With Feifei's precedent, Mo Tiange specifically summoned Xiaohuo and Xiaofan to find out their genders. As it turned out, Xiaofan was indeed male, but Xiaohuo was female.
Mo Tiange felt dizzy. Xiaofan's voice was that of an unchanged adolescent boy, ambiguous enough to be either gender. With its obedient and affectionate personality, she had always treated it like a little girl. As for Xiaohuo, although also quite adorable, it was the most masculine among the three spirit beasts. She never expected it to be female.
In this world, gender truly couldn't be judged by appearances.
Sighing, Mo Tiange brought Feifei out of the Void Heaven Realm.
Qin Xi was contemplating how to refine the Sanyang True Fire Sword with the Blazing Fire Jade Essence when he suddenly saw Mo Tiange appear before him with a handsome youth. He froze for a moment.
Seeing his expression, Mo Tiange chuckled. "What's wrong? Don't you recognize him?"
Qin Xi snapped back to reality, staring at Feifei for a good while before exclaiming in astonishment, "Only seventh rank, and it's already taken human form?"
"My spirit beast is naturally extraordinary," Mo Tiange said proudly, finding a seat and sitting down.
Feifei didn't bother with formalities, standing with its sleeves tucked, hands clasped—it had never liked Qin Xi and certainly wouldn't initiate conversation.
Qin Xi didn't mind such trivialities. After looking Feifei up and down, he remarked, "Why isn't it female?"
Hearing this, Feifei jumped as if someone had stepped on its tail, glaring at him. "You're the female one! Your whole family is female!"
"..." Qin Xi calmly glanced at it and said to Mo Tiange, "If it puts on women's clothing, it would surely be as beautiful as a flower. When we encounter demonic cultivators, we can just send it out. It'll save you trouble."
Feifei's face flushed red instantly, pointing at him and stamping its feet in fury. "You... you...!"
Mo Tiange turned her head and laughed. Qin Xi, though usually silent and reticent, could say things at critical moments that infuriated people. Jing Xingzhi had been bullied like this; every time he spoke with Qin Xi, he wished he could bite a chunk of flesh off him. Now Feifei had become another victim.
Qin Xi, however, wore an expression of utter calm, practically daring Feifei to bite him if it disagreed. After its furious outburst, Feifei could do nothing but glare at him hatefully before also finding a seat to sit down.
After laughing her fill, Mo Tiange explained to him, "Feifei absorbed the Breath of the White Tiger, which is why it could take human form. I was thinking, if your Chongming Bird could absorb part of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, it would definitely accelerate its advancement."
"Oh?" Qin Xi swept his gaze over Feifei, noticing its spiritual energy was thick and solid, sharp yet without a violent aura. He asked, "Absorbing the Breath of the White Tiger isn't that easy, is it? Neither of us could make the Breath of the White Tiger submit to us."
"That's a problem," Mo Tiange raised her voice. "Feifei, what do you think?"
"Hmph!" Feifei turned its head away, ignoring her.
"If it could absorb the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, Xiaohuo could take human form too, you know."
"Hmph!"
"Really won't say?"
"Hmph!"
"Maybe I should move you to a different place to live. The Spirit Beast Bracelet seems nice."
"You—" Feifei jumped up, glaring at her. "You value looks over your beast!"
Mo Tiange waved her hand as if fanning herself. "You're the one with the looks, more like. He's not as pretty as you."
"..." Feifei was speechless.
In terms of appearance, Qin Xi wasn't bad, but he clearly wasn't at the point of being indistinguishable from a woman. If Feifei applied rouge and wore women's clothing, it would be a pretty young lady.
"So, is it possible or not?"
Feifei answered reluctantly, "It shouldn't be a big problem. Spirit beasts are much more receptive to divine beast auras than you humans." However, who would give a divine beast's breath to a spirit beast? Humans were the wisest of all creatures, yet they possessed too many flaws. They tamed spirit beasts only for their own benefit, rarely spending resources on them. Fine, it admitted its luck was good. This master, though often neglecting it, was never stingy and never treated it as a slave.
