Mo Tianliao laid back embarrassedly, tilting his head at the kitten, who also tilted his head at him.
There was a flash of white light, then a beautiful man in diaphanous white was lying on his bed with his head propped up with one hand. “Is that why you have been working so hard for so many days?”
The clear voice sounded in Mo Tianliao’s ear accompanied with a faint whisper of breath. That perfect beautiful face was suddenly so close that Mo Tianliao froze for a moment.
“Master…”The faces of some beauties lost their attractiveness when seeing them up close. However, the closer the face in front of him got, the more it made him feel. Mo Tianliao looked at Master and felt like his throat was a little dry.
Long fingers reached over and took down the crimson jade sword from the middle of his “bird’s nest.” Qingtong twirled it between his fingers and said, “What’s its use?”
“Going on a journey requires a weapon.” Mo Tianliao swallowed convulsively. “Nothing more.”
Hearing that it was only a sword to murder people, not some exotic toy, Qingtong lost interest and threw it aside.
“Shidi!” A warm voice could be heard getting closer, it did not pause. With a bang the door slammed open and someone entered the room. “I-”
Meng Hu stared, his tiger eyes enormous, the rest of the words were stuck in his throat. Wh-wh-what did he see? His Master unexpectedly was on shidi‘s bed, supporting his face with one hand, as alluring as a fallen immortal. And his handsome shidi lay there, with his clothes open and his hair in disarray, looking a little tired.
Mo Tianliao narrowed his eyes. Before going to sleep last night, he had clearly activated the barrier around his small courtyard. The fact that Master could go in and out at will was understandable, after all, he was the owner of the whole place. But what about da-shixiong?
The barrier in this courtyard was to prevent the people in the sect from disturbing the cultivation of the one inside the house. Since da-shixiong could enter, there was only one explanation. The barrier only deterred people, it could not prevent Demonic Beasts from entering, it was the same type of barrier as the one in the rear mountains.
“Ma-Master is also here?” Meng Hu scratched his head and laughed twice, awkwardly. Secretly he thought, It’s all over, over. I’ve discovered a terrible secret; I fear that I’ll really be made into a tiger skin rug!
Qingtong ignored his stupid disciple, turned into a white kitten and jumped onto Mo Tianliao’s chest to sit and lick his paws.
Mo Tianliao pursed his lips, Lord Kitty was squatting on his chest. How could he sit up? Could he really talk to shixiong lying down? Holding the furball against his chest with one hand, Mo Tianliao sat up and placed the kitten on his leg. “What can I do for shixiong?”
“Well, I heard that you were going out to gain experience, I was afraid since you don’t really know what’s it like out there. So, I just wanted to go with you.” Meng Hu, who thought he had just discovered the truth, said this like each word was crushing him with its weight. It was not that he did not want to lie, it was just that he could not lie in front of Master.
What could he even say, “I wanted to go to the rear mountains to eat barbecue with you”? Such an inane thing would only anger Master, he would end up dying an even worse death!
What Mo Tianliao wanted to do required utmost secrecy, the less people knew, the better. Just as he was about to say no, he suddenly saw da-shixiong‘s face, it seemed to be saying: “I regret it, I really don’t want to go.” It made him suddenly change his mind. “Thanks, I really don’t know the situation outside.”
More than 300 years had passed, and the circumstances of both the Righteous Path and the Demonic Path had changed a lot. It was not a bad idea for Meng Hu to accompany them.
Da-shixiong had proven really useful.
When he heard that Mo Tianliao was going to the largest city of the Righteous Path, he immediately went to the sect’s administration hall to rent a flying boat. Although this flying boat appeared crude and unbearably slow to Mo Tianliao, it was better than using his sword to fly.
Flying boats could be supported by either spiritual power or lingshi. Usually people did not use spiritual power because flying boats required much more of it when compared to flying swords.
Tianlang Zhenren stared at Mo Tianliao with an awful look. “Where are you taking him? Again.”
