Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Mount Dongmeng

Translator: Cenniwdyl Editor: Caron_
Ye Jingwen flew Mo Tiange towards Mount Dongmeng.
Having run around with Ye Jingwen the past few days, Mo Tiange was now accustomed to the feeling of flying in the sky and was no longer frightened. She even became increasingly fond of flying because she could slowly taste the carefree life of a cultivator.
It was impossible for mortals to not be jealous of Immortals. Prior to this, Mo Tiange’s life had been complicated; furthermore, she was still young and simple-minded, so she never thought carefully about such things. Now, after learning that her father died, leaving the house, and gaining a lot of knowledge from Ye Jingwen, she genuinely became interested in cultivating.
Seeing as Mo Tiange had a gentle temperament and was unlike ordinary children whose minds were only preoccupied with playing, Ye Jingwen gave her a few extra pointers which Mo Tiange benefited greatly from. For example, the first day she cultivated with him, he corrected her meditation posture. Since she began cultivating without any teachers and had to rely on her instincts on how to sit during meditation, her posture definitely wasn’t according to standards.
After that, Ye Jingwen made a few more corrections on some trifle matters during her cultivation. She instantly felt that she understood a lot more of the material he explained. At the same time, she also felt that having a teacher by her side was indeed far more effective than trying to make her way alone. If she wanted to discover the things Ye Jingwen explained by herself, she would have to spend one or two months to figure them out.
In fact, Aura Refining disciples in cultivation groups were also either guided by other high-level Aura Refining disciples or Foundation Building disciples. In the Xuanqing School, Ye Jingwen often gave sermons to low-level disciples so he often met disciples who, despite being endowed with spiritual roots, were stupid. After he met Mo Tiange who could comprehend things with only a few pointers, he finally realized that teachers could sometimes take it easy.
He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. Sure enough, aside from talent, perception was also very important! It was no wonder Martial Uncle Xuanyin always said that although Martial Uncle Shoujing’s spiritual roots weren’t as good as his, his perception was extremely good, so he could achieve more than Martial Uncle Xuanyin. Indeed, there were other determining factors than spiritual roots!
Within a few days, the two of them arrived at Mount Dongmeng.
The scene caused Mo Tiange’s eyes to widen.
At Mount Qingmeng, whether it was the little market square at the foot of the mountain or the peaks, everything was serene and gave a vibe of departing from the mundane world. But it wasn’t the same as Mount Dongmeng. There was a tall decorated archway as well as several courtyards at the foot of the mountain, and a neat limestone road that went up the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, there was a public square and residential district. Obviously, this place was the market square of Mount Dongmeng.
From the air, the two of them could faintly see a lot of Immortal’s Caves on the mountain. However, these caves were covered by a sea of trees and only small parts of them could be seen. If that wasn’t the case, people might feel their scalps getting numb from seeing so many caves in one mountain.
The two of them descended on the market square, but this time, no one came to welcome them. The numbers of cultivators walking around Mount Dongmeng were too numerous; even the residential district in front of them was far more bustling than the market square in Mount Qingmeng. Hence, when they came down from the sky, there wasn’t anyone who raised their head to even take one glance at them.
Although Mo Tiange was looking all around, Ye Jingwen still went through the same motions as before, leading her through the streets without glancing around. He seemed to be rather familiar with this place.
Sure enough, after walking through several streets, they entered a shop. Just like on Mount Qingmeng, the shopkeeper was a disciple of Xuanqing School. The differences were that this shop was a lot larger and there were a lot of mortal clerks.
These mortals were extremely insightful and eloquent. Right after they noticed Ye Jingwen and Mo Tiange entering, they stepped forward respectfully and addressed them as “Master Immortals.” Mo Tiange was only a child following Ye Jingwen, yet she was still addressed.
Ye Jingwen hadn’t said anything yet, but a cultivator dressed in Xuanqing School’s disciple clothes was already coming towards them and greeting them respectfully: “Martial Uncle Ye, what brought you here?” the disciple actually recognized him.
The mortal clerks retreated when they saw a cultivator coming to handle the guests.
