Qin Xi was in a foul mood.
Realizing this, Mo Tiange returned to their temporary residence and was about to head to her own room when Qin Xi spoke up behind her. "Wait."
His tone wasn't exactly pleasant, though it was clearly restrained. So Mo Tiange stopped, her attitude calm. "Senior Brother Shoujing, is there something else?"
Qin Xi hesitated for a moment. "About today's events... I should still speak with you."
Mo Tiange was taken aback. "Does Senior Brother think it was improper for me to produce such treasures?"
Qin Xi shook his head. "We are not rootless loose cultivators. With our sect and master as backing, occasionally bringing out some treasures is nothing. On the contrary, it makes people think our Xuanqing Sect is not to be trifled with."
"Then... what is it?"
Qin Xi's probing gaze swept over her face. "That Ten Thousand Year Spirit Herb... was it perhaps gifted to you by your ancestor back then?"
"Correct." Mo Tiange had long considered how to answer this question, so her reply was crisp.
Qin Xi nodded. This was the only answer he could think of.
"Is that what Senior Brother wanted to say?"
"Of course not." Qin Xi said. "What I wanted to discuss with you is the matter of Jing Xingzhi."
"Oh? Is there a problem with this Fellow Daoist Jing?"
"He..." Qin Xi paused, then said, "I've known this person since shortly after I formed my Core. He is the disciple of Sword Venerable Chongguang of the Ancient Sword Sect, but Sword Venerable Chongguang perished a hundred years ago. The disciples of his faction have an awkward status within the Ancient Sword Sect. Because of this unfair treatment within the sect, Jing Xingzhi's personality is rather peculiar. He loves to provoke female cultivators but is unwilling to take responsibility. You..."
"Is Senior Brother Shoujing worried I might be bewitched by this person?" Before he could finish, Mo Tiange interrupted him, stating it bluntly.
Her straightforward use of the word 'bewitched' caused Qin Xi's face to flush slightly. He turned away somewhat uncomfortably. "I'm just giving you a word of caution."
Mo Tiange tugged at the corner of her mouth in a semblance of a smile. "Thank you for your kind advice, Senior Brother. May I return to rest now?"
"..."
Qin Xi looked awkward and nodded.
Mo Tiange then turned and went back to her room.
Returning to her room, Mo Tiange sat down and rubbed her temples.
She admitted she had felt a flicker of displeasure earlier. Was she really such a shallow person? No matter how handsome like spring blossoms or honey-tongued Jing Xingzhi might be, it had nothing to do with her. Yet, Qin Xi's caution, in the end, stemmed from concern for her. Thinking this, she calmed down again.
Truthfully, meeting again after thirty-five years, she couldn't figure out what Qin Xi was really thinking anymore. She knew, from a cultivator's perspective, Qin Xi treated her extremely well. When she was injured in the Myriad Laws of Nature Formation, he went out to search for medicine for her. For the trip to Tianmo Mountain, even though her cultivation wasn't sufficient, he was still willing to bring her along.
She didn't know if this was the camaraderie of a fellow disciple who had weathered hardships together—that Senior Brother Qin—or if it was the care of Perfected Lord Shoujing, her father's comrade-in-arms, for a junior. Feeling grateful was one thing, but rationally, she didn't want to spend too much time with this version of Senior Brother Shoujing.
Perhaps she had been too strong-willed all her life. As a child, she had to read better than boys like Tian Jun. Later, she always thought of achieving the Immortal Dao, unwilling to slack in her cultivation because she was a female cultivator. Later still, she finally made her way, gaining talent, a master... But at this point, she was even less willing to indulge herself, single-mindedly viewing those genius cultivators as her targets.
Now, it wasn't that she had no regrets in her heart. If he had remained that Senior Brother Qin... perhaps she would have spoken her mind, seeking a future for herself. But... he wasn't just Senior Brother Qin; he was Perfected Lord Shoujing.
