Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After Old Daoist Fuling left, Feng Xiao took the Xuan Fire Jade Essence and pressed it with his fingers, probing it with spiritual aura. Then he smiled and said, “Qin lad, you’ve got good luck. There is a Chalcedony in this jade essence.”
“Really?” Joy appeared on Qin Xi’s face.
Feng Xiao pressed his fingers, and a crack appeared in the Xuan Fire Jade Essence; some jade liquid as clear as water flowed out immediately. When the jade liquid met the air, it immediately condensed into a transparent crystal.
After the jade liquid was all gone, Feng Xiao threw the crystal in his palm to Qin Xi. “As my wife promised, the Chalcedony is yours.” With such a pure color, this Chalcedony was definitely over a thousand years old.
Qin Xi took it and saluted him cheerfully. “Thank you very much, three seniors. I’ll keep your kindness deep in mind.”
Ding Luan laughed. “Since you don’t want to be my son-in-law, what are you keeping our kindness in mind for?”
Qin Xi was experienced in dealing with matters but had thin skin. Upon hearing Ding Luan’s teasing, Qin Xi only smiled and didn’t answer.
Lord Daoist Jinghe glanced at him and said to the Luan and Feng couple, “Okay, now, the pair of you shouldn’t just tease my simple and honest disciple. If nothing else is going on, we’ll be taking our leave then.”
Lord Daoist Jinghe said he would keep his fingers off the Fire Jade Essence, but with the presence of the four Nascent Soul cultivators, it seemed things could change. Both the Luan and Feng couple and Daoist Ji earnestly wished he’d leave, so they didn’t hold him back at all. Feng Xiao said, “As that’s the case, I suppose we’ll meet again some day.”
Lord Daoist Jinghe nodded then left with Qin Xi and several others.
After leaving the scope of the divine sense of the three middle-realm Nascent Soul cultivators, the procession of five stopped. Lord Daoist Jinghe asked, “Where did Tiange get lost?”
Qin Xi pointed in one direction and answered, “That way, about a half-day’s journey.”
Lord Daoist Jinghe looked in the direction he pointed, frowning. “In the fog?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you been separated? Was there anyone else with you? Was Tiange hurt? What happened exactly? Tell me everything.”
Faced with Lord Daoist Jinghe’s consecutive questions, Qin Xi repressed his anxiety and roughly explained the events from the past few days to his Master — of course, he skipped the part that wasn’t appropriate to tell in public.
As he explained how the two of them got separated, Lord Daoist Jinghe and the three Nascent Soul cultivators made eye contact with each other. Daoist Heifeng, who was dressed in black all over and looked like a devil cultivator, said, “Qin lad, it’s also our first time encountering the fog you mentioned. It took us quite a while to get out of it. I’m not sure how you can look for anyone there.”
Qin Xi wasn’t surprised to hear this answer, and he turned to Lord Daoist Jinghe.
Lord Daoist Jinghe said, “Without any special methods, a cultivator who just entered the Core Formation realm can’t live for more than a few days in Immortal’s Ruins. Tiange is my disciple, and I won’t leave her by herself.”
Upon hearing Lord Daoist Jinghe’s declaration, Daoist Heifeng revealed an expressionless face. “Since Brother Daoist Jinghe is so determined to save your disciple, we have no reason to stop you, so Junior Martial Brother Lu and I will wait for you at Jade Palace.”
Daoist Heifeng and the bald cultivator, Lu Daquan, weren’t cultivators from Xuanqing School. Although they were friendly with Lord Daoist Jinghe, they had no reason to risk their lives for his disciple. After hearing what they said, Lord Daoist Jinghe just responded lightly. “Okay, I understand. Junior Martial Brother Huayan and I will come meet you in two days. If we don’t show up, you don’t have to wait for us.”
Daoist Heifeng and Lu Daquan looked at each other, nodded, then left together as flight lights.
Waiting for their figures to disappear, Lord Daoist Huayan, who was quiet the whole time, asked, “Senior Martial Brother Jinghe, how should we start looking for your disciple?”
