"Senior Mo, how old are you in the end?"
Lu Qiongying, the little girl from the Lu family, suddenly asked. Mo Tiange sat cross-legged to adjust her breath.
Mo Tiange opened her eyes and smiled faintly. "Why do you ask?"
Lu Qiongying tilted her head and looked confused. "I think Senior looks young and doesn't look like it's because of Look-Preserving Pills, but Grandpa said you're already in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. Maybe you're even older than him …"
This little girl … How could she say something like that? Was she naive?
Mo Tiange glanced at her and said, "You have good eyesight. You can tell whether people have taken Look-Preserving Pills or not?"
Lu Qiongying touched her head embarrassedly. "Senior, please don't be offended. When I see my grandaunts, I always feel that although they look young, their actions are unnatural … But Senior can't see it at all!"
Of course. Although Mo Tiange also took Look-Preserving Pills, she was only a hundred years old, which was considered young according to the lifespan of Core Formation cultivators.
But she just smiled and said, "I've also taken Look-Preserving Pills. I'm over a hundred years old now, but my lifespan is less than half, so you can't see it."
"Oh, I see …" Lu Qiongying lost interest, but she turned her gaze and asked excitedly, "Senior, have you been to a lot of places? Have you seen anything interesting?"
This question made Mo Tiange pause. She thought for a moment then said, "When I was young, I wandered around with my uncle. Although I've been to a lot of places, my cultivation level was still low at that time. Every day, I just wanted to earn enough spirit stones to cultivate. How could there be anything interesting?
If I could cultivate in peace and have enough spirit stones to buy medicinal pills to eat, I'd be satisfied. "
Lu Qiongying blinked. "So Senior used to have such a hard life …"
"It's not hard at all!
My uncle is a Foundation Building cultivator, so it's already good that we have a place to live. It's also not easy for many young cultivators to rent an Immortal's Cave with spiritual aura … "At this point, she recalled the many injustices she saw with Second Uncle in those years and couldn't help but sigh." It's not easy to be an individual cultivator … "
It had been a long time since she thought about these past events. Now that her cultivation level was high and her identity was extraordinary, she was no longer the little cultivator who struggled at the bottom of the Cultivation World. Now that she thought about it, she missed Second Uncle even more.
How good would it be if Second Uncle could see this day?
She pulled herself back from her memories and glanced at the little girl. She suddenly smiled and slowly said, "I know why your grandfather sent you here. You're just a little girl who hasn't experienced the ways of the world. It's too difficult for you to do such a thing.
Forget it, I'll tell you the truth. If I wanted to harm your Lu Family, I wouldn't need to feign civility with my cultivation.
Of course, I do have my own motives for befriending you. Since I've made things clear, I might as well be frank with you. "
Although her eyes were calm, there was a hidden sharpness in them. Lv Qiongying was shocked.
The reason her grandfather called her here was indeed because he wanted to test whether this Senior Mo had other motives. If she didn't, he wanted to take this opportunity to get her to give him a few pointers. If she was suspicious, the Lu Family could make preparations early.
Ever since she was a child, she had always been smart and quick-witted. She had always been pampered at home, so she thought she could easily deceive this Senior if she pretended to be innocent. However, she didn't expect that she was only eighteen years old. How could she compare to this Senior who had lived for more than a hundred years?
At this moment, she was faintly regretting her decision. If this Senior really had bad intentions, how could she keep her life when she was only in the seventh layer of the Aura Refining realm?
"Se … Senior …"
Mo Tiange showed a faint smile. She was still as amiable as before. "You don't need to be afraid. I don't want anything from your Lu Family. I just want to ask some questions. If you answer them well, I'll leave."
"Senior!"
Lv Qiongying was a bit anxious. Grandfather told her that as long as this Senior didn't have bad intentions, she must win her over. After all, it was rare for them to meet a late stage Foundation Building cultivator!
Mo Tiange remained unmoved. She raised her hand to stop Lv Qiongying from speaking and said, "Answer me well. If you're satisfied, I'll give you some benefits."
Lv Qiongying hastily swallowed the rest of her words. Although she was anxious, she knew she couldn't afford to offend this Senior. Moreover, she also promised to give her some benefits …
"What does Senior want to ask? Junior will definitely tell you everything I know."
At this time, Lv Qiongying's attitude was very respectful. She no longer talked like a naive little girl and now behaved like a cultivator.
Mo Tiange thought her current appearance was more pleasing to the eye, so she smiled and said gently, "First, tell me about the general situation in Yunzhong."
A strange expression flashed across Lv Qiongying's eyes. She obviously didn't understand what was going on, but she still said honestly, "May I know what Senior Mo wants to know?"
"Cultivation group, spirit veins, country … I've already told you everything," Mo Tiange said faintly. "Tell me everything you know. The more you tell me, the more I'll reward you." As she spoke, she put her hand into her Qiankun Bag, took out a jade bottle, and threw it to Lv Qiongying.
Lv Qiongying caught it and opened it. It was a whole bottle of Aura-Converging Pills, about thirty to fifty of them!
She was overjoyed. Even though she was a very favored junior of the Lv family, she usually ate Aura-Converging Pills and only got a small bottle of Aura-Converging Pills every year, about five or six of them.
This Senior Mo is actually so generous!
Thinking up to this point, she became even more respectful. "Yes."
Lv Qiongying was also a smart girl. After hearing Mo Tiange's words, she guessed this Senior probably wasn't from Yunzhong, so she carefully began to talk about Yunzhong's territory and then slowly talked about cultivation groups and so on.
