The cultivators in Mengxue Hall naturally wouldn’t let her really sit for four hours. The cultivator who welcomed her reported the matter to the manager of Mengxue Hall. Once the manager, an early stage Foundation Building cultivator, found out she was sent by Sovereign Jinghe, he personally came to greet Mo Tiange and showed her all the tasks that needed to be completed at Mengxue Hall so she could decide which task to take on herself.

　　Upon examining the content of the Jade Slip, Mo Tiange realized that the cultivator who welcomed her before told the truth—all the new disciples had expert teachers teaching them and didn’t need any additional instruction. As for the other miscellaneous tasks, they also weren’t suitable to be completed by her.

　　After contemplating for a while, Mo Tiange finally looked up and stared at the Mengxue Hall manager. “That being the case, how about I just help with monitoring their schoolwork?”

　　When young new disciples entered the school, they all had to start learning from Daoist scriptures. To study Daoist scriptures, they first had to learn how to read. Countless vocabulary had been piling up since the Distant Past era. Different cultivation techniques or treasures might require different types of words. Hence, disciples who were new to cultivating had to spend a lot of time every day just to learn how to read.

　　The manager naturally didn’t have any objections. After repeatedly saying yes, he immediately informed the stewarding disciples. In the future, when Mo Tiange came, she was only to teach schoolwork alongside the disciples in charge.

　　Observing all the teaching methods at Mengxue Hall, Mo Tiange sighed in her heart. When she first started on her cultivation path, she only knew one cultivation technique. Back at Mo Family’s Village, even the Old Master didn’t know any knowledge related to cultivation, so she had to fumble around slowly on her own. It was only later after she met Second Uncle that she had someone personally teaching her.

　　But Second Uncle always wandered around—how could he teach her everything? Besides, Second Uncle wasn’t a master who specialized in teaching; most of the things she knew and learned were things she encountered first-hand before Second Uncle remembered to teach them to her.

　　At Xuanqing School, the lessons for each class were clearly divided and taught by different cultivators. Had Mo Tiange received this kind of education that year, she wouldn’t have had such a hard time on her journey.

　　Nevertheless, she was simply sighing. She could already be considered lucky to progress to the point where she was today. With Second Uncle providing instruction at her side, she fared numerous times better than individual cultivators who struggled to survive.

　　After following the stewarding cultivator into the study hall, Mo Tiange discovered the hall was filled with children from around six to seventeen years old sitting on praying mats. As for their cultivation levels, it ranged from the first layer to the third layer of the Aura Refining realm.

　　The moment she entered the hall, the children’s stares instantly fell on her body. She hadn’t concealed her breath or aura—for these early-stage Aura Refining disciples, the momentum of a Foundation Building cultivator was naturally very strong.

　　The stewarding cultivator let out a cough. These children immediately stood up and respectfully saluted, “Disciples greets Teacher.” Although the stewarding cultivator was in the same realm as them, he was in charge of teaching them, so it wasn’t wrong to call him their teacher.

　　The stewarding cultivator then led Mo Tiange to the middle of the hall and said, “Disciples, this is Grandmaster Mo, the disciple of our Clear Spring Peak’s Sovereign Jinghe. Grandmaster Mo’s innate talents are outstanding. She isn’t thirty years old yet, but her cultivation level is already at the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. Sovereign Jinghe specifically told Grandmaster Mo to come to Mengxue Hall. From today onwards, Grandmaster Mo and I will teach you together. I hope you can make use of this opportunity well; take Grandmaster Mo as your example and cultivate properly.”

　　Mo Tiange watched how these children’s eyes were filled with amazement and admiration. For them, Nascent Soul cultivators were almost like deities. In addition to that, seeing that Mo Tiange, who appeared to still be in her twenties, had such a high cultivation level caused their admiration to increase even more.

　　Under their gazes, Mo Tiange suddenly remembered how amazed she was when she first met Ye Jingwen. At that time, she even thought she would be lucky if she could one day possess that kind of strength. Unexpectedly, now she had become an object of admiration of these young disciples who just entered the path towards immortality.

