In the middle of the night, a man walked out of a small house in the eastern part of the village.
This man was the man who secretly followed Mo Tiange there, Li Yushan.
From this family, he learned about the background of that little girl with the last name Mo.
Naturally, he didn't ask them straightforwardly. After he pretended to be naïve and asked them if the large house belonged to some kind of rich family, the husband told him that the house belonged to the head of the village. Hearing the husband's answer, he seized the opportunity to ask about the situation in the village. This family didn't harbor the slightest suspicion and told him everything, including information about the village head's family.
There were two girls in that house. The first was the village's head eldest granddaughter while the second one was a granddaughter he got from his daughter 1 . The two of them were similar in age. He pondered after getting that information. That little girl's clothes weren't made of good materials, very different from what the other girl, who strolled around the fair with her, wore. He was certain that the other girl was the village head's eldest granddaughter. Hence, the little girl's identity was already clear.
Li Yushan pretended to sympathize with the little girl and asked about her past. Presumably, no one had ever talked like he did, so this family didn't try to hide anything. They said this little girl used to be their neighbor. Her father left before she was born and had never returned. After her mother died three years ago, she was taken and raised in the ancestral house. After asking them the details about her father, Li Yushan indeed heard something he was interested in.
When the husband talked about the man, his tone was filled with pure adoration. He said the man was very knowledgeable. Not only was he well-versed in the art of healing, he was also proficient in martial arts. Unfortunately, he went away and hadn't returned.
Li Yushan was now sure that what the little girl said was true. Her father must've been a cultivator; that was why he seemed so mysterious. However, Li Yushan wasn't sure how the man's cultivation level was.
He was also quite confused why a cultivator would live in an ordinary village like this and even marry a mortal woman. Cultivators usually wouldn't pay mortals any attention. They normally only accepted female cultivators as their Dual Cultivation partners. That way, their cultivation could benefit. As for mortal women, at best, they would only be accepted as concubines. They would never marry a mortal woman or have a child with them.
Moreover, the woman he married was sick. This matter confused him even more - to mortals, cultivators' abilities seemed close to that of Immortals; curing a mortal was very easy to do.
Because of this, Li Yushan made a deeper inquiry into the woman. Sure enough, even after several years of using all kinds of means, the husband only managed to improve her sickness marginally.
His intuition told him that this woman definitely had a secret. Maybe this secret was now in her daughter's possession!
With that in mind, he took advantage of the darkness of the night and secretly slipped out of the house into the yard next door.
The yard was completely empty. There was the smell of moldy wood when he opened the door. Except for some furniture, there wasn't anything else in the house - not even some basic daily necessities. It was obvious that this house had been left unoccupied for a long time.
He rummaged through the house for a moment but couldn't find anything abnormal. Even if there was, it might've been taken by others a long time ago.
With utmost disappointment, he walked out of the house and walked towards the largest house in the village.
Even though he wasn't close to the house, he could already see a spiritual light coming from it. It was proof that someone was cultivating. The light was very clear; the little girl obviously hadn't employed any defense formation at all. Although this light couldn't be seen by mortals, cultivators could see it clearly.
He couldn't help but sigh. This girl was very young, but she was able to endure the dullness of cultivation and cultivated perseveringly even though it was already very late. Apparently, a fated chance wasn't the only reason why she reached her current level of cultivation.
After silently observing for a while, his brows were furrowed.
This was obviously wrong.
When cultivators cultivated, the spiritual light they emitted was affected by the spiritual aura they absorbed. As for what kind of spiritual aura they absorbed, it depended on the cultivation technique they used. Thus, if their cultivation technique had a metal element attribute, the spiritual light they emitted would have a faint gold color, while if the cultivation technique had a fire element attribute, the spiritual light would be red. However, the spiritual light in front of him was colorless!
In other words, this little girl was cultivating with a technique that didn't have any attributes! A cultivation technique without attributes of the five elements definitely wasn't a simple, rudimentary cultivation technique. It either had a special function or extremely formidable power.
He became very excited. A good cultivation technique meant extremely rapid progress. Achieving the Foundation Building realm was also possible! He originally thought this little girl's cultivation technique might only be somewhat better, but unexpectedly, it wasn't a common rudimentary cultivation technique at all!
Greed grew in his heart. If this cultivation technique is mine…
When dawn was about to arrive, Mo Tiange stopped cultivating.
She gained a lot of insight about cultivation from Li Yushan, and it was indeed very useful. Many things she was confused about were cleared up. Hence, she harvested a lot more from her cultivation tonight.
