Dawn had just arrived on the horizon but Mo Tiange had already been roused by the sound coming from the room beside hers.
She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the roof beams for a long time before she remembered that she was at the ancestral house.
A musty smell came from her quilt. She frowned and got up to put on her clothes.
She put her clothes on properly. Ever since she was four years old, she was able to put on her clothes herself - it was braiding her hair that she had quite a problem with. No matter how she braided it, she always felt that her mother did it better than her. She rubbed her eyes, trying hard to suppress the urge to cry, and walked out of the room.
In the kitchen next to her room, Aunt Lin had already started to make breakfast. Uncle He, on the other hand, was chopping firewood in the yard. In this house, all the heavy work was done by him. In addition, there were also several other servants who were either sweeping the floor or feeding the pigs.
Just after Mo Tiange finished washing her face, she heard Aunt Lin shouting from inside the room: "Hey! Come here!"
She turned around, staring at Aunt Lin in confusion.
Aunt Lin had one hand on her waist while the other was holding a shovel. "I was calling you. Come and help me light the fire."
Mo Tiange glanced at her surroundings before she hung her head down and walked forward.
Aunt Lin pushed her towards the back of a stove and said, "We light the larger one outside and the smaller one inside."
As Aunt Lin turned around and started to busy herself with cutting some vegetables with total disregard for her, Mo Tiange bit her lip and sat behind the stove to light the fire.
Fortunately, breakfast was prepared very quickly. Aunt Lin only made a pot of porridge and a few steamed and stir-fried side dishes. Mo Tiange, whose belly was empty, felt even hungrier after she smelled the fragrance of the food.
After she finished preparing breakfast, Aunt Lin watched Mo Tiange come out from behind the stove and said, "Wash your face before you eat."
Mo Tiange wiped her face. Seeing that it was stained with ashes, she did as she was told and went inside to wash her face. She washed her face clean before going to the dining room.
This meal was just like yesterday. Although she was starving, she couldn't really eat anything. After half-heartedly finishing her meal, she went to school with Mo Tianqiao.
On their journey, Mo Tianqiao excitedly told her a few things, but Mo Tiange didn't hear them.
Mo Tianqiao finally shook her sleeve and asked with concern, "Tiange, what's wrong?"
Mo Tiange snapped back to reality and shook her head.
Seeing her acting like that, Mo Tianqiao was quiet for a long time. The two of them walked for a while before Mo Tianqiao once again asked, "Tiange, are you missing your mom?"
Mo Tiange was startled. In the end, she dropped her head in silent affirmation.
Mo Tianqiao stared at her and took her hands, holding them tightly in hers. She said earnestly, "Tiange, I know you're very sad. However, your mom's gone already. Feeling sad won't make her come back…"
Although it was a tactless consolation, Mo Tiange still showed a smile and said, "Tianqiao, thank you."
Upon seeing Mo Tiange's smile, Mo Tianqiao became excited again and continued to talk to her. This time, Mo Tiange responded to her words.
Once they finally arrived at the school, they found that the Master was already inside. Thus, they hastily ran to their seats and sat upright.
Having seen both of them arrive late, Mo Tianjun made a face at them. Mo Tianqiao refused to be outdone and glared back at him.
"Cough!" Once the Old Master's clear cough resounded, all the students instantly became quiet.
"Has everyone copied the 'Younger Brother's Duty'?"
One after another, all the students took out their books and spread them on their desks to be examined by the Old Master.
The Old Master swept his gaze around the room. When he saw Mo Tiange's empty desk, he said, "Tiange, is the wound from your fall alright now?"
Mo Tiange promptly stood up and answered, "Master, I'm fine now. I'll hand in all the homework tomorrow."
The Old Master nodded. "En, since you didn't come to the school for several days, you have fallen behind in your homework. Today, I will only check the writing. You should go and read now. Come back in the afternoon for an extra lesson."
"Yes."
The Old Master once again swept his gaze around the room and said, "If you already copied the passage, you may study on your own."
Mo Tiange packed her books and writing tools. She bowed towards the Old Master before entering the library.