　　“That’ll do; you may take your seats. Today, we’re going to continue discussingNanhua Heart Sutra ¹ . This mental cultivation technique is a basic mental cultivation technique at our Xuanqing School and thus must never be disrespected. If there’s anything wrong with my teaching, I hope Grandmaster Mo can point it out and correct it.” The stewarding cultivator bowed at Mo Tiange then invited her to sit with him on the praying mats above.

　　“Last time, I said: ‘ Without them, there would be no ‘I’, and without ‘I’ there would be nothing to grasp. This is indeed close to the matter, but we don’t know who brings it about. ² ‘ Do you understand what these sentences mean?”

　　A boy around ten years old immediately raised his hand.

　　The stewarding cultivator smiled and nodded. He was worried these children wouldn’t dare to answer in front of Grandmaster Mo. Now that someone was willing to speak, he naturally felt relieved.

　　After that child stood up, he snuck a glance at Mo Tiange before answering: “Without them, there would be no ‘I’, and without ‘I’ there would be nothing to grasp. This sentence means that without others, there would be no ‘I’, and without ‘I’ there wouldn’t be others. For example, without good, there wouldn’t be bad, and without bad, good wouldn’t matter. Two opposing things usually need each other to show their respective existence.”

　　“En, very good.” The stewarding cultivator proceeded to ask, “Then what about the latter sentence? Do you understand what it means?”

　　“‘This is indeed close to the matter’ means this is close to the origin of things. ‘But we don’t know who brings it about’ means we don’t know if there’s a force driving it from behind or not.”

　　“… This interpretation… is quite fair.” The stewarding cultivator nodded while glancing at Mo Tiange. Seeing that she seemed to have no intention of speaking, he continued to explain: “Respective to the path of cultivation, these sentences can also mean that if there’s no good, there’s also no evil—everything has their own cause. Us people from Dao School pursue the Dao of Heaven and Man. The so-called Dao seems like the norm of the world—they appear to be innate laws. Therefore, although we don’t insist on being good, we also mustn’t harm others as we please.”

　　Upon hearing the stewarding cultivator’s explanation, the child nodded and answered obediently, “Yes, Disciple will earnestly study what Teacher taught.”

　　“All right, continuing on. ‘ There are no things that are not that; there are no things that are not this. From the perspective of that, we do not see; when we know for ourselves, then we know it ³ ‘…” This stewarding cultivator was in the eighth layer of the Aura Refining realm, and from what Mo Tiange saw, he was more than forty years old—he naturally wouldn’t have a problem in explaining basic mental cultivation techniques. Because of that, Mo Tiange didn’t interrupt him. She simply sat beside him and listened.

　　It was clear that the boy who answered at the beginning of the lesson was very proficient in Daoist scriptures. Seven to eight of the ten questions the stewarding cultivator asked were answered by him. However, Mo Tiange also realized that the others seemed to be rather unfriendly towards him. Every time he answered a question, several people always secretively made faces.

　　Mo Tiange’s brows lightly furrowed.  Could it be that there are also issues with bullying at this school?

　　Four hours passed very quickly. Mo Tiange found that time passed very quickly when she was doing this task. All she needed to do was answer a few questions that the stewarding cultivator had trouble answering. Besides, questions from Aura Refining disciples were very simple for her, so she basically didn’t need to think much about her answers. She really had to thank Luo Fengxue for finding her such a good task to do.

　　Once her time in Mengxue Hall was over, Mo Tiange returned to Shangqing Palace. Now that she had completed all the tasks for the day, she had to report to Lord Daoist Jinghe.

　　“Master.”

　　Lord Daoist Jinghe, who was currently peeling a grape with his spiritual power, lifted his eyes at her. “Oh, you’re back.”

　　Mo Tiange scoffed inwardly.  This is a Nascent Soul cultivator, doing nothing but peeling grapes all day long!  However, she still outwardly showed respect. “Yes. Master, I’ve finished all the tasks for the day.”

　　“Finished?” Lord Daoist Jinghe pushed his body up into a sitting position. He said in a rather interested tone, “Tell me about them.”

