Mo Tiange later heard that out of anger, Lord Daoist Zhenyang took Junior Martial Brother Bai back and grounded him. He then disappeared without a trace.
Even when she went to Morning Sun Peak to run errands, she never saw Junior Martial Brother Bai again.
Her days also returned to normal.
When she gradually integrated into the school and gained a reputation among the Aura Refining disciples, Lord Daoist Jinghe agreed that she no longer needed to go to Mengxue Hall every day. She only needed to go to the steward's hall to give sermons every once in a while.
In addition, the affairs of Shangqing Palace were still handed over to the maids, but she was still responsible for them. If there were any mistakes, they could ask her.
Just like that, Mo Tiange unconsciously realized that her status in Xuanqing School had risen. Not to mention the low level disciples calling her grandmaster, even the Foundation Building disciples calling her martial uncle was more sincere.
As a result, she swallowed back the words she heard from Bai Yanfei some time ago.
No matter what kind of thoughts they had towards her in the beginning, she saw how well Lord Daoist Jinghe treated her now. If he really treated her as … a Human Furnace that could be used, why did he put in so much effort?
If they didn't mention it, she would just pretend she never heard it.
One year after another, time flew by.
Although she had the Virtual Sky World, Mo Tiange's cultivation level didn't rise too fast.
First, she deliberately slowed down the pace of her cultivation to lay a good foundation so that her unstable mental state wouldn't affect her core-formation in the future.
Second, although there were many spiritual plants in the Virtual Sky World, they were all high-level spiritual plants. She was only in the Foundation Building realm now, so she couldn't use many of them.
Three years had passed. Mo Tiange was now thirty-two years old, but she still maintained the appearance of an eighteen or nineteen year old.
There were many reasons for this. First, her Art of Sunu — now called Sunu Art of the Origin — had the effect of retaining her youth. Second, she took a Look-Preserving Pill, so unless she encountered some special circumstances, she wouldn't age in this life.
Even without these two reasons, she was now a Foundation Building cultivator. With the lifespan of three to four hundred years, she was still young.
Ye Zhenji, on the other hand, had grown up. He was now a fifteen-year-old teenager, but his figure grew taller. His face gradually grew longer, and even his voice became coarse.
Mo Tiange wasn't tall, but he had already caught up to her. Presumably, it wouldn't be long before she looked up at him.
Nevertheless, Ye Zhenji's attitude toward her had never changed. He still trusted and admired her and regarded her as a respected elder. As for that master in name, he simply couldn't remember him.
Ye Zhenji's cultivation level rose very quickly. Mo Tiange generously used all the medicinal pills and treasures she could use in the Aura Refining realm on him. Right now, his cultivation level was already in the seventh layer of the Aura Refining realm, completely catching up to Hualing.
Under Mo Tiange's influence, this child also cultivated very hard. His temperament and perception were both excellent. In time, he would definitely have some achievements.
The people of the Ye Clan had been keeping in touch with him and would send things over every once in a while.
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, so they also sent a lot of offerings.
These things were nominally given to Master Daoist Shoujing, but in fact, they were all delivered to Mo Tiange.
Seeing those offerings, which were priceless in the secular world, Mo Tiange knew Ye Clan members were living very well in the secular world, so she felt relieved.
Although she didn't have any feelings for Ye Clan, it was, after all, her clan and Second Uncle entrusted it to her. If it was within her ability, she ought to do her part.
When the third year passed, another great piece of good news came from Xuanqing School: Master Daoist Xuanyin successfully advanced into the Nascent Soul realm. He was now Lord Daoist Xuanyin!
After learning about this, Mo Tiange conveyed her congratulations to Lord Daoist Xuanyin and changed the way she addressed him.
From now on, she had to call him Martial Uncle Xuanyin. Luo Fengxue and the others were also her peers. Once they advanced into the Nascent Soul realm, they would be a great master. Although they still had the master-disciple relationship, it could be considered they had established their own school.
Xuanqing School had a total of six peaks. Each of the five Nascent Soul cultivators occupied one peak. Now that the sixth Nascent Soul cultivator had appeared, the empty peak was assigned to Lord Daoist Xuanyin. From then on, Lord Daoist Xuanyin and his disciples all moved to Sweet Dew Peak.
For the sake of Lord Daoist Xuanyin's advancement, Lord Daoist Jinghe specially looked for Mo Tiange to educate her.
Lord Daoist Xuanyin's aptitude was excellent. He was one of the disciples with a single spiritual root that Xuanqing School would only accept once every several hundred years. However, he never fought for the title of genius. He only cultivated step by step, laying a solid foundation step by step. Now, he was already more than 400 years old when he tried to form his Nascent Soul, so he could succeed on his first try.
This matter was just right to educate Mo Tiange. She obtained the Art of the Origin, got rid of the reputation of having a waste spiritual root, and her aptitude could also be called a genius.
Lord Daoist Jinghe knew her cultivation was too fast, so he specially reminded her that no matter how good her aptitude was, she could only achieve twice the result with half the effort if she had a solid foundation.
