Chapter 198: A Beautiful Man’s Also a Source of Calamity
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
No one objected to Wei Haolan’s decision, so the matter was settled like that.
What these cultivators needed the most were naturally Soul-Strengthening Pills, which were used to increase the cultivation levels of Foundation Building cultivators, so Wei Haolan first decided on the amount of Soul-Strengthening Pills to be given, allocating pills to every cultivator present. Other medicinal pills like Restorative Panaceas and Aura-Purifying Pills were also must-haves, but if they didn’t have enough beast cores and materials to exchange for them, they could only give their share to other cultivators.
Whether in shops or Exchange Gatherings, Look-Preserving Pills were never very popular. However, Bixuan Court’s situation was special—there were more or less twenty female cultivators present now, and coupled with the fact that look-preserving cultivation techniques were scarce, the roughly thirty Look-Preserving Pills Mo Tiange had were fought over and sold out in an instant. Two female cultivators even went as far as to start fighting over one pill.
“Shut up!” Wei Haolan shouted at the two female cultivators.
Mo Tiange could see that Wei Haolan had quite the prestige among her disciples. Although there were also female cultivators whose cultivation levels didn’t lose out to hers, they all quieted down when they heard her shouting.
With a slight frown, Wei Haolan said, “Ladies, if you want Look-Preserving Pills, just wait for Junior Martial Sister Xia to learn how to concoct them from Fellow Daoist Ye. At that point, you can trade for them whenever you want.”
This was indeed the solution for the root problem. The materials needed for the kind of Look-Preserving Pills which could only preserve one’s complexion for ten years weren’t that scarce. In Kunwu, even Aura Refining cultivators who came from a cultivation group or clan could buy them. Considering that Bixuan Court always sent their disciples out to get materials each year, if Xia Qing learned the method to concoct the pill, she could personally concoct several dozen of them and distribute them to the disciples.
Wei Haolan’s words finally appeased the two female cultivators, and the pill was finally taken by another female cultivator.
By the end of it, all kinds of strange things entered into Mo Tiange’s possession. The majority of them were beast cores with all kinds of attributes in all kinds of colors. Unfortunately, the highest beast core among them was only in the fourth rank. After all, fifth rank demonic beasts were equivalent to Core Formation cultivators, and they were just Foundation Building cultivators—it was indeed difficult for them to kill fifth rank beasts.
When her final bottle of medicinal pills was traded, they finally finished exchanging everything. Just as Mo Tiange heaved a sigh of relief, she suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps from the staircase. It sounded like someone was running upstairs hurriedly.
Wei Haolan frowned, looking slightly annoyed. Soon after, an early stage Foundation Building young man in a white robe appeared at the doorstep.
“Sorry.” That person stood on the doorstep with a flush on his fair cheeks, “I’m late.”
Mo Tiange took a brief look at that person, but she was completely shocked by what she saw. Although they never met, she recognized him. More than a year ago in Wanderer Ziwei’s Immortal’s Cave, the two female cultivators surnamed Yun and Liu both entered a trap inside the Illusory Formation. At that time, the phantom who showed up took the form of that white-robed male cultivator. From what she remembered, those two called that phantom “Big Brother Tang.”
After that person showed up, almost all the female cultivators present had smiles on their faces. Wei Haolan was the only one whose expression turned a little more solemn. Nevertheless, she just cleared her throat and said, “Junior Martial Brother Tang, why did you come so late? Fellow Daoist Ye has finished exchanging all her medicinal pills.”
“Ah?” The male cultivator was stunned. His gaze fell on Mo Tiange, who was sitting next to Wei Haolan, and seemed to be at a loss. “Fin-finished exchanging?”
“Hmph!” This time, the one who spoke was one of the previously quiet male cultivators; his tone was extremely cold. “Junior Martial Brother Tang’s really carefree. The Sect Head already said we mustn’t be late for the Exchange Gathering, but you’re really something—you actually came two hours late!”
“Something came up.” The male cultivator walked over rather miserably, but before he could say anything else, a female cultivator stood up and called out, “Junior Martial Brother Tang, I got a lot of medicinal pills from the exchange—I can just share some with you.”
