Chapter 34:
Stumbled Upon a Secret
MO TIANLIAO SHEEPISHLY lay back down and turned his head to look at the cat, who was looking right back at him.
White light flashed, revealing a gorgeous man in a flowing white robe lying on his side. Mo Tianliao froze as that exquisite face leaned in close and breathed in his ear. “You’ve been working for days just to refine this?”
“Shizun…” Mo Tianliao felt his throat go dry. Some beautiful faces lost their charm when you saw them up close, but this one grew even more striking the closer it came.
Long fingers reached out to remove the tiny sword made of red jade from the “nest.” “What is this used for?” Qingtong twirled it between his fingers.
“Well, we need a handy weapon when we’re outside.” Mo Tianliao gulped. “It’s nothing special.”
Hearing it was nothing particularly interesting, only a sword for hacking people down, Qingtong lost interest and tossed it aside.
“Shidi!” an enthusiastic voice exclaimed as someone burst through the door. “I—”
The words died on Menghu’s lips. His eyes widened. Wh-wh-wh-what had he just seen?! His own master was lounging on his junior’s bed with his head propped up on his hand, cutting the very image of a fallen immortal. And his handsome junior, with clothes in disarray and disheveled hair, looking utterly exhausted…
Mo Tianliao narrowed his eyes. Before he fell asleep last night, he’d activated the protective barrier. He could understand his master having access; after all, he was the owner of this place. But what about his senior?
The protective barrier here was meant to prevent fellow disciples from disrupting the person cultivating within, but if it couldn’t keep his senior out, that left him with only one explanation. This barrier was similar to the protective barrier on the back mountain: It could keep people out, but not spirit beasts.
“Oh, Sh-Shizun is here too.” Menghu scratched his head and laughed awkwardly. He’d stumbled upon a scandalous secret, and now he really was going to be turned into a tiger-skin rug!
Qingtong couldn’t be bothered with this silly disciple. He transformed into a white cat, jumped onto Mo Tianliao’s chest, and licked his paws.
The corner of Mo Tianliao’s mouth twitched. How was he supposed to sit up with His Feline Lordship perching on his chest? He couldn’t very well talk to his senior lying down, could he? Cradling the cat on his chest, Mo Tianliao sat up and moved the cat to his lap. “What can I do for you?”
“Uh, aren’t you going out for training? I’m worried you won’t know the way, so I’m considering going with you.” Menghu found the words difficult to say now that he knew the “truth.” He really wanted to lie, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to lie to his master.
What could he say? “I want to grill meat with you on the back mountain”? He wouldn’t stay alive for much longer if he disturbed his master for something so trivial!
Mo Tianliao’s plan was supposed to be secretive. The fewer people who knew, the better. He was about to decline, but he changed his mind when he saw his senior’s expression all but screaming: I take back my words; I don’t actually want to go. “Sure. I really don’t know the way, anyway.”
Over three centuries had passed, and the balance between the orthodox and unorthodox sects had shifted significantly, so it wouldn’t actually be a bad idea to let Menghu tag along.
As events had proven, his senior was actually useful.
When he heard that Mo Tianliao wanted to visit the largest marketplace of the orthodox sects, he immediately went to the sect’s Chamber of Administrative Affairs to rent a flying ship. To Mo Tianliao, it was crudely made and slow as a turtle, but it was at least better than flying on a sword.
Flying ships could be powered by a cultivator’s spiritual energy or by spiritual stones. Cultivators usually didn’t use their spiritual power for this, though, since it was far more draining than flying on a sword was.
Tianlang-zhenren glared at Mo Tianliao. “Where are you taking him this time?”
The white cat lazily poked his head out of Mo Tianliao’s collar and yawned. Then, smacking his lips, he glanced at his own senior and went back to sleep. The sect leader’s face grew even darker.
“Just buying some stuff.” Mo Tianliao’s lips curled up as he tried not to show his smugness on his face. “We’ll be back soon. Hold on to this if you’re still worried.” He handed the sect leader a jade tally.
This was a spirit connection magical artifact he’d crafted himself. There were two of them, and if one was shattered, the other would shatter too; it would even transmit a message at the moment of breakage, reaching across tens of thousands of miles. It was the perfect device for requesting help in times of emergency.
“If he’s hurt even the slightest bit, I’ll bite—ahem, tear your head off!” The sect leader bared his teeth and put away the jade tally. Then he slapped the obediently waiting Menghu on the back. “That applies to you too. Do you hear me?!”
