Mo Tiange continued to trade some Kunwu spirit herbs for demon core materials. Among them were quite a few good items.
That troublesome Miss Hua finally didn't come to pester her, though she sat on the side with an unhappy expression, glaring at her from time to time.
Mo Tiange paid her no mind. She wasn't the childish type to begin with—why would she have the leisure to bicker with a sheltered young lady who'd never seen the world?
That "Junior Brother Tang" indeed had female cultivators willing to trade pills with him. She noticed that he actually ended up with more pills than anyone else—so many that the other male cultivators looked displeased. But there was nothing to be done about it; who told him to be so popular?
Not long after, the exchange meet finally concluded. Mo Tiange bid farewell to a few of the female cultivators she was more familiar with and descended from the pavilion.
Yiliu was waiting for her below. Seeing her come down, she approached and bowed. "Senior Ye."
Mo Tiange said, "Let's return."
"Yes." Yiliu responded and still led the way ahead.
Looking at Yiliu walking in front, Mo Tiange suddenly asked, "Does your sect have a Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Tang?"
Yiliu turned her head slightly and replied, "Senior Ye, Tang is the surname of our Grandmaster Qingxi, so there are many cultivators in our sect with that surname. I'm not sure which one you're referring to?"
"Oh?" Could that Junior Brother Tang be related to Elder Qingxi? "I mean a male cultivator, early Foundation Establishment stage, who arrived an hour late to the exchange meet just now."
Yiliu paused. She glanced at Mo Tiange cautiously and said carefully, "Senior Ye, are you referring to Uncle-Master Tang Shen? Uncle-Master Tang is the great-great-grandson of Grandmaster Qingxi."
"I see..." No wonder this person, though a male cultivator, seemed to hold a rather high status. Those female cultivators who called him 'Brother Tang' probably all came from influential families too? "Does he not have a dual cultivation partner?"
Yiliu gave her another careful look, weighing her words as she said, "Senior Ye, Uncle-Master Tang currently doesn't have a dual cultivation partner. However, discussions about his marriage are already underway—they just haven't been finalized yet."
Seeing her reaction, Mo Tiange knew Yiliu had misunderstood, but she didn't explain. She merely nodded to show she understood.
Yiliu thought for a moment, seemingly still somewhat uneasy, and added, "Our Grandmaster Qingxi dotes on Uncle-Master Tang very much. He grew up under Grandmaster Qingxi's care since childhood, so even though he's a male cultivator, his status within the sect is quite exceptional."
Mo Tiange could have seen that even if she were blind. She smiled and asked, "Do many people like him?"
Yiliu seemed startled by this direct question. After a pause, she nodded. "Yes. Uncle-Master Tang... is quite handsome, and he's a beloved descendant of Grandmaster Qingxi. Who wouldn't like him?"
This reason... Mo Tiange admitted that while shallow, it was also true. Many female disciples in the Xuanqing Sect also liked that Senior Brother Shoujing—weren't many of them drawn for similar reasons? However, seeing the blush rise on Yiliu's cheeks, she grew curious. "Are you one of them too?"
At this question, Yiliu froze for a moment, then hurriedly looked left and right before lowering her voice. "Senior Ye, please don't say such things carelessly! Over the matter of Uncle-Master Tang's dual cultivation partner, several aunts in the sect often end up fighting. If you talk like this, you'll get me killed!"
"Often fight?" Mo Tiange couldn't help but feel surprised. Given the sparks flying at the exchange meet, she wasn't surprised these women had fought before, but for it to be frequent was strange. Didn't their elders intervene?
"Yes." Perhaps this topic piqued Yiliu's interest in conversation. While carefully watching her surroundings, she said, "Under the three Grandmasters, many aunts like Uncle-Master Tang! Aunt Yang and Aunt Wen under Grandmaster Qingxi; Aunt Hua, Aunt Ming, and Aunt Yun under Grandmaster Qingmiao; and Aunt Liu under Grandmaster Qingyi—these are the ones who fight more fiercely. And there are quite a few others who compete less intensely... It can't be helped. In our Linhai, there are few high-level male cultivators, and even fewer who are handsome."
Hearing the surnames Yun and Liu, Mo Tiange's gaze flickered. So these two were under Qingmiao and Qingyi? But this had nothing to do with her. She had already decided to bury this matter and act as if she never knew.
"Senior Ye..." Seeing her gaze wandering as if she were thinking about something, Yiliu called out hesitantly.
"Hmm?" Mo Tiange responded absently.
Biting her lip, Yiliu finally resolved to speak. "Regarding Uncle-Master Tang's affairs, it's best if you don't get involved. You're a cultivator from Kunwu. The Grandmasters definitely wouldn't allow Uncle-Master Tang to leave with an outsider..."
Mo Tiange was taken aback, then chuckled silently. So Yiliu also thought she admired that Tang Shen? Though she had to admit, this Tang Shen was no less handsome than Qin Xi, but appearance wasn't everything.
"Don't worry, I have no other intentions." After saying this, they had already reached the VIP Pavilion, so she said no more and entered the room by herself.
There were still some menial-duty disciple servants in the VIP Pavilion. Yiliu glanced at them, swallowed her words, and followed inside. "Senior Ye."
"Is there something else?"
Yiliu hesitated for a moment before asking, "Senior Ye, I heard your alchemy skills are extremely profound. I... I wanted to ask, if we wanted to trade items with you for pills, would that be possible?"
Mo Tiange said, "I've already traded away all my Foundation Establishment pills. But if you want Qi Refining pills, I still have some left."
"Really?" Yiliu was overjoyed. "Senior Ye, Qi Refining pills are just fine! I have demon cores, Spirit Stones, and... these."
