Chapter 7 : The Clinging Tiger
According to Jiang Mo's plan, she would first rub her head against Yun Qingyue's hand, acting a little coy. Once Yun Qingyue noticed her friendliness, she would then lie down to let her stroke her fur, and finally flop down at her feet—by then, she would most likely have secured herself a caretaker... After all, who could ignore a little kitten playing dead at their feet?
However, the little white tiger never expected that things would go wrong at the very first step.
Yun Qingyue, seeing the "little spirit cat" approaching her, not only failed to happily reach out to pet it, but instead reacted as if frightened, instinctively standing up and stepping back, leaving the enthusiastic little kitten stranded.
Visibly, this human-aware "little spirit cat" was stunned, its round eyes filled with bewilderment and innocence.
It wasn't easy to encounter such a human-friendly spirit beast in a secret realm, but Yun Qingyue still prepared to leave—in fact, precisely because this "little spirit cat" was willing to approach her, she felt even more compelled to depart. She actually loved these fluffy little spirit beasts, but throughout her life, everything she raised died. This included two spirit foxes, three spirit dogs, one fire cloud leopard, and a litter of spirit cats.
These were all spirit beasts—even if they weren't high-level, they were far tougher than ordinary beasts. Yet in Yun Qingyue's hands, not one had survived for a full month; the shortest hadn't even lived a day.
Even with her meticulous care—perhaps especially because of her meticulous care—these small beasts died even faster.
She didn't know why, but since she was six years old, she had been persona non grata at the sect's spirit beast garden. Even the immortal cranes that carried disciples around the sect would flap their wings and take a detour when they saw her. As a result, the top disciple of Mingxia Peak couldn't even go out freely until she reached Foundation Establishment and learned to ride a sword, finally achieving freedom of movement within the sect.
Now, as time passed, few people besides Yun Qingyue herself remembered these events.
Today, people remembered Senior Sister of Mingxia Peak for her exceptional talent—Foundation Establishment at thirteen, Golden Core at twenty, becoming the first among her peers. They knew her for eliminating demons and upholding justice, for her unparalleled beauty, and for earning the title of Immortal Maiden Qingyue at such a young age...
Yun Qingyue had become what her Junior Brothers and Sisters aspired to be.
In their eyes, she was the lofty Senior Sister, awe-inspiring and untouchable. Adding to this her cold temperament from practicing sword cultivation and her habit of going her own way, no one associated her with spirit pets anymore.
But only she remembered her special constitution that caused anything she raised to die, and it still troubled her deeply.
The "little spirit cat" before her was the weakest spirit beast she had ever seen, far inferior to the litter she had raised years ago—perhaps its constitution was even worse than an ordinary mortal cat. If she wasn't worried that this little creature would suffer misfortune upon meeting her, why would she even care about the minor injury on the "spirit cat's" nose?
Yun Qingyue was truly concerned about harming this little one, yet this "spirit cat" fearlessly tried to rub against her hand... Because of this rare friendliness alone, she felt she should leave.
With this thought, Yun Qingyue glanced briefly at the little white tiger and prepared to depart.
Jiang Mo caught this glance and somehow understood her intention, immediately becoming anxious—though she had easily encountered a human, she didn't need the system to tell her how rare people were in this area based on her observations along the way. Having come across someone, especially such an outwardly cold but inwardly warm beauty, how could she let this opportunity slip?
The system was also buzzing in her ear: "Host, go for it! Don't compromise and retreat because of a momentary setback! To reach life's peak, experiencing setbacks is inevitable. You must learn to move forward through adversity to go higher and further..."
The motivational speech was quite extensive, but nothing compared to the final sentence: "Besides, such a suitable caretaker—miss this village and you won't find this shop elsewhere!"
Jiang Mo didn't want to miss out, so she quickly pounced forward. She didn't jump on the person, fearing to frighten her, but just lunged to land before her. With cunning calculation, she extended her tender yet sharp claws as she approached... She had expected to hear the sound of fabric tearing, but her claws turned out to be just for show, unable to do anything to even a corner of the other's robe.
This was somewhat embarrassing.
The useless little tiger blinked, having no choice but to pretend nothing had happened. She tried hard to hook her claw on the hem of Yun Qingyue's robe while making "aowu" sounds: "Just-born tiger cub, with soft thick fur, feels so good to touch, are you really leaving without petting me?"
Jiang Mo couldn't believe anyone could be so hard-hearted—once someone stroked her fur, they wouldn't be able to leave!
But Yun Qingyue merely glanced down at her, then expressionlessly pulled her robe hem back. The high-quality magical robe remained perfectly pristine, without a trace of damage. She had no intention of further entanglement, directly summoning her flying sword, preparing to depart.
Jiang Mo was dumbfounded again. She had never seen someone so hard-hearted, able to refuse even a little kitten's attempt to detain them... Perhaps she was allergic to cat fur? But she'd never heard of cultivators having such problems. Oh right, cultivators—and she herself was the legendary white tiger divine beast! A fortuitous encounter knocking at her door, and this person was willing to abandon it and leave? Was she blind?!
These thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, because in the next moment this beauty would be flying away on her sword.
Jiang Mo had no time to think further. Before the woman could jump onto her flying sword, the tiger went "splat" and flopped down directly—and with even more cunning this time, landing right on the beauty's immaculate shoe.
Yun Qingyue's departure indeed paused as she looked down to find this "little spirit cat" lying belly-up on her foot. The Senior Sister who had never successfully raised a spirit pet panicked, completely unaware that a spirit beast showing its belly might be acting coy and cute. She thought the "little spirit cat" before her was in trouble, perhaps dying because of her earlier touch.
Even the ice-cold Immortal Maiden Qingyue's glassy eyes showed a trace of helplessness at this moment. Especially when she looked down and found the "little spirit cat" had closed its eyes, her heart filled with even more worry and guilt.
In reality, Jiang Mo was just playing dead—she had run out of options, and this attempt to seek attention was merely a stubborn act of desperation.
But one second passed, then another, and the foot she was pressing against didn't withdraw. Just as Jiang Mo began to feel hopeful, she sensed the foot's owner moving. She instinctively clung to the sole with her claws, but Yun Qingyue merely crouched down, pried open her mouth, and placed a medicinal pill inside... It dissolved instantly upon contact, though Jiang Mo didn't know what medicine it was.
Then in the next moment, Jiang Mo heard the system prompt: "Ding, congratulations host, experience points +5."
As the prompt faded, a familiar warmth swept through her entire body. When the warmth receded moments later, the fatigue from Jiang Mo's day of exertion had completely vanished, and even the claws gripping Yun Qingyue's shoe sole felt stronger.
Without a doubt, she had leveled up again, this time from taking medicine!
The little white tiger shuddered, not having time to check her new character panel, secretly opening her eyes to look at Yun Qingyue—this wasn't just any caretaker, this was clearly an experience point gift package!
Let her go? Impossible! She would be like a medical plaster made of tiger skin—sticking to her no matter what!
Just as the little white tiger finished this thought, a slender jade-white hand pinched the scruff of her neck, lifting her from the shoe. She involuntarily opened her eyes, meeting a pair of glassy beautiful eyes and slightly furrowed brows.
Somehow feeling guilty and embarrassed, the little white tiger blinked innocently, raising her paw in greeting: "Meow..."