Mo Tiange understood his meaning. She was also aware of this problem.
Building her foundation at the age of 23 was considered early, but she also directly advanced from the early stage to the middle stage. If she sold some of the spiritual plants in her Virtual Sky World, she could've continued taking Spirit-Gathering Pills and reached the late stage of the Foundation Building realm in ten to twenty years.
However, using medicinal pills to advance her cultivation level had a huge hidden danger. If her mental state couldn't keep up with her cultivation level, problems would arise when she made a realm-breakthrough.
Lord Daoist Jinghe was very pleased that she understood his meaning, but he muttered, "It'd be good if that stinky brat could also understand …"
Lord Daoist Xuanyin's advancement into the Nascent Soul realm not only greatly affected Xuanqing School, but it also affected the structure of the great cultivation groups in the Celestial Pole.
The demonic beast riot not long ago was now officially over.
Because Xuanqing School issued a mountain-sealing order early, although they lost many Foundation Building disciples and several Core Formation cultivators, the Aura Refining disciples weren't affected. Many disciples with high aptitudes were also well protected. Presumably, in fifty to sixty years, Xuanqing School would return to its former heyday.
As for the other six great cultivation groups, Danding School no longer had the strength to be one of the seven great cultivation groups. It would take at least several hundred years for them to recover their strength.
Although powerful cultivation groups like Tiandao Sect also managed to preserve their most important disciples, their losses were much greater than Xuanqing School's because of their early underestimation.
The other sect that didn't suffer much was Zhengfa School, which was located in the northernmost glacial zone. It had now been renamed Zhengfa Sect. They only had one branch in Kunwu, so although they suffered losses, it didn't affect them too much.
However, the conditions in the northernmost glacial zone were harsh. Although Zhengfa Sect dominated the north, it couldn't develop to the scale of Tiandao Sect or Xuanqing School. Otherwise, they wouldn't have established a branch in Kunwu.
The reason why Xuanqing School always ranked below Tiandao Sect was because its Nascent Soul cultivators were inferior to Tiandao Sect.
Tiandao Sect had seven Nascent Soul cultivators while Xuanqing School only had five. In terms of other disciples, the difference between the two groups wasn't big.
Now, Lord Daoist Xuanyin advanced into the Nascent Soul realm, increasing the number of Nascent Soul cultivators in Xuanqing School to six. Although Lord Daoist Lingxu was likely to pass away within a hundred years, Master Daoist Shoujing had successfully advanced into the late stage of the Core Formation realm. With his temperament, it wouldn't be a problem for him to add another Nascent Soul cultivator to Xuanqing School within a hundred years.
There was also Master Daoist Lingxi, a genius with a single spiritual root. He was now in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm and might advance in a hundred years.
At that time, the number of Nascent Soul cultivators in Xuanqing School would increase to seven. Moreover, almost all of them would be in the prime of their lives.
In addition, Lord Daoist Zhenyang had just turned a thousand years old. With his cultivation level in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, it was very possible for him to live for another seven or eight hundred years. Lord Daoist Jinghe was more than eight hundred years old and was now in the peak of the middle stage. As long as he had a fated chance, he could advance to the late stage.
Knowledgeable people could almost imagine how prosperous Xuanqing School would be in the next several hundred years.
On the other hand, although Tiandao Sect had seven Nascent Soul cultivators, three of them were nearing the end of their lives and would pass away within the next two or three hundred years.
Among the Core Formation cultivators, they couldn't compare to Xuanqing School in terms of talent.
Therefore, when Lord Daoist Xuanyin advanced into the Nascent Soul realm, Xuanqing School sent invitations to many cultivation groups that were on good terms with them. The cultivation groups that received the invitations all pondered what kind of gifts they should send to befriend Xuanqing School.
Among them, the Grand Supreme Elders of Tiandao Sect had mixed feelings. This indicated that the title of the number one cultivation group in the Celestial Pole would very likely change hands.
Regardless of what other people thought, the Nascent Soul Ceremony Xuanqing School prepared for Lord Daoist Xuanyin was bustling with noise and excitement.
Mo Tiange had a headache.
Many guests came to Xuanqing School for this Nascent Soul Ceremony. Ordinary guests could be received by Aura Refining disciples, but those guests with status and background had to be received by elite disciples like them.
Because of this, Mo Tiange secretly cursed that "Senior Martial Brother Shoujing" who claimed to be in Closed Door Meditation. Why did he say that it didn't matter to him, but she had to put aside her cultivation and be busy everywhere?
But in any case, this was Lord Daoist Jinghe's idea, so she had to obediently obey.
Although she didn't show much respect to this master on the surface, there was a trace of respect in her heart. The reason she could have her current status and didn't make any mistakes on the path of cultivation was all thanks to this master.
"Fellow Daoists, welcome to Mount Taikang. I'm Mo Tiange, Lord Daoist Jinghe's disciple. I've been ordered to come and welcome you."
