Chapter 352: Not an Enemy
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Nie Wushang was extremely bewildered to see Mo Tiange using such a gaze to look at her. Nie Wushang looked down to examine herself. “What’s wrong?”
With a smile, Mo Tiange got straight to the point. “You were running away?”
Nie Wushang’s expression sank in an instant. Her fists were clenched tightly.
Mo Tiange cast a glance at N ie Wushang’s hands, saying: “Don’t forget that you’re inside my formation.”
Nie Wushang seemed startled, but she soon relaxed. A moment later, she finally spoke. “You’re right. I betrayed my master, stole his cherished magic weapon, and escaped the Celestial Pole.” At this point, she stared fixedly at Mo Tiange. “You’re happy now, right?”
Upon confirming her conjecture, Mo Tiange finally released the huge stone weighing her mind. The antagonistic relationship between her and Nie Wushang was due to Master Song Feng. If Nie Wushang left Master Song Feng, the two of them couldn’t be considered enemies.
She stared at Nie Wushang, chuckling. “True, I’m very happy. Don’t tell me you’re not?”
Such calmness really made Nie Wushang dumbfounded. She stared at Mo Tiange with complicated feelings.
She remembered when she first met Mo Tiange. Mo Tiange was still in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, and she was Lord Daoist Jinghe’s valued disciple and was entertaining female guests at Lord Daoist Xuanyin’s Soul-Formation Ceremony. Her expression was serene, and she conducted herself unhurriedly.
At that time, Nie Wushang knew her master wanted to go to Xuanqing School to trouble Lord Daoist Jinghe, so she paid a lot of attention to this so-called “Lord Daoist Jinghe’s valued disciple.” Mo Tiange was obviously a very privileged person, but she still looked like she was indifferent to honor or disgrace, making Nie Wushang feel annoyed upon seeing her. Nie Wushang admitted she was envious of her at that time. Because of envy, she couldn’t help but feel irritated at her.
The next time she met Mo Tiange again, dozens of years had passed. At that time, she’d recently advanced into the Core Formation realm and was following her master to Demonic Mountain.
At that time, this Master Daoist Qingwei was already quite famous. When Nie Wushang walked around Kunwu, she heard people talking about Mo Tiange sometimes—Lord Daoist Jinghe of Xuanqing School took on another genius disciple who advanced into the Core Formation realm before reaching a hundred years old, and so on...
In the dozens of years that passed, Nie Wushang had gradually forgotten her initial envy. Nevertheless, when they met again, she still couldn’t help but hate Mo Tiange. Why was Mo Tiange so lucky when both of them were women? Mo Tiange had a master who loved his disciples so dearly and also had a senior martial brother who cherished her like that.
She, on the other hand, had nothing at all.
Seeing Mo Tiange’s perfection made her loathe her own imperfections.
However, when her master wanted to destroy this perfection and make the three of them experience a disgust that tasted as if they’d swallowed a housefly, she couldn’t bear it. That was why when she carried out the order, she sabotaged it and even took advantage of the time her master was hurrying to Jade Palace and prevented the matter from happening.
She herself couldn’t explain why she did that. Maybe... it was because Mo Tiange’s perfection made her develop a kind of longing, so she couldn’t bear to destroy it? Or maybe... for women, such a matter was too cruel—too cruel that even she couldn’t accept it?
Uncovering the reason was unnecessary—by the time she regained her senses, she already did it.
Later on, as she took advantage of the time her master went to Jade Palace, she left Demonic Mountain almost like she was fleeing for her life.
She was very scared about how her master would punish her when he found out she’d done such a thing. Would he slap her to death in his anger? Or would he confine her in the Primordial Devil Pond and torture her to the point that she’d think she was better be off dead than alive?
But even though she was practically beside herself with fear, she never regretted it.
Unexpectedly, an abnormal change occurred on Demonic Mountain, and she escaped a calamity instead. Although her master managed to escape in a miserable state, he was severely injured and completely had no idea about what she’d done.
