Several days later, two streaks of light soared from Qingquan Peak. After a brief pause, the white streak swept over the peak of Taikang Mountain and vanished into the horizon. The red streak remained hovering in mid-air for a long time without moving.
After quite a while, Qin Xi let out a soft sigh. Gazing at the now-empty sky, he waved his sleeve and descended.
Tian Ge had departed. It was time for him to continue his seclusion as well.
He was well aware that for cultivators, such separations were perfectly normal. Thus, he merely suppressed the faint sense of reluctance in his heart and calmly returned to his cave abode.
"Master." Ye Zhenji was there to greet him.
Qin Xi smiled. "Go cultivate. With your aunt gone, you must be even more diligent, understand?"
"Mm." Ye Zhenji revealed a smile. "Master, don't worry. I'm not a child anymore. I understand all that."
Qin Xi was momentarily taken aback. Thinking of this child's performance over the past three years, he also smiled. "You truly have changed after experiencing trials."
With his hands clasped behind his back, he walked into his seclusion chamber and instructed, "Your master will not emerge from seclusion for the next ten years. The cave abode is entrusted to you. Unless there is an urgent matter, do not disturb me."
"Understood, Master."
Traveling at a steady, unhurried pace, half a month later, Mo Tiange once again appeared at Linhai.
This time, she already had a destination in mind. After merely greeting Wei Haolan, she followed the now-familiar route out to sea.
Once in the ocean, Xiaofan became incredibly excited, joyfully splashing about in the water. Although there was water in the Xu Tian Realm, a small stream was no match for the vast sea, and it was a sea beast that had lived in the ocean since birth.
Mo Tiange watched with a smile as it swam circle after circle, finally returning to her side, lifting its head to say, "Master, where are we going?"
"To the place your grandfather mentioned," she said. "However, you're not familiar with these waters. It's better if you return for now. I'll fly you there."
"No need." Xiaofan flicked its tail, leaping agilely from the water's surface in a graceful arc. "This is the ocean. We Cang Dragons can smell the sea's scent. We won't get lost in the water."
"Hmm?" Mo Tiange was momentarily stunned. "You've never been here before, so far from where you lived. Can you really swim back?"
"Mm." Xiaofan nodded its head seriously. "Master, don't worry. It's an instinct of us Cang Dragons." It then looked at her with pleading eyes. "Master, sit on my back. Let me swim you to the destination, okay? I want to swim..."
Faced with such a beseeching look, what else could Mo Tiange say? Looking down, she saw its injuries had healed. Its tail was strong and agile; the force from that earlier flick could probably shatter stone. Her sitting on it would certainly be no problem.
"Alright. If you get tired, just say so."
"Mm!" Xiaofan leaped up joyfully, landing back in the water with a splash. "Master, come on quickly. Let's go now."
Seeing its eagerness, Mo Tiange smiled gently. Casting a simple Water-Evasion Art, she sat on Xiaofan's back and let it lead the way.
Xiaofan's body was over ten feet long. Its tail was agile, its fins powerful. In the vast sea, it was like an arrow shot from a bow. Its speed, while not matching her flight speed, wasn't much slower either.
At first, Mo Tiange would still check her corrected route map to see if they were swimming in the right direction. Later, discovering that Xiaofan indeed possessed an extremely accurate sense of direction in the sea as it claimed, she stopped worrying about it. Instead, she used the travel time to study Mo Yaoqing's cultivation insights.
Thus, human and beast leisurely swam towards the depths of the East Sea.
In the coastal waters, there were only some low-rank demon beasts. Those beasts, seeing Xiaofan who was already Fifth-Rank, naturally dared not approach. As they ventured deeper into the East Sea, although high-rank demon beasts occasionally appeared, they dared not draw near due to the powerful aura emanating from Mo Tiange. A Sixth-Rank human and a Fifth-Rank Cang Dragon were not opponents ordinary demon beasts could afford to provoke.
