Chapter 97: Spiritual Roots of the Origin

“Tiange, you’re really lucky.” Luo Fengxue said half-admiringly, half-jokingly. She looked up at the sky and sighed as she said, “Grandmaster’s registered disciple… Why do I not have such luck!?”

Mo Tiange only revealed a slight smile without looking particularly happy or proud. She said, “Am I not the same as you now? In the future, I hope Senior Martial Sister Luo can look after me.” Martial Uncle Xuanyin said she would live with Senior Martial Sister Luo, so she would definitely need the guidance of this outgoing, capable Senior Martial Sister Luo.

Luo Fengxue was merely complaining casually and wasn’t really serious about what she said. So, she laughed and said, “Of course I will! In the future, you might become my martial uncle, so of course, I have to take advantage now to fawn on you!”

After chatting and joking around for a while, Luo Fengxue took her to her future living quarters.

Cultivation group disciples were categorized into several types. The general types were: part-time disciples, formal disciples, and elite disciples.

In Yunwu Sect, Mo Tiange was a formal disciple, which was only one step higher than a part-time disciple. In Yunwu Sect, formal disciples were the most common as well as the most numerous type of disciple. Since they hadn’t been accepted as disciples by any masters, several hundred of them – sometimes even a thousand – had to cram together every time they wanted to listen to a sermon by a senior. No one would look after their cultivation progress for them; everyone was responsible for themselves.

As for elite disciples, they were all accepted by masters. Although seniority in the cultivation world was primarily determined by the cultivators’ cultivation levels, if a cultivator was formally accepted as a disciple to a master, the seniority in their relationship had more complex, fixed rules and wouldn’t change simply as a result of a change in their cultivation levels. Therefore, although Luo Fengxue was an Aura Refining disciple just like her, she could already call the Core Formation seniors “martial uncles.”

Elite disciples were also categorized into several types. The lowest ones were registered disciples. Actually, registered disciples couldn’t really be considered real disciples because their masters didn’t teach them personally. Thus, Mo Tiange’s only option was to reside with Luo Fengxu. As a registered disciple, in fact, her status was technically lower than Luo Fengxue’s, but since her master was a Nascent Soul cultivator, her status was very different. Even Master Daoist Xuanyin would treat her with some courtesy.

The most common disciples among elite disciples were inner disciples. Usually, when a cultivator was accepted by a high-level cultivator as a disciple, they would become an inner disciple and could receive guidance from their master. If their master was satisfied with the progress of their cultivation, they might be promoted to an advanced inner disciple. In the event a cultivator got promoted, their master would teach them secret techniques and divine powers. Furthermore, they could be ranked among their martial siblings; for example, since Master Daoist Xuanyin ranked first among Lord Daoist Jinghe’s advanced inner disciples, he was known as Lord Daoist Jinghe’s eldest disciple.

The last type of elite disciple, as well as the type closest to their master, was direct disciples. Direct disciples received their masters’ genuine teachings and were also their masters’ heirs. Generally, a master would only have one or two direct disciples.

Right now, Mo Tiange was only a registered disciple, but since her master’s identity was extraordinary, her status wasn’t the same as others. For that reason, Luo Fengxue arranged a residence beside Master Daoist Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave where Mo Tiange would live with Luo Fengxue and other martial sisters.

Luo Fengxue wanted to introduce her to Master Daoist Xuanyin’s other female disciples, but all of them were either not present or in Closed Door Meditation. In the end, she had no other choice but to drop the matter for the time being. Meanwhile, she herself was on duty that day, so she let Mo Tiange relax on her own for a bit.

When she sent Luo Fengxue off, Mo Tiange already felt exhausted. However, a smile still blossomed on her face.

Originally, she assumed that in great cultivation groups like Xuanqing School, the members would have complicated relationships and the disciples would be arrogant, but to her surprise, the first person she met, Luo Fengxue, was both friendly and outgoing. Furthermore, Grandmaster Jinghe even accepted her as his registered disciple.

Everything went so well that she felt like this was surreal. Ever since she set foot on the road to immortality, she had always struggled tremendously. Never once had she had this kind of promising future to look forward to.