　　“Eh…” Mo Tiange braced herself and started to talk, “The steward’s hall arranged for me to go to Mengxue Hall, so I just went there. I mostly answered a few questions from young, new disciples.”

　　“Mengxue Hall?” Lord Daoist Jinghe nodded casually. “Acceptable—it’s that Fengxue girl who arranged it for you, right?”

　　“… Yes.”

　　“I thought so. Aside from that girl, who else would’ve thought to let you go to Mengxue Hall? But this is best. New disciples will leave Mengxue Hall sooner or later. At that time…”

　　En?  Mo Tiange sharpened her ears.  Could it be there’s another purpose to these arrangements?

　　Unfortunately, instead of continuing to speak, Lord Daoist Jinghe once again angrily scolded her, “What are you standing in a daze for? Quickly go and cultivate!”

　　“… Yes.” Mo Tiange sullenly swallowed everything she wanted to say. Hmph! She absolutely didn’t need to think too highly of this master! He was basically tossing her around!

　　From that day onward, Mo Tiange repeated her routine.

　　Every day, she collected heavenly dew, took care of the spiritual plants, tidied up the beast compound, went to Mengxue Hall, and cultivated.

　　As one day passed after another, she gradually became familiar with every affair at Shangqing Palace. Furthermore, after going to Mengxue Hall for a while, she even became familiar with the affairs at Clear Spring Peak. Thus, she eventually developed some understanding of Lord Daoist Jinghe’s intentions when he arranged these tasks for her.

　　It had been about seven years since she entered Xuanqing School, but of those seven years, she spent two years building her foundation and another two years away from the school. As for the remaining three years, she spent almost all of them cultivating in Closed Door Meditation. She had basically never integrated herself into the school. Right now, however, she had to take care of the affairs at Shangqing Palace and interact with the cultivators from Mengxue Hall every day. She gradually became familiar with Clear Spring Peak and at the same time, she slowly became a genuine Xuanqing School disciple.

　　When she finally understood this, her feelings towards Lord Daoist Jinghe changed. This master hardly gave her any pointers and didn’t give her medicinal pills or treasures, but he used this kind of method to revise her cultivation path.

　　She was only twenty-seven years old now, but her cultivation level was already in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm. What she lacked, in fact, wasn’t medicinal pills or treasures; what she lacked was actually mental growth. Especially since her advancement from the early stage to the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm was achieved by force, she hadn’t gone through any kinds of tribulations, and her nature wasn’t tempered enough. Because of that, her cultivation level was rather unstable, and she would be susceptible to fostering an Inner Demon, which was the most frightening obstacle on the path towards the Core Formation and the Nascent Soul realms.

　　Although he didn’t say it out loud, this cheap master had high expectations of her.

　　—-

　　Under a tree at Mengxue Hall, a boy around ten years old was holding a Daoist scripture, studying diligently.

　　” To achieve Dao, do not try to determine what is real. Every section of the brain has inherent spiritual divinity. The dark blue hair spirit is known as an ‘Ancient Origin.’ The essential brain spirit is known as ‘Mud Ball.’ The bright-eyed spirit is known as ‘Exploring the mystery.’ The jade nose peak spirit is known as ‘Resolute Efficiency.’ The relaxed spirit of the ears is known as a ‘Quiet Field.’ The magical spirit of the tongue is known as ‘True Coherence’ …” ⁴

　　His cultivation level was only in the first layer of the Aura Refining realm. He was nothing but one of Xuanqing School’s most common new disciples who was still in the stage of studying Daoist scriptures. Nevertheless, his diligence and hard work were apparent to everyone. When not attending daily morning sermons, he spent the rest of his time examining Daoist scriptures. Within a short period of two years, he had surpassed many of the fifteen and sixteen-year-old disciples.

　　Now class was about to begin. He wanted to make the most of this final bit of time by reciting this paragraph.

　　” To achieve Dao, do not try to determine what is real. Every section of the brain has inherent spiritual divinity …” Once he reached this part, he suddenly felt pain from his back. A plum had dropped down after it hit him. The boy looked back and saw that several dozen feet away from him, around five or six boys around his age were scowling at him.