She went out to freshen up in a very good mood. Even Aunt Lin's gloomy expression couldn't ruin her mood.
Having finished her breakfast and talked with Tianqiao for a while, she prepared to go on another trip to town. Her cultivation was very successful yesterday, so she planned to see Li Yushan and talk about cultivation again.
However, right after she arrived in town, she saw Li Yushan walking out of the inn, carrying his luggage on his shoulder.
"Fellow Taoist Li, are you leaving?"
Li Yushan smiled when he saw her. "Yes. I've been living here for half a month. It's time for me to continue my journey. Fellow Taoist Mo, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Mo Tiange answered, "I gained a lot of insight from our discussion yesterday, so I came again today. But since Fellow Taoist has to go, I won't trouble you."
"Not at all." Li Yu Shan smiled. "A discussion is most welcome. I think we should find a place to sit first."
After pondering for a moment, Mo Tiange nodded. "Alright."
Li Yushan then led her towards a bridge near the town's gate, choosing a tea stand beside the bridge.
Once they sat down, Li Yushan went straight to the point, "Did Fellow Taoist's cultivation go smoothly yesterday?"
Mo Tiange nodded and said, "I have to thank Fellow Taoist for that. In the past, I never understood why meridians were hard to pass sometimes. You told me to regularly nourish them with spiritual aura; I tried it yesterday and it was easier."
Li Yushan smiled and dismissively waved his hand. "This is common knowledge in the cultivation world; I can't take any credit for that. Besides, I also benefitted quite a lot from Fellow Taoist. Practicing moving the spiritual aura in my body before practicing the spell is a method that will be very useful for me in learning about spells in the future." After he said that, he intentionally asked, "Fellow Taoist Mo, your father has been away for such a long time; how can he provide you with advice?"
Mo Tiange was a bit stunned. She cautiously said, "Whenever I have something I don't understand, I write a letter to my father to ask him about it."
Li Yushan only gave "Oh" as an answer. However, he secretly thought about what the village people said. Her father had obviously gone and hadn't returned. In fact, there weren't any messages at all. It seemed like this little girl was quite cautious towards him. But in the end, she was a child, so fooling her would be very easy. Thus he asked again, "Then what about Fellow Taoist's other relatives? Are they also cultivators who conceal their identities and live among mortals like you? I've rarely seen something like this."
Mo Tiange looked down and said, "My mother died from an illness three years ago. I'm living with other elders now."
Li Yushan hastily apologized when he saw her becoming dejected. "I'm sorry. I mentioned something hurtful. But your father is also a cultivator - why couldn't he cure your mother? Mortals' illnesses are something very easy for us to handle."
Mo Tiange shook her head. "My mother's illness couldn't be cured. My… my father said it's a constitution problem; he couldn't do anything about it."
A bright light flashed in Li Yushan's eyes when he heard "constitution problem."
So-called constitution problems were innate problems that occurred in the five elements or in the yin and yang. There were only a few types that a mortal couldn't survive; first was chaos among the five elements, second was disharmony between Yin and Yang, and the third was pollution by some kind of unnatural ghostly or demonic aura.
For chaos among the five elements, although it couldn't be cured, prolonging the person's life was still possible. Meanwhile, if the body was polluted with a ghostly or demonic aura, it was still possible for the aura to be cleansed. It was only the disharmony between yin and yang that truly couldn't be treated. The disharmony between yin and yang meant it was either innate Pure Yang Constitution or Pure Yin Constitution!
He became extremely excited. A woman with Pure Yang Constitution or a man with Pure Yin Constitution would both die shortly after being born. It was only a woman with Pure Yin Constitution who could live long enough to have offspring!
If that was really the case, all of his confusion could be addressed. The reason why a cultivator would stay and marry a mortal woman was if the woman had a body with Pure Yin Constitution. Although she didn't have any spiritual roots, he would still gain a lot of benefits. Besides, this kind of constitution was hereditary; the probability of the appearance of spiritual roots among a cultivator's descendants was also high…
He dropped his gaze, covering the excitement in his eyes. He now realized that this little girl was most likely one of the lucky ones - a woman born with both Pure Yin Constitution and spiritual roots! It was no wonder she could still cultivate in this secular world despite the five spiritual roots she possessed!
He couldn't help but remember the information he once heard in Kunwu: a female cultivator with Pure Yin Constitution was extremely rare and was the best Human Furnace…
Eldest granddaughter here means Mo Tianqiao. She's the granddaughter the Patriarch got from his son (孫女: Sūnnǚ). Mo Tiange is the granddaughter he got from his daughter (外孫女: Wàisūnnǚ).