She hadn't gone to the library these past days. Although the library was still exactly the same as before, she wasn't in the mood to read today. She just picked a book randomly from the bookshelf on the east side. When she saw the book cover, it was actually the book she hadn't finished reading back then, the 'Summary of the Celestial Pole.'
All of a sudden, she thought about the dream and the words said to her by that voice claiming to be the Ancestor of the Mo family.
After recalling those things, she opened the book again. This book was obviously written by a mortal and depicted only rumors and legends of the Immortals. Her curiosity was piqued. Once again, she stood on a stool and rummaged through the bookshelf at the east side of the library.
She went through the books one by one. However, she didn't see anything unusual until she suddenly found a book called 'Qing Lian's Notes.'
The author's autobiography was written as the preface of the book. The author claimed to be a lay Buddhist 1 named Qing Lian. The preface said he was originally a scholar from Jin Country. Because he was too talented, he wasn't allowed to be placed in an important position and thus wandered around the world. His journey unexpectedly led him to obtain an Immortal's Fate 2 , leading him to cultivate the Law of Immortality. Unfortunately, he wasn't successful. Once he was about 200 years old, he felt that his life was almost exhausted, thus he wrote this book to be passed on to the future generation.
Mo Tiange promptly returned the other books to the bookshelf. She took that one book and sat beside the window to start reading.
The beginning of the book talked about the origins of lay Buddhist Qing Lian. Mo Tiange wasn't interested and skipped that part. Later on, Qing Lian started to describe how he came across the Immortal's Fate.
When he roamed around the world, he passed a place called Mount Tianlao. All the people who lived nearby said this mountain was always covered in clouds and mist and that from time to time, glimmers of five colored rays would appear on the mountain. Because of that, they were convinced there must be Immortals on this mountain. Soon after, Qing Lian went up to the mountain by himself.
This mountain was indeed mystical. It was covered with a vast sea of clouds and filled with strangely-shaped rocks. People could easily get lost on it if they were careless. When he was lost on that mountain, he happened to find a place that looked like an Immortal's Cave 3 . The inside of this cave was engraved with weirdly-shaped drawings and words. Seeing that they seemed to be mystical, he copied them down before he left the mountain. Unexpectedly, from that record, he came to know the Law of Immortality.
After Qing Lian practiced the Law of Immortality, he felt that he was more perceptive and intelligent. With the passage of time, Immortal's Aura also appeared in his body. Thereafter, he could actually break things without touching them and couldn't be wounded by any weapons. At this point, he was already somewhat stronger than the strongest martial artist in the world.
He contentedly continued to practice the Law of Immortality without knowing anything about its origins. Later, when he accidentally encountered another person who was also practicing the Law of Immortality, he finally realized there were actually a lot of people like him. They had their own world - it was known as the cultivation world. In that world, people like them were known as cultivators.
Mo Tiange pondered for a moment. The Ancestor indeed mentioned this "cultivators" word. It seems that the Ancestor and Qing Lian were speaking the truth.
After Qing Lian found out about the cultivation world, he got in touch with other cultivators and slowly learned some general knowledge in cultivation.
In the Distant Past era when the Gods still existed in the human world, spiritual aura was abundant and spiritual objects were everywhere. Cultivators with great divine power were innumerable. Extremely powerful spiritual beasts were bountiful. Beings that possessed strange power also existed, including the Monsters and Devils. Cultivators and spiritual beasts succeeding in their cultivation and becoming Immortals were a frequent occurrence. There were also devil cultivators and monsters who succeeded in their cultivation and became Demons.
However, no one knew why, a great war suddenly broke out in the world. Between the Immortals, the humans, and the beasts, the dead were countless. The world changed, the mountains were split and the seas were altered. Everything was destroyed.
The Middle Ages came after that distant past. In the Middle Ages, the world was divided into various worlds of the Immortals and the Demons. The human world, meanwhile, was left to humans and beasts that hadn't yet achieved the Dao.
In this age, the spiritual aura and the circumstances in the world weren't inferior to how they were in the distant past. Many schools and sects were established. A lot of cultivation techniques and magic weapons were created. It was the golden age of mankind. After living peacefully for hundreds of thousands of years, the devils waged war and the monsters took part. Mountains were moved and seas were drained. The mortals were almost thoroughly exterminated. As time went by, the world slowly became the world they lived in now.