It wasn't until two months later, when Mo Tiange sensed the pressure of a Seventh-Rank demon beast, that she reluctantly put the unwilling Xiaofan into the spirit beast pouch. Clouds formed beneath her feet as she took to high-altitude flight on her Treading Cloud Boots.
The deeper they went, the higher the rank of the demon beasts. This time, she had a clear goal. It was better to avoid these beasts.
Once the aura of the Seventh-Rank demon beast disappeared, Mo Tiange released Xiaofan and asked, "Xiaofan, can you navigate if you're not in the sea?"
Xiaofan floated in mid-air, nodding its head. "Yes, but it will be slower."
"Mm, that's fine." Slower was unimportant; safety was paramount. If she let Xiaofan continue swimming in the sea, the aura of a human cultivator would likely alert those high-rank demon beasts, leading to unavoidable fierce battles. Flying high from the air, as long as she was sufficiently high, those beasts' senses wouldn't be accurate, and they generally wouldn't act rashly.
The monotonous journey lasted four months—the one month the old Cang Dragon mentioned was Mo Yaoqing's speed. When Mo Yaoqing came to Tianji, she was already a Nascent Soul cultivator. Even traveling leisurely, her speed was much faster than Mo Tiange's.
Four months later, as the surrounding high-rank demon beasts grew increasingly numerous, Mo Tiange finally spotted the large island with the volcano. She breathed a sigh of relief. If she still couldn't find it, she would have to consider turning back first. Seventh-Rank demon beasts were already common here; an Eighth-Rank one might appear at any time, which would be dangerous.
"Master, it's there." Xiaofan's voice sounded in her mind.
Mo Tiange looked down. The large island spanned several hundred li, at least ten times larger than the small island where Mo Yaoqing had resided, and its terrain was completely different.
The island was mostly mountainous rock, riddled with ravines, a mix of sand and stone, with only a small amount of soil, so even plants were scarce. Most importantly, the island had not a trace of spiritual qi, so there weren't even any demon beasts nearby.
For Mo Tiange, this was good news. The island lacked a spirit vein, thus it couldn't attract demon beasts. This way, she wouldn't have to face any unknown beasts.
At the island's center stood a raised volcano, showing no signs of eruption, cold and devoid of any heat. Mo Tiange flew over the volcano and looked down. Inside was pitch black, impossible to see clearly. Sweeping it with her divine sense and detecting no danger, she slowly descended towards the crater.
As she descended lower, Mo Tiange gradually made out the interior of the volcano. No lava, no heat, only cold volcanic walls. It was very dark inside, difficult to see.
Mo Tiange opened her hand. Light gathered in her palm as the Heaven-Earth Fan appeared. The fan pendant emitted a faint white glow.
When exploring Mo Yaoqing's cave abode last time, she found it inconvenient to take out the Moonlight Mother Stone for illumination each time. So, she simply polished the Moonlight Mother Stone into a fan pendant and attached it to the Heaven-Earth Fan, making it much more convenient to hold.
"Grandfather said there's water below. Let me go down first," Xiaofan, who had been descending alongside her, spoke up.
Mo Tiange paused, then nodded. "Mm."
Not long after Xiaofan descended, Mo Tiange indeed heard the sound of water. Then Xiaofan's voice rang out, "Master, come down. The water isn't very deep."
Holding the Heaven-Earth Fan, she carefully descended to the bottom of the volcano. Mo Tiange looked around, somewhat puzzled. "Is there a path here?"
The bottom of the volcano had a shallow stream, but she couldn't see any path around.
"It's in the water," Xiaofan said. "Master, sit on my back."
After brief consideration, Mo Tiange cast a Water-Evasion Art and sat on Xiaofan's back. Xiaofan flicked its tail and dove sharply into the water.
The Moonlight Mother Stone emitted its faint glow, illuminating only a narrow space around them. Mo Tiange extended her divine sense and indeed discovered a passage in the water, though she didn't know where it led.