Of course, she also wondered whether they had ulterior motives, just like what happened to her ancestor, Mo Yaoqing, who discovered her master had long planned out her fate after she reached the Core Formation realm. Nevertheless, after Mo Tiange thought the matter through, she felt that there was nothing she needed to be worried about at the moment. Not to mention that she was still an Aura Refining disciple, but even if Grandmaster Jinghe really did have ill intentions, with his cultivation level, he would just need to coerce her by force – why would he make all these arrangements for her?

With this thought, Mo Tiange finally settled down with ease.

Elite disciples were, after all,  elite  disciples. The treatment they received was completely different from ordinary disciples. Her residence was right next to Master Daoist Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave; it was both quiet and secluded and full of spiritual aura. Only female disciples lived here and each was given a small Immortal’s Cave. Every small cave consisted of several rooms: a bedroom, a room for cultivating, a room for concocting medicinal pills, a room for rearing spiritual beasts and so on. Everything they needed was available to them. Moreover, the table, chairs, and all the furniture were made of jade.

This really broadened Mo Tiange’s horizons. As far as she knew, even the Foundation Building cultivators of Yunwu Sect didn’t have such good Immortal’s Caves. This Xuanqing School indeed proved itself to be an outstanding cultivation group of the Celestial Pole.

The surprise and happiness she felt from receiving a good Immortal’s Cave made her forget about her exhaustion. She started to furnish the cave.

The bedroom was the easiest. Right now, she was already in the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm and didn’t particularly need to sleep, so she just put some simple decorations inside. In the cultivating room, she placed a praying mat, a Spirit-Gathering Formation, and a few unimportant books. She also placed the furnace she bought in Tiandao Sect in the concocting room. As for the other empty rooms, she didn’t make any changes. She also discovered a medicinal field behind the cave, which gave birth to some ideas.

All of the female disciples’ Immortal’s Caves lay side by side. Behind them was a very small valley composed of several medicinal fields. Most of these fields were filled with spiritual plants. Luo Fengxue told her that each cave was allocated a patch of medicinal field and the owner of the cave was allowed to handle the field as they wished.

Mo Tiange already intended on learning to concoct pills. This place was full of spiritual aura and was indeed a good place to plant spiritual plants. So, she already planned to ask Luo Fengxue where she could get seeds the next day.

…

While Mo Tiange was busy decorating her cave, Lord Daoist Jinghe was reclining on a dragon couch in a cave at the summit of Clear Spring Peak. But this time, there were neither beauties attending to him nor grapes to be eaten. He was just lazily flipping through the pages of a book. After skimming through the book for a moment, he uttered a “tsk” and said with disdain, “How crappy! Did ancient cultivators use this kind of animal skin as paper? You don’t even realize you’ve been cheated by others!”

He then threw the book at Master Daoist Xuanyin, who was sitting on a seat below him.

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Master Daoist Xuanyin picked the book up. A deep frown was etched on his face. He asked while still maintaining a thread of hope: “Master, is it really a fake?”

Qin Jinghe sat up and accepted the tea handed to him by a disciple. He then pursed his lips and said, “It’s a fake! From the Distant Past era until the Middle Ages, Frost Stone Beasts existed only in the southern mountains and they were very few in number. Later, during the Middle Ages, a war broke out between the Righteous and the Devil and the world transformed. It was only then that the numbers of Frost Stone Beasts increased. Not to mention the materials this book was made of – let’s talk about the content. The content seems right, but it’s actually wrong. Only a Core Formation cultivator like you could be tricked by it! You think this thing could fool me? Dream on!”

“…”

Maybe it was because Master Daoist Xuanyin looked very heartbroken that Qin Jinghe asked, “How much money did you spend?”

“300…”

“Only 300 spirit stones? Eh… forget it then.” Core Formation cultivators wouldn’t consider that a small amount of money, let alone him, Qin Jinghe.

However, Master Daoist Xuanyin spoke once again. “Master, it was 300 medium grade spirit stones…”

“WHAT!?” Qin Jinghe sprang up from the couch.

In the cultivation world, typically only low-grade spirit stones were used. Medium grade spirit stones weren’t easy to find, and 300 medium grade spirit stones were equal to more than 30,000 low-level spirit stones.

