Chapter 348: An Undeserved Calamity

Walking around this free market really broadened Mo Tiange’s horizons.

It wasn’t really because of how good the things were; rather, it was because the variety of beast cores here was really rich. Many of the beast cores were types she had never even heard of. Presumably, they came from demonic beasts specific to Yunzhong.

The cultivators who did business here consisted of both Aura Refining and Foundation Building realm cultivators. In fact, Mo Tiange had even spotted two Core Formation cultivators. Nevertheless, most of the Aura Refining cultivators who came here looked beaten and slovenly dressed.

Mo Tiange felt baffled inside, so she asked Ayin: “Why do these Aura Refining cultivators look so dispirited?”

Ayin replied, “These cultivators are all the beast hunters here. Their cultivation levels are rather low; they’re incapable of hunting high-ranking demonic beasts and can only kill first-rank demonic beasts. However, many of the first-rank demonic beasts don’t have cores—even finding one beast core is extremely difficult. Moreover, the other materials obtained from demonic beasts also aren’t very valuable…”

At this point, Mo Tiange already understood. These Aura Refining cultivators were the lowest rung of cultivators propping up this North Pole Island’s beast core free market. They did the most tiring and most dangerous kind of work. They obtained beast cores with much difficulty and took them to this free market to be sold, making a few spirit stones to provide for their cultivation. They weren’t merchants—they were workers.

“Back when my father was still alive, he was also like this. Sometimes, when he came back from the sea, he’d be so tired that he couldn’t even stand up properly, but he still braced himself and went out to sell the beast cores…” Ayin suddenly said dazedly.

“Your father?” Mo Tiange turned to look at her.

“En.” Ayin hung her head and said quietly, “My father was also a cultivator but his spiritual roots weren’t good. He’s already passed away now.”

After a momentary silence, Mo Tiange heaved a sigh and patted Ayin’s shoulder as if she was comforting her.

A smile appeared on Ayin’s face. “Thank you, Fairy. I’m alright. It’s been two years since my father passed away; I’ve already accepted it.” Ayin leaned to the side then raised her hand to point at a small door in the distance. She said, “That’s where the Jade Qilin Pavilion’s appraisers are. Even if we’re not making any transactions, we can still get them to appraise our goods as long as we pay the appraisal fee.”

Mo Tiange lifted her gaze. That small door was full of people passing through. The majority were sellers with their buyers, but there were also people who were by themselves.

She had no interest in appraising things, so she looked away after a moment. As soon as she did so, however, she immediately looked back again.

Something was wrong… she seemed to have noticed something just now! Mo Tiange stepped forward, walking quickly towards the appraisal room.

“Fairy?” Ayin was stunned, but she immediately followed after Mo Tiange.

Inside the tiny appraisal room, several appraisers were completely surrounded by people. Mo Tiange looked around, but she didn’t see the person she saw just now.

“Fairy, are you looking for someone?”

Upon looking for a while and finding nothing, Mo Tiange finally gave up and squeezed out of the crowd. “Maybe I was mistaken.”

“Oh…” Ayin tactfully stopped asking further.

Experiencing such a thing made Mo Tiange lose interest in taking a walk. She said, “There’s nothing interesting here. Let’s go.”

When she came out of the free market, Mo Tiange didn’t want to stroll around anymore. She pondered for a moment then said to Ayin: “I’m going to the coast to stroll around. It’s not really appropriate to take you with me, so you should go back first.”

“Yes,” Ayin responded. She seemed to ponder something then, a moment later, she spoke again: “Fairy, most of the cultivators who go beast-hunting go to the northeast wharf. The west region is the site of big cultivation groups—they might not accept foreign guests.”

“En, I understand.”

Upon hearing her response, Ayin bowed then turned around and left.

Mo Tiange didn’t remain there. After she left the market, she flew to the sky and made her way to the east.

While she flew, she thought back to the matter just now.

