Not long after they left Jia Ling Mountain, the two of them arrived at Descending Star City.
This was the first time Mo Tiange came into contact with a place where devil cultivators lived.
At first glance, Descending Star City didn't look any different from the cities where cultivators lived. It had the same row upon row of houses, the same never-ending stream of people, and the same streets filled with stalls.
However, the entire Descending Star City was shrouded in devil aura. The closer they got to the city center, the denser the devil aura became.
Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang used their spiritual aura to protect themselves and walked into Descending Star City.
This was different from devil cultivators. Devil cultivators wouldn't feel uncomfortable in an environment full of spiritual aura. They could even use spiritual aura to cultivate. The denser the spiritual aura, the better it was for them.
However, cultivators would feel uncomfortable in an environment full of devil aura.
This could be traced back to the Distant Past era, the origin of immortals and devils.
According to legend, in the Distant Past era, spiritual aura and devil aura existed at the same time. Spiritual aura rose while devil aura sank.
However, the world was dominated by spiritual aura and devil aura wasn't much. Later on, the world changed and devil aura became even lesser.
Because of this, devil cultivators had a hard time surviving in this world. In order to survive in this new world, they learned to transform spiritual aura into devil aura through cultivation techniques and other changes.
Devil territory was a special existence. A large number of devil cultivators lived there, causing devil aura to gather in the surroundings. Devil territory was formed.
Because devil aura wasn't much in this world, cultivators rarely encountered it. Devil aura was mainly destructive, so when they encountered devil aura, their strength would be affected.
Of course, as long as the devil aura wasn't too dense, high-level cultivators could move freely as long as they had spiritual aura to protect themselves.
However, devil aura was a headache for low-level cultivators. They couldn't cultivate in devil territory at all, and mortals who lived in devil territory for a long time would have their lifespans affected. Therefore, there weren't many low-level cultivators in Descending Star City. Most of the people who came and went were Foundation Building cultivators and those who did business were low-level devil cultivators.
The two of them looked around but weren't interested in the things being sold here. Mo Tiange asked, "Fellow Daoist Nie, how much do you know about Descending Star City?"
Nie Wushang looked around and said, "Nothing."
"…" Mo Tiange's forehead twitched. "Then why did you say you wanted to come?"
"I had nothing to do anyway, so I just came to look around."
Mo Tiange was speechless.
Speaking of which, it was the same for her. Ling Yunhe had said that they would meet again in three months, so she could only collect the remaining payment for the trip to Carefree Valley three months later. Since she had nothing to do during these three months, she wanted to find a place to pass the time.
After coming out of Carefree Valley, she happened to be the closest to Descending Star City. She had never seen the demonic area before, so she wanted to come and see what was going on.
Originally, he was hoping that Nie Wushang would know a bit more, but unexpectedly, she was also completely clueless.
The two of them stared at each other for a while before Nie Wushang finally said tentatively, "Why don't we find a teahouse first?"
Mo Tiange was a bit hesitant. "Are there also teahouses in the Devil Domain?"
"Why don't we just ask?"
Nie Wushang then pulled a low-level devil cultivator over. "Fellow Daoist, how do I get to Starfall City's teahouse?"
This devil cultivator's cultivation level was only in the fifth or sixth layer of the Aura Refining realm. When he was pulled by Mo Tiange and realized that they were two cultivators with unfathomable cultivation levels, he was startled and stammered, "They're … over there …"
Nie Wushang loosened her grip then shrugged at Mo Tiange. "See, there are still some."
"…"
A year ago, Mo Tiange found it hard to imagine that Nie Wushang would be like this. It was even harder to imagine that the two of them would be together like this.
If they were no longer enemies after their encounter on North Pole Island, then their trip to Carefree Valley this time could be considered a little more like a friend.
After walking along the street for a while and listening to the rising and falling sounds of hawking, Mo Tiange absentmindedly felt as if she had returned to the Celestial Pole.
When she was at Xuanqing School, Luo Fengxue would occasionally invite her to take a walk outside to relax and chat. However, ever since her cultivation level gradually increased and Luo Fengxue became increasingly busy because she was in charge of the steward's hall on Sweet Dew Peak, these kinds of opportunities became increasingly rare.
During the two years they lived with Qin Xi, they were busy with countless things, so they didn't have this kind of mood.
At this very moment, Mo Tiange couldn't help but smile as she experienced this leisurely contentment.
After leaving Carefree Valley, she realized that she seemed to have become soft-hearted. She used to be scared, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt this wasn't a bad thing.
When she was only a Foundation Building or even a small Aura Refining cultivator, she didn't dare to be soft-hearted because she was still too weak. If she was soft-hearted, it would easily affect her judgment and cause her to make mistakes. The result would very likely be a tragic death.
Therefore, she could only clench her teeth and walk forward vigilantly but calmly.
But now it was different. Even if she was facing a Nascent Soul cultivator, she wasn't someone who could only wait helplessly for death. She was no longer the Mo Tiange who could only survive by being cautious.
In other words, she already possessed a certain amount of power, so she had the capital to be soft-hearted.
Think about it — a small cultivator who carefully walked the world and struggled to cultivate, and a Core Formation cultivator who had a divine ability and was no longer at the mercy of others — which one of them would be so easily soft-hearted?
Perhaps most people would take it for granted that the small cultivator should be more soft-hearted, but in fact, it was usually the Core Formation cultivators who were more easily soft-hearted.
