Lady Cultivator

Meeting Wang Qianyi and Shen Bing again made Mo Tiange’s mood feel a bit heavy.

Through the two of them, Mo Tiange personally witnessed the tragic fate of female cultivators for the first time in her life. One lost her father and even had to marry her enemy. The other one had no freedom and had to be someone’s plaything.

They were cultivators, but they were also women. Without sufficient strength, they couldn’t even protect their own bodies. This was how cruel this world was.

Fortunately, they both seemed to be faring quite well nowadays. Although they didn’t have sufficient medicinal pills and were still struggling on their path of cultivation, at least they were free now.

As she thought to herself, she suddenly heard Qin Xi ask her: “Are you sympathizing with them?”

Mo Tiange was taken aback, but she soon answered, “Of course, they… they’re very miserable…”

“Why are they very miserable?”

“For women, unable to even… protect your own self is, of course, a very miserable matter.”

Qin Xi didn’t answer, seemingly thinking about something.

The two of them curbed their breaths and avoided other cultivators, encountering many dangers along the way but managing to get through safe and sound, until they finally reached an area under a mountain peak.

Mo Tiange looked up. “So high… Even if we flew, it would be very hard to get up there, right?”

Demonic Mountain indeed lived up to its name as the highest mountain in the Celestial Pole. This mountain peak towered high in the sky, and they simply couldn’t see its summit.

Qin Xi said, “There’s a place up there where we can rest for a while. Flying there won’t be a problem, but…” He gazed at the sky, where spiritual aura and devil aura intermingled, thus creating flashes of lightning. “There are various restrictions above. A bit of carelessness and we might end up vanishing in a puff of smoke.”

Mo Tiange was thunderstruck. Vanishing in a puff of smoke… In other words, they couldn’t even be saved.

“Don’t think too much,” Qin Xi calmly said, “Going up to the summit might take us about two days, and there are also many restrictions we have to break up there—it’s going to be very troublesome. We better go as quickly as we can.”

“… En.”

The two of them used their respective means to place some defenses around them.

Mo Tiange used the Art of Temporary Origin then took out her White Silk Handkerchief, transforming it into a fog-like barrier. Qin Xi put his Body-Protecting Art to use, then he let the Three Yang Real Fire Sword transform into a protective sword formation which rotated around the two of them.

Mo Tiange suddenly said, “Senior Martial Brother Qin, you… should come a bit closer to me. My spiritual aura isn’t enough; this protective magic weapon can’t reach you.”

Qin Xi was stunned, though it wasn’t clear whether he was stunned because of the name she used to call him or because of the words she said. In the end, he only let out a light “en.”

This particular peak was called Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak. Although it might not actually be tens of thousands of feet in height, the difference wouldn’t be too far off. Spiritual and devil aura in this area were surging and volatile, and the two auras were intertwining. The two of them didn’t dare to fly quickly, so they could only forge ahead bit by bit. To avoid being separated from each other, Mo Tiange didn’t use her flying magic weapon. Instead, she rode on Qin Xi’s flying cloud.

Half a day later, the two of them finally got some rest on the mountain wall before continuing on. At that moment, they came close to where the spiritual aura and devil aura were intertwining. They’d placed protective spiritual aura all over their bodies, and they’d also put on defensive talismans. After that layer was Mo Tiange’s White Silk Handkerchief, which transformed into a layer of spiritual aura, while the outermost layer of their defense was Qin Xi’s sword formation.

They had four layers of defense, but they still didn’t dare to lower their guard. When they passed through the spiritual aura and devil aura, Mo Tiange heard the sword formation outside emitting a heavy “hum.” Fortunately, the Three Yang Real Fire Sword wasn’t a common magic weapon. Whether it was spiritual aura or devil aura, the Three Yang Real Fire Sword managed to block it. However, every time the sword formation blocked those auras, it would emit a red glow, and Qin Xi would have to stop and resist the auras along with the formation.