In the following ten-some years, her master was in constant Closed Door Meditation to recuperate and had no time to worry about her.
She was relieved for a while, but the worry in her heart never went away. Her master would find out sooner or later, and once he knew, she’d be lucky if she could get slapped to death. She didn’t want to die. In fact, she wanted to live even better than before. Therefore, her wish to escape grew stronger and stronger with each passing day.
Her master was severely injured and thus had no time to worry about her—was there an even better opportunity than this? She planned for a long time and eventually hardened her heart. She could either give up or make it through to the end. Taking advantage of the fact that her master was recuperating, she stole her master’s magic weapon then fled from the Celestial Pole.
From that moment on, she had no late stage Nascent Soul master, she had no patron. However, she had freedom—the freedom that she longed for day and night.
Fleeing the Celestial Pole and crossing the South Sea was a dangerous move on her part. She understood her master’s vengeful personality better than anyone. Since she betrayed her master, there was no turning back. If she got caught by him, she wouldn’t be able to live or die. That being the case, she thought she’d better take her chances. Even if she died in the South Sea, it’d still be better than the other fate that awaited her.
Fortunately, after letting her down for more than a hundred years, this time, God finally gave her hope, letting her pass through the South Sea and arrive safely at the North Pole Island of Yunzhong.
Nevertheless, it’d never once crossed her mind that she’d once again meet this Master Daoist Qingwei here.
Before she left the Celestial Pole, she’d learned that Mo Tiange’s senior martial brother already succeeded in forming his Nascent Soul and that the two of them were already bound as Dual Cultivation Dao companions. According to reason, at this moment, shouldn’t they be inseparable and sticking to each other tightly? Why they were far apart from each other and why did Mo Tiange even go thousands of miles away to Yunzhong on her own? Nie Wushang felt really confused. Now, she suddenly discovered she couldn’t understand this very person that she considered “very privileged.”
After she said nothing for a long time, Mo Tiange raised her eyebrows, asking, “What’s the matter?”
Nie Wushang shifted her gaze then said faintly, “It’s nothing. I just suddenly realized that I seem to not understand you at all.”
Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows, somewhat confused about what that remark meant.
In the next second, however, Nie Wushang smiled. “Forget it; no need to mention these matters. Let’s continue discussing our relationship.”
Mo Tiange unexpectedly waved her hand. “Since you already left your master, we might not be friends, but we also won’t be enemies as long as you’re not hostile to me.”
“...” Nie Wushang stared at her. Her gaze was once again filled with complicated emotions. “You...”
“Oh, you also saved me,” Mo Tiange said with a smile, “In any case, that matter was ultimately prevented by you. Back then, I didn’t have the opportunity to thank you.”
Upon hearing what Mo Tiange said, Nie Wushang’s gaze shifted around. The fact that Nie Wushang was sitting here today could be considered to have been caused by this matter. If it wasn’t because she saved Mo Tiange, she wouldn’t have chosen to flee out of fear for her master’s punishment, and she wouldn’t have taken the risk to cross the South Sea and come to North Pole Island.
“What are you thanking me for? If I hadn’t led my master over, you also wouldn’t have...”
Mo Tiange only smiled. “At that time, you came back with your master not long after you left. Presumably, your master must’ve been in the vicinity, right? Using the divine sense of your master—the Celestial Pole’s most powerful late stage Nascent Soul cultivator—I’m afraid he must’ve long discovered us anyway. Of course, this doesn’t mean I don’t care at all. It’s just that all the grudges between us were caused by your master. Since you already left him, there’s no need for us to mention them again.”
“...” Nie Wushang had a complicated expression. She stared at Mo Tiange for a long time and eventually said, “That day, it wasn’t me leading my master over. The moment we were out of the fog, we were immediately found by him...”
Mo Tiange wasn’t the least bit surprised by what she said. She just lightly nodded then said, “I see...” Judging by Nie Wushang’s attitude this time, she already guessed that Nie Wushang had no enmity towards her. That was best—she didn’t want to become enemies with Nie Wushang.
