At this point, the rotten peach blossom affair finally ended. Later, Mo Tiange heard that Lord Daoist Zhenyang angrily took that Junior Martial Brother Bai back and grounded him. From then on, he seemed to vanish from her sight. Even when she went to Morning Sun Peak to handle some matters, she no longer saw Junior Martial Brother Bai. Her days once again became tranquil.

　　By the time she gradually blended into the school and gained some prestige among the Aura Refining disciples, Lord Daoist Jinghe finally agreed that she no longer needed to go to Mengxue Hall every day. It would suffice for her to go occasionally, according to the steward’s hall’s arrangements.

　　In addition, all the tasks at Shangqing Palace could be returned to the maids, but Mo Tiange was in charge of supervising them. If anything went wrong, she would be the one who had to take responsibility.

　　As she passed her days like this, Mo Tiange discovered that her status at Xuanqing School unconsciously rose. Needless to say, the low level disciples called her grandmaster, but now, even the Foundation Building cultivators also sincerely called her martial uncle.

　　Thus, she buried the words she heard from Bai Yanfei the last time they met.

　　No matter what kinds of intentions harbored towards her in the beginning, she could clearly see how well Lord Daoist Jinghe treated her now. If he really took her as a… ready-to-use Human Furnace, why would he exert so much effort on her? Therefore, as long as he didn’t bring up this matter, she would pretend she never heard those words.

　　Year after year, time passed very quickly.

　　Although she had the Virtual Sky World, Mo Tiange’s cultivation level didn’t progress too quickly. Firstly, she deliberately slowed down the pace of her cultivation to stabilize and strengthen her foundation and to avoid being mentally unstable, which might affect her core-formation in the future. Secondly, even though there were abundant spiritual plants inside the Virtual Sky World, most of them were high grade. She was only a Foundation Building cultivator now, so she couldn’t use many of them.

　　Three years had flown by. Mo Tiange was already thirty-two years old now. However, she remained looking like her eighteen-nineteen-year-old self. There were many reasons for this. Firstly, her Art of Sunu – it should be called Sunu Art of the Origin now – had the effect of preserving one’s youthful looks. Secondly, she had taken a Look-Preserving Pill before. Unless she encountered particular factors, her looks would never age in this lifetime. Even without those two things, she was a Foundation Building cultivator—based on the 300-400 year expected lifespan of Foundation Building cultivators, she could be considered very young.

　　Ye Zhenji, on the other hand, grew up. He was now a fifteen-year-old youth. He grew tall, and his face gradually matured; even his voice started to become rough. Mo Tiange wasn’t a tall person to begin with, so Ye Zhenji had already caught up to her in height. Presumably, before long, she would have to raise her head to look up at him.

　　However, there wasn’t any change in how Ye Zhenji treated her. He still relied on her, looked up to her, and viewed her as his revered elder. As for that nominal master of his, he simply didn’t remember him.

　　Ye Zhenji’s cultivation progressed very quickly. Mo Tiange was very generous in giving all kinds of Aura-Refining-appropriate medicinal pills and treasures to him. His cultivation level was now in the seventh layer of the Aura Refining realm, so he had caught up to Hualing. Under Mo Tiange’s influence, this child was also quite diligent in cultivating, and he had both a good nature and perception. Given time, he would certainly accomplish much.

　　The people from Ye Clan always kept in touch with him. Every so often, they would send things over to him. They didn’t know about Mo Tiange’s existence; they only knew that Ye Zhenji was accepted as a disciple by a Core Formation cultivator. They were very happy about that, so they sent a lot of gifts as offerings. These things were nominally given to Master Daoist Shoujing, but in reality, they ended up in Mo Tiange’s hands. Upon seeing those offerings, which would be priceless in the secular world, Mo Tiange felt assured because she now knew that Ye Clan was faring very well in the secular world.

　　Although she didn’t have any affection towards Ye Clan, it was, after all, her clan. Coupled with the fact that Second Uncle entrusted her with it, it was only natural for her to do her best for them when it was within her power.

　　After three years passed by, an extremely joyous event once again occurred at Xuanqing School— Master Daoist Xuanyin had successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul realm; he was Lord Daoist Xuanyin now!

