lady cultivator
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
This was a city located in the northern part of Yunzhong. Its city walls were pure snow-white since they were built with a special white stone. Row upon row, each row without exception was built of stone.
A cloudless blue sky and a snow-like city. The white was distinct and the blue was bright. Mo Tiange couldn’t help but sigh when she saw the beautiful scene before her. It was no wonder this city was called Sky Snow City. The blue sky and the white snow—it indeed lived up to its name.
“Senior, do you want a map? It’s a detailed map of Sky Snow City comprising the locations of all immortal’s caves which are available for rent as well as the location of the market square.”
“Senior, are you looking for people or are you traveling? Do you perhaps need a guide?”
“Senior…”
Right after she came out of the Transporting Formation, Mo Tiange was immediately surrounded by a group of people who introduced all kinds of business to her. There were countless people shuttling about. Although many of them were Aura Refining cultivators, this still made her sigh. Yunzhong was indeed the holy land for cultivators; it wasn’t a cultivator city like Kunzhong City, but it still had this kind of atmosphere.
In the end, she only bought a map of Sky Snow City then sent the other people away.
Although Sky Snow City wasn’t the capital of Eastern Tang State, it was still a large city. It was written on the map that this city’s history dated back to more than 10,000 years ago. Because there was a mountain of white stones in the vicinity, the stones were used to form the city, thus the city was just like snow and was named Sky Snow City.
Reportedly, the white stones of Sky Snow City were incomparably hard. They were just like jade, and they had a spiritual aura-gathering function. Although they were far inferior to spirit stones, having them was still better than having nothing. Because of this, many low-level cultivators resided in this city. They named these white stones “white spirit stones,” jokingly calling the houses they resided in “spirit stone rooms.”
At the same time, Mo Tiange also discovered that Sky Snow City itself had a medium-sized spirit vein. Coupled with the function of the white spirit stones, although it still wasn’t good enough to serve as a monastery of a big cultivation group, it was a paradise for many individual cultivators. It was no wonder so many individual cultivators would gather in this city.
Upon leaving Tianyan Sect’s site where the Transporting Formation was located, Mo Tiange took a while to ponder before deciding she’d look for a place to lodge first.
Of the five big sects, Eastern Tang State located in Wuxing Valley was remote, Pufa School was located in the western area, Jingxu School was near the capital, Danxia Sect was in the north, while Jiuyan Sect happened to be located not far from Sky Snow City.
In Yunzhong, Mo Tiange’s most important purpose was traveling around. Her second purpose was to go to Danxia Sect and investigate clearly and look for traces of Mo Yaoqing as well as the complete version of the Art of Sunu. However, Danxia Sect was a big sect in Yunzhong after all, and Mo Yaoqing was also a traitor—it’d be unwise to go there and ask directly, so she could only move and plan slowly.
Because of that, under the current situation, it’d be better for her to live in Sky Snow City first, get in touch with Jiuyan Sect’s people and ask about Danxia Sect’s situation before she planned her next move.
Sky Snow City was constructed according to the structure of the mountain. The entire city was leaning on the white stone mountain. Whether it was the city wall or the buildings, everything was built using local materials. Consequently, the layout of the city was also disorderly in altitude.
Mo Tiange followed the map and walked up the mountain. According to the map, the majority of Sky Snow City was the property of Ling Clan, the biggest cultivation clan of Jiuyan Sect. Ling Clan was situated at the top of the white stone mountain, occupying the spot with the densest spiritual aura. The area below the mountaintop was constructed into many Immortal’s Caves varying in size and spiritual aura concentration, but all of them were for rent. The individual cultivators who came to Sky Snow City—no matter whether they planned to stay for a while or just temporarily—would all rent Immortal’s caves from Ling Clan.
Halfway up the mountain, Mo Tiange looked at the map again. According to the map, she had to turn left.
This white stone mountain was obviously a mine. There was minimal vegetation here—there was only some loess and dried bushes. Mo Tiange mused, “The cultivators in Sky Snow City should be lacking in spiritual panaceas, right? What are they using for pill-concocting?”