The white kitten emerged lazily from Mo Tianliao’s clothes, yawned with its small pink mouth, smacked its lips and glanced at his shixiong, then went back to sleep once more. The Sect Leader’s look became even darker.
“I’m going to buy some things,” Mo Tianliao said with a smirk, trying to hide his smugness. “I’ll be back soon. If Sect Leader feels ill at ease, take this,” he said, and handed the Sect Leader a jade token.
This was a magic communication device he himself had crafted. It consisted of a pair of jade charms, if one was crushed, the other would also be crushed. At that time, a message could be transmitted, it was effective no matter the distance, very useful when asking for help.
“If you dare let him suffer even a bit, I’ll bite your head- cough, I’ll wring your head off!” The Sect Leader bared his teeth and put away the jade token. Then raised his hand and slapped Meng Hu, who was standing beside them. “And yours too. Do you hear me?”
They escaped the rambling Sect Leader and mounted the flying boat. Once the lingshi were embedded in the four corners of its array, it rose slowly, flying towards where they guided it.
“Liuhe Market is in Tongtian City, 30,000 li away.” Meng Hu was sitting at the front of the flying boat, navigating.
“Is it…” Mo Tianliao answered absently and touched the kitten in his arms through his clothes. The warm furball nestled against his chest, because it was not warm enough, he had pulled open his clothes and slept soundly within his soft inner shirt.
What he carried in his arms was his Master.
He had thought, when he discovered his secret, that Master certainly wouldn’t let him carry him around in his clothes anymore. Who would have guessed he would still like it when he was in kitten form. Mo Tianliao breathed a sigh of relief, at the same time, he felt in his heart a surge of inexpressible contentment.
Look, Master is in my arms!
This strange and somewhat shameful feeling carried with it a certain unfathomable excitement.
Meng Hu turned his head, only to see shidi holding Master, he turned back silently.
Mo Tianliao noticed how lonely his da-shixiong looked and lifted his eyebrows. He held back the evil laugh wanting to escape and moved closer, sitting next to him. “Da-shixiong, which was more delicious the other day, the goat leg or the deer leg?”
“Deer leg,” Meng Hu said without thinking, then suddenly froze. The day before yesterday he had turned into a tiger and basked in the sun on the steps in front of Qingning Palace. Mo Tianliao had suddenly ran over, calling him Big fatty, and gave him a roasted goat leg and a roasted deer leg. He turned stiffly, seeing the smiling eyes of his shidi.
Mo Tianliao sighed, “Shixiong, you and I are brothers, yet you have been hiding this from me. Do you not trust your own brother?” As he said this, he extended his hand and turned it into wood.
“You…” Meng Hu was shocked.
“I am also a Beast cultivator. Otherwise, how could Master accept me as his disciple?” Mo Tianliao winked.
Meng Hu understood and clapped Mo Tianliao vigorously on the back. “You should have said so earlier. You startled me.”
Having gained da-shixiong’s initial trust, Mo Tianliao did not hesitate to start conning him.
How could the big, stupid tiger be a match for this old devil? In an instant, he was relaying all of his secrets. Meng Hu had very good spiritual roots. When Master had brought him back to Woqing Abode, he was still a tiger cub. Because he was so fat and round, Master had named him Big fatty.
“Why did you change it to Meng Hu afterwards?” Mo Tianliao asked with a serious face.
Meng Hu said indignantly that even after he grew up, Master still kept calling him Big fatty. He had come up with the name “Meng Hu” himself, beasts had no surname. As a fierce and gorgeous tiger, the name “Meng Hu” was extremely suitable!
Mo Tianliao nodded in understanding and asked, “Is Mo Xiong a black bear?” Mo Xiong and Lang Zi were the two shixiongs he had not met so far. By mentioning Mo Xiong, Meng Hu would not be able to tell whether he was merely curious or whether he still couldn’t see a Beast cultivator’s true form.
“Yes! I gave him his name! Sect Leader used to just call him Big Guy,” Meng Hu said.
