Chapter 269: Spiritual Beast Rank-Advancement

Qin Xi’s mood was extremely bad.

After they returned to their temporary courtyard, Mo Tiange, who noticed this, was going to go straight back to her room. Surprisingly, Qin Xi’s voice suddenly rang out from behind her. “Wait.”

His tone couldn’t be considered good, but he was obviously repressing his foul mood, so Mo Tiange stopped walking. She said calmly, “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, is there anything else?”

Qin Xi hesitated for a while before he finally spoke. “I think we still have to discuss what happened today.”

Surprised, Mo Tiange asked, “Does Senior Martial Brother maybe feel it was rather inappropriate for me to take out my treasure?”

Qin Xi shook his head. “We’re not individual cultivators who don’t have any foundation. We have a school and master backing us up. Taking out some treasures once in a while really doesn’t count for much. On the contrary, doing so would make people think Xuanqing School isn’t to be trifled with.”

“Then… what’s the problem?”

Qin Xi’s probing gaze swept past her face. “The ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant—was it bestowed to you by your ancestor that year?”

“Yes.” Mo Tiange had long thought about her answer to this question, so her answer was extremely clear-cut.

Qin Xi nodded. That was the only reasonable answer he could think of.

“Was this the matter Senior Martial Brother wanted to talk about?”

“Of course not,” Qin Xi said, “What I wanted to talk to you about was Jing Xingzhi.”

“Oh? Is there any problem with that Fellow Daoist Jing?”

“He…” Qin Xi hesitated for a moment but eventually continued on: “I got to know that person not long after I formed my Gold Core. He was the disciple of Venerable Swordsman Zhongguang of Gujian Sect. However, Venerable Swordsman Zhongguang already passed away a hundred years ago, so his status in Gujian Sect is awkward. Because of how unfairly he was treated in his sect, Jing Xingzhi has a rather eccentric character. He really likes to flirt with female cultivators while in reality, he isn’t willing to take any responsibility. You—”

Before he could finish speaking, Mo Tiange already cut him short and asked bluntly, “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, are you worried I’ll be enchanted by him?”

A faint flush spread on Qin Xi’s face upon hearing how bluntly she said “enchanted,” and he looked away awkwardly. “I was just reminding you.”

Mo Tiange squeezed out a smile. “Many thanks to Senior Martial Brother for the reminder. May I go and rest now?”

“…”

Qin Xi nodded, looking embarrassed.

Mo Tiange turned around and went back into her room.

Once she was back in her room, she sat down and massaged the space between her eyebrows.

She admitted she was a little bit unhappy just now. Was she such a shallow person? No matter how enchanting he looked or how sweet-mouthed he was, it didn’t have anything to do with her. Nevertheless, Qin Xi mentioned the matter out of concern for her after all, so she soon regained her calm.

In fact, after thirty five years of not seeing each other, she didn’t have the slightest clue what Qin Xi was thinking now. She knew that from a cultivator’s point of view, Qin Xi had been treating her extremely well. When she was injured inside the Ten Thousand Laws of Nature Formation, he went on a trip to look for medicine for her, and during this trip to Demonic Mountain, her cultivation level was obviously lacking, but he was willing to take her along with him.

She didn’t know whether this was considered a kindness towards a fellow group member from Senior Martial Brother Qin, who once went through trials with her, or whether this was a form of care towards a junior from Master Daoist Shoujing, who was once her father’s friend in adversity. Nevertheless, the feelings in her heart were one thing—from a logical perspective, she didn’t want to have much contact with this kind of Senior Martial Brother Shoujing.

Maybe she’d been too competitive in her life. When she was a child, she wanted to read better than Tianjun and the boys. Later, she always thought about cultivating to become an immortal and she was never willing to slack off in cultivating just because she was a female cultivator. Much later, she eventually reached the end of her sufferings. She had talents; she had a master… But at that moment, she was even more unwilling to be indulgent to herself—she always wholeheartedly regarded genius cultivator status as her goal.

As matters stood, it wasn’t that she didn’t have any regrets in her heart. If it was Senior Martial Brother Qin showing her kindness… maybe she’d have said the words inside her heart and looked for a future for herself. However… he wasn’t just Senior Martial Brother Qin; he was also Master Daoist Shoujing.

She wasn’t willing to look up at someone like this and turn into a delicate girl who only received protection from him.