　　When Mo Tiange learned about this, she relayed her congratulations and also corrected how she addressed him while she was at it. Hereafter, she had to call him Martial Uncle Xuanyin again. Luo Fengxue and the others also became part of the same generation as her.

　　In the event one advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, their rank in seniority would go up, and they would become one of the most senior cultivators. Although their relationships with their masters still existed, they would set up another independent division instead of being part of their masters’ divisions like they were before.

　　Xuanqing School had six peaks altogether. Five Nascent Soul cultivators occupied a peak each. Now that Lord Daoist Xuanyin emerged as the sixth Nascent Soul cultivator, the empty peak was allocated under him. From now on, Lord Daoist Xuanyin and all disciples in his division moved to Sweet Dew Peak.

　　Regarding Lord Daoist Xuanyin’s realm-breakthrough, Lord Daoist Jinghe intentionally found Mo Tiange and lectured her.

　　Lord Daoist Xuanyin’s aptitude was terrific; he was one of the few disciples with a single spiritual root that Xuanqing School saw only once every several hundred years. Nevertheless, he never strived for the genius title and only focused on cultivating properly, laying a solid foundation step by step. Now, he was already more than 400 years old, yet it was only now after his foundation was solid that he attempted to form his Nascent Soul, so he was able to succeed in his first attempt.

　　This matter was a perfect teaching moment for Mo Tiange. Upon obtaining the Art of the Origin, Mo Tiange could cast off her reputation as someone with wasted spiritual roots and could be considered a genius with her aptitude. Lord Daoist Jinghe knew the progress of her cultivation was very quick, so he reminded her that no matter how terrific her aptitude was, it was only through having a solid foundation that she could obtain better results with minimal effort.

　　Mo Tiange understood because she herself was also aware of this problem. Entering the Foundation Building realm at twenty-three years old could be considered very fast already, but then she also immediately advanced from the early stage to the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. Had she taken out some of the spiritual plants inside the Virtual Sky World and sold them, she would’ve definitely been able to provide herself with an almost unlimited supply of Spirit-Gathering Pills; consequently, she would’ve definitely been able to reach the late stage of the Foundation Building realm within the next ten to twenty years. Nonetheless, cultivation levels that were achieved through taking piles of medicinal pills presented a precarious, hidden danger—her mental state wouldn’t be able to keep up with her cultivation level, which would result in issues during her realm-breakthrough.

　　Lord Daoist Jinghe felt very satisfied that she understood what he meant. But soon after, he mumbled softly, “How good it would be if that stinky brat also understood…”

　　The matter of Lord Daoist Xuanyin advancing to the Nascent Soul realm didn’t only have a huge influence on Xuanqing School; it also affected the layout of the numerous great cultivation groups in the Celestial Pole and caused a commotion in every group.

　　The demonic beast riot had just officially concluded. Because Xuanqing School made the order to seal off its mountain early, it lost a lot of Foundation Building cultivators and several Core Formation cultivators, but its Aura Refining disciples were mostly safe and sound. Numerous disciples with good aptitudes were well protected. Presumably, after fifty to sixty years, it would be able to return to its former glory.

　　On the other hand, among the six other great cultivation groups, Danding School had now lost the strength it needed to be included among the seven great cultivation groups. It would probably take at least several hundred years for it to recover its strength. As for Tiandao Sect, it was a very powerful cultivation group. It indeed managed to protect its most important disciples, but due to its incorrect prediction at the beginning of the riot, the losses it suffered were far more severe than Xuanqing School.

　　Another cultivation group that didn’t suffer significant damages was Zhengfa School, which was located at the glacial zone at the northernmost part of the Celestial Pole. It had already changed into Zhengfa Sect now. It only had one branch in Kunwu, so even though it also suffered some damages, they weren’t that significant. However, the living conditions in the northernmost glaciers were rough. Although Zhengfa School was the only great cultivation group there, their growth had never been able to reach the scale of Tiandao Sect’s or Xuanqing School’s development. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have established a branch in Kunwu.

　　The reason why Xuanqing School always ranked below Tiandao Sect was because their Nascent Soul cultivators fell short of those from Tiandao sect. Tiandao Sect had seven Nascent Soul cultivators altogether, while Xuanqing School only had five. But when it came to the number of other disciples, the two groups didn’t differ much.

