Mo Tiange didn’t go back to Qin Xi’s Immortal’s Cave. He had already woken up, and his injuries had improved a lot, so she didn’t need to meddle with him anymore.

　　Lord Daoist Jinghe always tried to probe her about what happened that day, but she never told him.

　　Some time later, Mo Tiange heard he once again start Closed Door Meditation to tackle his soul-formation.

　　She was extremely puzzled about this. He just suffered severe injuries; shouldn’t he rest properly for a few years? Why was he so anxious to make a realm-breakthrough?

　　She didn’t ask these questions out loud, but Lord Daoist Jinghe mentioned some news about him in passing. As it turned out, upon obtaining her pure Yin spiritual aura, he comprehended a new cultivation technique which could be helpful for his realm-breakthrough, so he was anxious to start Closed Door Meditation again.

　　When she heard that, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed but she soon laughed at herself. Since she already came to accept the fact, why should she continue to feel like this? In any case, love wasn’t as important as the path towards immortality. Just like how he was anxious to form his Nascent Soul, she also ought to think about her core-formation.

　　Thus, after a few days of preparation, she reported to her master then decided to enter Closed Door Meditation.

　　The restrictions were laid, and the door to the cave was closed; from that moment on, Mingxin Residence was now off-limits to everyone. Mo Tiange entered the Virtual Sky World then began meditating in seclusion.

　　Time passed by fleetingly while she cultivated. One year passed after another.

　　The four seasons and time were fleeting. Without realizing it, more than ten years had passed by.

　　Within these ten-odd years, many things happened.

　　For example, Han Qingyu advanced to the Core Formation realm. Martial Uncle Xuanyin, who watched over Sweet Dew Peak, finally had his first Core Formation disciple, thus giving him the vibe of a true Nascent Soul cultivator.

　　For example, Ye Jingwen made a correct guess about Bai Yanfei—he eventually didn’t marry Junior Martial Sister Jiang. Instead, he married Martial Uncle Miaoyi’s last disciple, Senior Martial Sister Wu, whom he’d always looked down on before.

　　Another example—Martial Uncle Lingxu finally passed away. Junior Martial Sister Jiang already had to suffer a disappointment in romance, but she also had to suffer this blow—she now spent every day shut away at Drifting Cloud Peak and stopped seeing others. Luo Fengxue had correctly guessed this beforehand.

　　And there was another example; before Martial Uncle Lingxu passed away, none of Xuanqing School’s disciples undergoing Closed Door Meditation to tackle their soul-formation succeeded. Among them… was Qin Shoujing.

　　During her first year in Closed Door Meditation, after his injuries were healed, Qin Xi officially started Closed Door Meditation to form his Nascent Soul. Two years later, he finally failed. Another four years passed by and he once again entered Closed Door Meditation, but he still failed to make a realm-breakthrough.

　　Sixteen years passed in a flash; Mo Tiange eventually reached the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm and was now temporarily out of her Closed Door Meditation.

　　Reaching the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm at seventy eight years old… Even though the genius Qin Shoujing was ahead of her, she could still be considered to have made this achievement at an unfathomable age. The haze that clouded over Clear Spring Peak because of Qin Shoujing’s continuous failures also dissipated slightly.

　　In fact, if it wasn’t because Mo Tiange deliberately suppressed the speed of her cultivation and got injured several times in a row, she would’ve formed her Gold Core by now. However, the path of cultivation was full of obstacles and challenges. Getting injured or even having one’s cultivation level regress was the only path a cultivator could take, so there was indeed no need to dwell on these matters.

　　Mo Tiange, who was sitting in Mingxin Residence’s small sitting room while listening to the gossip relayed to her by Luo Fengxue, kept her head lowered and remained silent for a long time.

　　Luo Fengxue already advanced to the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. She was never that great at cultivating, so among elite disciples, her cultivation level could only be considered average, but it also couldn’t be considered bad.

　　“Tiange! Tiange!”

　　“Ah?” Mo Tiange snapped out of her daze.

　　Luo Fengxue grumbled: “What’re you doing? Why are you so distracted? If you continue on like this, I’d better get going.”

　　“Don’t!” Although she was lost in her thoughts, Mo Tiange was actually seriously listening to the news Luo Fengxue brought her. “I… I was just in a daze for a bit. If you go, who can I talk to? In all of Clear Spring Peak, I can’t find even one person to chat with.”