Junior Martial Brother Tang didn’t have a chance to answer because another female cultivator already spoke: “Senior Martial Sister Le, you didn’t get that many, did you? You’ll be left with nothing if you share them!” Right after, she turned towards Junior Martial Brother Tang then said with a smile, “Big Brother Tang, what have you been doing? You don’t need to worry about the medicinal pills—I got quite a few from the exchange. How about I give half to you?”
That female cultivator seemed quite young, and she also addressed him in the same way as the two people surnamed Yun and Liu did.
Right after she finished speaking, a third female cultivator spoke, “Junior Martial Brother Tang, you better exchange with me. Although I don’t have enough medicinal pills, I still have a lot of metal element beast cores; presumably, Junior Martial Brother Tang needs them. ”
“Senior Martial Sister Yang!” The young female cultivator raised her eyebrows and called out, “Who wants your beast cores? The purpose of our Exchange Gathering today was to obtain medicinal pills. Big Brother Tang, just trade with me; we can decide what medicinal pills to exchange in a moment.”
“Hmph!” That third female cultivator didn’t have a good temper; upon hearing what that young female cultivator said, she moved her hand, taking out a crescent blade-shaped magic tool hanging on her waist then she banged it on the table. “Junior Martial Sister Hua, Junior Martial Brother Tang can decide whether he wants the beast cores or not—there’s no need for you to reject them on his behalf!”
That “Junior Martial Sister Hua” was presumably accustomed to being brash, so when she heard that, she didn’t say anything but immediately pulled out the flying sword hanging on her waist. “I was just trying to preserve your dignity so that you wouldn’t get embarrassed when Big Brother Tang rejects you!”
“You—”
“Enough!” Wei Haolan finally shouted, “We have a distinguished guest here—do you see how you all look now?! You guys don’t need to worry about medicinal pills for Junior Martial Brother Tang. He can take the medicinal pills we’ve exchanged in our group’s name.”
“Senior Martial Sister Wei!” Who knew that Wei Haolan’s interjection would also be ineffective? Junior Martial Sister Hua completely didn’t want to concede and glared at her. “You’re using your status for your private interests! You’re using the group’s medicinal pills to do him a favor!”
Hearing those remarks made Wei Haolan’s expression turn cold in a second.
At that moment, Senior Martial Sister Yang suddenly interrupted them: “Senior Martial Sister Sect Head is the Sect Head. Is there anything wrong with her making that decision? Actually, Junior Martial Sister Hua, don’t you think you’re too invested? You’re not Junior Martial Brother Tang’s Dual Cultivation partner; it’s not your place to act like this!”
Junior Martial Sister Hua suddenly lost her temper. “You don’t have a say regarding whether it’s my place or not! That’s for Big Brother Tang to decide!”
“Correct! This has to be decided by Junior Martial brother Tang! Junior Martial Sister Hua, you’re such a fierce person, but you still want Junior Martial Brother Tang to fancy you? Get it up; it’s futile!”
“…”
Mo Tiange was watching the entire spectacle silently. She initially thought Bixuan Court female cultivators were much better than the women out there, who often competed for men’s affection and liked to compare themselves with each other to show off, but it seemed… everything depended on the individual. What she saw today really broadened her horizons. There were actually women who vied for men up to this point—apparently, in addition to beautiful women, beautiful men were also sources of calamity.
With that thought in mind, Mo Tiange once again glanced at that white-robed male cultivator. En, his face was handsome enough. However, this foolish, bewildered look of his… what part of that could even compare to Qin Xi’s demeanor? She really didn’t understand why these female cultivators fancied him. It wasn’t enough for male cultivators just to be handsome; their temperament and demeanor were even more important. Take Qin Xi for example—he wasn’t earth-shatteringly handsome, but his demeanor was magnificent, outstanding and unearthly—he was countless times better than this Junior Martial Brother Tang…
“SHUT UP!”
Wei Haolan’s shout startled Mo Tiange to the point where her wandering mind snapped back to reality. But when she realized what she was just thinking about, Mo Tiange, who felt extremely annoyed, immediately calmed her mind and stopped thinking about nonsensical matters.
Wei Haolan was obviously outraged. She coldly swept her gaze over the several cultivators before her; her expression was gloomy. “What do you think you’re doing?! If you still consider me your Sect Head, just shut your mouth!”
“You…” Junior Martial Sister Hua seemed like she still wanted to say something, but upon realizing that Wei Haolan didn’t seem to be joking, in the end, she grudgingly shut up and sat back in her seat.