Thus, the two of them proceeded upward bit by bit like this. The higher they got, the more difficult it was for them.

By the end, defense was no longer just Qin Xi’s responsibility. Even though his sword formation could block most of the attacks coming their way, it couldn’t completely resolve them, so Mo Tiange used her White Silk Handkerchief to help.

Qin Xi had long said they mustn’t be careless even for a bit in this area. If spiritual aura and devil aura broke through their defense, nothing could help them—they would be annihilated, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

“In here.” Just as their spiritual auras were about to be depleted again, Qin Xi pointed at a very small crack in the mountain wall that hid a very narrow cave inside it. To ward off the restrictions, gales, as well as the lightning formed from the intertwining spiritual aura and devil aura, they had to preserve a sufficient amount of spiritual aura. Their spiritual auras were almost exhausted now, so they had to find a place where they could adjust their breaths and recover their spiritual auras.

After the two of them managed to squeeze into the narrow cave with much effort, both sighed with relief.

The crack in this cave was very small, so they had to lean sideways to get in. With the mountain wall as their cover, there wouldn’t be any gales or big restrictions coming here. There was only some feeble spiritual aura and devil aura.

But… this cave was really too small. It was only enough for two people to sit side by side, squeezed together. There was practically no room for them to move about.

Mo Tiange felt this was really unbearable. She wasn’t accustomed to being this physically close to others.

Just as she was about to lean to the other side, she suddenly heard Qin Xi say, “Don’t move. Quickly meditate and recover your spiritual aura.”

“…” Mo Tiange knew what he said was right, so she could only endure it. She sat upright with her legs crossed then slowly breathed in and out, entering a meditative state.

After some time, she finally recovered her spiritual aura and opened her eyes.

Outside, a huge lump of devil aura floated over, blocking the small crack into the cave.

Qin Xi had long finished adjusting his breathing and was just waiting for her. Right now, he seemed to be distracted, but he soon said, “Wait for a while. This devil aura’s too much.”

“En.” The devil auras on Demonic Mountain were extremely violent. If they sensed cultivators’ breaths, they would rush towards those cultivators and swallow them up. Most of these devil auras were left behind from the Distant Past and Middle Ages eras, so how could modern-day cultivators fight them off? A small thread of devil aura could already kill them, let alone such a huge lump of it. Aside from avoiding it, they had no other solution.

This lump of devil aura obstructed light from entering the cave through the crack, and it also prevented the noises outside from coming in. Darkness and silence descended upon them. Cultivators’ eyesight obviously wasn’t like mortals. Even if there wasn’t even a sliver of light, they could still roughly distinguish their surroundings. But without light, everything before them was ambiguous. This kind of ambiguousness made Mo Tiange very restless.

Soft breaths rang out in her ears. After listening for a while, she seemed to also hear heartbeats. They were gentle at first, but gradually, they became rushed and short. She pressed her palm on her chest, only to find that those heartbeats were her own.

Weird . She tilted her head to the side, musing to herself. I just finished meditating—my heart shouldn’t be beating this quick!

This heavy atmosphere also seemed to affect Qin Xi. He made small movements, causing his arm to rub against her sleeve.

Such barely perceivable contact made Mo Tiange even more afraid to move. It was as if… they were too close—so close that even their breaths intermingled with each other.

This kind of awkward silence didn’t go on for long because Qin Xi suddenly spoke. “That year… your father and I also flew up here.”

Surprised, Mo Tiange turned her head towards him.

In the darkness, Qin Xi’s eyes were sparkling bright. He said softly, “At that time, a huge restriction collapsed. More than half the people on Demonic Mountain were either injured or killed. Your father and I happened to be in here, thus avoiding that disaster.”

“Here…” Mo Tiange muttered as she reached out to touch the mountain wall next to her. Father… Did he also sit here and touch these rocks?