This question also gave Lord Daoist Jinghe a headache. They pair had gone through the misty fog and knew that their divine senses wouldn’t work in there. Even though they were Nascent Soul cultivators, they had to be very careful.
“Lad!” Lord Daoist Jinghe pointed at Qin Xi angrily. “Aren’t you so proud of yourself in times of peace? How did you let such things happen when Tiange was with you?!”
Qin Xi lowered his head and didn’t say anything. It was indeed because he wasn’t cautious enough earlier. He knew Immortal’s Ruins was full of danger, but he didn’t expect the two of them to lose each other.
Qin Xi’s innocent appearance made Lord Daoist Jinghe feel he wasn’t to blame, so he said, “There’s no other way. Junior Martial Brother Huayan, let’s just go look for her separately. You head to the East, and I’ll head to the West. Within one day and a half, no matter whether we find her or not, we’ll meet here again.”
“Okay.” Lord Daoist Huayan didn’t say anything and just dived downward, turning into a flight light and disappearing in the misty fog not far away.
Watching Lord Daoist Huayan disappear within sight, Lord Daoist Jinghe stood for a while and suddenly said, “Tell me now, has anything happened between you and Tiange?”
Qin Xi was stunned and realized which aspect his Master was asking about, so he coughed and moved his head aside. “Well, this… I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Lord Daoist Jinghe was very surprised to see his disciple’s reaction. “Have you done that already?”
“…”
Qin Xi didn’t answer, but even a blind man could see the happiness in the corner of his eyes. Lord Daoist Jinghe wanted to laugh, but he also felt a little unhappy as he hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes. Lord Daoist Jinghe’s expression changed and became distorted for a little while, then he patted Qin Xi’s shoulder. “Good. You didn’t waste my kindness at last.”
Qin Xi was happy to think back on the matter now, but he was more worried about Tiange’s safety, so he said, “Master, shall we go look for her first? Every moment we delay, Tiange might encounter more danger…”
Mo Tiange was really in danger now. A swarm of Gold Wire Rats popped out from somewhere in the fog; although they didn’t have a high cultivation level, there was quite a number of them, and they appeared and disappeared mysteriously in the fog. She and Jing Xingzhi had been killing these rats for almost half a day, yet they couldn’t exterminate them at all.
Mo Tiange swallowed several more Spirit Pills. Watching Xiaohuo jumping up and down and using magic art to force the demonic beasts back, Mo Tiange gasped while saying, “Fellow Daoist Jing, I don’t think it’s going to work like this.”
Jing Xingzhi was in the middle of killing rats with his flying sword, and upon hearing this, he rolled his eyes. “I know that too, but do you have any solution for this problem?”
Mo Tiange thought about it for a while. “There’s one thing we could try. Even if it doesn’t work, we can have a rest.”
They had been engaged in the fight for half a day and hadn’t stopped. Although Jing Xingzhi still had some spiritual aura left, he felt very exhausted psychologically, upon hearing this, he said, “Okay, that sounds good. Tell me what to do.”
Mo Tiange continued killing another group of demonic beasts and said, “Fellow Daoist, please fight these demonic beasts by yourself for a while.”
Upon hearing what she said, Jing Xingzhi didn’t say a word, but the long sword in his hand suddenly emitted bright white lights, enveloping the two of them as well as Xiaohuo.
Although Jing Xingzhi didn’t have a lovable personality, his strength was unquestionable. Under the protective sword light, not a single demonic beast could cross the boundary.
Mo Tiange didn’t waste time. She fumbled in her Qiankun Bag and took out her formation tools and spirit stones, laying formations around the two of them very quickly.
Jing Xingzhi took a glance at the formation and was a little surprised. The art of formation was rare even among the rare arts of other things. It took a lot of time to study formations, and for cultivators, time was the most important thing before they reached the Nascent Soul realm. It was impossible for them to spend too much time cultivating a side art. Therefore, there weren’t many cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm who were proficient in formations. However, Jing Xingzhi didn’t know that there was something special about Mo Tiange’s situation. When she was in the Foundation Building realm, she deliberately slowed down in fear that she would progress in her cultivation too quickly, and she spent a lot of time cultivating other arts, so compared to other cultivators in the same realm, she was better at formations.
