At sunset, the cultivators surrounding the teahouse in Deep Water City finally dispersed in groups of twos and threes.
The teahouse's manager, an old cultivator with a grizzled beard who was still in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm, came forward and asked respectfully, "Senior, it's getting late. Do you need me to arrange a place for you?"
The young scholar stretched himself, picked up the folding fan on the table, and said, "I'm looking for a place to stay. Sorry for troubling you."
"I don't dare, I don't dare."
The manager hurriedly stepped aside. "Senior's guidance has enlightened junior. It's junior's honor to do something for Senior."
The manager was so respectful because before he came here, he gave this cultivator some pointers, allowing this cultivator who didn't have much time left to live to feel the meaning of cultivation again.
For cultivators, even if their lifespans were about to end, it was a good thing if their cultivation level could advance. Maybe they could have a breakthrough with a moment of enlightenment and some other opportunities.
"Our teahouse has a place for distinguished guests to rest. If Senior doesn't mind, you can rest here. What do you think?"
The young man nodded with a smile, expressing his agreement.
When the shopkeeper saw this, he respectfully invited him into the backyard, and as he walked, he said, "Senior, there's a small courtyard behind us, and it's usually for distinguished guests to stay in. Senior will absolutely not be disturbed here."
The young man smiled. "That would be best."
The manager led the young man to the small courtyard in the back. After a brief introduction and seeing that the young man was satisfied, the manager finally retreated with relief.
Retreating to the entrance of the courtyard, the shopkeeper saw that an extremely powerful restriction had been set up in the courtyard. He wiped his sweat and said, "Senior, you don't look old, but your cultivation is so high. You are truly a genius."
When the surrounding restrictions were completely opened, the young man touched the space between his eyebrows, summoning a sparkling and translucent bead. After several breaths, he suddenly disappeared from the room.
This young man was naturally Mo Tiange.
After entering the Virtual Sky World, Mo Tiange withdrew the Appearance-Mimicking Technique and restored her original appearance. She then sat on a praying mat and closed her eyes to rest.
Nie Wushang's Appearance-Mimicking Technique was indeed extraordinary. After transforming, even she herself couldn't recognize her, let alone these low level cultivators.
With the strengthening effect of the Spirit-Concealing Pendant, she reckoned even middle stage Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't be able to see through her disguise.
This was enough. It was not easy to see a late Nascent Soul cultivator.
After resting for a while and feeling full of energy, Mo Tiange took out a small bag and poured out a pile of things.
This was her harvest for the day. Although it was not valuable, there were some peculiar things that were rather interesting.
After all, there weren't many strange things. Many low-level cultivators exchanged some rare items with her. She found the items quite interesting, so she exchanged them.
In any case, what these cultivators wanted were mostly medicinal pills for Aura Refining or Foundation Building cultivators, or low-grade spirit tools and magic tools. To her, those were the most useless things. Even if she wanted to sell them, she'd find it troublesome.
Mo Tiange picked up a fiery red stone from the pile of things.
This was the Fire Obsidian Stone that was exchanged from the hands of a low level cultivator. Because of this incident, those low level cultivators, regardless of whether they had valuable items in their hands or not, would just take out their items to exchange with her.
In fact, there was nothing special about this fire obsidian stone. With this quality, it could only be sold for about a hundred spirit stones in the Celestial Pole. Although it wasn't cheap, it wasn't rare either.
The reason why she made the exchange was because she had never seen this thing since she arrived in Yunzhong.
When she went shopping in Guifang City, a shop assistant told her he had never seen this thing before. Only then did she realize that Fire Obsidian might be a specialty of the Celestial Pole and couldn't be found in Yunzhong.
But now, she actually saw this thing in the hands of a low level cultivator. Furthermore, these cultivators didn't know what this thing was, so this was a bit strange.
This was the seaside, and this sea area was the natural moat between the Celestial Pole and Yunzhong. If Fire Obsidian was really a specialty of the Celestial Pole, didn't that mean someone crossed the South Sea and lost Fire Obsidian here?
Of course, this was only a guess. She had no way of knowing the truth.
In addition, it wasn't like she didn't gain anything today.
Although most of the so-called strange things in this small town were trivial matters, with so many people here, there were bound to be some people who heard some ancient legends.
For example, an old Aura Refining cultivator whose lifespan was about to run out told her that when he was a child, he once heard a story about a celestial mountain appearing in the sea from his elders.
Mo Tiange originally thought it was just a mirage, so she didn't pay too much attention to it. However, after listening to the old cultivator's story, she finally realized it wasn't that simple.
The old cultivator said that at that time, all the fishermen and cultivators who hunted sea beasts for a living saw that celestial mountain. It suddenly appeared like a small island and someone crossed the sea from it to trade some things with them.
However, the seaside residents couldn't approach this celestial mountain. There seemed to be a dense fog around it, preventing people from advancing. Experienced cultivators said this was an Illusory Formation.
This celestial mountain existed for about half a month before it disappeared as if it had never appeared.
Mo Tiange thought about it carefully and felt that this so-called celestial mountain was very likely a high level cultivator's magic weapon.
An independent space like the Virtual Sky World was admittedly a heaven-defying existence that even Deification cultivators would find difficult to obtain. However, portable Immortal's Caves weren't that rare. It was just that they cost a lot, so very few people had them.