"Then how do we do it?"
"Simple." Feifei raised its right hand, forming a hand seal to gather the Breath of the White Tiger. Then, it tapped the palm of its right hand, and the Breath of the White Tiger surged out wildly, gradually coalescing into a brilliant golden pearl.
With a wave of its hand, it tossed the golden pearl to Mo Tiange. "Just consume this."
This golden pearl, purely composed of the Breath of the White Tiger, flowed with golden light and contained immense energy.
However, the Breath of the White Tiger subdued by Feifei was different from the original; its violent aura had been almost completely refined away.
Feifei said proudly, "This Breath of the White Tiger has been refined by me. The violent aura no longer exists. Ordinary metal-attribute spirit beasts can use it too."
Qin Xi imitated its technique and indeed condensed a fire pearl formed from the Breath of the Vermilion Bird. This fire pearl contained fervent vitality yet lacked the inherent ferocity of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird itself.
Looking at the fire pearl, Feifei said, "One won't do. Consume a hundred or so, and it should break through, right?"
A hundred or so pearls—estimating the Breath of the Vermilion Bird Qin Xi had refined, it could probably only condense about a hundred. Feifei's tone was certainly grand. Of course, if they really intended to feed it to a spirit beast, it wasn't a big deal. The consumed Breath of the Vermilion Bird could continue to be refined from the Yang Spirit Pearl, it would just take some time.
After a moment's thought, Qin Xi made a decision. "I'll condense all the Breath of the Vermilion Bird into fire pearls these next few days. A spirit beast advancing is also a boost for us."
Mo Tiange nodded. Qin Xi's Chongming Bird was already at the peak of the seventh rank. If it could advance, it would become an eighth-rank spirit beast, equivalent to early Nascent Soul stage. Having an early Nascent Soul spirit beast's assistance would greatly enhance their strength. Think of that Cloud Middle loose cultivator, Old Donkey Ma, who managed to suppress those late Nascent Soul cultivators precisely because he had an eighth-rank spirit beast.
As for herself, Xiaofan was at the sixth rank, Xiaohuo would break through soon, and Feifei had just reached the seventh rank—she couldn't rely on them for now. However, she had a Nascent Soul puppet, so she wouldn't be much worse off. As for the fire pearls, it was good to prepare them in advance. Once Xiaohuo broke through, its strength would increase another notch.
After Qin Xi decided, he returned to his seclusion chamber to condense the fire pearls. Mo Tiange, meanwhile, asked for his Qiankun Ring, along with her own, intending to organize them. As for Feifei, Mo Tiange gave it her identity jade token, telling it to go to the Duty Hall itself to request a set of sect robes. From now on, when moving about within the sect, no one would question it.
The three of them each went about their tasks.
In the cultivation chamber, Mo Tiange casually opened Qin Xi's Qiankun Ring and poured out a pile of items with a clatter, directly filling over half the stone chamber. Among them were many Qiankun Bags.
Staring at this pile, Mo Tiange muttered to herself for a long while. "This guy... so his assets are this substantial..."
She had always thought her own assets were plentiful enough, never expecting Qin Xi's to be no less, if not more. Thinking carefully, it didn't seem strange. Before she even existed, he was already a Core Formation cultivator, and he enjoyed visiting various dangerous places. During Foundation Establishment, he and Jing Xingzhi discovered an ancient sect ruin. After forming his Core, he went to the Heavenly Demon Mountain. Countless cultivators had fallen by his hand. Add to that sect provisions and gifts from Dao Lord Jinghe, his accumulation far exceeded his cultivation consumption.
Having lived over a hundred years more than her, it certainly wasn't for nothing.
Important items had already been sorted and stored properly by Qin Xi. Mo Tiange looked them over, first putting away several Qiankun Bags with markings. Then, she emptied the contents of various Qiankun Bags, storing valuable items like high-grade magical treasures, rare materials, high-grade spirit pills, and high-grade spirit stones into the Qiankun Ring.