After hundreds of thousands of years, cultivators with great divine power disappeared, high-level spiritual beasts vanished, spiritual aura became thin, and many spiritual objects were now extinct. Cultivators started to go into seclusion and no longer lived together with the mortals.
In the present cultivation world, cultivation schools and sects were established at places where the spiritual aura was abundant, away from the secular world. Cultivators only walked among the mortals when they recruited disciples.
As for the mortals, not all of them could cultivate. Only those who possessed spiritual roots and could keep spiritual aura within their bodies would be able to cultivate. However, only one at most among ten thousand mortals possessed spiritual roots. The odds of the emergence of spiritual roots greatly increased among people whose ancestors were cultivators.
Bodies were separated into two poles and spirits into five elements. In other words, there were Yin and Yang constitutions in a body, and five kinds of elements in spiritual aura - metal, wood, water, fire, and soil. A normal person's constitution was usually a combination of Yin and Yang. During cultivation, Yin and Yang would repel each other. As for spiritual roots, among the five elements, some would reinforce each other while some would restrain each other. If the body possessed spiritual roots with elements that restrained each other, the spiritual roots would be neutralized. Therefore, it was better if one had a purer body constitution and fewer spiritual roots.
In the cultivation world, the majority of people possessed either three or four spiritual roots. The cultivation of those who possessed triple spiritual roots wouldn't progress too slowly, but it was also impossible for them to become very successful. As for four and five spiritual roots, they were basically disadvantageous spiritual roots. People with these spiritual roots were usually trapped in the Aura Refining realm - entering the Foundation Building realm would be extremely difficult for them. Qing Lian himself possessed four spiritual roots. Furthermore, he also didn't obtain any fated chances 4 . As a result, he couldn't advance into the Foundation Building realm.
Regarding other spiritual roots better that three spiritual roots, those with double spiritual roots naturally wouldn't be encumbered by their endowments. Besides, there were also mutated spiritual roots that resulted from the mutation of the five elements. The cultivation of people with these kinds of spiritual roots progressed even faster than cultivators with a single spiritual root.
But having spiritual roots wasn't enough. In cultivating the Law of Immortality, perception and individual nature were also important. If the spiritual roots weren't good enough but the person was very perceptive, their cultivation speed wouldn't be too slow. As for nature, it was relevant to breaking through a realm. If one had a persistent and determined nature, he definitely wouldn't be trapped by his state of mind. Nonetheless, spiritual roots were still the foundation of everything. If someone's spiritual roots were bad, no matter how great one's perception and nature were, they would still be useless.
Mo Tiange thought about what the Ancestor said. Because the Ancestor had Pure Yin constitution and double spiritual roots, the speed of her cultivation didn't lose to that of a cultivator with a single spiritual root. However, the Ancestor said Mo Tiange had five-elements spiritual roots. According to Qing Lian, this was the worst kind of spiritual roots. People with this generally didn't have a promising future.
She was somewhat disappointed. Although she hadn't really thought seriously about the matter that day, she was still unhappy to know her spiritual roots were categorized as bad.
"Tiange, what are you reading about?" Tianqiao pushed open the door and came inside.
Mo Tiange closed her book and asked, "Tianqiao, you passed?"
Mo Tianqiao grinned. "Yes! I spent a whole night copying the part yesterday to get Master's approval."
"Then what kind of book do you want to read? I'll help you find it."
Mo Tianqiao reached out and took the book Mo Tiange was reading. After flipping a few pages, she wasn't interested in the book and gave it back to Mo Tiange. "You should continue with your reading, I'm going to take a look around."
"All right."
As Mo Tianqiao walked back and forth between the bookshelves, Mo Tiange stared at the book in her hand. After a moment of hesitation, she finally put the book in her bag.c
Non-monastics Buddhist. (仙缘) destiny/fate to become a cultivator to achieve Immortality. Cr:Baidu 洞府 (dòngfǔ): Immortals' dwelling place. Usually build high in the mountain where the spiritual aura is abundant. (机缘) literally means chance/opportunity/destiny. However, the opportunity talked about in this novel is the one that has significant impacts on cultivators' life and progress.