Mo Tiange was unaware of the conversation between the Ling brothers. After resting for half a day, her spiritual qi had already recovered. At that moment, spiritual qi fluctuations emanated from not far away, and a golden "fox" came running towards them.
"Squeak!" Feifei crashed headlong into Mo Tiange's embrace, rubbing against her affectionately as if acting spoiled.
Mo Tiange casually picked up a medicinal pill and fed it to him, appearing like an ordinary cultivator soothing their spirit beast, but the two were communicating via divine sense.
"Feifei, why are you back? Did you find anything?" Although the terrain of Carefree Valley was complex and the spiritual qi chaotic, for Feifei, these were not problems. The Feifei was a spirit beast lacking in combat ability but capable of quickly adapting to its surroundings. Its own spiritual qi was extremely gentle, almost never clashing with other auras. Mo Tiange remembered when she had obtained that stele recording the so-called Divine Dragon secret technique from Ren Yu-Feng, she had nearly lost her mind. It was Feifei who saved her. His spiritual qi was gentle and stable, capable of calming and clearing the mind.
Feifei wagged his tail, "gulp" swallowing the pill, then raised his head, answering a question with a question: "What's this? No Azure Cloud Pills?"
"..." Mo Tiange rapped his head. "With so many people around, how could I take out Azure Cloud Pills? If others knew I was feeding Azure Cloud Pills to a spirit beast, wouldn't they immediately develop murderous intent?"
Even in Yunzhong, pills like Azure Cloud Pills were not common. At most, these Core Formation cultivators could ensure they themselves had a steady supply of such pills; feeding them to spirit beasts was out of the question.
Feifei licked his lips, unsatisfied, and half-heartedly accepted this explanation: "Fine... but, Master, after this business is done, you have to give me a bottle."
"..." He was even bargaining now. Mo Tiange was speechless for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. "Understood. First, tell me what you encountered."
"Nothing much," Feifei said lazily, leaning against her embrace after finishing the pill while grinding his teeth. "Just... a sacrificial temple, that's all."
"A sacrificial temple?" Mo Tiange was taken aback. "What kind of temple?"
"Hmm, a temple dedicated to the Divine Beast Xuanwu. There are some strange things inside."
"Divine Beast Xuanwu?" Mo Tiange pressed. "You mean the Xuanwu of the Four Symbols and Five Spirits?"
"Of course. What other Divine Beast Xuanwu is there?" Feifei replied nonchalantly while grooming his beautiful fur. "I never thought that after so many years, one could still find a temple dedicated to one of the Four Great Divine Beasts in the mortal realm... Hmm, but it looks very ancient, probably something from millions of years ago."
Millions of years ago... Could it be from the primordial era when the Divine Realm was first established and the demon and spirit realms had not yet separated? Mo Tiange suddenly remembered an experience from many years ago. She had once discovered a Divine Dragon Sacrificial Temple beneath the extreme northern glaciers of Tianji, at the bottom of the Extreme North Sea. Looking at the murals inside, it was indeed something from millions of years ago. Could there be some connection between the two?
"Where is this temple?"
"Hmm, that's really hard to say." After grooming his golden fur, Feifei began inspecting his claws. "Stone took me there. Roughly to the west, there's a waterfall. Below that waterfall, the three qi intertwine, forming a vortex. It's right under that vortex."
"..." Feifei wasn't very good with directions. This was related to him always being able to find guides, and besides, he was inherently lazy, too lazy to remember such things.
"Don't look at me like that," Feifei said lazily, leaning in her embrace and rolling over. "Even if I can't explain it clearly, taking you there is no problem."
"...Alright." Mo Tiange was already quite satisfied that he could say that. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "So you've been inside that temple? What exactly is the situation? What's inside?"
"A temple is a temple. What situation?"
"Feifei!"
"Alright, alright!" Feifei raised his paws in surrender. "You're the master, you call the shots. What do you want to know?"
"What does the temple look like? Are there any signs of people? Since it enshrines Xuanwu, does it have any wondrous power?"
Feifei tilted his head in thought, then slowly said, "That temple is huge, with many tunnels. If Stone hadn't led the way, I would have definitely gotten lost. Inside, there's a main hall enshrining a giant statue of Xuanwu. Hmm... the aura is incredibly powerful." A look of confusion appeared in Feifei's eyes. "It's very strange. A temple from millions of years ago actually retains such a powerful Divine Beast aura that hasn't dissipated."
"The Breath of Xuanwu?" Mo Tiange tentatively asked.
"Exactly. It is indeed the Breath of Xuanwu." Feifei wagged his tail, clicking his tongue in regret. "Why isn't it the White Tiger?"
"What about the White Tiger?" Mo Tiange didn't understand his meaning. "What's the difference between the White Tiger and Xuanwu?"
"Dummy!" Feifei gave her a sidelong glance. "The Four Symbols and Five Spirits each have their own Five Elements attribute. Xuanwu belongs to water, the White Tiger to metal. If it were the White Tiger, since I am both a descendant of a Divine Beast and my Five Elements attribute is metal, I could absorb the White Tiger's breath to enhance my strength."
"..."
"What's that look? Don't you believe me?"
"No... continue."
Feifei thought for a moment, then added, "That Breath of Xuanwu is extremely powerful. It's really strange that the demon beasts surviving in this Carefree Valley can retain the three qi simultaneously. It has a lot to do with this Xuanwu Ritual Temple."
"What kind of relationship?"