Finally, they managed to break free from their naggy sect leader. With spiritual stones embedded in all four corners of its spell array, the flying ship slowly rose into the air and headed in the direction the passengers indicated.
“Six Harmonies Bazaar is in Tongtian City,” Menghu said from the front, where he was steering the ship. “It’s about nine thousand miles away from here.”
“Is that so…?” Mo Tianliao absentmindedly said as he stroked the cat nestling against his chest. But the cat felt it wasn’t quite warm enough; he tugged Mo Tianliao’s inner robe open and snuggled closer against its soft lining.
Mo Tianliao still couldn’t believe he was cradling his master in his arms. He’d assumed that his master would refuse to be carried around like this now that Mo Tianliao knew who he really was. But everything was still the same, even after he changed into a cat. Mo Tianliao heaved a sigh of relief, an indescribable sense of satisfaction welling up in him. Look! My shizun is in my arms!
This strange, somewhat embarrassing feeling gave Mo Tianliao an inexplicable thrill.
Menghu glanced at his junior cradling their master, and silently looked away again. Noticing his lonely senior, Mo Tianliao raised his eyebrows and suppressed a mischievous smile as he went over to sit with him.
“So, which was more delicious the other day? The mutton or the venison?”
“Venison,” Menghu answered without thinking. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he froze. The day before, he’d been basking in the sun on the steps in front of Qingning Palace in his tiger form when Mo Tianliao ran over, called him Chubby, and gave him a grilled leg of mutton and a grilled leg of venison. He stiffly turned his head and met his junior’s smiling eyes.
Mo Tianliao sighed. “We’re brothers, but you’re still keeping secrets from me. Do you not trust me?” As he spoke, he extended a hand and turned it into wood.
“You—” Menghu started.
Mo Tianliao winked. “I’m a spirit cultivator too. Why else would Shizun accept me as a disciple?”
Menghu understood now. He slapped him hard on the back. “You should have said so earlier! You gave me a fright.”
Now that he’d gained his senior’s trust, Mo Tianliao wasted no time prying for information. The simple-minded tiger was no match for a cunning old devil like Mo Tianliao, and soon enough he’d spilled everything. He had just been a tiger cub with extraordinary aptitude when their master brought him back to Woqing Sanctum and gave him the nickname Chubby—because he was round and chubby.
“So how did you come to be called Menghu?” Mo Tianliao asked with a serious expression.
Menghu indignantly explained that their master had kept calling him Chubby even when he’d grown up, so he’d come up with the name Menghu himself. Spirits had no surnames. Being a fierce tiger, he thought the name, which sounded exactly like fierce tiger, suited him perfectly.
Mo Tianliao nodded in understanding. “Then Moxiong must be a black bear, like his name suggests?” he probed. Moxiong and Langzi were the two fellow disciples he had yet to meet, so if he used Moxiong as an example, Menghu wouldn’t be able to tell that he couldn’t determine a spirit cultivator’s original form—for all Menghu knew, he was just curious.
“Yeah! I was the one who gave him that name!” Menghu said proudly. “Originally the sect leader called him Big Guy.”
Mo Tianliao lowered his eyes to hide his surprise. When he’d found out about his master’s real identity, he’d been worried that his secret could be exposed and his cat would be in danger. Later, he’d realized there was no need for concern since the sect leader was aware and could cover it up and protect him. And now it seemed like Woyun Sect was actually made up of spirit cultivators…
In Taixuan, “spirit cultivators” mostly referred to spirit beasts who had cultivated into human forms. Those who had signed a blood pact and evolved into human form at their masters’ sides, though, weren’t called spirit cultivators but soul beasts. In the eyes of cultivators, spirit beasts who had signed blood pacts were still beasts, no matter their cultivation level.
Meanwhile, spirit beasts who cultivated human forms without a blood pact were something of a legend on Taixuan. Cultivators believed that spirit beasts didn’t have the intelligence to comprehend cultivation methods on their own without the assistance of a blood pact, and so it was impossible for them to evolve into human forms. Evolved spirit beasts hiding among humans would naturally conceal their identities, and given the limitations of cultivators’ divine souls, they wouldn’t be able to discern a spirit cultivator’s true identity.
Mo Tianliao rapidly processed all this information. To sum it up, Woyun Sect—one of the three great orthodox sects—was actually a sanctuary for spirit beasts, where they could freely cultivate and evolve into human form. And before he met him, Pawpaw had grown up in this sect.
Listening to their conversation from Mo Tianliao’s arms, the white cat rolled his eyes. His eldest disciple was really an idiot! He wouldn’t even notice if Mo Tianliao sold him off at an auction someday.