　　“Huh?” Luo Fengxue was astonished. “How can you not have anyone to chat with? Doesn’t grandmaster have a lot of maids? Besides, I remember you still have a nephew; he can chat with you, right?”

　　Mo Tiange said with a sigh: “My character isn’t suitable with those maids. They used to like to trouble me, so I beat them up. After that, they came to accept the fact that I was master’s disciple, but they also feared me. Also, Zhenji went out to gain some experience. This guy has made some progress; he understood his experience wasn’t enough. As for master, I used to be able to chat with him, but his mood’s obviously not that good these days, so I don’t want to provoke him.”

　　“Grandmaster’s mood’s not good?” Luo Fengxue took a moment to think then asked, “Is it because Martial Uncle Shoujing failed to form his Nascent Soul?”

　　“Probably.” Mo Tiange lowered her head and said faintly, “I think master’s certainly disappointed. Although master always said Senior Martial Brother Shoujing formed his Gold Core too early and that he should’ve done it in a safer way, it’d be weird if he’s not worried after seeing Senior Martial Brother Shoujing failing in his soul-formation again and again.”

　　“If I was grandmaster, I’d be worried too,” Luo Fengxue frowned and said, “Ay~ I might even feel pissed to death! Originally, before Martial Uncle Shoujing tried to form his Nascent Soul, many people at our school said he would succeed. But now, everyone’s saying soul-formation isn’t core-formation after all and that whether Martial Uncle Shoujing’s a genius or not will be determined by the result of his soul-formation.”

　　Although Luo Fengxue followed Lord Daoist Xuanyin in moving to Sweet Dew Peak, Clear Spring Peak was the place she grew up after all, so she always felt unhappy when she heard people gossiping about Clear Spring Peak.

　　Mo Tiange, on the other hand, was still completely calm. She only smiled and said, “Let them say whatever they like. I think although master definitely feels uncomfortable inside, he won’t worry about those people.”

　　“True…” Luo Fengxue mumbled to herself then said, “In fact, I’m also baffled that Martial Uncle Shoujing failed to form his Nascent Soul and that he failed two times in a row. If it hadn’t happened, I’d have never believed it.”

　　Mo Tiange was stunned, but she immediately asked with a smile, “Why? Isn’t failing to form one’s Nascent Soul very normal? I remember that among the Lord Daoists at our school, only the Head Grand Supreme Elder succeeded on his first try while the others succeeded after trying several times, right?” Even Lord Daoist Miaoyi, who was equally known as a genius, also tried three times before she succeeded in making a realm-breakthrough.

　　“That was indeed the case, but this is Martial Uncle Shoujing we’re talking about!” Luo Fengxue emphasized the point. “It’s because this is Martial Uncle Shoujing we’re talking about, so everyone thought he should’ve succeeded in one try.”

　　“… That’s one messed up reason.” Mo Tiange shook her head while thinking inwardly . In the end, this might be because Qin Shoujing has always been venerated, thus incurring this gossip, right? Presumably, it’s because he always surpassed those single spiritual root geniuses despite his double spiritual roots. Forming his Gold Core at seventy eight years old and reaching the peak stage of the Core Formation at a hundred and seventy five years old—what a genius! It’s precisely because he’s such a genius that everyone’s expectations of him are too high. They feel if he doesn’t succeed on his first try, he won’t live up to his name as the genius who always surpassed everyone’s expectations.

　　In reality, he was nothing but an ordinary cultivator. Despite how hardworking he was at cultivating or his numerous unique treasures, he was still the same as other cultivators; he’d also run into bottlenecks while making a realm-breakthrough. His cultivation level didn’t come out of nowhere.

　　“You don’t say! In fact, I heard a few things from my master… The reason Martial Uncle Shoujing failed his soul-formation was because there were flaws in his mental state. Grandmaster has been in great distress over this matter!”

　　Mental state flaws… Mo Tiange’s heart skipped a beat, and the memory from that day sixteen years ago emerged in her mind… In the next second, however, she shook her head and laughed at herself. When had she ever been that attractive? This matter completely had nothing to do with her.

　　“This isn’t that big of a problem…” she said slowly, “Many people simply cannot sense the existence of flaws in their mental state until they personally come across those flaws. Besides, Senior Martial Brother Shoujing hasn’t even reached two hundred years old yet; is there any need to be so anxious? In the entire Celestial Pole, one who can successfully advance into the Nascent Soul realm before they’re two hundred years old is unheard of.”