Upon learning there were still pills to trade, Yiliu hurriedly untied the Qiankun Bag from her waist. After rummaging through some items, she added, "Oh, Senior, please wait. Yiqiu has some on her too." Without waiting for Mo Tiange's reply, she excitedly ran out.
Mo Tiange shook her head with a smile and re-established her defensive formation.
When traveling outside, one must be cautious in all matters, especially when the people around you have designs on you. She had always been careful—making the Bixuan Pavilion feel she was useful, but not so useful that they'd consider imprisoning her. However, one could never be too wary of others; defensive formations were indispensable.
Not long after, Yiliu returned hurriedly with Yiqiu in tow, both wearing delighted expressions. As soon as Yiqiu arrived, she also took out her Qiankun Bag and produced several items. "Senior Ye, please take a look. Can we trade these with you for pills?"
Mo Tiange gave them a cursory glance. Each of them had one to two hundred Spirit Stones, a few first-rank demon cores, and some miscellaneous materials.
They were, after all, Qi Refining cultivators. What they could offer was far inferior to what those Foundation Establishment cultivators had.
Thinking she was dissatisfied, Yiliu said somewhat shyly, "Senior Ye, our sisters have low cultivation and can't obtain anything particularly good. These Spirit Stones are what we've saved up over a long time..."
Mo Tiange looked up with a smile, interrupting her. "Alright, I'll trade with you." She took out four jade bottles from her Qiankun Bag. "These two bottles contain Nourishing Qi Pills, the most commonly taken pills for Qi Refining cultivators. Each bottle contains thirty pills. These two bottles contain Gathering Qi Pills, which are ten times more effective than Nourishing Qi Pills. Each bottle contains ten pills."
The four jade bottles were placed on the table. Yiliu and Yiqiu were beside themselves with joy. According to Kunwu prices, these items were already worth five to six hundred Spirit Stones. In Linhai, where pills were even harder to obtain, their value far exceeded that.
Taking the pills, they eagerly opened them to look, repeatedly expressing their thanks. "Thank you for your generous gift, Senior Ye." They naturally knew that the Spirit Stones and items they offered couldn't match the value of these pills.
"No need for thanks. Consider it payment for taking care of my miscellaneous affairs these past days." Mo Tiange hadn't expected to get anything valuable back from two Qi Refining female cultivators. In any case, these were just leftovers from when she usually refined medicine for Zhenji.
Thinking of Zhenji, she spaced out for a moment. By now, Zhenji should have returned to Taikang Mountain and completed his Foundation Establishment Pill trial, right? She didn't know if he had passed. If he had, he should be in seclusion for Foundation Establishment.
She wasn't worried about Zhenji failing his Foundation Establishment. For ordinary cultivators, succeeding on the first attempt was rare anyway. With her master watching over him, nothing bad would happen even if he didn't succeed. Moreover, before leaving, she had secretly prepared several Foundation Establishment Pills and Foundation-Stabilizing Pills for Zhenji, placing them in a separate small bag and instructing him to only take them out when attempting Foundation Establishment. With the extra Foundation Establishment Pills she gave, Zhenji's chances of success were quite high. She just didn't know if he had listened to her...
Thinking of this, Mo Tiange suddenly felt like returning. Even though she had only been away for a little over a year, it felt like a very long time. She missed Zhenji a little, missed her master a little, missed that little cave abode... It had been nearly twenty years since she arrived at the Xuanqing Sect. Having family, a master, and friends, she truly regarded the Xuanqing Sect as her home.
This feeling... was good. At least when injured or weary, there was a place to return to.
Yiliu and Yiqiu withdrew after expressing profuse thanks. Mo Tiange touched the center of her brow and entered the Void Heaven Realm, contemplating what to do next.
Since she felt she had been away for a long time, should she return to the Xuanqing Sect?
From late Foundation Establishment to Foundation Establishment perfection, under normal circumstances with smooth cultivation, it would take thirty to fifty years. But given her extraordinary aptitude now, plus having far better pills than ordinary people, she estimated it would take about twenty years. As for Core Formation... perhaps she would need over a decade to prepare. As long as she wasn't too unlucky, her chances of forming her Core shouldn't be too low. She was only thirty-eight now. If things went smoothly, she could achieve Core Formation around seventy.
But Mo Tiange hesitated over this decision. If she returned and continued seclusion, then her previous deliberate suppression of her cultivation to prevent advancing too quickly would have been meaningless.
For ordinary cultivators, achieving Core Formation as quickly as possible was naturally best. In the current cultivation environment, even with great effort, it was extremely difficult for cultivators to form their Cores before a hundred years of age. That's why Tianji produced so few cultivators who achieved Core Formation before a hundred in a millennium—any who managed it were all called geniuses. That was also why her Senior Brother Shoujing, despite not showing outstanding aptitude, became so famous for achieving Core Formation before a hundred.
However, for her, the calculation couldn't be so simple. With a cultivation environment similar to the Primordial Era, the genius-level aptitude of that era, and countless pills, her spiritual energy increased rapidly, and she rarely encountered bottlenecks in advancement. Thus, achieving Core Formation before a hundred was almost a certainty.
But after all, this wasn't the Primordial Era. So problems ordinary people wouldn't encounter, she would.
Her nominal master had once sighed privately that her Senior Brother Shoujing had formed his Core too early—too young, with an unstable foundation. Fortunately, he liked to travel around on his own and had experienced quite a bit, so nothing bad happened. Because of this, her master repeatedly warned her that she must let her mental state catch up before attempting Core Formation. Advancing cultivation too aggressively was not a good thing.
Thinking of this, Mo Tiange felt indecisive. Only a year—the time spent traveling was still too short.