Wei Haolan turned towards Junior Martial Brother Tang; her gaze remained cold. “Junior Martial Brother Tang, since you came late, you don’t get any medicinal pills.”
“Yes…” Junior Martial Brother Tang answered dejectedly.
Mo Tiange thought inwardly. Even though Wei Haolan didn’t leave him any pills, there were naturally others who were willing to exchange with him, right? This would be useless against the popular Junior Martial Brother Tang.
“That’ll do.” Wei Haolan’s expression softened. “Next, you can exchange between yourselves.”
After she said that, the atmosphere finally eased up. More than twenty cultivators began having whispered conversations with each other.
Wei Haolan turned towards Mo Tiange then forcefully squeezed out a smile. “My group isn’t disciplined enough; forgive us for allowing Fellow Daoist Ye to witness such a scene.”
Mo Tiange revealed a faint smile as she didn’t really mind. “Sect Head Wei doesn’t have to worry. I’ve seen this kind of thing quite often in Kunwu; it’s fine.”
“Really?” Wei Haolan unexpectedly seemed not too keen on chatting today. “Now they have free time to exchange; I won’t take up Fellow Daoist’s time any longer. Please feel free to do as you wish. I still have something to attend to, so I’ll be taking my leave first.”
Mo Tiange nodded. “Of course, Sect Head Wei.”
Wei Haolan smiled then got up and left in a hurry.
Once Wei Haolan left, someone immediately came looking for Mo Tiange—it was Junior Martial Sister Hua. “Fellow Daoist Ye!”
Mo Tiange didn’t like this woman because she saw how bossy this woman was before, so now her expression was indifferent. “Fellow Daoist, is there a problem?”
Junior Martial Sister Hua’s eyes shifted around, seemingly observing whether there were any other people looking their way. She then asked in a whisper, “Fellow Daoist Ye certainly still has more medicinal pills, right? How about I toss in some more things and trade with Fellow Daoist again? If Fellow Daoist stops trading with other people, I can even offer you double the amount of beast cores.”
Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows but gave no answer.
Seeing as Mo Tiange didn’t reply, Junior Martial Sister Hua added a few sentences: “Fellow Daoist Ye, I’m the blood-related junior of our group’s Elder Qingmiao. If you agree to exchange with me, I’ll put in some good words to my ancestor for you. When my ancestor meets you later on, maybe she’ll be pleased and reward you with good things!”
Originally, Mo Tiange didn’t care for her request, but after hearing this, she couldn’t help but laugh inside her heart. If she was an individual cultivator, maybe she wouldn’t let go of a chance to become acquainted with a Core Formation cultivator. Nevertheless, she remembered she already told them she was a disciple of Xuanqing School and that she was ordered by her master to leave the mountain and travel around—did a Xuanqing School elite disciple need to curry favor with Core Formation cultivators from such a small cultivation group like Bixuan Court?
It seemed Junior Martial Sister Hua had a backer, so she really didn’t know how high the sky was and how thick the earth was. Not to mention that Mo Tiange’s belongings weren’t at all inferior to those of common Core Formation cultivators, but her proficiency in the art of pill-concocting could allow her to formulate more than ten bottles of medicinal pills at once; it was probably the elders of Bixuan Court who would most likely want to become acquainted with Mo Tiange instead.
“Fellow Daoist Ye!” Because Mo Tiange still didn’t answer, Junior Martial Sister Hua raised her eyebrows then said with annoyance, “I’m willing to give you more beast cores; you shouldn’t have to be forced before submitting!”
Mo Tiange simply cast her an indifferent glance, looking as if she didn’t take her words seriously at all. “Fellow Daoist’s overthinking it. I already said before that I only have that many medicinal pills. Even if you want to trade with me, I can’t change the fact that there’s none left.”
“You—” Junior Martial Sister Hua was enraged, obviously not believing what Mo Tiange said. Soon after, she felt unwilling and said threateningly, “Think carefully!”
Mo Tiange’s tone remained faint. “I really don’t have any left. Even if I wanted to, I have nothing to exchange with you.” She was completely unconcerned about this unruly young lady. She was indeed clueless before, but she already had some insight into Bixuan Court’s inner situation now. She knew that having knowledge of pill-concocting would eliminate any need to worry that Bixuan Court would break their promise. Besides, Wei Haolan didn’t take this big miss’ words seriously—what was there to be afraid of?