Chapter 6 : Behold, a Beauty
"Host, run quickly..." The system's mechanical voice abruptly ceased.
Jiang Mo had fallen rather hard and had forgotten to be cautious when someone suddenly appeared before her. With the lone surviving spirit fruit still clutched in her mouth, she unconsciously looked up and was immediately transfixed—this was a beauty, one unforgettable at first sight, yet somehow unapproachable. Her features were delicate yet naturally exquisite; despite her cold demeanor that made people hesitate to approach, one could not deny that her beauty touched the heart even more deeply.
At this moment, this beauty happened to lower her head, and her glassy eyes met Jiang Mo's directly. Her gaze was cool and revealed neither joy nor anger; she seemed unmoved by the sudden appearance of a small beast rolling toward her feet.
But this was only seemingly so, for at that moment an eagle's cry rang out as the pursuing bird arrived.
The eagles of the cultivation world were naturally incomparable to ordinary eagles. This one stood as tall as a person, with a wingspan of five or six meters. It swooped down rapidly, skillfully avoiding the obstacles presented by the ancient trees' branches, heading straight for the little white tiger on the ground. Its sharp beak and talons gleamed like metal in the sunlight, leaving no doubt about their lethality.
This is bad!
Jiang Mo's expression changed drastically as she finally snapped out of her delighted surprise at encountering a beauty. She wanted to run again, but it was clearly too late. She might even endanger the beauty before her...
It was all the system's fault—how could it provoke just anything?!
Just as these thoughts arose in Jiang Mo's mind, the blue-robed beauty made her move. She didn't flee, nor did she draw the frost-blue sword in her hand that radiated intense cold. She merely raised her head and gave the eagle a casual glance.
An invisible pressure expanded outward, and the eagle, which had developed spiritual awareness from guarding the spirit fruits, immediately sensed danger. Thus, the aggrieved owner who had been fiercely pursuing the thief a moment ago suddenly resembled a frightened young bride, frantically flapping its wings in panic. Just before charging forward, it made a sharp turn and flew toward the horizon without looking back.
A moment later, a black eagle feather slowly floated down, drifting to land before Jiang Mo.
"..." The useless little tiger was dumbfounded.
But the system had already recovered by now and, relying on the fact that no one but the host could see it, the light orb hovered at the tip of the little white tiger's nose, flashing repeatedly: "Host, host, this is a powerful expert! Quick, go cling to her leg, ask her to take care of you!"
"Thump-thump," "thump-thump"—the system detected the host's quickening heartbeat and urged her with increasing urgency.
Jiang Mo stared intently at the blue-robed beauty before her, but habitually retorted to the system: "Aren't you the Life's Peak System? Aren't you supposed to assist me in reaching life's peak? Is your assistance just reminding me to cling to someone powerful? What use are you!"
The system felt no shame whatsoever and instead replied righteously: "But host, don't you want to leave this place? Don't you want someone to feed you? Don't you want to find a suitable caretaker? You said earlier you didn't want to be a stray cat..." Halfway through, its mechanical voice suddenly took a turn and stammered: "H-host, your nose is bleeding!"
Jiang Mo was startled and lowered her gaze to glance down, indeed seeing what appeared to be blood at the tip of her nose beneath the system light orb. She was immediately alarmed and raised both paws to cover her nose—the system was solely focused on getting the host to cling to someone powerful, but what it didn't know was that Jiang Mo had been a beauty enthusiast since she could remember. Her heart was racing not because she had met a powerful expert, but because she had met a beauty.
However, while she appreciated beauty, this was her first time having a nosebleed from looking at someone beautiful. Feeling deeply embarrassed and overwhelmed with shame, the little white tiger's fur stood on end all over her body.
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Yun Qingyue had been wandering nearby for three days.
Three days ago, she had led her Junior Brothers and Sisters to this secret realm. For her, this had originally been just a sect mission she had accepted casually; she only needed to cultivate on the spirit boat for half a month waiting for everyone to return. But that day, for unknown reasons, as she stood at the bow, she suddenly felt something calling to her, a sense that she should come down and take a walk. A cultivator's intuition should never be ignored, so she had put away the spirit boat and departed on her sword.
For three days, she had flown across thousands of miles, until she came to this area and once again felt that intuitive pull. But it ended there, for opportunities of this kind are always elusive.
So Yun Qingyue put away her spiritual sword and walked step by step on the ground, when unexpectedly a small beast rolled to her feet.
The small beast was a mess, covered in dirt and fallen leaves, looking utterly bedraggled. She could only vaguely make out that its fur should be white, and its shape resembled a spirit cat... but could a spirit cat be this weak?
Yun Qingyue hadn't taken this "little spirit cat" seriously; driving away the black eagle had been done casually, as she simply didn't want to see these little creatures die bloodily before her eyes. But after driving away the black eagle, she had been ready to leave—after all, they were just passing strangers, and for this weak "little spirit cat" to survive here would ultimately depend on itself.
With this thought, Yun Qingyue was about to step away when she heard the "little spirit cat" before her suddenly call out "aowu," "aowu." The sound was milky and cute, suggesting it was only a few days old. Where had its mother gone?
The "little spirit cat's" milk-tender calls were truly adorable, so Yun Qingyue stayed a moment longer than usual. Then she saw the "little spirit cat" suddenly raise its paws to cover its nose while calling. With her cultivation at the peak of the Golden Core stage, her eyesight was naturally excellent, and she immediately noticed that the "little spirit cat's" nose was broken, probably from the earlier fall.
Were there spirit beasts these days that could break their noses from a simple fall?!
Yun Qingyue found it incredible. Looking again at the spirit fruit that had fallen from the "little spirit cat's" mouth when it called, she immediately felt three parts more pity for this little creature—as far as she knew, spirit cats all eat meat, so perhaps this one had grown up strangely?
Despite thinking all this and wanting to just leave, Yun Qingyue couldn't bear it when she looked at the "little spirit cat" with its broken nose. After much hesitation, she finally took out a box of medicine from her storage ring, then lifted her robe slightly and bent down, saying to the "little spirit cat": "Don't move. I'll apply medicine for you. It will be better soon."
The person was cold, and so was her voice, like a cold pool or spring, making one shiver with its coolness. But undeniably, though cold, the voice suited her perfectly and was extremely pleasant to hear.
The little white tiger's ears twitched, her attention falling once more on Yun Qingyue, and the paws covering her nose loosened slightly.
Seeing this, Yun Qingyue simply assumed that although the "spirit cat" before her was weak, it had developed spiritual awareness and understood human speech, so she confidently reached out to move away the "spirit cat's" small paws. Then she opened the medicine in her hand, dabbed a bit on her fingertip, and applied it to the "little spirit cat's" broken nose. That tiny wound healed at a visibly rapid pace.
Jiang Mo couldn't see it, but the system told her the wound had already healed, and her heart immediately filled with joy—naturally, this minor injury wasn't significant, but the beauty before her was clearly cold on the outside yet warm-hearted, which would make her a very suitable caretaker.
Thinking this, the little white tiger became restless and took the first step toward making a connection.
While Yun Qingyue had not yet stood up, the useless little tiger walked forward two steps, intending to rub her fluffy head against the beauty's hand, planning to act cute first. But just as her head approached, the beauty who had been gently applying medicine for her seemed to receive some kind of shock and quickly stood up, stepping back as if she had encountered a plague.
The useless little tiger was instantly dumbfounded.