin Xi mused for a short moment then said, “You don’t have to worry. Even if we can’t find them for now, entrusting the matter to Daoist Kumu and Fellow Daoist Tong will work too. They’re well informed. As long as those two things appear in Kunzhong, they’ll definitely know.”

This was a kind of plan in a desperate situation and it gave Mo Tiange a bit more hope. She said, “That’s good then. That being the case, I’ll have to trouble Senior Martial Brother Shoujing for it.”

Qin Xi grunted in response. His gaze shifted, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. “What will you do if you can’t find them soon? Without a natal magic weapon, you’ll inevitably end up slightly weaker. These two things you’re looking for… they’re both things one can only find by chance.”

Mo Tiange was also conflicted over this matter. She said, “A cultivator will only have one natal magic weapon. I’m not willing to deal with this casually…”

Every Core Formation cultivator had this kind of mentality. A natal magic weapon was related to a cultivator’s abilities in fights of magical power. If they chose one casually, their natal magic weapon could still develop, but it would inevitably be slightly inferior to others—who was willing to have a worse starting point than others? If they wanted a high grade magic weapon to become a natal magic weapon, however, the materials were comparably hard to find, and it might take forever to refine—it would influence the cultivator’s abilities in fights of magical power even more.

Qin Xi could understand her mindset. He nodded and said, “Back then, if it wasn’t because I accidentally obtained the refining formula for Three Yang Real Fire Sword when I was still in the Foundation Building realm, I’m afraid I would’ve been in the same predicament you’re in now.”

Mo Tiange was rather regretful that she hadn’t brought up this matter earlier. At that time, she was completely focused on her core-formation. She always thought of natal magic weapons as something to worry about after she formed her Gold Core, so she didn’t take the matter to heart.

The two of them continued to sit; both were preoccupied with their own thoughts. A Foundation Building cultivator eventually came in and said aloud, “Seniors and Fellow Daoists!”

Everyone fixated their gaze on that person. He said, “Forgive us for making you wait a long time. Please follow me.”

Mo Tiange turned to look at Qin Xi, who then nodded towards her. The two of them stood up, then following the crowd, they walked through an aisle into another small hall.

Although this was also a small hall, it was much more refined than the previous one. A huge round table had been placed in the center, enough for more than thirty people to sit at. Some people were already sitting around the table. Some were just like them, putting on no disguise whatsoever, but some wore black robes and bamboo hats. As Mo Tiange briefly swept her surroundings with her divine sense, she discovered these bamboo hats could easily block her divine sense, thus astonishing her greatly.

Qin Xi gave her a soft tap. He casually chose seats then hinted at her to sit.

Mo Tiange looked around. Everyone did this, so she also followed the flow.

After the two of them sat down, she heard Qin Xi transmitting his voice: “Some of the people here have identities which are inappropriate to be known, so they dress like this. You shouldn’t recklessly use your divine sense on them.”

Mo Tiange nodded slightly. She’d gone to many places in her younger days, but she never had the opportunity to participate in a trade fair for high level cultivators like this, so she didn’t know the taboos.

Once everyone sat down, Mo Tiange once again took a cursory look around. She found that including her and Qin Xi, there were unexpectedly ten Core Formation cultivators present. In addition, there were also around ten middle and late stage Foundation Building cultivators.

Such a secret trade fair only had about twenty attendees—it could be clearly seen that this fair must be an exclusive one. It was just that she didn’t know what kind of treasures would be presented later.

Quite a while later, someone entered from the side door. His smiling face was truly frightening—it was Tong Tianyun.

The moment Tong Tianyun entered, his gaze fell for a very brief moment on Qin Xi and Mo Tiange, and he gave them a quick nod and a smile. Immediately afterward, he shifted his gaze then said loudly, “I’m Tong Tiangyun from the individual cultivator alliance of Kunzhong City. Greetings to Fellow Daoists.”

No matter how high their statuses were, the Foundation Building cultivators at the scene didn’t dare to receive a salute from a middle stage Core Formation cultivator—one after another, all of them stood up and saluted him back. As for the Core Formation cultivators, most of them remained seated when they greeted him back.

Tong Tianyun naturally wouldn’t mind this. After the greetings were done with, he said with a smile, “Fellow Daoists, since you’re here, you obviously know the rules of our trade fair. I’m not going to say much; let us begin.”