At that free market, she saw a black-clothed woman, and from the back, that woman looked very similar to Nie Wushang. The road from the Eastern Sea to the South Pole Island was quite hidden; according to reason, if it wasn’t because she’d seen the Jade Slip Mo Yaoqing left behind, the possibility of her finding it was very small. However, if she went through the South Sea, not to mention the fact that the Celestial Pole and Yunzhong were distant, but the road was also full of all kinds of dangers—how could Nie Wushang, who was only a Core Formation cultivator, succeed on such a journey? Could it be that it wasn’t at all Nie Wushang and Mo Tiange just mistook someone as her? But that figure’s back was too similar to Nie Wushang’s. The clothing style was also the same. Even if Mo Tiange mistook the figure, it was impossible for the clothing to be so similar, right?

Mo Tiange frowned and gave the matter some thought, but she only felt full of questions. Moreover, that woman’s cultivation level was also in the Foundation Building realm—this one fact didn’t fit. But this wasn’t a certainty either. If she could hide her spiritual breath, other people could certainly do so too.

Before she could fly too far, she suddenly felt several spiritual aura pressures coming towards her.

Right now, she was still pretending that her cultivation level was in the Foundation Building realm, so her flight speed was also very slow. The several people approaching were also in the Foundation Building realm—it was unclear what flying magic tools they were using, but they caught up with her very quickly.

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Mo Tiange intended to move away slightly, but surprisingly, those people suddenly split up and surrounded her.

When she realized this, she stopped then looked at the approaching people with a frown.

Those people consisted of both men and women, and they were all wearing the same clothes. It seemed… they were the disciples of a certain cultivation group.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, is there something the matter?” Three people were in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm, and two were in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. None of them had good expressions on their faces. Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows. She was only passing by; this area also wasn’t the site of cultivation groups like Ayin mentioned. What did these people want?

Once they heard what she said, those several people exchanged glances with each other. The middle stage Foundation Building cultivator leading the group then shouted with a calm expression: “Hand the thing over!”

The wrinkle on Mo Tiange’s brows became even deeper. She ran her gaze slowly over the cultivators surrounding her. “Fellows, you have the wrong person, right?”

Under her gaze, those cultivators couldn’t help but cower slightly. Those with a low cultivation level even felt frightened. It was as if they were suppressed by a high-level cultivator. However, although the cultivation level of the female cultivator in front of them was higher than theirs, she was still only in the Foundation Building realm.

Upon calming down, the leader once again assumed a cold and severe expression. “Got the wrong person? Your accent is obviously the same as that little thief’s, but you’re still saying we have the wrong person?!”

That person’s tone was really unpleasant to hear. Furthermore, because he asked for no explanation and immediately determined she was some little thief, Mo Tiange felt even more displeased. Nevertheless, this wasn’t the Celestial Pole and she was a newcomer, so she better keep a low-profile for a bit.

With that thought in mind, she swallowed her anger and said slowly, “Fellows, did you perhaps misunderstand something? I just left the beast core market and I’m on my way to the wharf, but I was stopped midway by you guys. I really have no idea why you’re coming to me.”

Those several people had a huge change in expression when they heard what she said. One of them shouted: “Sure enough, it’s you! You still dare to quibble!”

Mo Tiange was stunned. Is there something wrong with what I said?

“Miss.” The leader clenched the magic tool in his hand and said coldly, “You better hand the thing over obediently! Although you’re in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm, if the five of us work together, you still won’t be able to escape!”

“Hmph!” As those several people stubbornly believed her to be a certain someone regardless of any reason, Mo Tiange finally lost her temper. She said coldly, “I’m telling you for the last time; if I say I’m not the person you’re looking for, then I’m not. If you want to use violence, do as you wish!”

“You—” The leader’s expression turned ugly in an instant. In the end, he clenched his teeth and cast a meaningful glance at his several companions.

Receiving his gaze, the five people were instantly on the move. They each simultaneously took out a banner. Each carried the banners in the wind, spreading the banners open. All of a sudden, spiritual aura surged along with the blowing cold wind.