Furthermore, she also couldn’t guess Qin Xi’s thoughts at all. Someone with a staunch Dao Heart like him most likely never thought about Dual Cultivation. What should she do if she indulged in her emotions too deeply and eventually ended up like Wei Jiasi or Ruan Mingzhu? She admitted she was a coward. She didn’t dare to pursue her desires so determinedly like them because her final objective was still achieving the Great Dao. She wasn’t willing to give up her objective no matter what.

Therefore, the status quo was good enough right now.

However, ever since they left the mountain, although Senior Martial Brother Shoujing had been considerate towards her in all aspects, his attitude was obviously suffused with grievances. Even after much thought, Mo Tiange was still perplexed—in the end, what kind of complaints did he harbor towards her? Was it because he was injured while he was looking for medicine for her? But according to his mental state and cultivation level, that was very unlikely to be the reason.

Since she couldn’t understand it, Mo Tiange stopped thinking about it and immediately tossed it to the back of her mind. She placed a proper camouflage outside then entered the Virtual Sky World.

She placed the Crystal Soul Jades, which she obtained at the trade fair, in the Virtual Sky World but took the two stone sculpture puppets with her. Although the cultivation levels of the two stone sculpture puppets were only in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm, they were extremely strong. Maybe they would come in handy later.

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After that, she made arrangements for the two spiritual beasts, Xiaohuo and Feifei. She’d been raising them inside the Virtual Sky World these days. The two spiritual beasts accompanied each other; sometimes fighting, sometimes playing with each other—they had a terrific relationship. Furthermore, when she was in Closed Door Meditation to tackle her core-formation, she also told them to cultivate seriously. Right now, Xiaohuo was already at the peak of the fourth rank and was going to try to advance to the fifth rank soon. Feifei was a bit behind; it’d just advanced into the fourth rank.

The rank-advancement of spiritual beasts wasn’t as troublesome as human cultivator realm-breakthroughs. They didn’t need to cultivate their mental state, and they also didn’t need to pass through inner demons, so their advancement was much easier compared to human cultivators. Moreover, Mo Tiange could only really use a few of the spiritual plants inside the Virtual Sky World, so she always let them eat whatever they wanted.

Inside the Virtual Sky World, Xiaohuo and Feifei had a limitless spiritual plant supply and an environment with rich spiritual aura. The progress of their cultivation was many times quicker than other people’s spiritual beasts.

Feifei didn’t matter much; it didn’t have any offensive skills, and it wouldn’t be able to advance to the fifth rank for the time being. Regarding Xiaohuo, on the other hand, Mo Tiange had deliberately nurtured it ever since she discovered that it had such strong fire magic and that it could totally be a fighting spiritual beast. Not only did she let it eat the spiritual plants in the Virtual Sky World as it wished, but she also specifically concocted Constitution-Enhancing Pills for it to help with its rank-advancement.

Just as she was about to enter another bamboo hut she’d regarded as the spiritual beast room to examine the condition of the two spiritual beasts, she saw Feifei running over from the outside. It threw itself to her side then grabbed the hem of her robe.

Mo Tiange crouched down to pick Feifei up. Patting its head, she asked, “What’s wrong? Have you cultivated diligently?”

Feifei squeaked “wuwu” a few times as it tugged her robe towards the inside.

Mo Tiange was confused. “Is there something the matter?”

Feifei swayed its head, seemingly nodding. It then turned its gaze, staring in the direction of the spiritual beast room.

A wrinkle emerged on Mo Tiange’s brows. She made her way towards the spiritual beast room carrying Feifei in her arms.

Xiaohuo was going through its rank-advancement. Could something have happened to it? But judging from the spiritual aura fluctuation, there were no abnormalities…

When she arrived outside the spiritual beast room, she pushed the door open only to be greeted with the sight of Xiaohuo curled up, cultivating with its eyes closed. Its whole body emitted a blazing spiritual light which caused the room to look like it was blood red.

Feifei once again let out a few squeaks. It didn’t dare to disturb Xiaohuo, so it just circled around it a couple of times before it ran back to Mo Tiange and grabbed the hem of her skirt.

After cautiously sensing Xiaohuo’s situation, Mo Tiange smiled then crouched down and stroked Feifei’s head. “Don’t worry. Xiaohuo’s going to advance. We shouldn’t disturb him.”

Feifei seemed to not understand, but seeing Mo Tiange comforting itself, it obediently followed her out and back into the main hut.

The red light on Xiaohuo’s body was its fire element spiritual aura. Since the fire spiritual aura was so vehement, it obviously succeeded in its rank-advancement and was now in the stage of stabilizing its realm.