“We hid in here for a full seven days before the restrictions finally started to stabilize again. However… when we went out following our original path, we discovered we couldn’t get out.”

Mo Tiange suddenly remembered. The restrictions on Demonic Mountain only disappeared for about a month. Once those restrictions appeared again, people wouldn’t be able to leave. Those who remained on Demonic Mountain wouldn’t know when the restrictions would disappear again. With the ever-changing situation inside, most people usually wouldn’t last until Demonic Mountain opened again.

“Then… How did you get out?”

“The secret was up there,” Qin Xi said, “There’s a place they call ‘Immortal’s Ruins.’ Legend says it’s a place where many immortals died and were buried during the Distant Past era. The road to Immortal’s Ruins is extremely difficult and dangerous. Many people died on that road, but none of them knew that there was, in fact, a shortcut—if we go up this Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak, we’ll be at the back of Immortal’s Ruins.”

Mo Tiange was dumbfounded. “Immortal’s Ruins has a road connected to the outside world?”

Qin Xi shook his head. “Not exactly. The terrain there is very complex. No one knew which area ‘Immortal’s Ruins’ points to in the end. After we were trapped on Demonic Mountain, we searched through many places until we eventually discovered there was a restriction up there that could be broken.”

Mo Tiange pondered what he said, but she only became even more bewildered. “If you could leave, doesn’t it mean you could enter again? Doesn’t that mean you didn’t need to wait for the restrictions outside to disappear?”

Qin Xi chuckled. “Your thinking is too simple. At that time, we ran into various dangers. By the time we found that place, we were both mangled with injuries. Your father’s injuries were particularly heavy—he almost didn’t make it. Even as we almost ran out of medicinal pills, his condition didn’t improve…” Qin Xi took a breather then continued on: “My injuries were quite light and weren’t a problem. But even though we discovered that the restrictions in that place were comparably weak and could be broken as our way out, our cultivation levels weren’t enough. According to my estimates, our cultivation levels had to at least reach the Nascent Soul realm to break those restrictions. In addition, the restrictions on Demonic Mountain were extremely unusual. If their inner power hadn’t weakened, the restrictions would fix themselves even after we broke them. I also used to think like you, but after I went out, I discovered that while the restrictions inside seemed a bit weak, the restrictions outside were much stronger.”

“Then… What happened afterward?”

“The cultivation technique I practice is called the Art of Three Primordial Cycles. Three primordial refers to three primordial auras: extreme Yang, extreme Yin, and neutral aura, while cycle refers to a kind of mystic technique,” Qin Xi said slowly, “If I can absorb enough spiritual aura, I can temporarily advance to the Nascent Soul realm. But this is only a kind of facade—I can only maintain it for a short period. The aftermath is also grave. After a moment of advancement, I’ll instantly fall back to the Aura Refining realm.”

“…” So that was what happened. Mo Tiange suddenly became enlightened. It was no wonder her father could help him leave Demonic Mountain. It was no wonder he lost so much power and turned into an Aura Refining disciple. When he was in Yunwu Sect, his cultivation had most likely fallen back to the Aura Refining realm for real, right?

Qin Xi continued on: “When your father learned about all this, he took a couple of days to ponder it then he said that his injuries wouldn’t improve anyway, and that being the case, he was willing to use his entire power to help me to escape. However, I had to promise that I’d take care of his descendants on his behalf. I agreed and even pledged a Heart Demon’s Oath.” In the darkness, his gaze shifted towards her. “At that time, I didn’t care because it was nothing but a trivial matter. But… I never expected… it’d be you…”

What he said seemed to be incomplete, but it was enough to let one’s imagination roam about. It’d be me… what? What did he mean by that? 

The darkness and the silence almost made Mo Tiange blurt out those questions, but in the next second, that lump of devil aura gradually scattered, and light once again found its way into the cave.

Qin Xi looked away and his voice also resumed its indifference. “Alright. We should proceed now.”