These portable Immortal's Caves were usually made to look like magic weapons. After they were used, they would turn into something — a mountain, a tower, a boat, or even a house. After they transformed, their owners could move in.
The principle was also very simple. Many cultivators in the Core Formation realm and above used flying magic weapons that weren't conspicuous when taken out. Once they were used, they would turn into carriages or boats. For example, Lord Daoist Jinghe's cloud carriage was such a magic weapon.
However, such a portable Immortal's Cave was much more expensive than a cloud carriage. Even for a cultivation group disciple like her who didn't lack spirit stones, it was still a sky-high price. Even Lord Daoist Jinghe probably wouldn't be willing to part with it.
In addition, the required materials and techniques were also very rare. Even if one could afford it, there might not be anyone who could make it.
Therefore, many high level cultivators knew about this thing, but very few people had it.
Why couldn't the spirit stones used to make a portable Immortal's Cave be used for something else?
Buying medicinal pills and materials could greatly improve one's cultivation level. What was the use of such a portable Immortal's Cave without the support of spirit veins?
It would cost a lot of spirit stones to maintain it on a daily basis. Its function was nothing more than making it more convenient to go out.
In short, this thing cost a lot, but the benefits weren't very high. Unless one was extremely rich, very few people would make such a thing.
The Immortal Mountain this old cultivator mentioned was very likely a high level cultivator's portable Immortal's Cave. He came here, stayed for several days, then left again.
However, it was unclear whether this high level cultivator came from the South Sea or if he was a local cultivator from Yunzhong who passed through here.
After she sorted out the information she heard today, Mo Tiange regretfully discovered that there wasn't much valuable information.
However, she was already mentally prepared for this, so she wasn't too disappointed.
If the clues to return to the Celestial Pole were so easy to find, how could there have been no contact between the Celestial Pole and Yunzhong for so many years?
Besides, the shortcut to return to the Celestial Pole wasn't necessarily at the seaside. Transporting Formations, space cracks, and the like didn't have a concept of distance. For example, the undersea path Mo Yaoqing found could be said to be God's good fortune. It was already not easy to find one.
With that thought in mind, Mo Tiange decided to stay in Deep Water City for three to five days and then go south.
She would go to all the major cultivation towns in Eastern Tang, then she would go to Nanzhou and the west.
The west of Yunzhong had never been included in the sphere of influence because the west was barren and there were almost no spirit veins. There were only many barbarians and small countries.
However, Mo Tiange didn't want to let go of any opportunities. If she still couldn't find any clues in Nanzhou, she could go to the west. After all, the more backward a place was, the more legends there were.
Just like that, Mo Tiange adjusted her breath in the Virtual Sky World for one night. The next day, Mo Tiange, still in the appearance of a young scholar, went out of the small courtyard where she temporarily lived, set up a table and chairs in the tea house, and began to collect strange news.
After the first day of spreading the news, more people came today.
However, most of them didn't have anything valuable in their hands. Although Mo Tiange didn't mind exchanging with low level cultivators, she didn't accept everything. She rejected the ordinary things one by one and only accepted some novel and interesting things.
These cultivators originally came to try their luck. Although they were somewhat disappointed, they didn't think much of it and continued to watch the fun from the side.
In addition to these low level Aura Refining cultivators, there were also some Foundation Building cultivators who heard yesterday's news and came to ask for advice.
Most of these people offered one or two valuable things or mentioned some information, which made Mo Tiange gain quite a lot.
She also knew that most of these Foundation Building cultivators didn't have high aptitudes and only advanced to the Foundation Building realm after going through untold hardships. They usually didn't have anyone to guide them, so they took a lot of detours, just like Second Uncle.
When she thought of Second Uncle, she was even more kind to these Foundation Building cultivators and wouldn't be stingy if she could give them a few pointers.
Several days later, although there were still a lot of people watching the fun, the number of Aura Refining cultivators who came to exchange for things decreased. On the contrary, there were more and more Foundation Building cultivators.
In such a small city, there naturally weren't many Foundation Building cultivators among the individual cultivators. Most of these people were disciples from small cultivation groups and schools nearby. Some only had one or two Core Formation elders, and some cultivation groups didn't have any Core Formation cultivators at all. Usually, they didn't have anyone to guide them in their cultivation. When they learned that a senior came to Deep Water City, they all took the opportunity to come and ask for advice.
Some people even prepared generous gifts, wanting to invite her to their homes as guests.
Regarding this, Mo Tiange naturally refused. She didn't rely on her high cultivation level to make money.
These Foundation Building cultivators also knew that it wasn't practical for such a senior with a profound cultivation level to come to their cultivation group as a guest, so they didn't insist. They still offered generous gifts as long as she gave them some pointers.
Regarding this, Mo Tiange wasn't polite and didn't hide anything. She accepted the gifts and gave them her advice with all her might.
Later on, some Core Formation cultivators came to invite her. Mo Tiange still refused to go to their homes as guests, but she politely chatted with these Core Formation cultivators in the VIP tea rooms and traded goods with them. In the process, she made many new friends.
Just like that, she stayed in Deep Water City for seven or eight days before she finally finished everything and set off again.