Just as she walked, she suddenly felt some spiritual aura fluctuations. Something flashed in Mo Tiange’s gaze, but she continued walking nonchalantly.
When she walked by some shrubbery, there was suddenly a spiritual aura movement above her. A golden net fell atop her, trapping her tightly in an instant.
“Hahahaha!” Upon seeing her trapped under the golden net without being able to move even a single step, two cultivators emerged from behind a mountain rock. One of them laughed out loud and said, “Big Brother, I’ve told you no one can escape our Inescapable Net. So, what do you think?”
These two were both Foundation Building cultivators. One had a mess of a beard on his face, so his face couldn’t be seen clearly. The other one was shifty-eyed and had a really wretched look, and he was precisely the one who spoke just now. The former was in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, while the latter was in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm.
Nevertheless, the burly, thickly-bearded man was very cautious. With a frown, he warned: “Don’t be arrogant. This person’s cultivation level is higher than ours.”
“No matter how high it is, isn’t she still unable to escape from our Inescapable Net?” The wretched-looking man grinned as he stared at Mo Tiange who was trapped under the golden net, then he licked his lips, saying, “Big Brother, this woman looks pretty good. Look—”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Before he finished speaking, the burly, bearded man already chided him. “We’re robbing people because we have no other choice. Once we obtain their belongings, that’s it. Have you forgotten our commandments?”
“Commandments?” The wretched man snorted disdainfully and said with utter resentment, “Big Brother, do you forget we’ve been driven out? Right now, we’re just individual cultivators. What do the commandments have to do with us?”
The burly, bearded man’s eyes flashed but he continued on heavily: “No matter whether we’ve been driven out or not, we still want to continue cultivating, so we mustn’t forget the commandments! Could it be that you’re not afraid of the Inner Demon during core-formation?”
Those remarks finally persuaded the wretched-looking man. He said grudgingly, “Okay, okay, I got it!” After he spoke, he happened to see Mo Tiange struggling inside the golden net. He narrowed his eyes then mocked her with a grin. “I say… Miss, you should stop struggling. This is a magic weapon, the Inescapable Net! Although your cultivation level is higher than ours, you’re still powerless once you’re trapped in the Inescapable Net!”
Mo Tiange stopped her movements and stared coldly at the two men. “What do you want?”
“What do we want?” The wretched-looking man stroked his little beard and looked at Mo Tiange’s face with a greed-filled gaze. “Hand over your Qiankun Bag!”
Mo Tiange didn’t move. She just continued staring at them.
Seeing her remaining still for a long time, the wretched-looking man finally got impatient. He pulled the net binding in his hand. “Quickly! Otherwise, this lord will have you too!”
“Junior Martial Brother!” Right after he said that, the burly, bearded man immediately shouted, frowning deeply and glaring at him.
Under his glare, the wretched-looking man shrunk. He muttered: “Okay, okay—I got it.”
The burly, bearded man shifted his attention towards Mo Tiange, saying with a rather gentle voice, “Fellow Daoist, My junior martial brother and I am doing this shady business really because we have no other option. I can guarantee we won’t harm you.”
As Mo Tiange looked at that burly, bearded man, she let out a sneer. “You want my Qiankun Bag—what’s the difference between that and wanting my life? There’s no way you don’t know the importance of Qiankun Bags to cultivators, right?”
The burly, bearded man was stumped for words. It took him quite a while before he spoke again. “Then just hand over your spirit stones.”
Mo Tiange couldn’t help but narrow her eyes as she looked at that person. “Only the spirit stones… Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you once you let me go?”
He shook his head. “About that… We have our own method.”
“Big Brother, what are you talking to her so much for? In any case, we’ve done it.” The wretched-looking man impatiently cut their conversation short. There was an ominous glint in his eyes when he looked at Mo Tiange. “My big brother’s nice, but I’m not. If you still don’t hand over your spirit stones, I’ll let you taste a little suffering.” Right after he said that, he pulled the net binding in his hand.
Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows. She suddenly felt that the parts of her body that were covered by the golden net started to hurt. She was somewhat astonished. Martial Uncle Zhenyang said that the majority of Yunzhong’s cultivators’ magic weapons had the function of controlling spiritual aura. It really came as a surprise for her that two mere Foundation Building cultivators actually also had this kind of spiritual aura-controlling magic weapon.
“Junior Martial Brother!” the burly, bearded man once again shouted.
“Big Brother!” the wretched-looking man said unhappily, “Since we already decided to do this kind of thing, why should we be nervous and afraid? Is there any meaning in that?”
The burly, bearded man gaze dimmed. He lowered his head and said nothing.
Mo Tiange’s gaze moved back and forth between the two people. She then asked, “Why did you prepare an ambush here? Isn’t this the road towards Ling Clan? Presumably, there should be quite a lot of passerby here—aren’t you afraid of being discovered by others?” This was the very matter that baffled her. She’d been trapped for so long, but there had unexpectedly been no people passing by.
“Ling Clan? Haha!” The wretched-looking man laughed proudly upon hearing her questions. “There are indeed many idiots in this world. Who says this road lead to Ling Clan?”
Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows and said slowly, “That map is fake?”
“I see you’re not that stupid!” The wretched-looking man laughed and narrowed his eyes. “This plan’s quite good, isn’t it? A newcomer fat sheep in Sky Snow City, a single cultivator on their own—as long as we do a little manipulation on the map, they’ll naturally come our way.”
Mo Tiange’s expression sank. “You…”
“Quickly hand over your Qiankun Bag!” The wretched-looking man, who had completely lost his patience, shouted, “If you still don’t hand it over, I’m going to be blunt!”
“Blunt? I actually want to see how you’re going to be blunt!” In front of the two men, Mo Tiange flung her sleeve. The spiritual aura in her whole body surged, and the momentum of a Core Formation cultivator instantly spread. All of a sudden, the golden net covering her body rose on its own.
The burly, bearded man immediately yelled out in fright: “You’re in the Core Formation realm…”
After a moment of shock, the wretched-looking man hastily made a hand seal, wanting to withdraw the golden net.
Mo Tiange let out a cold hmph. She lightly raised her hand, and that wretched-looking man immediately felt a kind of formidable pressure coming from the other end of the net. His face suddenly swelled and became very red. Bean-size drops of sweat started to emerge.
“Senior!” the burly, bearded man shouted but didn’t dare to step forward. He just took out his own Qiankun Bag and said, “Senior, please spare my junior martial brother. I’m willing to offer all my belongings!”
Mo Tiange cast a glance at that man. He was surprisingly smart; he knew he couldn’t resist, so he immediately begged for forgiveness. Unfortunately, it was too late. Mo Tiange only looked at him for a brief second before looking away. Under the surging spiritual aura, her sleeves moved on their own. Her right palm was opened then clenched. The wretched-looking man shouted “ah” as he couldn’t hold on to the golden net in his hands. He just stared on blankly as the net was taken into her hands.
The wretched-looking man was already so shocked that he couldn’t react. Mo Tiange was furious over his previous frivolous remarks, so she acted without mercy. Spiritual Aura gathered in her hand then, immediately afterward, she flung her hand!
“AH!” With a blood-curdling scream, the wretched-looking man was blown away by her slap and crashed into a block of mountain rock. His head was askew, and he fell limp on the ground, no longer breathing.
“Junior Martial Brother!” The burly, bearded man’s eyes widened. He threw himself at him, only to find his life had been cut off. He was instantly shocked on the spot.
A while later, he suddenly turned to look at Mo Tiange. “You—”
“What? You want to take revenge?” Seeing the hidden ominous glint in that person’s eyes, Mo Tiange raised her eyebrows as she asked.
That person seemed surprised but soon showed a sorrowful expression and went limp. A Core Formation cultivator… He was only an insignificant middle stage Foundation Building cultivator—how could he take revenge?
The way the man looked now really baffled her. Based on the two men’s dialogue just now, they didn’t have the same temperament, so why were they performing such a shady business like ambushing and robbing people together? This was really weird. What happened in the end?