"Hmm..." Feifei pondered for quite a while before saying, "Put it this way: the reason they can survive in such a bizarre environment is precisely because of the Breath of Xuanwu. After coming into contact with the demon beasts here, I discovered they all carry a faint trace of the Breath of Xuanwu."
Mo Tiange fell silent for a long while. Feifei blinked and asked, "Master, what are you thinking?"
"Wait..." Mo Tiange felt she had grasped a key point. The Extreme North Sea, the Divine Dragon Sacrificial Temple, the Breath of the Divine Dragon, the Divine Dragon stele. Yunzhong's Carefree Valley, the Xuanwu Ritual Temple, the Breath of Xuanwu, the demon beasts surviving by relying on this Breath of Xuanwu... There must be some connection between these two temples. Listening to Feifei's description, the existence of this Xuanwu Ritual Temple was very similar to the Divine Dragon Sacrificial Temple she had seen. Both had intense Divine Beast auras and an enshrining main hall.
"Does this temple contain the remains of the Divine Beast Xuanwu?" Mo Tiange asked.
Feifei thought for a while, then shook his head. "Don't know, didn't see any. The temple is too big. Stone only took me in for a look."
If the temple also contained the remains of the Divine Beast Xuanwu, then this temple would completely match the Divine Dragon Sacrificial Temple she had seen. It would definitely be from the same period, and very likely the work of the same group of people.
For some reason, she always felt there must be some secret within. Otherwise, the Divine Beast's breath couldn't possibly be preserved for so long.
"It seems I must go," Mo Tiange murmured. "I must go there."
Feifei glanced around and said, "Master, are you going alone, or taking them with you?"
"This..." Mo Tiange was stunned. This was indeed a problem. The result of the last time she discovered the Divine Dragon Sacrificial Temple was that out of the large group that went, more than half died or were injured. If she took others to the Xuanwu Ritual Temple this time, problems would surely arise again. The Breath of a Divine Beast—she didn't believe any cultivator could resist such temptation. One could say, the higher the cultivation level, the harder it is to resist. And this time, her companions were all extremely powerful. She had absolutely no guarantee of certain victory.
But if she didn't take them, how would she get to the temple? This trip was at Ling Yunhe's invitation. The reason there were six people was because they needed to cooperate and unite to ensure safety within Carefree Valley. If she left these people, even with all her spiritual treasures and the help of three fifth-rank spirit beasts, she didn't think she could definitely leave safely.
"If it's not feasible, I'll just have to come back later to see..." After thinking for a long time, Mo Tiange felt there was no perfect strategy. She wasn't an impulsive person. Since she couldn't guarantee safety, it was better to come back another time.
"Whatever. It's not the White Tiger anyway, has nothing to do with me." Feifei yawned, lazily leaned against her embrace, found a comfortable position, and went to sleep, leaving Mo Tiange alone to continue pondering.
Five days passed in a flash. As expected, Yang Chengji finished healing his injuries on the third day and returned to join them. And Ling Yunhe also regained his vigor by the fifth day. Mo Tiange guessed their injuries weren't actually fully healed; they had just used some secret techniques to suppress them. She didn't care about that. She just wanted to leave this place safely. Whether their cultivation levels dropped significantly afterward was none of her concern.
Over these past few days, Yang Chengji and Ling Yunhe had focused on healing. Ling Yunfei seemed preoccupied with something. Tian Can was lazy, seemingly unwilling to bother with anything. Only Tian Zhiqian often came to talk with her, discussing the Dao of formations.
This Tian Zhiqian was said to have joined the Five Elements Valley in his youth and had been immersed in the Dao of formations since childhood. Although his aptitude was quite good, he usually didn't pay much attention to cultivation. The reason he persisted in cultivating to mid Core Formation stage was simply because if his cultivation level was too low, it would be inconvenient for him to comprehend the realms of formations.
As for Mo Tiange, the Ye family was only a small cultivation clan, and the formations passed down weren't very advanced. However, she later obtained the Profound Mechanism Formation Manual and had access to ancient books within the Void Heaven Realm. With her consistently diligent and hardworking attitude, she mastered the essence of many formation theories, thus stepping into the realm of a formation expert. If one only spoke of formation knowledge, she wasn't inferior to those grandmaster formation masters. But when it came to practical application, compared to these formation masters who buried themselves in setting up formations every day, she was still somewhat lacking.
From this perspective, one excelled in practical application, the other had broad knowledge. Both of them felt they benefited greatly and made significant progress from their discussions on the Dao of formations. In order to obtain more formation theory from Mo Tiange, Tian Zhiqian laid out everything he had learned, which also greatly broadened Mo Tiange's horizons.
Although the cultivation paths of Yunzhong and Tianji were roughly the same, there had ultimately been no exchange. Having developed independently for over a hundred thousand years, each region had its own secrets unknown to the other. Through this mutual exchange, both Mo Tiange and Tian Zhiqian gained immensely.
This made Mo Tiange think of what Uncle-Master Zhenyang had said before she left. If the cultivators of the Xuanqing Sect, after reaching a certain level in their cultivation, all came to Yunzhong to travel and gain experience, there would definitely be immense benefits, even causing the sect's strength to increase greatly.
Only now did she realize that Uncle-Master Zhenyang, as a late Nascent Soul cultivator, indeed had far-sighted vision.
After Ling Yunhe's injuries healed, the six gathered again. After discussion, they set off once more.
Over the next few days, although there were occasional crises, they all passed without major incident.
Unfortunately, there was still no news of the Carefree Fruit.