The carriage traveled for an unknown length of time. Mo Tiange sat dazedly huddled in the corner, feeling every moment was torture.
Li Yushan paid her no mind, focusing on his own seated cultivation.
The carriage suddenly stopped. The driver's voice came from outside: "Immortal Master, we've arrived at Liancheng."
Li Yushan opened his eyes and grunted in acknowledgment, then grabbed Mo Tiange to disembark.
Seeing his outstretched hand, Mo Tiange tried to dodge, but it was useless. She was still dragged off the carriage.
Liancheng was the major city that Mo Village belonged to. Many villagers from Mo Village never visited Liancheng in their entire lives. But Mo Tiange had no mind to see what Liancheng looked like; she was just numbly led by Li Yushan into some inn.
After securing a room, Li Yushan hauled her inside, tossed her into a corner, and ordered a spread of dishes for himself.
Before leaving in the morning, Mo Tiange had told Tian Qiao. But even if they found out she had been kidnapped, they wouldn't pursue her for her sake. Moreover, the one who captured her was no ordinary person. In the face of cultivators, mortal lives were too fragile.
Since she couldn't rely on others, she could only rely on herself. First, her Spiritual Qi was suppressed, but not forever. Li Yushan had also said she needed to improve her cultivation to be useful to him, so he would still let her cultivate. That meant she would have an opportunity. Second, he said it would take at least a few more years before she was useful, so she wouldn't be in danger during those years. Thinking this, she resolved that survival was most important. As long as she lived, she had years to plan an escape.
Not long after, the innkeeper brought the food. Li Yushan picked up his chopsticks and said, "Eat if you want. If you don't and get hungry, I won't care."
Her stomach was indeed hungry, but the thought of sharing a table with this man disgusted Mo Tiange. She struggled for a moment, then stood up and slowly walked over. The food was plentiful. Although Li Yushan was a low-level cultivator, in the eyes of mortals, he was an Immortal, so of course he lived well.
Seeing Mo Tiange lower her head and take a few mouthfuls of rice, Li Yushan smiled with satisfaction, savoring his wine alone.
Since Mo Tiange was willing to submit, he had nothing to worry about. Next, he just needed to find a reliable method to control her, then raise her for five or six years... As for now, he had no mind to travel the world. He would just find a place to cultivate slowly.
Speaking of cultivation, of course Kunwu was the best. This Spirit Vein spanned the southern part of the Tianji Region, endless and continuous, always offering places to cultivate. Other places either lacked such a large Spirit Vein or their Spirit Veins were already occupied.
Having decided, he looked at Mo Tiange again. Seeing her obediently eating her rice, not daring to make a sound, he felt even more at ease.
After the meal, Li Yushan prepared to sit in cultivation again, but looking at Mo Tiange, he felt somewhat uneasy. He rummaged on his person, pulled out several disks similar to the Spirit Disk, then took out a few Small Flags. With a wave of his hand, he arranged them at the four corners of the room.
Mo Tiange had never seen such things and watched curiously.
In an excellent mood, Li Yushan explained: "This is a Spirit-Sealing Array. It not only blocks Spiritual Qi but also has defensive functions. Don't even think about escaping."
An array? In that book by Layman Qinglian, it was recorded that the Dao of Arrays had long been passed down to the Mortal Realm. Mortals used the superficial rudiments (rudiments) of arrays passed down from the cultivation world for military formations. But the arrays of the cultivation world were certainly not limited to such minor power. Arrays from the ancient times had the power to slay heavens and split earth. Even now, there were some arrays of immense power. Some sects' mountain-protecting arrays were even the foundation of their establishment.
However, now was not the time for Mo Tiange's thirst for knowledge (thirst for knowledge - thirst for knowledge). Li Yushan threw a quilt at her, rummaged in his pack for a while, picked out a book, and tossed it over, saying, "Stay put." Then he went back to his own cultivation.
Mo Tiange looked at him, then lowered her head to spread out the quilt and picked up the book to flip through. The book was called 'Compendium of Spiritual Objects'. She opened it and saw it was indeed an illustrated guide as the name suggested, recording various spiritual herbs and objects with accompanying pictures.
Actually, this was just some of the most common things in the cultivation world. In Kunwu, only Loose Cultivators coming from the secular world would need this book. But Mo Tiange found it precious. She had never been exposed to things from the cultivation world, and Layman Qinglian was just an ordinary Loose Cultivator; what he wrote was only a general overview, not detailing the origins and uses of spiritual herbs and objects like this, let alone having pictures.
With this book, Mo Tiange felt the night wouldn't be too hard to bear. She read while occasionally paying attention to Li Yushan's condition.
Gradually, Spiritual Qi gathered in the room. This Spiritual Qi was very thin, so thin that Mo Tiange could barely sense it. She couldn't help but glance at Li Yushan on the bed.
Li Yushan was breathing in and out, the Spiritual Power slowly gathering around him.
Mo Tiange watched, then secretly moved her right hand to her left wrist, pulling out the string of glazed beads. Then, she saw the beads visibly absorb the Spiritual Qi in the room at a speed discernible to the naked eye. Before long, the Spiritual Qi in the room was completely drained.
Li Yushan frowned, a look of confusion appearing on his face. He cultivated for a while longer but still couldn't sense any Spiritual Qi. Finally, he opened his eyes and stopped cultivating.
Mo Tiange hurriedly averted her gaze, but Li Yushan had already noticed and immediately fixed his eyes on her.
After watching for a moment, Li Yushan jerked his chin at her: "Come here!"
Mo Tiange didn't move.
Angered, Li Yushan came over, grabbed her, and demanded, "Was it you playing tricks?"
Mo Tiange's face turned deathly pale. She just shook her head repeatedly.
Li Yushan glared at her for a long moment, as if searching for something. But after looking for a good while, he found nothing unusual about her. A spiritual artifact? Of course she wouldn't have one. Even Li Yushan himself only had one Small Flying Sword, and it was of the lowest grade. He wouldn't normally take it out, let alone use it. Besides, how could using a spiritual artifact escape his eyes? As for techniques, her Spiritual Qi had long been sealed, so she couldn't possibly use magic to cause trouble. Yet the fact remained that the Spiritual Qi in the room had suddenly vanished.
Unable to figure it out, Li Yushan released her, throwing her back, his own face full of confusion.
Thrown back, Mo Tiange had been grabbed by the collar, her throat squeezed uncomfortably. Now free, she coughed repeatedly.
Li Yushan gave her a disgusted look, sat back down, but didn't resume cultivation. Instead, he kept glancing at her from time to time.
Mo Tiange just kept her head down, tears dripping one by one onto her clothes.
Seeing her like this, Li Yushan frowned but stopped suspecting her. She was just a little girl, her cultivation lower than his, her Spiritual Qi sealed. He didn't believe she could play any tricks right under his nose.
He didn't notice Mo Tiange unconsciously tightening her grip on her sleeve. Originally, she was just pretending to cry to make Li Yushan stop suspecting her. But thinking of her current situation, she really started crying.
Since her mother died, she hadn't cried again, because her mother didn't want her to be sad, and because she knew no one would care for her anymore—she could only rely on herself. But now, the more she thought, the more terrified she became. She didn't know what this man wanted to do to her, but it certainly wasn't good. If she couldn't escape, would she become a tool for the rest of her life, unable to cultivate properly, unable to find her father... The imagined terrifying scenes made her face turn pale.