This time, cultivators from medium-sized cultivation groups came to the mountain. Their cultivation levels weren't high nor low. Core Formation cultivators were already received by their senior martial brothers and sisters with similar cultivation levels, so she received the disciples brought by these people.
After all, with her identity, it wouldn't be considered rude even if she came alone.
Sure enough, when these seven or eight Foundation Building cultivators heard her identity, they all looked surprised but soon returned the greeting with envy in their eyes.
One of them was very quick-witted and immediately said, "I'm Wei Shide, a disciple of Mount Biling. Greetings to Martial Uncle Mo!"
Mo Tiange hurriedly smiled and said, "Senior Martial Brother, you don't have to be so polite. Our cultivation levels are similar, so you can just call me senior martial brother and junior martial sister."
"How can I do that?"
The man smiled flatteringly. "Martial Uncle is Lord Daoist Jinghe's disciple. This is too disrespectful to Lord Daoist Jinghe."
"Senior Martial Brother, you're too polite." Mo Tiange smiled, not showing the slightest bit of complacency. "Xuanqing School disciples call each other martial uncle because we're afraid it'll mess up the seniority. Senior Martial Brother isn't a Xuanqing School disciple, so you don't have to do this.
My cultivation levels are similar to yours, so we can just treat each other as peers. "
"I see …" The man was about to say something when a cold "hmph" came from the crowd. Soon after, someone said in a strange tone, "Senior Martial Brother Wei, why are you in such a hurry to make friends with them?
Why don't you take a look at your own identity? You'll make people laugh their heads off if this gets out! "
Wei Shide's expression immediately changed when he heard this. He turned around and glared at one of the young men. "Dong Dafeng, I won't lower myself to the same level as someone who doesn't understand manners like you!"
That young man sneered and said, "Do you not lower yourself to the same level as me or are you afraid of being laughed at by this junior martial sister from Xuanqing School?"
"You —"
Seeing that the two of them were about to fight, Mo Tiange hastily said, "Senior Martial Brothers!"
No matter what, she was still the host, so the moment the two of them heard her calling out, they immediately stopped talking and turned around.
Mo Tiange smiled and said, "Senior Martial Brothers came to Xuanqing School to congratulate us, so why don't you give Martial Uncle Xuanyin some face and let this matter end here? What do you think?"
Since she mentioned Lord Daoist Xuanyin, the two of them had no choice but to stop bickering. They both cupped their hands towards her and said, "Junior Martial Sister is right."
Wei Shide probably saw that the young man called her junior martial sister so smoothly, so he also changed the way he addressed her, not wanting the young man to take advantage of him.
Mo Tiange heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Everyone just arrived at Mount Taikang, so you must be tired. How about I arrange for everyone to rest?"
These people naturally didn't have any objections. Soon after, the Aura Refining disciples led the way while she followed behind them and helped these cultivators settle in the guest residences.
Just as she finished arranging everything and was about to leave, a cultivator followed her out of the small courtyard.
Mo Tiange walked for a while before she suddenly stopped and shouted, "Who's there?!"
With the Shuttle of Flying Apsara and the White Silk Handkerchief in her hands, she sensed something was wrong and was ready to fight. Unexpectedly, she was stunned when she turned around.
The cultivator behind her was also in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm. He was dressed in black clothes and had a very tall stature. He was more than a head taller than her.
"Junior … Martial Brother Ye?" That person said hesitantly, "Are you Junior Martial Brother Ye?"
In just a moment, Mo Tiange regained her composure and smiled. "Senior Martial Brother Liu, long time no see."
This person was Liu Yidao, one of the few acquaintances she had left in Yunwu Sect.
Upon hearing her answer, Liu Yidao revealed a smile but stopped halfway. The corners of his eyes were half-moist. "Junior Martial Brother Ye, you're alive! You're really alive! This is great!"
His excitement was beyond Mo Tiange's expectations.
Ever since she left Yunwu Sect, she hadn't thought about the past for a long time.
At that time, it could be said that she was fleeing for her life. She simply didn't dare to bid farewell to those people. Moreover, the people she cared about at that time either had families and clans like Murong Yan or had foreseeable futures like Liu Yidao, so she didn't need to worry about anything.
Now that she saw Liu Yidao had become a Foundation Building cultivator and came to congratulate her on behalf of the sect, he must've been doing well. Mo Tiange was very happy, but she also felt calm because it was within her expectations.
After a while, Liu Yidao regained his composure. "Junior Martial Brother Ye, please don't take offense. I ran into an old friend today and forgot myself."
"Senior Martial Brother Liu is happy for me. How could I take offense?"
Mo Tiange was happy to see Liu Yidao's expression, but she also felt strange. "Senior Martial Brother Liu, how did you see me?"
Liu Yidao smiled and said, "I was arranged to live there."
He pointed at the guest house not far from them. "When I saw you just now, I thought my eyes must've been playing tricks on me. How could there be two people who look so similar, but their clothes are completely different?
They're too similar, so I couldn't help but come here to verify it. Fortunately, I came and asked. it really was you. "