　　A plump boy among them suddenly shouted, “Ye Zhenji, you dropped your pants!”After he said that, he and the other children burst out laughing.

　　The boy called Ye Zhenji glared furiously at them, but he soon shifted his gaze and continued reciting. ” To achieve Dao, do not try to determine what is real …”

　　Another plum was thrown over, hitting him right on his torso. Even though he possessed spiritual aura, those children also weren’t mortals. When they hit him with plums, they also used their spiritual aura, so being struck indeed felt painful.

　　Ye Zhenji realized there was no way he could continue reciting the book, so he immediately put the book away. He then put on a fierce expression and turned to face them. “What do you want!?”

　　However, despite his fierce appearance, the children weren’t frightened. The plump boy even made a face at his companions. “Take a look; he’s trying to scare us!”

　　Someone immediately responded, mocking and pointing at him. “Ye Zhenji, aren’t you afraid your pants are going to fall again?”

　　Upon hearing what he said, Ye Zhenji’s expression turned even gloomier. Nonetheless, he was well aware he couldn’t beat them. Many of those children were the family of martial uncles within the school. Ever since a young age, they had people guiding them, so their cultivation levels were all higher than his. He couldn’t beat even one of them in a one-on-one fight, not to mention taking all of them on as a group.

　　Seeing as he was remaining silent, the children simply continued throwing plums at him. “Why don’t you dodge? Aren’t you smart? No matter what question the teacher asks, you always rush to answer. Why are you so afraid now?”

　　“What are we being polite with him for? Beat him up first and talk later. The past few days, I’ve felt so annoyed looking at him!” an impulsive child suddenly leaped forward, shouting and pointing at Ye Zhenji.

　　Along with that provocation, several children rushed over like a swarm of bees.

　　Ye Zhenji, who saw this, immediately turned and ran away. He knew he couldn’t beat them, but he also didn’t want to get beaten. If he ran to the front where there were other people, the children wouldn’t dare to beat him.

　　But before he could accomplish this, after he ran only a short distance, he tumbled to the ground from the force of plums hitting his body. One of the children immediately grabbed his sleeves while the others surrounded them and started to mercilessly beat him up.

　　These children were also smart. Because they knew they shouldn’t mess around, they only used their fists and feet and not their spiritual aura. Nevertheless, this ended up being even more painful for him.

　　Ye Zhenji, who was surrounded by them, simply protected his head, clenched his teeth and remained silent. Being beaten hurt, but after some time, he would be all right. He was already used to this anyway…

　　Mo Tiange frowned. She just happened to arrive at Mengxue Hall ahead of schedule, but she unexpectedly chanced upon this scene.

　　She flung her sleeve lightly, causing a strong wind to blow towards the group of children who were still punching and kicking the boy in the middle. They were knocked to the ground.

　　“Who?! Who?!” A plump boy crawled up and shouted angrily, “Who dared to hit me?! I’ll call my father…”

　　“What about calling your father?” Mo Tiange answered while giving him a cold stare.

　　This time, the children finally saw her. All of them were gaping at her, almost unable to say anything. “Grand… Grandmaster Mo.”

　　Mo Tiange knew most of these children were descendants of cultivators in the school, so they developed arrogant and willful tempers. However, she never expected their recklessness to reach this point. They were still very young, but they already understood how to bully their fellow disciples!

　　“What are you standing there in a daze for!? Go to the Training Department and receive punishment!”

　　“Grandmaster Mo…” Upon hearing what she said, several children called out, “We… we’re…” Unfortunately, they couldn’t even find the words to defend themselves.

　　Mo Tiange also had no intentions of listening to them. She only focused on helping the beaten boy up before she once again turned towards them and said, “Get moving, now!”

　　“Yes…” The children left sullenly. They weren’t stupid. Grandmaster Mo was Sovereign Jinghe’s advanced inner disciple. No matter what background they had, they didn’t dare to refute her. If they provoked her again, their punishments might even become more severe.

　　Mo Tiange directed her attention towards the boy she just pulled up. She remembered this child because during every sermon, he answered many questions, thus managing to obtain praise from the stewarding cultivator. The stewarding cultivator once told her this child came from the secular world; he had no foundation and his aptitude was average, so the school didn’t attach much importance to him. However, he was very hardworking and diligent. This kind of person would likely be able to achieve a lot.