“300 medium grade spirit stones, you brat… really…” Qin Jinhe wanted to reprimand him, but after thinking about it further, Xuanyin had already been cheated; would reprimanding him change that fact? However, his heart really ached ah~~~ Although Xuanqing School was one of the very best cultivation groups in the Celestial Pole, its Core Formation cultivators only got several thousand spirit stones every year. Being cheated this time really…

“You really become increasingly naive the longer you live!” Thinking about those spirit stones, Qin Jinghe felt dissatisfied and severely scolded him. “Speak! Which kid cheated you? I’ll chop them to pieces and make them regret ever being born!”

Master Daoist Xuanyin also felt distressed because of this, but once he heard Qin Jinghe’s words, he hastily said, “Master, I got it in an exchange in a small nameless place. Forget about looking for the person – I didn’t even get to see the person’s face.”

His master’s desire to kill was too strong. Every time his master killed people, his master would be reprimanded by the Head Elder, and in turn, his master would reprimand the person who first caused trouble upon his return. Master Daoist Xuanyin was already old enough, so he really didn’t want to be rebuked like a three-year-old child by his master. Besides, he really didn’t have any clue about the person’s identity. He had already accepted his fate.

Upon seeing that Qin Jinghe still wished to speak, Master Daoist Xuanyin hastily said, “Master, I have something to report. It’s about your new registered disciple.”

His last sentence managed to attract Qin Jinghe’s attention. “En?”

Master Daoist Xuanyin cautiously said, “Master, I checked Mo Tiange’s spiritual roots. They seem to be… the Spiritual Roots of the Origin you once mentioned!”

“What?” Qin Jinghe gaped at him. “Spiritual Roots of the Origin? Are you talking about the Spiritual Roots of the Origin where five kinds of spiritual roots coexist and are all equal in strength?”

“Yes.” Master Daoist Xuanyin answered. Upon seeing Qin Jinghe’s expression, he said doubtfully, “Master, could you tell me what kind of spiritual roots they are? I only remember that back then, you said Spiritual Roots of the Origin was one of the various kinds of unique spiritual roots; they’re not worse than mutated spiritual roots nor single spiritual roots, but unfortunately, they haven’t appeared for a long time.”

Instead of answering, Qin Jinghe mumbled with amazement, “Spiritual Roots of the Origin? This girl is really interesting; Pure Yin Constitution is rarely seen in a millennium, and Spiritual Roots of the Origin also haven’t appeared in the last several millenniums, yet both actually appeared together in her body!”

After pondering this for a while, he finally remembered that his disciple was still there, so he said to Master Daoist Xuanyin, “We’re practicing Dao, but do you know what Dao is?”

Master Daoist Xuanyin was startled by this question. Xuanqing School was a Dao School. When its disciples entered the school, everyone, including the part-time disciples, began by learning Dao scriptures. Regarding the question “What is Dao,” it was both a shallow and deep question. Every disciple in the school had an answer, but not even Nascent Soul cultivators could come up with an exact answer.

This was one of the rare moments Qin Jinghe truly seemed like a Nascent Soul cultivator. He said in a dignified manner, “Dao is the heaven and earth, the universe, the void, the rules, and the origin. It can even be considered any kind of thing. However, in the Distant Past era, the so-called Dao was mainly an embodiment of one thing… a measure.”

“This so-called measure encompassed balance, the control of that balance, and eternity. With balance, the world can exist; with control of the balance, rules can be established. It is only then that eternity can be achieved.”

Mater Daoist Xuanyin was frightened and asked, “Does Master mean this Spiritual Roots of the Origin corresponds completely with the ‘Dao’ of the Distant Past era?”

Qin Jinghe nodded and answered, “Correct. Based on our current cultivation method, the fewer spiritual roots one has, the better since there would be less contradiction between the spiritual auras entering our bodies. However, in reality, another cultivation method was used in the Distant Past era.”

“This…” Master Daoist Xuanyin was completely blown away.  So this means… during the Distant Past era, Spiritual Roots of the Origin was, in fact, a Heaven-sent blessing?

Qin Jinghe once again heaved a sigh. He said, “What a pity… The Distant Past era is indeed too distant. In the Middle Ages, people already changed the way they cultivated. Now, we already have no way of finding out about the method of cultivating this ‘measure.’ This child… really is a pity…”