Mo Tiange just listened quietly.
Yunzhong was vast and had many countries. However, there were only three big countries — Eastern Tang, Southern Zhou, and Northern Lin. These three countries occupied most of Yunzhong's land.
Different from the Celestial Pole, these three countries were supported by cultivation groups. Eastern Tang and Southern Zhou were the territories of the Righteous Path, while Northern Lin was the territory of the Devil Path.
Usually, these three countries lived in harmony. After all, Yunzhong didn't have the concept that the Righteous Path and the Devil Path couldn't coexist. Whether it was the Righteous Path or the Devil Path, they all lived by the principle of self-preservation. They wouldn't fight unless there was a conflict of interest.
Eastern Tang was mainly populated by cultivators and was also the largest country among the three countries. There were countless small and medium-sized cultivation groups, and there were five that could be considered big cultivation groups: Jiuyan Sect, Danxia Sect, Jingxu Sect, Common Law School, and Five Elements Valley.
Among these five big cultivation groups, Jiuyan Sect was the most powerful. It was said that under the sect's founder, there were nine disciples. These nine disciples were very outstanding, so they established the sect together and honored their master as the founder of the sect, hence the name Jiuyan Sect.
Danxia Sect was originally second only to Jiuyan Sect and was also a big cultivation group. However, in recent years, it had declined. Among the five cultivation groups, it was only slightly stronger than Five Elements Valley.
Jingxu Sect and Common Law School were equal in power. Among them, because the founder of Jingxu Sect was a woman, most of its disciples were female.
As for Five Elements Valley, it was a cultivation group that specialized in formations. It was said that all of its disciples had extraordinary attainments in formations. However, this kind of cultivation group that focused on unorthodox methods was never prosperous, so Five Elements Valley was the weakest among the five big cultivation groups.
However, even so, the other cultivation groups didn't dare to bully them at all. After all, the biggest barrier of each cultivation group was the Great Mountain-Protecting Formation. If they offended Five Elements Valley, it would be troublesome when they fought.
In Southern Zhou, Confucian cultivators controlled the government and Buddhist cultivators controlled the state religion.
Most of the common people in Southern Zhou believed in Buddhism, so there were Buddhist temples everywhere and incense was flourishing.
Confucian cultivators, on the other hand, controlled the power of the country and used academies to educate the subjects and people.
Because Confucian cultivators and Buddhist cultivators sought different things, their doctrines were similar, so the two were very harmonious.
Although she knew there were Buddhist cultivators in other places, she had never seen them in the Celestial Pole, so she couldn't help but ask a few more questions.
Unfortunately, Lu Qiongying had never traveled outside, and South Pole Island was far away from the mainland, so she didn't know much about Buddhist cultivation groups.
However, no matter how much Lu Qiongying didn't know, Buddhist cultivators were common in Yunzhong, so she had a general idea.
The so-called Buddha was said to be a sect that had been passed down from ancient times.
They paid attention to cause and effect, strictly disciplined themselves, and believed that all evil thoughts were born from the heart. They cut off human desires and cultivated hard to become Buddhas.
This made Mo Tiange feel a little strange.
She naturally understood the so-called cause and effect. There was also such content in the Dao scriptures of cultivators, but they weren't as cautious as Buddhist cultivators.
The cultivation path of Buddhist cultivators was nothing more than three sentences: all actions are impermanent, all laws are non-self, and nirvana is silent.
The so-called impermanence of all actions meant that everything in the world was impermanent; all laws are non-self, which required Buddhist cultivators to let go of their obsessions and find their true self; nirvana is the final destination pursued by Buddhist cultivators, which was neither born nor destroyed to prove eternal life.
Mo Tiange slowly comprehended in her heart. She deeply felt that the so-called Buddhist cultivators were actually similar to Dao cultivators.
For example, cause and effect, the impermanence of the world, and abandoning obsessions.
But on the other hand, the doctrines of Buddhist cultivators were very different from those of Dao cultivators.
The Dao scriptures said that heaven and earth were heartless and treated all living things as straw dogs. In other words, heaven and earth didn't care about benevolence or inhumanity. All living things lived and died on their own, and they had their own laws.
Therefore, cultivators in the Celestial Pole never had the concept of benevolence. Cultivation was a road full of thorns. If they wanted to become true immortals, they had to kill their way out.
They had to kill devil cultivators, demonic beasts, and even their own kind.
According to Lu Qiongying, cultivators in Yunzhong weren't different from cultivators in the Celestial Pole.
But Buddhist cultivators weren't like that. They cultivated their minds and themselves and rarely had killing intent. They would only stop killing with killing if they had no other choice.
Therefore, in Yunzhong, Buddhist cultivators were rarely trapped in their state of mind. It had always been easier for them to advance to the Core Formation and Nascent Soul realms than Dao cultivators.
But their shortcoming was that their cultivation speed was too slow. If one could become a Foundation Building cultivator out of a hundred Aura Refining cultivators, one could only become a Foundation Building cultivator out of a hundred Aura Refining cultivators.
After listening to this, Mo Tiange sank into contemplation. She felt she seemed to have grasped a key point.
Whether it was Dao cultivators or Buddhist cultivators, there were contradictions in their doctrines. However, Buddhist cultivators had fewer doctrines because they could at least justify themselves. Dao cultivators, on the other hand, simply didn't make sense in some aspects.
Cultivation was to cultivate the mind — this was something cultivators knew from the moment they set foot on the path to immortality, but why were they like demonic beasts, full of bloody killing intent?