This was because most of those soft-hearted small cultivators had already disappeared on the bumpy road to immortality. As for those Core Formation cultivators, they had long trained their judgment in their long cultivation lives. They only needed a split second to determine whether a matter was harmful or not. If it wasn't necessary, they could be a bit more soft-hearted because they had enough power and weren't afraid of the backlash.
Therefore, from a certain point of view, this world was upside down. Only when one had power would they have the qualifications to be soft-hearted.
Mo Tiange asked herself — could she determine whether a person or a matter would be harmful to her in a split second and then make the most appropriate handling of it?
The answer was yes.
In her long cultivation life, self-protection had already become a kind of instinct.
Since she could, what was wrong with her being a bit more soft-hearted?
But from another perspective, this wasn't a bad thing.
In the Aura Refining realm, cultivators had to gather spiritual aura to transform their bodies. In the Foundation Building realm, they learned how to use spiritual aura and truly stepped into the gate of cultivation. From the Core Formation realm onward, they had to come into contact with the origin of spiritual aura and explore the true meaning of immortality. In the Nascent Soul realm, they had to comprehend the Heavenly Dao. The more they comprehended, the more powerful their divine abilities would be.
Because of that, after they reached the Core Formation realm, they originally had to put more emotions into their understanding of life.
In order to cultivate one's mental state to be stronger, one had to understand more about one's heart.
Therefore, whether it was Daoist, Buddhist, or Confucian schools, they all had the saying: "The Grand Master Forgets Emotions" — those who had emotions were ruthless.
"What are you thinking about?" Nie Wushang's ear-piercing voice rang in her ears.
Mo Tiange regained her train of thought from her meditation. She frowned then said, "Your voice is really unpleasant to the ears."
Her original voice was only a bit hoarse and dull, but the disguised voice this time was really too unpleasant to the ears. It was as if her throat had already become a sieve, piercing and leaking air everywhere.
Nie Wushang let out a low chuckle and said, "There's no other way. If I don't do this, how can I conceal my accent?"
"…" Mo Tiange rolled her eyes. "You're just looking for trouble. In such a big place like Yunzhong, who knows what kind of person Nie Wushang is?
It's not a big deal for you to appear with your original appearance, right? "
Nie Wushang said, "I stole Tianyan Sect's treasure. If I'm discovered …"
"That's indeed a problem, but there's no need to make yourself look like this, right?"
"Do you think it's easy to change your appearance?" Nie Wushang cast a sidelong glance at her. "Why don't you give it a try?"
"I didn't steal other people's sect's treasure, so why would I need it?" Mo Tiange thought for a moment then said, "But I can indeed give it a try."
Nie Wushang was just about to ask further when the two of them saw the tall tea flag in Starfall City.
The two of them didn't hide their cultivation levels, so they were warmly received by the teahouse waiter.
Cultivation level represented strength, and strength represented wealth. If they could satisfy a high level cultivator, even a casual tip from them would be a rare income for a low level cultivator.
The two of them didn't plan to make friends with cultivators in the same realm as them, so they left after asking the teahouse waiter some questions.
The waiter said there were inns in the Devil Domain specifically for cultivators to stay in, so they only needed to pay attention to the signs outside.
The two of them walked around the area and soon found the inn the waiter mentioned. Outside the inn, there was a small flag with a white cloud painted on it.
As soon as they stepped into the inn, someone immediately came to greet them. "Seniors, are you looking for a place to stay?"
Mo Tiange raised her eyebrows. The person who received them was actually a low level cultivator, not a devil cultivator.
She glanced around. This inn was quite big and didn't have many people. Most of the people inside were in the Foundation Building realm.
This inn seemed to be of high standard and mostly served high level cultivators.
Mo Tiange glanced at Nie Wushang. Seeing that she was satisfied, she said, "Not bad. Do you have a quiet place here?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The low-level cultivator who received them said with a smile, "Our inn specializes in receiving high level cultivators like Seniors. We can even rent an Immortal's Cave.
May I know how long Seniors want to stay? Do you want an ordinary inn room, a separate small courtyard, or an Immortal's Cave? "
Mo Tiange looked at Nie Wushang.
She was quite casual about this, but she didn't know whether Nie Wushang had any special requirements.
Nie Wushang looked at her and said, "I want a separate small courtyard."
Mo Tiange nodded.
A small courtyard was indeed a good choice. They both liked peace and quiet. An ordinary inn room could only be used as a gathering place at most. There were too many people, so living there was definitely not suitable.
Moreover, an Immortal's Cave was too troublesome. They might leave at any time, so a small courtyard was enough.
"Then let's ask for a quiet courtyard. We don't know how long we'll stay, so just pick a good one."
The low-level cultivator smiled and said, "Okay, a superior courtyard. Two spirit stones a day."
Two spirit stones?
This price was a bit expensive.
Mo Tiange raised her eyebrows. Before she could ask, the quick-witted waiter already answered with a smile, "Senior, you don't know, but our inn is for cultivators. It takes a bit of effort in the Devil Domain, so the price is a bit higher."
Mo Tiange thought about it and accepted this explanation. She looked at Nie Wushang. Obviously, she also didn't care about two spirit stones a day, so she said, "Lead the way."
The waiter respectfully made a "please" gesture. "Seniors, please follow me."
Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang were about to follow the low-level cultivator inside when suddenly, a person covered in devil aura stepped into the inn. "Fellow Daoists who cultivate, please wait!"