She didn't want to look up to someone like that, to become a little woman under his protection.
Moreover, she couldn't fathom his thoughts. He was a person with such a firm Dao heart; he had probably never considered the matter of dual cultivation. What if she invested too much emotion and ended up like Wei Jiasi, or like Ruan Mingzhu? She admitted she was cowardly, not daring to pursue as persistently as they did, because her ultimate goal was still to achieve the Great Dao. She was unwilling to give it up for anything.
So, let it be.
However, since leaving the mountain, this Senior Brother Shoujing's attitude towards her, while still caring in every way, clearly held resentment. She couldn't figure it out no matter how much she thought—what exactly was he resentful about? Because she caused him to go out searching for medicine and get severely injured? With his level of mental cultivation, it shouldn't be that.
Since she couldn't understand, she simply put it out of her mind. Mo Tiange set up her disguises outside and entered the Void Heaven Realm.
The Crystal Soul Jade obtained from the trade meet was stored in the Void Heaven Realm for now, while the two stone puppet dolls were kept on her person. Although these puppets only had late Foundation Establishment cultivation, they possessed immense strength and might come in handy.
Next were her two spirit beasts, Xiaohuo and Feifei. Recently, she had been letting them roam freely in the Void Heaven Realm. The two beasts kept each other company, sometimes fighting, sometimes playing, and had developed a good bond. Moreover, during her closed-door cultivation to form her Core, she had them cultivate seriously as well. Now, Xiaohuo was at the peak of the fourth rank, attempting to break through to the fifth. Feifei was slightly behind, having just reached the fourth rank.
Spirit beast advancement was much simpler than for human cultivators. They didn't require mental cultivation or face inner demons. And as for the spirit herbs in the Void Heaven Realm, Mo Tiange herself could use very few of them, so she always let the beasts eat whatever they wanted.
With the endless supply of spirit herbs and the dense Spiritual Qi in the Void Heaven Realm, Xiaohuo and Feifei cultivated at a speed countless times faster than other people's spirit beasts.
Feifei was one thing; it had no offensive skills and wouldn't break through to the fifth rank anytime soon. But after discovering that Xiaohuo's fire spells were exceptionally powerful and it could fully serve as a combat spirit beast, Mo Tiange deliberately nurtured it. Not only did she let it eat the spirit herbs in the Void Heaven Realm freely, she also specifically refined Foundation Consolidation Pills for its advancement.
She was just about to go check on the other bamboo hut she used as a Spirit Beast Room to see how the two beasts were doing when Feifei came running in from outside. It threw itself beside her, grabbing the hem of her robe.
Mo Tiange bent down, picked up Feifei, and patted its head. "What's wrong? Have you been cultivating properly?"
Feifei whimpered twice, tugging at her clothes as if to pull her outside.
Mo Tiange was puzzled. "Is something the matter?"
Feifei shook its head as if nodding, constantly looking back towards the Spirit Beast Room.
Mo Tiange frowned, carrying Feifei as she walked towards the Spirit Beast Room.
Xiaohuo was in the midst of its advancement. Could something have gone wrong? The Spiritual Qi fluctuations didn't seem abnormal.
When she reached the outside of the Spirit Beast Room and pushed the door open, she saw Xiaohuo curled up in a corner, cultivating with its eyes closed. A fiery red spiritual glow enveloped its body, dyeing the entire room a bloody crimson.
Feifei cried out twice more, not daring to disturb Xiaohuo. It just circled around it a couple of times before running back to grab the hem of her robe again.
Mo Tiange carefully sensed the situation, then smiled and bent down to stroke Feifei's head. "Don't worry. Xiaohuo is about to advance. Let's not disturb it."
Feifei seemed not to fully understand, but seeing her comforting it, it obediently followed her out and back to the main room.
The red glow on Xiaohuo was its fire-attribute Spiritual Qi. Such vigorous fire Spiritual Qi clearly indicated its advancement was successful, and it was currently in the stage of stabilizing its realm.