The formation she was laying now was the Four Symbols Hundred Flowers Formation, the one she once modified by herself. The four symbols were for defense, and the hundred flowers were to kill; both formed a compound array formation. However, she hadn’t been in the Core Formation realm for long, and she hadn’t spent much time studying the formation back then. Besides, these formation tools were even prepared when she was still in the Foundation Building realm, so the formation she was trying to produce now had limited power.
As she was laying the formation, Jing Xingzhi suddenly shouted, “Someone’s coming!”
Mo Tiange was startled then became a little surprised, and she asked hurriedly, “What about the cultivation level?”
Her divine sense was injured and even weaker than Jing Xingzhi’s. Blocked by the fog, Jing Xingzhi tried to probe for a long time before saying indefinitely, “It seems… Core Formation realm.”
“Core Formation? Should it be…”
Before Mo Tiange could finish speaking, a figure in black had appeared vaguely in the mist. As soon as this person showed up, the surrounding Gold Wire Rats spotted a new target and hundreds of them immediately turned to run at the figure.
Upon seeing this, Mo Tiange stopped laying the formation. She and Jing Xingzhi looked at each other, then maneuvered their flying swords separately and fought in the direction of that person.
“Fellow Daoist!” Jing Xingzhi shouted aloud. “I’m a cultivator from Gujian Sect. May I ask who you are?”
In the misty fog, the black figure heard Jing Xingzhi’s voice and paused for a moment, but the person didn’t answer and just immersed themselves in killing the numerous rats.
Mo Tiange narrowed her eyes and watched for a while, then asked hesitantly, “Look, is she a female cultivator?”
Although the fog was hazy, the vaguely moving black figure did look like a woman’s body. Jing Xingzhi only took one look and said, “Yes, it’s a female cultivator.”
Mo Tiange was secretly a little disappointed after hearing his positive answer.
She knew Qin Xi was more powerful than her in both cultivation level and techniques, and he had rich experiences, but they were on Demonic Mountain. She felt very uneasy as they had been separated from each other for so long.
“What now?”
Jing Xingzhi glanced over the surroundings and said, “Let’s go over and have a look. One more person equals one more fighter.”
“En.” Mo Tiange agreed. Female cultivators were seldom ruthless and tyrannical. This woman now was also trapped in the fog like them, so they could probably become allies.
The two of them then maneuvered their flying swords and Xiaohuo spurt out Sun Real Fire, killing their way toward the woman in black.
They got closer and closer and could already see the woman’s appearance clearly. The woman wore claw gloves and was fighting the demonic beasts fiercely. She was actually a martial cultivator.
“Eh?” Jing Xingzhi sounded a little excited. “It’s a beauty!”
Mo Tiange couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him. This guy was just like a dog who couldn’t change its tendency to eat sh*t. What situation were they in now? He was still thinking about whether she was a beauty or not!
Though she was thinking this, Mo Tiange was also a little curious and looked at the woman. Then Mo Tiange was stunned by her appearance.
The woman had a delicate face which wasn’t extremely beautiful but had a kind of calm and cruel beauty. Of course, this wasn’t the reason why Mo Tiange was surprised. Mo Tiange felt something was off because the woman looked a little familiar to her.
The beautiful woman, a martial cultivator, using claw gloves… Cultivators had good memories, and as Mo Tiange recalled, she slowly remembered such a woman—she knew who the woman was.
Taking a deep breath, Mo Tiange secretly transmitted her voice, “Fellow Daoist Jing, this woman is related to Master Song Feng!”
Jing Xingzhi’s movements paused a bit and he looked at her with suspicious eyes.
No one in Kunwu hadn’t heard of the name “Master Song Feng,” and of course Jing Xingzhi knew this number one late stage Nascent Soul cultivator in the Celestial Pole along with his notorious reputation. Jing Xingzhi answered with his secret voice, “Do you know her?”
“I met her once.” Mo Tiange looked at the female cultivator with tight eyes. Right. Over five decades ago, the female cultivator who appeared at the Nascent Soul ceremony for Lord Daoist Xuanyin and had even fought her was the woman before them now!