Mo Tiange was delighted. If Xiaohuo successfully advanced to the fifth rank, it could definitely be a huge help to her with its unique Sun Real Fire, thus giving her one more means of protecting herself.

In the next few days, Mo Tiange only focused on guarding the Virtual Sky World, waiting for Xiaohuo to finish its rank-advancement—she even rejected an invitation to gather with her teammates.

The rank-advancement of spiritual beasts was much easier than human cultivators performing realm-breakthroughs. Xiaohuo already succeeded now. As long as its spiritual aura stabilized, it would officially be a fifth rank spiritual beast.

Five days later, right before they departed, Xiaohuo finally finished its rank-advancement and came out of the spiritual beast room.

It was also right at that moment that Qin Xi informed her that they should now depart for Demonic Mountain.

Mo Tiange left Feifei inside the Virtual Sky World, took Xiaohuo with her, tidied up everything then went to meet Qin Xi.

Qin Xi was in the sitting room. Although he was holding a teacup, he didn’t move at all, and his gaze fell into the distance. He looked as if he was thinking about something. It was only after his divine sense sensed her arrival that he turned towards her. His gaze immediately fell on Xiaohuo’s body.

Amazement flitted past his face. “Xiaohuo… advanced?”

Mo Tiange nodded. “Just advanced.”

“Oh…” Qin Xi stared at Xiaohuo, looking rather perplexed. During the twenty-some years she wasn’t at Xuanqing School, Xiaohuo was taken care of by Ye Zhenji, and Ye Zhenji lived in his Immortal’s Cave. In the beginning, they still had the medicinal pills concocted by Mo Tiange, but when those medicinal pills were finished, Qin Xi also wasn’t stingy—Xiaohuo still obtained medicinal pills as Qin Xi never cut off its supplies.

Cultivators in Kunwu never raised their spiritual beasts so extravagantly like this. Even among Nascent Soul cultivators, there weren’t many that were so generous towards their spiritual beasts, and the spiritual beasts deserving such special treatment all belonged to rare breeds. If others found out they had raised an Inferno Beast, which were all over Kunwu, in such a manner, everyone would most likely wish they could dig all the medicinal pills eaten by Xiaohuo out of its belly. But this Xiaohuo was also strange. Many low level cultivators also raised Inferno Beasts, but none of those Inferno Beasts ended up mutating like it did.

Right now, what made Qin Xi even more perplexed was that during those twenty-some years, Xiaohuo always ate medicinal pills, but it never advanced from the second rank to the third rank, yet now, with roughly the same amount of time, Xiaohuo surprisingly advanced to the fifth rank!

Qin Xi himself was also a spiritual beast owner; it was just that he very rarely used spiritual beasts in fights. Nevertheless, he knew how hard it was to raise a spiritual beast. He had a Four-Eyed Bird he raised for more than a hundred years, but it was still in the fifth rank now. Although he didn’t raise it the way Mo Tiange raised Xiaohuo, it also didn’t lack medicinal pills. But Xiaohuo… In such a short period, it advanced to the fifth rank under her care!

He intuitively felt something was amiss. Once suspicion emerged in one’s heart, the doubts would increase the more one thought about the matter. His master said Tiange’s pill-concocting skills were superb. Just like the medicinal pills he saw Zhenji feeding to Xiaohuo that time, they were concocted perfectly. The more astonishing thing was that those medicinal pills were concocted with spiritual plants more than a thousand years old! Even if she obtained many spiritual plants from Deification cultivators sixty years ago, they shouldn’t have given her enough to act this extravagantly, right?

Her pill-concocting skills must be the result of concocting many medicinal pills, but where did she get the spiritual plants to concoct those pills? His pill-concocting skills were the best in all of Clear Spring Peak, but it was because his master, who realized he had a talent for it, deliberately let him cultivate his talent. Every time there were spiritual plants, they would typically be sent to him. But what about her? Where did she get so many spiritual plants to develop her skills? Moreover, she seemed to rarely ask the steward’s hall to get spiritual plants for her.

Mo Tiange felt uneasy at being stared at like this. She couldn’t help but ask: “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, aren’t we going?”

“Oh.” Qin Xi regained his train of thought. He stood up and said, “Let’s go then.”

Mo Tiange watched him walk out of the sitting room; her mind was filled with questions. However, she immediately put Xiaohuo into the spiritual beast pouch and followed after him.