Ye Jingwen answered, “I was ordered by Martial Uncle Shoujing to handle some matters. Where’s Senior Martial Brother Zheng?”
The disciple in front of them answered, “We’re busy today. Martial Uncle Zheng also left to personally handle some business.”
“Oh?” Ye Jingwen frowned and muttered, “What kind of business would Senior Martial Brother Zheng have to personally handle?”
He didn’t really need an answer. After all, he wasn’t a disciple in charge of this place and had no right to interfere with their business. But the disciple thought Martial Uncle Zheng’s business wasn’t really an important secret and answered, “There’s a declining cultivation clan selling their belongings. Martial Uncle Zheng heard many of the ancestors of that clan were Core Formation cultivators, so there will definitely be a lot of good stuff. That’s why he personally went to handle the matter.”
“Oh, so that’s the case.” Ye Jingwen wasn’t interested and switched gears “Have you seen this person, a Foundation Building cultivator surnamed Ye who looks like someone in his fifties?”
After thinking for a long time, the disciple shook his head and said, “Martial Uncle Ye, your description of this man is too vague. There are a lot of Foundation Building cultivators who look like fifty-year-old men. Moreover, unless they’re important guests, we wouldn’t know their surnames.”
Ye Jingwen was also aware of this. Out of ten people who were trapped in the Foundation Building realm, seven to eight of them looked around this age. Generally, since cultivators’ appearances also changed according to their age, looking like a fifty-year-old man was a distinctive characteristic for considerably old cultivators. If they could advance to the next realm, they would’ve already done it when they were around this age and would’ve already changed their appearances. Therefore, the majority of people who couldn’t advance further had the appearance of someone in their fifties.
Thus, Ye Jingwen didn’t trouble the disciple any further. He nodded and said, “You may go. I’m just going to ask around; you don’t have to attend to us.”
The disciple excused himself, but before he left, he stopped and added, “Martial Uncle Ye, if you’re looking for someone, it’d be better for you to go to the steward’s office at the foot of the mountain. If an individual cultivator wanted to live here for several days or wanted to rent a cave, he’d go there.”
This wasn’t a bad idea. Ye Jingwen said his thanks and led Mo Tiange out.
Once they were out of the shop, Mo Tiange asked, “Big Brother Ye, is this place also a shop run by Xuanqing School?”
Ye Jingwen nodded. “It is. My Xuanqing School has a shop in every medium to large-sized market square. Almost all the market squares in western Kunwu have our shops. Traveling disciples can go to these shops to ask for help whenever they have trouble.”
“Oh…” Mo Tiange asked again, “Then doesn’t it mean Xuanqing School is pretty big?”
Ye Jingwen laughed and said, “There are seven great cultivation groups in the Celestial Pole. Although Tiandao Sect is the largest, our Xuanqing School isn’t far behind. There are about 7,000 to 8,000 disciples in Tiandao Sect while our Xuanqing School has 6,000 disciples. They have seven Nascent Soul grandmasters while we have five. From among several other great cultivation groups, only Gujian Sect might be comparable to us. However, it’s harder for them as sword cultivators to advance to the next realm compared to us. Besides, they don’t have as many grandmasters as us.”
Mo Tiange was a bit confused. “Why’s it hard for sword cultivators to advance?”
Ye Jingwen explained, “Sword cultivators focus on cultivating with a sword their whole lives. They spend their lives studying sword methods and killing skills. Hence, when it comes to fighting strength, they’re slightly stronger than us cultivators who practice the Law of Dao. But it’s also because of this reason that they don’t have the time to practice techniques to cultivate their natures. Hence, their primordial spirits are slightly weaker than ours. That’s why their advancement tends to be slower. Even though the numbers of disciples in the Gujian Sect are around the same as ours, the numbers of Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators are a fifth less compared to ours.” He continued, “In fact, the technique I’m using in my cultivation is a branch of sword cultivation technique. However, it isn’t a pure sword cultivation technique, so it’s slightly easier for me than for them to advance to the next realm.”
Mo Tiange only understood half of what Ye Jingwen said. She slowly pondered about it while following Ye Jingwen down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, they headed straight towards several strictly guarded courtyards.