Mo Tiange felt joy in her heart. If Xiaohuo could successfully advance to the fifth rank, with its unique Sun's True Fire, it would surely be a great help to her. This way, she would have another means of self-protection.
For the next few days, Mo Tiange even declined gatherings with their traveling companions, focusing solely on staying within the Void Heaven Realm, waiting for Xiaohuo's advancement to conclude.
Spirit beast advancement was much simpler than for human cultivators. Xiaohuo's advancement was already a success; it just needed to stabilize its Spiritual Qi to become a fifth-rank spirit beast.
Five days later, finally, just before they were to depart, Xiaohuo finished its advancement and emerged from the Spirit Beast Room.
And at this time, Qin Xi also informed her it was time to set off for Tianmo Mountain.
Leaving Feifei in the Void Heaven Realm and bringing Xiaohuo out, Mo Tiange packed all her belongings and went to see Qin Xi.
Qin Xi was in the main hall. Though holding a teacup, he was motionless, his gaze fixed on empty space, lost in thought. Sensing her arrival with his spiritual sense, he turned his head, and his eyes immediately fell on Xiaohuo.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face. "Xiaohuo... advanced?"
Mo Tiange nodded. "Just recently."
"Oh..." Qin Xi looked at Xiaohuo, his expression turning strange. During the more than twenty years she wasn't at the Xuanqing Sect, Xiaohuo had been with Ye Zhenji, and Ye Zhenji lived in his cave abode. For those twenty-odd years, initially there were the pills she had refined. After those ran out, he hadn't been stingy either, continuing as before, never letting Xiaohuo go without pills.
Cultivators in Kunwu never raised spirit beasts so extravagantly. Even among Nascent Soul cultivators, few were so generous to their spirit beasts, and the beasts worthy of such treatment were invariably rare breeds. If others knew that a Blazing Fire Beast, found everywhere in Kunwu, had been raised like this, they'd probably wish they could dig out all the pills Xiaohuo had consumed. And Xiaohuo was strange too. Many low-level cultivators also raised Blazing Fire Beasts, but none had ever mutated to look like it.
Now, what Qin Xi found even stranger was that during those twenty-odd years, Xiaohuo had been eating pills constantly and only went from the second rank to the third. Yet in the same amount of time now, Xiaohuo had actually advanced to the fifth rank!
Qin Xi himself also had a spirit beast, though he rarely used it in combat. But he knew how difficult raising a spirit beast was. He had a Chongming Bird he had raised for over a hundred years, and it was only at the fifth rank now. Although he hadn't raised it like Xiaohuo, he hadn't skimped on pills either. Yet Xiaohuo had been raised to the fifth rank by her in such a short time.
He instinctively felt something was off. Once suspicion arose, upon closer thought, there were even more questionable points. Master said Tian Ge's Alchemy Technique was excellent, like that time he saw Zhenji feeding pills to Xiaohuo—they were refined to perfection. But what was even more astonishing was that they used thousand-year spirit herbs as materials. Even if she had received many spirit herbs from that Ascension cultivator sixty years ago, it shouldn't be so extravagant, right?
Her Alchemy Technique must be the result of refining many pills. But where did she get all those spirit herbs for alchemy practice? In the entire Clear Spring Peak, his Alchemy Technique was the best, a result of Master deliberately nurturing him after seeing his talent. Usually, whenever there were spirit herbs, they were always sent to him. And her? Where did she get so many spirit herbs to practice with? Moreover, she seemed to rarely request spirit herbs from the Duty Hall...
Mo Tiange felt uneasy under his gaze and couldn't help but ask, "Senior Brother Shoujing, aren't we leaving?"
"Oh." Qin Xi snapped out of his thoughts and stood up. "Then let's go."
Watching him walk out of the small courtyard, Mo Tiange was filled with questions. She put Xiaohuo into her spirit beast pouch and followed him out.