Afterward, she opened her own Qiankun Ring and processed it the same way.
Having finished this, she sent a voice transmission summoning Shui Linbo.
As soon as Shui Linbo entered, she was nearly blinded by the sight. However, she only glanced once before bowing respectfully. "What are your instructions, Aunt?"
Mo Tiange pointed at the items occupying half the cultivation chamber. "Go open up some stone chambers and sort these items into categories for storage."
Linbo didn't hesitate, gathering these items into Qiankun Bags and going to open the stone chambers.
Qin Xi's cave abode was located in a remote spot. This exit led to an uninhabited mountain peak. Inside the cave abode, a stone passage had been opened, leading to a canyon on Qingquan Peak. This canyon was extremely deep, surrounded by sheer cliffs, desolate and uninhabited. Water from the mountains fell around it, forming a waterfall that carved the canyon floor into a deep pool called the Jiyuan Pool.
Due to its special location, this pool was extremely cold. Massive ice blocks floated on the water's surface, never melting year-round, resembling the far northern lands.
After Shui Linbo arrived, she reorganized the exit leading to the Jiyuan Pool, building wooden houses and corridors beside it—a fine place for viewing scenery.
Born by the sea, Shui Linbo naturally loved water and had chosen a water-attribute cultivation technique. She usually cultivated in the wooden house.
Following Mo Tiange's command, she opened several stone chambers near the Jiyuan Pool to serve as storage rooms.
After completing all this, Shui Linbo returned to report to Mo Tiange.
Mo Tiange went to inspect and was quite satisfied. She set up array formations and restrictions in each storage room, then sealed them shut. If nothing unexpected happened, all four of them, master and disciples, would be leaving the mountain. It wouldn't be convenient to hand the storage rooms over to others.
After finishing these tasks, news finally arrived from Kunzhong City.
Summoning the two of them to Qingluan Peak, Dao Lord Miaoyi got straight to the point. "Senior Brother Zhenyang sent word. The two of you are to go to Kunzhong City and relieve Senior Brother Huayan and Junior Brother Lingxi. Set off in half a month."
"Senior Sister Miaoyi, what's the current situation?" Qin Xi asked, seeing her furrowed brows.
Dao Lord Miaoyi said, "Kunzhong City is manageable. The Heavenly Demon Mountain suffered a minor setback. The most critical issue is the East Sea. Currently, we can't spare any personnel, so Perfected One Fengqing is temporarily holding the fort." She continued, "If I'm not mistaken, after you go to Kunzhong City, you'll likely be transferred to the East Sea."
Mo Tiange nodded. If they really went to the East Sea, that would be best. As a guest elder of Bixuan Pavilion, knowing Bixuan Pavilion was in trouble, she ought to go see.
"Additionally, you'll need to bring six Core Formation cultivators and one hundred Foundation Establishment disciples." Dao Lord Miaoyi paused. "My disciple, Feishuang, will also go with you. If you have time, look after her a bit."
Mo Tiange was startled. The Feishuang mentioned by Dao Lord Miaoyi, full name Wu Feishuang, was precisely Bai Yanfei's Dao companion, that "Senior Sister Wu." After marrying Bai Yanfei, she hadn't left the mountain for a hundred years.
Dao Lord Miaoyi sighed, revealing a bitter smile. "At two hundred years old, she can't delay any longer."
Mo Tiange understood the implication behind Dao Lord Miaoyi's words. Bai Yanfei, as a disciple of Dao Lord Zhenyang and possessing single spiritual root aptitude, had a high likelihood of forming a Nascent Soul. Wu Feishuang, as his Dao companion, how could she not even have achieved Core Formation? Yet this Senior Sister Wu was willing to be a virtuous wife. Dao Lord Miaoyi had worried endlessly over this disciple.
This time, it was likely Dao Lord Miaoyi had made up her mind. Otherwise, as her age increased, by three hundred years old, the possibility of Core Formation would be very low. By then, what status would she have beside Bai Yanfei?
Mo Tiange said, "Rest assured, Senior Sister. Leave it to us."