“Fellow Daoist Ye…”

　　Despite being refused, Tang Shen wasn’t willing to give up, but he wasn’t good at words so he couldn’t say anything to further his cause. He could only continue clinging to Mo Tiange.

　　Mo Tiange felt utterly helpless. “Fellow Daoist Tang, you’ll end up killing me if you continue on like this.”

　　“Huh?” Tang Shen looked confused.

　　Mo Tiange felt even more helpless. If the two of them were seen by anyone else and word of their appearance together spread, popular Young Master Tang’s admirers definitely would hate her to the bone; they might even pounce on her, wielding their swords! With their extremely jealous temperaments, she wouldn’t be able to clear things up no matter what she said.

　　“Big Brother Tang!” Just as this thought emerged in her mind, the two of them suddenly heard a voice calling out.

　　Mo Tiange turned towards the direction of the voice but she immediately wrinkled her brows right after. It was unexpectedly a fanatic admirer of this Young Master Tang, Junior Martial Sister Hua! One really did bring misfortune upon themselves by thinking negatively! Of all people, it had to be her who saw them; wasn’t this asking for her death?!

　　Junior Martial Sister Hua was on her own, but she was heading towards the two of them aggressively, glaring at Mo Tiange. She then asked condescendingly, “Fellow Daoist Ye, what are you talking to Big Brother Tang about?”

　　He’s obviously the one who’s doing the talking, not me… Mo Tiange thought in her mind. Mo Tiange stared at Junior Martial Sister Hua, who was a full half head taller than her, and said flatly, “It’s nothing. Fellow Daoist Hua, you can ask Fellow Daoist Tang directly if you want to know.”

　　“Nothing?” She stared at Mo Tiange with a knife-sharp gaze as if she wanted to cut Mo Tiange’s face.

　　Mo Tiange didn’t have the slightest doubt that this woman really wanted to take a knife and cut off bits of her face, slice by slice. She laughed bitterly inside her heart. Although the female Bixuan Court cultivators were strong, in the end, this wasn’t a world where women were dominant. Even a soft man like Tang Shen would most likely prefer coquettish women like Junior Martial Sister Yun whom Mo Tiange met in Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave, right? Of course, strong women could also be perceived as cute, but if their strength made them rampant and authoritarian, that wasn’t at all cute.

　　Mo Tiange hadn’t done anything shameful, so she wasn’t afraid of her. She didn’t back down an inch and simply said coldly, “Does Fellow Daoist Hua still have anything to add?”

　　Upon seeing that Mo Tiange didn’t seem guilty at all, Junior Martial Sister Hua wrinkled her shapely eyebrows. “Fellow Daoist Ye, I really want to ask you—what are you trying to do? There’s no problem at all, but instead of studying pill-concocting with Junior Martial Sister Xia Qing, why did you come and talk to Big Brother Tang?” After Mo Tiange didn’t answer, Junior Martial Sister Hua took another step closer. “Fellow Daoist Ye, I have to remind you—don’t fantasize about something that’s not yours!”

　　Although she was being glared at, Mo Tiange didn’t cower. On the contrary, the more situation the progressed, the more ridiculous she felt this whole debacle was. With the thought that she was going to leave anyway and didn’t need to hold back, Mo Tiange curved the corners of her lips, forming a cold smirk on her face. “Fellow Daoist Hua, I think you better keep that reminder in mind for yourself.”

　　Junior Martial Sister Hua obviously didn’t expect Mo Tiange would retort back and furthermore, Mo Tiange did it without pulling any punches, so she was dumbfounded for a moment. Once she finally digested Mo Tiange’s words, she instantly flew into a rage. “Ye Xiaotian! Don’t be ungrateful and shameless!”

　　The angrier this Junior Martial Sister Hua was, the calmer Mo Tiange became. There was even a smile on Mo Tiange’s face as she said, “Fellow Daoist Hua, haven’t you long wanted to give me a lesson? Why haven’t you done anything until now? I also want to offer you a piece of advice; a frog at the bottom of the well shouldn’t talk about the ocean. Fellow Daoist Hua, this temper of yours won’t matter if you stay in Linhai your whole life, but if you ever go to Kunwu… Hmph!”

　　“You—” Junior Martial Sister Hua’s expression changed greatly upon hearing Mo Tiange’s blunt remarks. Aside from the three elders, no one ever dared to talk to her like this in all of Bixuan Court! Nevertheless, Mo Tiange’s ice-cold expression decreased her confidence slightly. Furthermore, it also made Junior Martial Sister Hua recall what her elders said several months ago.