The two people sank into silence for a while. Then Mo Tiange asked, “Do you have anything else to say?”
Nie Wushang first shook her head, hesitated for a bit, then eventually nodded. “About the matter with Tianyan Sect, you don’t have to worry it will implicate you. Presumably, they can’t find me. Even Nascent Soul cultivators can’t.”
“You’re so confident?” Mo Tiange was a bit surprised. Actually, she wasn’t afraid of being implicated or anything. Her personalized formation wasn’t a staple good; even Nascent Soul cultivators’ divine senses would still be blocked outside.
Nie Wushang curved her lips, forming a proud smirk. “This body-concealing method of mine has never been defeated. Otherwise, how would I have dared to steal Tianyan Sect’s item?”
That was indeed true. Without Master Song Feng present, Nie Wushang was nothing but an early stage Core Formation cultivator—how could she fight Tianyan Sect, which had two Nascent Soul cultivators? Since she dared to steal, she naturally had something to rely on.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment then asked, “Why did you have to steal Tianyan Sect’s item?” Seeing Nie Wushang’s hesitant expression, she immediately added: “I was just asking. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“It’s no secret.” A bitter smile appeared on Nie Wushang’s face. She looked down and stared at her glove-covered hands, saying quietly, “You should know what kind of cultivator my master is, right?”
Mo Tiange didn’t answer as she didn’t understand what Nie Wushang meant.
Nie Wushang sighed then continued on: “The saying in the Celestial Pole is right. He’s indeed neither man nor ghost nor Daoist nor devil—he simply can’t be considered a genuine human. Although what I practice isn’t the technique he majors in, what kind of good things could he possibly teach me? I, a martial cultivator, could get to where I am today in only a hundred-some years almost without any bottlenecks precisely because he used his own Primordial Devil Aura to open my entire meridians...” At this point, she saw Mo Tiange’s shocked expression, thus her smile became even bitterer. “Correct. From another point of view, I’m also not a pure person. Every so often, the Primordial Devil Aura in my body will flare up. At that time, death is always better...”
Hearing what she said made Mo Tiange gasp. She really never expected that Master Song Feng would actually act like that toward his own disciple.
“Stealing that item from Tianyan Sect is related to this?”
“Yes.” Nie Wushang was still staring at her own hands, but she seemed to be in a daze. “Ever since I left my master, I wanted to live like a human. After I arrived on North Pole Island, I’ve been asking around everywhere about ways to eliminate Primordial Devil Aura for the past year. In the end, I heard Tianyan Sect had a treasure...”
Once her thoughts reached this point, she lifted her gaze to look at Mo Tiange and showed a mocking smile. “Everyone says Yunzhong’s cultivators are more powerful than the Celestial Pole’s. In my opinion, they just have a slightly odder method of fighting, but they can’t be considered powerful.”
Mo Tiange was silent. Nie Wushang was a martial cultivator. Her method of fighting was completely different from Dao cultivators’. The two most unique points Yunzhong’s cultivators possessed in fights of magical power—speed and control of spiritual aura—were useless against her, so it was no wonder she’d say that.
“So, what next?” Mo Tiange asked. “How long are you going to hide at my place?”
Nie Wushang said indifferently, “Not too long. That group of morons won’t be able to find me. After three days, I’ll pretend to be a cultivator going out to the sea. At that time, I’ll leave North Pole Island.” She looked at Mo Tiange and her eyes flashed. “Of course, I can also leave if you’re still afraid I’ll implicate you.”
Raising her eyebrows, Mo Tiange continued to look at her with a smile. “What? Are you trying to incite me so I’ll help you?”
Nie Wushang was dumbfounded. She then showed a helpless smile. “Alright, although we’re not enemies now, we’re not friends either. I indeed want to stay here longer. I can do nothing if you want to drive me away, but if you don’t, I won’t go.”