Mo Tianliao lowered his eyes to hide his surprise. When he had originally discovered Master’s secret, he was worried that his cat would be in danger if the sect knew. Later, he understood that there was no need to worry, because the Sect Leader also knew. With the protection of the Sect Leader, everything would work out fine. Now, it seemed that Woyun Sect, was full of Beast cultivators?
The term Beast cultivator, on the Taixuan continent, mostly referred to Demonic Beasts that had acquired a human form. Those who had signed a blood pact and took human form while having a Master were not called Beast cultivators, they were still called Spirit Beasts, that is to say, a Demonic Beast who had signed a blood pact was still a beast regardless of their cultivation.
The idea of Demonic Beasts who took human form by themselves without needing a blood pact had always been considered a mere rumour in the Taixuan continent. Firstly, because cultivators believed that given Demonic Beasts’ intelligence, without the aid of a blood pact, they could not comprehend cultivation methods at all so they could not advance enough to achieve a human form. Secondly, Demonic Beasts who possessed human shape could mingle among people, concealing their identity and a cultivator’s soul would simply be unable to detect them.
Mo Tianliao quickly combed through the information in his mind. This meant, Woyun Sect, one of the three main sects of the Righteous Path, was in reality a place sheltering Demonic Beasts so they could cultivate freely and become human. And Mo Xiaozhao grew up in this sect before he met him.
The white kitten rested in Mo Tianliao’s arms and listened to the conversation between the two. He couldn’t help rolling his eyes, his eldest disciple was really… a fucking idiot! When would he realize he was being tricked by Mo Tianliao?
Tongtian City was located at the top of a high mountain. As its name implied, it was located at a very high place which almost reached the sky. Tongtian City was the most prosperous city of the Righteous Path and it contained Liuhe Market, the largest trading place of the Righteous Path.
All the types of medicine and materials one could possibly imagine could be bought here. Even the finest Demonic Beasts were also regularly auctioned.
Tongtian city was divided into two parts, one was the area where cultivators set up their stalls freely and the other was Liuhe Market. The market was in turn divided into several streets, each street selling one type of thing. The shops crowded together closely, like teeth in a comb. In the street selling crafting materials, there were so many shops of all sizes, just a look could make one dizzy.
“Shidi, are you buying crafting materials?” Meng Hu didn’t really get it; looking at the many very similar shops, he had thought of just taking shidi to the largest one.
Mo Tianliao, however, grabbed Meng Hu by the arm. A large shop with a full range of products would surely have a complete selection, but the price was also very high. These types of businesses were very good at specializing in particular things. At a shop selling only ores, one could often find the best Meteorite Iron, a shop dedicated to precious stones would have only the best crystals.
Therefore, Mo Tianliao went into the shops one by one to take a look, dragging his dizzy da-shixiong. Then, in front of Meng Hu’s aching eyes, he bought the best Resplendent Stone and Xuanyuan iron. Just like that 20,000 top-grade lingshi were gone.
“Shopkeeper, do you have any Starfall Stone?” Mo Tianliao stopped in front of a shop selling rare stones and asked the owner.
The shopkeeper looked at Mo Tianliao, who was only a Foundation stage cultivator. “Do you need something to practice with, young man? If you want to practice making magical weapons that can transform, buy some Ruyi Crystal. ”
Mo Tianliao smiled. “It’s for my Master.”
Hearing that, the shopkeeper changed his contemptuous manner. If it needed to use Starfall Stone in order to be crafted, then it must be a spiritual weapon. His Master must be a Master craftsman. “Starfall Stone is too valuable, my shop does not sell it. However, I heard that the auction house acquired some precious materials recently. You can try your luck there, little friend.”
Big wet chest: What an utter waste, to spend so much money on some broken pieces of rock
Carpenter: Actually, it’s not that much money
Carpenter: Mm-hmm, only enough to buy a mountain of goat legs
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
Extra chapter. Thanks for the Ko-fi Mello!
In a little while I’ll post Sunday’s chapter.