　　“You want to give that Ye Xiaotian a lesson? Third Girl, you really don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth!”

　　Unconvinced, she argued, “Great-grandmother, she’s just a Kunwu cultivator; what’s wrong with giving her a lesson? She’s asking for our help now, yet she actually dared to give me attitude!”

　　Upon hearing what she said, her great-grandmother, Elder Qingmiao, flung her sleeves and “hmphed” coldly. “I said you don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth, but you still don’t want to admit it! Your mother spoiled you too much ever since you were a child! Just a Kunwu cultivator? You were also there when your senior martial sister sect head reported the matter to us; did you not hear that she’s a cultivator from Xuanqing School?”

　　“But she’s just a Foundation Building cultivator; there’s nothing great about that…”

　　“She also said she was ordered by her master to leave the mountain and travel around!” Elder Qingmiao glared at her, feeling resentful as she expected better from her. “In Xuanqing School, only cultivators in the Core Formation realm and higher can accept disciples—her master’s definitely a Core Formation cultivator! If she’s favored, her status in her school isn’t lower than yours! The number of Nascent Soul cultivators they have is more than the number of Core Formation cultivators we have— we cannot afford to offend them!”

　　She was stunned and for a moment, she couldn’t say anything in reply. She was born as a direct descendant of a Core Formation cultivator and she had her fill of love and pampering. Yet, a foreign cultivator might have a status that wasn’t lower than hers…

　　After pulling back her wandering mind, she looked at Mo Tiange, who looked back at her haughtily. That was the expression she always used with others; when had others ever used that expression with her? Utterly enraged, she berated Mo Tiange irrationally, “Who do you think you are to actually dare to talk to me like this?!”

　　“Then who do you think you are?” Mo Tiange smiled and said calmly, “Your cultivation level’s not much, and you have no good aspects whatsoever. Just because you have a Core Formation cultivator as an elder, you really think you’re amazing? Big Sis, if this is really your mentality, there’s no need for you to think about forming your Gold Core in your lifetime—you can stay in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm and keep on dreaming until you die!”

　　“You—” Without saying anything further, she pulled out her flying sword, wanting to pierce Mo Tiange with it.

　　As Mo Tiange took a step back, she directed her gaze at a certain corner where Tang Shen was gaping at the two of them. “Fellow Daoist Tang!”

　　“Huh?” Tang Shen was completely at a loss for what to do.

　　“Are you going to watch on as your junior martial sister attacks a guest inside your group?”

　　“…Oh.” Tang Shen didn’t really process her words and just hurriedly took out his magic tool. “Junior Martial Sister Hua!”

　　This Junior Martial Sister Hua looked even more furious to see Tang Shen defending Mo Tiange. “Big Brother Tang, you! You actually want to fight me for her?!”

　　Tang Shen wasn’t too confident about it, but in the end, he still summoned up his courage and said, “But Fellow Daoist Ye’s our important guest; how could you possibly attack a guest?”

　　“Important guest?” Junior Martial Sister Hua sneered, “Have you ever seen a guest who ridiculed their host? She’s the one who ridiculed me first—”

　　“What she said wasn’t wrong!” A dignified voice rang out from the side.

　　The three of them turned their heads to look towards the gate of the garden, where a middle-aged woman in plain, neat clothes was now standing.

　　That woman seemed to be about forty years old, but there wasn’t the slightest wrinkle on her face. She looked majestic and imposing.

　　Following behind her were several lamp-holding maids. They were extremely quiet and didn’t make the slightest noise.

　　When they saw that person, both Tang Shen and Junior Martial Sister Hua were both astounded but soon after, they immediately put away their magic tools and knelt to greet her.

　　“Great-grandmother.”

　　“Greetings to Elder.”

　　“En.” That woman nodded. As she slowly walked towards them, her sharp gaze was fixated on Mo Tiange.

　　Mo Tiange showed a faint smile then clasped her hands in a neither humble nor arrogant manner to greet her. “Junior Ye Xiaotian greets Elder Qingmiao.”

　　A hint of appreciation emerged in that woman’s gaze when she heard Mo Tiange’s greeting. She then answered slowly, “There’s no need to be too polite… You’re unexpectedly a smart child.”

　　Mo Tiange lowered her hands, looked down slightly and didn’t answer.