Once in the water, Xiaofan was incredibly agile. After swimming for a while, its speed increased. Mo Tiange felt it diving deeper and deeper, the pressure on the spiritual energy shield of the Water-Evasion Art growing stronger.
Of course, she was now a Core Formation cultivator. The water pressure meant little to her. She was merely perplexed. Water flows to lower ground. Xiaofan was diving downwards. Could this path be an underwater route? According to the scattered records in Mo Yaoqing's jade slip, it took her considerable time to reach Tianji. Would they have to dive underwater for several months?
Fortunately, her confusion didn't last long. After swimming for half a day, Xiaofan began to surface.
The ascent grew faster. Suddenly, with a splash, human and beast broke through the water's surface.
Countless water droplets dripped from the spiritual energy shield. Mo Tiange waved her hand, dispelling the Water-Evasion Art, and spread out her divine sense.
This was an underground river, winding and twisting, leading to a place extremely far away—so far her divine sense couldn't detect its end. The surrounding rock walls were completely irregular in shape.
Xiaofan carried her, slowly swimming forward. The river water was icy cold; even as a demon beast, it felt rather uncomfortable.
"Xiaofan, maybe I should fly with you instead."
Xiaofan shook its head, refusing. "No need, Master. I like the feeling of swimming in water."
"But this water..."
"It's fine." Xiaofan slapped its tail. Instantly, a layer of azure qi rose from its scales, enveloping its entire body. "This way, it's not uncomfortable."
Mo Tiange examined it carefully and found this was also a type of protective spiritual energy. She nodded. "Alright."
They swam for an unknown length of time in the dark river channel, surrounded only by the sound of rushing water and Xiaofan's swimming. Mo Tiange held the Heaven-Earth Fan, keeping her divine sense constantly spread out.
This river channel had no spirit vein, so even if there were fish in the water, they were only ordinary fish that dared not approach her and Xiaofan.
Several days later, Mo Tiange frowned, detecting spiritual qi.
Then, Xiaofan also stopped. "Master, there's a spirit vein ahead."
"Mm." Mo Tiange focused her divine sense for a moment. "No living creatures. Continue."
Xiaofan acknowledged and continued swimming forward.
The spiritual qi grew increasingly dense. Mo Tiange looked at the surrounding rock walls and discovered it was actually a spirit stone mine. However, the grade of the spirit stones didn't seem very high; it appeared to be only a small vein.
As human and beast passed through the middle of the spirit stone mine, Mo Tiange, with sharp eyes, noticed something seemed to be growing on a certain spirit stone. She hurriedly said, "Wait."
Xiaofan stopped. "What's wrong?"
Mo Tiange carefully pried a piece of jade emitting a faint white glow from the rock wall and examined it closely.
"A Spirit Gathering Stone?" Looking at the jade in her hand, she was astonished. "It's actually a Spirit Gathering Stone!"
Hearing her voice, Xiaofan asked curiously, "Master, what's a Spirit Gathering Stone?"
Confirming the object in her hand was indeed a Spirit Gathering Stone, Mo Tiange stored it in her Qiankun Bag and said, "A Spirit Gathering Stone is a type of jade that occasionally appears in spirit stone mines. It looks similar to a spirit stone, but it has one effect: it can concentrate spiritual energy to an extreme degree. In the processes of alchemy and artifact refining, how to concentrate spiritual energy and seal it into pills or magical treasures is the most difficult step. With a Spirit Gathering Stone, the success rate of alchemy and artifact refining can be improved."
"Oh..." Demon beasts didn't understand alchemy or artifact refining, so Xiaofan responded with only half-comprehension.
Mo Tiange hadn't expected a Spirit Gathering Stone to appear in this small vein. It was a pleasant surprise. She instructed Xiaofan, "Swim a few more circles nearby. Let's search."