Mo Tiange narrowed her eyes. With her cultivation level, she naturally wasn’t afraid of these five Foundation Building cultivators. However, the technique they used was rather odd. It seemed to be a kind of human formation.

She looked at the banners the five people held. Eight Diagrams Pattern of Tai Chi was drawn on them, and there were also some other grotesque drawings. Although she didn’t really understand the drawings, she could roughly understand that they were some formation patterns. Something seemed to dawn on her mind. She asked, “You’re from Tianyan Sect?”

Hearing what she said made the leader hmph coldly. “Stop pretending. You just stole something from our Jade Qilin Pavilion—what are you pretending to not recognize us for?!”

Mo Tiange had always been someone who yielded to soft approaches but rejected force, so this person’s tyrannical attitude naturally made her unhappy. At once, she flung her sleeve, releasing her momentum. “I indeed don’t know—what can you do to me?”

The moment a Core Formation cultivator’s momentum was released, the five people’s expressions changed greatly. One among them yelled: “Senior Martial Brother, this…”

“She’s actually in the Core Formation realm…” The leader’s face turned white then red, and his attitude became slightly more restrained. Nevertheless, his gaze was even more determined. “Miss, since you’re a Core Formation senior, why did you pretend that you’re in the Foundation Building realm? Don’t tell me you’re not scheming against my Tianyan Sect?”

“Hmph!” Mo Tiange coldly said, “I’ll hide my spiritual breath if I like it; why do I have to explain myself to juniors like you? You’ve accused me falsely without any reason of stealing your things, and now, I still have to explain everything about myself to you in detail? Even though your Tianyan Sect is the biggest cultivation group on North Pole Island, there’s no justifying such actions!”

By the time she finished her argument, the five people finally started to hesitate. If it was only a Foundation Building cultivator, they’d just need to catch them and hand them over to the sect to be handled. However, this woman was a Core Formation cultivator—they couldn’t defeat her if they fought, but it was also impossible for them to let her go. After all, she was the most suspicious character they encountered along their way.

In fact, Tianyan Sect was accustomed to being the dominant force on North Pole Island, so they couldn’t put down their pride. They had run over aggressively to stop this person; if they retreated immediately upon finding out the person was a Core Formation senior, wouldn’t they be making a joke of themselves? Besides, those martial uncles in the sect wouldn’t care about their suffering. Those martial uncles would only say they didn’t do their job well.

“Senior.” The leader eventually softened his tone and said to Mo Tiange, “Indeed, important goods of our Jade Qilin Pavilion were stolen. If we didn’t handle this well, not to mention the small matter of being punished when we go back, but at that time, the entire North Pole Island would be thrown into a commotion. This is a matter of great importance, so senior, please come back with us and explain the matter clearly to our division.”

The corners of Mo Tiange’s lips curved upward, forming a smile on her face. She, a Core Formation cultivator, was implicated in some kind of incident for no reason at all and had to be taken back by a few Foundation Building cultivators—if this was found out by others, wouldn’t she be laughed at? Could it be that everyone in Yunzhong handled things like this? Or could it be that because Tianyan Sect was the most powerful in this place, so they became so unbridled?

“Fellows, if it was the seniors from your division who said this, maybe I’d agree. But you think I’d follow you back obediently with these demands coming from the mouths of the few of you? Isn’t that ridiculous?”

“Senior!” The person who seemed to be the youngest among the five people shouted, “Although we’re only Foundation Building cultivators, we’re representing Tianyan Sect! If you’re not willing to go back with us, then we’ll have to report this to our seniors. At that time, I’m afraid you’ll also be embarrassed!”

“Junior Martial Brother Qiao!” Right after that person spoke, their leader immediately shouted. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. When he turned to look at Mo Tiange, he saw her expression had turned very cold.

“Fine! You can go back and report to your seniors!” She raised her head, looking at the five people in front of her haughtily. “I’ll be waiting for your seniors, let them come and give me a lesson!”