　　Elder Qingmiao also stopped looking at her. Her gaze now fell on her two kneeling juniors. “Shen’er, get up.”

　　Tang Shen looked up a bit worriedly before he finally answered in a low voice, “Yes, many thanks to Elder.”

　　Junior Martial Sister Hua also wanted to get up, but when she raised her head and saw the severe gaze directed at her, she lost her courage. She continued on kneeling while biting her lips.

　　The maids tidied up the mess in the pavilion. They rearranged the plates, cups, and cushions, and retreated to the side.

　　Elder Qingmiao went into the small pavilion to sit. She took the tea the maids just brewed and sipped it slowly before she finally spoke. “Lin’er, you ought to be more than forty years old now, right?”

　　Junior Martial Sister Hua, who was still kneeling on the ground, muttered a “yes” as an answer.

　　Mo Tiange, who was standing by the side, smirked. In fact, back when she called her “Big Sis,” she just wanted to infuriate this woman. Unexpectedly, however, this woman was older than her for real! That being the case, everything she said couldn’t be considered to have done her an injustice.

　　She was already more than forty years old, but she was still this unruly. Foundation Building cultivators lived around three hundred years, but according to the way Junior Martial Sister Hua was living now, even if she lived until she was three hundred years old, she still wouldn’t make any progress. She’d never advance to the Core Formation realm her whole life, and even if she managed to advance to the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, advancing to the late stage would definitely be difficult for her.

　　Elder Qingmiao put down her cup; her gaze became colder. “More than forty years old, and you don’t feel ashamed to admit it! I’ve long told you to not think too highly of yourself, but you never took what I said to heart!”

　　“But, Great-grandmother—”

　　“But what?” Elder Qingmiao cut her off and slammed the table. “Hua Yilin, you think just because you have me, this old woman, as your backing, that you can do anything you want? Your mother never taught you properly, and you yourself also never followed any good examples! It wouldn’t matter much if you had the skills and could build your Gold Core by yourself, but what’s your status now? You’re just in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm, and you never thought to improve yourself!”

　　Mo Tiange stood on the sidelines, watching them unconcernedly. So this Junior Martial Sister Hua’s name was Hua Yilin… Such a waste of a good name.

　　Hua Yilin, who was kneeling on the ground, pursed her lips but said nothing.

　　Elder Qingmiao glared at her angrily. “What? Do you still feel you’re being wronged? I think what this little fellow Daoist said wasn’t wrong at all! You really think you’re amazing just because you have a Core Formation elder, but can you rely on me your whole life?! Are you not going to make a realm-breakthrough later? Last time we sent disciples outside, I should’ve thrown you out with them and let you go to Kunwu for experience so that you won’t be a disgrace in the future!”

　　These words were harsh and ruthless. Hua Yilin’s eyes reddened, and she threw Mo Tiange an angry glare. Nevertheless, she didn’t dare to refute.

　　Elder Qingmiao became even more furious. “What? You can’t accept that? Fine! There’s a guest here with us so I won’t lecture you much—you can go and reflect on your own; face the wall and meditate! You’re not to go out until I say otherwise!”

　　“Great-grandmother!” Hua Yilin was scared. Tears started to fall. “I…”

　　“Go now!” Elder Qingmiao glared at her, showing no mercy at all.

　　She bit her lips but eventually, she stood up then rushed away.

　　After seeing her leaving obediently, Elder Qingmiao’s expression finally eased up. She then cast Tang Shen a glance and said, “Shen’er, go and look after your great-great-grandmother if you have nothing else to do. She was looking for you just now.”

　　As if he just received amnesty, Tang Shen promptly bowed and said, “Yes.” Then he hastily fled away.

　　In a flash, aside from Mo Tiange, the only ones left were Elder Qingmiao and her maids.

　　Mo Tiange’s gaze wavered. In the end, she chose to stay silent. She assumed the attitude she usually used when facing her elders at Xuanqing School—she kept her head down and stood quietly by the side in a well-behaved manner.

　　Elder Qingmiao didn’t pay her any attention. She just took the handkerchief her maid offered then softly wiped her face. It was only after she finished that she finally looked at Mo Tiange.

　　She was looking at her very attentively, and she looked for a very long time. However, Mo Tiange’s expression remained tranquil all throughout.

　　When Elder Qingmiao finally withdrew her gaze, she picked up her teacup again and said slowly, “Little Fellow Daoist, you… really aren’t simple!”