　　Now that Lord Daoist Xuanyin advanced to the Nascent Soul realm without a hitch, the number of Xuanqing School Nascent Soul cultivators increased to six. Although Lord Daoist Lingxu would most likely pass away within the next hundred years, Master Daoist Shoujing had also smoothly advanced into the late stage of the Core Formation realm; with his temperament, adding another Nascent Soul cultivator to Xuanqing School within the next hundred years wouldn’t be a problem. Furthermore, there was also Master Daoist Lingxi, who was also a genius with a single spiritual root. Nowadays, he was in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm; it was also very possible that he would advance within the next hundred years.

　　By that time, the number of Xuanqing School Nascent Soul cultivators would increase to seven, and almost all would be people in their prime who hadn’t exerted even half their lifespans. Lord Daoist Zhenyang was only a thousand years old now. His cultivation level was in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, so there was a high chance he would be able to live for another 700-800 years. Lord Daoist Jinghe was in his eight hundreds, and his cultivation level was in the peak of the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm now. As long as he obtained some fated chances, he would be able to advance to the late stage. Insightful people could practically imagine how Xuanqing School would thrive in the next several hundred years.

　　On the other hand, although Tiandao Sect had seven Nascent Soul cultivators, three among them had almost exhausted their lifespans and would most likely pass away within the next 200-300 years. Moreover, its Core Formation cultivators were inferior to the generation of talented young cultivators Xuanqing School had.

　　Therefore, when Lord Daoist Xuanyin successfully advanced into the Nascent Soul realm and Xuanqing School issued invitations to many cultivation groups it had good relations with, all cultivation groups who received an invitation pondered what gift they should send in order to develop deeper friendships with Xuanqing School.

　　Among them, the Grand Supreme Elders of Tiandao Sect were the most ambivalent about this matter. This was an indication that their title as the greatest cultivation group of the Celestial Pole was probably threatened.

　　Nevertheless, no matter what other people thought, Xuanqing School enthusiastically began preparations for Lord Daoist Xuanyin’s Nascent Soul ceremony.

　　—

　　Mo Tiange had a headache… a very painful one.

　　Numerous guests came to Xuanqing School for this Nascent Soul ceremony. Ordinary guests could be received by Aura Refining disciples, but for guests with high statuses or backgrounds, elite disciples like them had to personally take charge.

　　Because of this, Mo Tiange inwardly cursed at “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing” who claimed to be cultivating in Closed Door Meditation. Why was he free of this matter just by saying a few words while she had to put aside all matters regarding cultivating and busy herself doing all kinds of things?

　　But in any case, this was Lord Daoist Jinghe’s idea, so she had to obediently do as she was told.

　　Regarding this master of hers, even though she never treated him with much respect, she genuinely had respect for him in her heart. Her current status and smooth journey on her cultivation path were all due to him.

　　“Welcome to Mount Taikang, esteemed Fellow Daoists. I was ordered to come and greet you. I’m Mo Tiange, Lord Daoist Jinghe’s disciple.”

　　This time, all arriving cultivators were from medium-sized cultivation groups; their cultivation levels were neither high nor low. The Core Formation cultivators were already received by her Core Formation senior martial siblings, so she was in charge of welcoming the disciples they brought with them. Even though she was receiving them by herself, it wasn’t disrespectful due to her identity.

　　As she expected, once these seven or eight disciples heard her identity, they instantly looked astonished. Soon afterward, they returned her greetings one by one. Their gazes were filled with admiration.

　　One of them was very quick-witted and said promptly, “Greetings to Martial Uncle Mo! My name’s Wei Shide; I’m a disciple from Mount Biling.”

　　Mo Tiange immediately smiled back and answered, “Senior Martial Brother doesn’t have to be too polite. Our cultivation levels aren’t far apart, so you can just call me junior martial sister.”

　　“How can that be right?” That person smiled flatteringly and said, “Martial Uncle is Lord Daoist Jinghe’s disciple; doing so would be very disrespectful towards him.”

　　“Senior Martial Brother’s too polite.” Mo Tiange smiled but didn’t look proud at all. “Xuanqing School disciples call me martial uncle because they’re afraid of messing up the seniority rank in our school. Senior Martial Brother isn’t from Xuanqing School, so you don’t have to act like this. Our cultivation levels are quite similar; we can talk as peers.”