　　“That might be the case but this time, Martial Uncle Shoujing seems to be in a hurry. The last time he failed was already eight years ago. During these past eight years, he used all kinds of possible methods to look for treasures and now, I heard he’s going to enter Closed Door Meditation again.”

　　“So quickly?” Mo Tiange said in astonishment. Although failures in soul-formation were very common, frequently entering Closed Door Meditation like this wasn’t normal. According to her knowledge, after a soul-formation failure, the next Closed Door Meditation should only be started ten or more years afterward. If the time gap between each Closed Door Meditation was too close, not only would the flaws in the cultivator’s mental state not disappear, but they might become even more serious. As for the gaps Qin Xi took between his three soul-formation attempts, they were indeed too short. This time it was eight years; the last time was even shorter—it was only four years.

　　“You also feel Martial Uncle Shoujing’s too anxious, right?” Luo Fengxue shook her head then heaved a sigh. “I’ve asked my master about this before, but he also doesn’t know what’s going on. Grandmaster also didn’t tell him and just let Martial Uncle Shoujing do as he pleased. I’m really baffled; does grandmaster not worry that something will go wrong with Martial Uncle Shoujing?”

　　Soul-formation wasn’t the same as core-formation. The extent of danger in core-formation was comparatively low. Generally speaking, as long as one had someone guarding them during the core-formation process and thus stopping others from disturbing them, they wouldn’t be in any kind of danger. Even if they failed, they’d only need to start over. Soul-formation, however, was different. If one failed during their soul-formation, there was a high chance they’d get lost in their Inner Demon, or in case they were unable to smoothly form their Nascent Soul after breaking down their Gold Core, their cultivation would dissipate just like that. In other words, the failure in soul-formation better happen before the cultivator broke down their Gold Core, because if it was after and they couldn’t lead the spiritual aura contained in their broken Gold Core back into their dantian, their cultivation would be wasted—not only would they not have any more opportunities to form their Nascent Soul, but they would even become worse than a Core Formation cultivator.

　　Once her thoughts reached this point, Mo Tiange also couldn’t help but wrinkle her brows. “You’re right; this is too strange…”

　　Upon obtaining agreement, Luo Fengxue continued on: “Actually, it’s not that grandmaster isn’t worried. How could he not care—”

　　“I’m afraid he can’t control the outcome no matter how much he cares,” Mo Tiange said, “Master always said he’s too strong-headed, so advice doesn’t work on him…” At this point, Mo Tiange also felt puzzled. He wasn’t an impulsive person; he always planned everything before he made his move. Why was he insisting on this matter when everyone knew it wasn’t feasible? Could it be that he had a reason he must do this?

　　Mo Tiange started to zone out on Luo Fengxue’s words after that, so Luo Fengxue eventually felt bored and took her leave. Mo Tiange apologized, but she no longer insisted on keeping her there. Right now her mood was in a mess, so this wasn’t the time to gossip.

　　She’d just reached the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm. Right now, she intended to take a few years off before she entered Closed Door Meditation again.

　　Three years later, Qin Xi’s third soul-formation attempt still ended in failure. But fortunately, he wasn’t lost in his Inner Demon nor did he lose his power from breaking his Gold Core.

　　However, this blow caused him to quiet down. Even when Mo Tiange entered Closed Door Meditation to tackle her core-formation, she hadn’t heard any additional news about him. It was as if from that moment on, he no longer left his Immortal’s Cave.

　　Everyone said Qin Shoujing was someone with double spiritual roots after all; even though both his cultivation and realm-breakthrough progressed very quickly before trying to form his Nascent Soul, he still wasn’t a real genius. They’d completely forgotten what they used to say before; Qin Shoujing managed to advance to the Core Formation realm at the age of seventy eight years old despite the double spiritual roots he was endowed with. That… was already sufficient to call him a genius.

　　At the same time, this generation’s single spiritual root cultivator at Xuanqing School, Master Daoist Lingxi, finally reached the peak stage of the Core Formation realm and already began Closed Door Meditation to form his Nascent Soul.

　　Consequently, Li Lingxi, who had always been blocked from the spotlight by Qin Shoujing, started to be recognized as the genius he was.

　　The title of the new generation’s genius at Xuanqing School finally fell on a new master.

　　Mo Tiange didn’t have the chance to hear about these matters, because after Qin Xi’s failure, she once again sealed off her Immortal’s Cave and laid the restrictions—even Lord Daoist Jinghe was blocked outside. Then, she entered the Virtual Sky World to try to form her Gold Core.