　　At this point, the child looked up then saluted her. “Many thanks to Grandmaster Mo for saving me.”

　　With a faint smile, Mo Tiange cast a simple spell to cure the cuts and scrapes on his body. “What’s the matter? Do they beat you often?”

　　Ye Zhenji cautiously glanced at her before nodding. “En.”

　　“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

　　Looking a bit dejected, Ye Zhenji answered, “They… they all have family supporting them and I don’t. It’s pointless for me to say anything.”

　　Mo Tiange unconsciously let out a sigh. Even Xuanqing School was unable to prevent this kind of problem from happening. Disciples with no foundation would inevitably be bullied by others.

　　“Don’t you feel sad from getting beaten by them?”

　　The boy bit his lips and cautiously nodded. “I’m not afraid; when I succeed in my cultivation, they naturally won’t dare to bully me anymore.”

　　He sounded quite ambitious. Although Mo Tiange secretly agreed with him, she said with a chuckle, “When you succeed in your cultivation? Right now, you’re only in the first layer of the Aura Refining realm; your aptitude is also general—how long are you going to wait?”

　　What she said made Ye Zhenji’s head drop. He also knew there was no guarantee that he could achieve his wishes. But, aside from being hopeful, what else could he do?

　　Mo Tiange couldn’t help but remember how she used to be. Back then, didn’t she also harbor such thoughts? Even though her aptitude wasn’t good and her path towards immortality seemed obscure, even though she sometimes also thought everything was hopeless, she still firmly believed she would succeed.

　　She was a bit interested in this child, so she asked, “What’s your name?”

　　“Ye Zhenji; Ye means leaf, Zhen means real, Ji means opportunity.”

　　“Ye Zhenji… Turns out your surname is also Ye,” Mo Tiange said, “That being the case, we could be considered distant relatives.”

　　Surprised, Ye Zhenji asked, “Grandmaster Mo, isn’t your surname Mo?”

　　Mo Tiange chuckled. “I used my mother’s surname. In fact, my father’s surname is Ye.”

　　“Oh…”

　　With a smile, Mo Tiange said, “If they bully you again in the future, you can come and tell me.”

　　“Huh?” Ye Zhenji abruptly looked up and stared at her in amazement. He was grateful he was saved by Grandmaster Mo, but he hadn’t harbored much hope at all. He thought this was nothing but a one-time occurrence. Although those children would be punished, they would still continue bullying him. Besides, Grandmaster Mo also wasn’t at all related to him.

　　Nevertheless, now Grandmaster Mo was unexpectedly talking like this…

　　“Grandmaster Mo, you mean…”

　　Mo Tiange repeated patiently, “In the future, if they still beat you, you can come and tell me. I’ll help you out.”

　　Having obtained confirmation, Ye Zhenji suddenly jumped in excitement. “Really? Grandmaster Mo, you’ll help me? In the future, you won’t let them bully me again?”

　　“En.”

　　In an instant, a wide smile blossomed on his face. “Grandmaster Mo, you’re really kind! Ever since I left my house, no one has ever been as good to me as you. Ever since I came here, those people have always bullied me around. They secretly cut my belt, causing my pants to drop in front of everyone…” When he spoke up to this point, he suddenly felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Grandmaster Mo. I shouldn’t say these kinds of things in front of you.”

　　“It doesn’t matter.” Since she had nothing to do and was completely idle, Mo Tiange didn’t mind listening to this child’s complaints. “If you still have any other things to say, feel free to say them.”

　　“En.” Probably because he hadn’t been able to convey his dissatisfaction to others, this child instantly turned into a chatterbox now that he got this chance. “When I was still with my clan, my father always said that cultivating was a very, very good thing. He said our clan used to be a cultivation clan, but because it declined, it had to be moved to the secular world. From the time I was small, I always had a yearning for cultivating. Later, a passing martial uncle happened to discover that I possessed spiritual roots, so I came with him to Xuanqing School. Now, however, I feel that cultivators are very annoying…”