　　“This…” That person was about to say something, but a cold snort appeared from among the crowd. Before long, someone said cynically, “Senior Martial Brother Wei, why are you so desperate to be a social climber? Didn’t you take a look at yourself? Some people would laugh their heads off if they heard about this!”

　　That person’s words were filled with cynicism and ridicule, causing Wei Shide’s expression to change in an instant. He then turned around and glared at a youngster among the crowd. “Dong Dafeng, I’m not going to lower myself to argue with someone who has no manners like you!”

　　That youngster sneered, “You’re not going to lower yourself to argue with me, or are you afraid of being laughed at by this junior martial sister from Xuanqing School?”

　　“You—”

　　Upon seeing that the two of them were about to fight, Mo Tiange immediately called out, “Senior Martial Brothers!”

　　No matter what, she was still the host, so when they heard her voice, those two people stopped talking and looked away from each other.

　　Mo Tiange smiled. “Senior Martial Brothers, since the two of you came to Xuanqing School to congratulate Martial Uncle Xuanyin, how about you two just take this as showing some respect to him and end this matter here?”

　　Since she mentioned Lord Daoist Xuanyin, the two people had no other choice but to stop quarreling. Both of them clasped their hands towards her as an apology. “What Junior Martial Sister said is right.” Maybe because he heard that youngster calling her “junior martial sister,” that Wei Shide also changed the way he addressed her as he didn’t want to allow the youngster to gain an advantage over himself.

　　Mo Tiange heaved a sigh of relief then said, “Everyone has just arrived on Mount Taikang, so I presume everyone’s tired. How about I show you your accommodations now?”

　　They naturally didn’t have any objections. Soon after, an Aura Refining disciple led those cultivators away with Mo Tiange following behind them to arrange their living quarters.

　　When she finished arranging everything and was about to leave, a cultivator followed her out of the small courtyard.

　　Mo Tiange walked for some time before she suddenly stopped and called out loud, “Who is it?!”

　　She held the Shuttle of Flying Apsara and the White Silk Handkerchief in her hands, ready to fight since she detected something was off. But who knew that right after she turned around, she would be completely stunned.

　　The cultivator following behind her was an early stage Foundation Building cultivator in a black robe. He was very tall—he was almost more than a head taller than her.

　　“Junior Martial… Brother Ye?” the cultivator said doubtfully, “Are you Junior Martial Brother Ye?”

　　In the blink of an eye, Mo Tiange already regained her composure. She chuckled and said, “Senior Martial Brother Liu, long time no see.”

　　That person was Liu Yidao, one of the few remaining friends she had from Yunwu Sect.

　　Upon hearing her answer, a smile bloomed on Liu Yidao’s face. He also laughed, though he soon stopped; his eyes were half wet. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, you’re alive! You’re really alive! Fantastic!”

　　Mo Tiange never expected he would be this emotional. She already left Yunwu Sect, so it had been a very long time since she last thought about them. At that time, she was fleeing for her life, so she simply didn’t dare to bid farewell to those people. Besides, the people she cared about had either a family and clan like Murong Yan, or had a predictable future like Liu Yidao, so she didn’t have to worry about them. Right now, judging by the fact that Liu Yidao had already become a Foundation Building cultivator and even came to give congratulations on his sect’s behalf, he had most likely been faring quite well. Mo Tiange felt very happy, but because this was what she anticipated, she calmed down very soon.

　　After a while, Liu Yidao finally regained his composure. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, please don’t take offense. Meeting an old friend made me forget my manners.”

　　“Senior Martial Brother Liu feels happy for me; how could I take offense because of that?” Seeing how Liu Yidao looked, Mo Tiange was delighted but she was also a bit baffled. “Senior Martial Brother Liu, how did you recognize me?”

　　Liu Yidao chuckled. “I was arranged to live there.” He pointed at some guest quarters not too far from them. “When I saw you entering just now, I thought I must’ve seen wrong—how could two people possibly look so similar to each other? Although the way you dress now is completely different, your face is indeed too similar, so I couldn’t help but follow you and confirm what I saw. Fortunately, I followed you to ask. It’s really you!”