Chapter 8 : The Return
Yun Qingyue had been latched onto by a "little spirit cat."
From trying to nuzzle her hand to show affection, to flopping down on her foot and playing dead, this "little spirit cat" was clearly uncommonly enthusiastic and thick-skinned. For a moment, Yun Qingyue even wondered if her special constitution—which caused anything she raised to die and made her despised by cats and dogs alike—had somehow spontaneously healed.
But reality proved that she was overthinking. To verify this fact wouldn't be difficult—she'd only need to walk through the spirit beast garden at her sect to deeply feel how unwelcome she was in the eyes of those spirit beasts.
That, however, was a concern for later. For now, Yun Qingyue merely paused briefly before dropping this "little spirit cat" that was trying to act cute and win her favor, then decisively departed on her sword. She admitted this "little spirit cat" was adorable, with fur and paw pads that felt nice to touch, and more remarkably, it was willing to approach her affectionately. But for the sake of the creature's life, she still couldn't take it with her.
Feline animals are always nimble, and with Yun Qingyue's casual toss being well-controlled in strength, Jiang Mo managed to land steadily despite her panic. Then she widened her eyes, staring at the figure departing on a sword, instinctively chasing after it for a few steps.
In the deep forest, apart from the sound of the wind, there was only silence.
The system felt somewhat awkward. It had seen how hard the host tried to stick with a caretaker and knew that just a moment ago she had resolved to be like a medical plaster made of tiger skin. Unfortunately, the cultivators of this world were too powerful—they could simply fly away on swords. You couldn't lie down to block their path, nor could you stick to them like a plaster.
It was utterly frustrating.
After a moment, the system finally organized its thoughts to offer some consolation when it heard the host suddenly speak in a distant voice: "She was fleeing in panic just now, wasn't she?" Then, looking at the system: "Am I that frightening?"
The little white tiger had only seen her reflection in the stream. The reflection showed just a soft little tiger. Her fur hadn't fully grown in, and she wasn't much bigger than a kitten. She certainly couldn't be called frightening—adorable would be more accurate. If the reflection hadn't been herself, and she had encountered such a newborn tiger cub, she would have wanted to pet it too.
It was precisely this confidence in her soft and adorable fur that had led Jiang Mo to devise such a simple and direct plan to feign injury. Unfortunately, her chosen caretaker had a heart of iron, not only rejecting her approach but fleeing... It was a blow to a tiger's self-esteem!
The system hurried to comfort its fragile-hearted host: "No, no, this was just an accident."
Jiang Mo remained depressed for quite a while, unable to understand why she had failed. She lay down on the spot, her fluffy paws pawing at the spirit fruit that had fallen to the ground, ignored—she had just leveled up, and with her status fully restored, she no longer felt hungry. Moreover, compared to the "experience point gift package" that had just run away, this spirit fruit held no attraction for a tiger.
The system's light orb flickered, wanting to ask the host about her future plans but seemingly afraid to speak. After holding back for a long time, it finally chose to change the subject: "Host, host, you just leveled up—don't you want to check your new character panel?"
When she had just leveled up, Jiang Mo had been somewhat excited, but now she only felt disinterested. Nevertheless, hearing the system's words, she moved her tiger paw and opened the newly updated character panel—
[Host: Jiang Mo
Race: White Tiger
Profession: Divine Beast
Level: 2
Combat Power: 10
Experience: 3/10
Points: 0
Potential: ∞
Skills: Blood Inheritance (Not Activated)]
The congenital weakness debuff was still there, and the history message content wasn't extensive—it only reminded her that she had gained 5 experience points, without even noting what medicine she had taken earlier. As for the next level up, she could either sleep for another week or try to defeat some small monsters. At least now her combat power had doubled, which should be better than her previous pathetic state?
Seemingly detecting that the host finally had some ambition, the system immediately became energetic, its light orb circling around the little white tiger: "Host, host, do you want to level up? You only need 7 more experience points to level up again."
With the system's excitement, Jiang Mo's brief interest immediately disappeared: "Bad mood, just want to argue.jpg"
The little white tiger completely flopped down like a salted fish: "No monster fighting, just sleeping."
The system choked, then earnestly advised: "Host, you can't be such a slacker. This time you need 7 more experience points—are you really going to sleep for 7 days? You'll starve to death! Your level is still low, so leveling up is easy. If you go fight monsters, you could earn these 7 experience points in half a day." Then it muttered: "Besides, if you just freeload like this, there's no point reward, and you can't even activate the mall."
The little white tiger's ears twitched, seemingly catching a keyword: "What did you just say? Mall?"
As she spoke, Jiang Mo shifted her gaze back to the panel before her, carefully searching until she finally found an icon in the corner that seemed to be the mall. However, as the system had mentioned, it was still gray, presumably not activated.
Seeing her interest, the system hurriedly said: "Yes, the mall—products from thousands of planes. There's nothing you can imagine that can't be found in the mall. But the prerequisite is that you have points."
This boast was certainly grand, but having already experienced crossing over and being reborn with the system's help, Jiang Mo didn't doubt it was exaggerating. Her heart warmed with excitement, seemingly finding a goal beyond mere survival. Finally recovering some spirit from the blow of rejection, she asked: "How many points does it take to activate the mall?"
The system, rarely seeing the host show interest, immediately answered: "Minimum 100 points to activate the mall."
Jiang Mo heard the system's mechanical voice saying "100 points," but her eyes were fixed on the glaring "0" in the points section of the panel. The enthusiasm that had just arisen instantly felt as if it had been doused with cold water, becoming thoroughly chilled.
The useless little tiger sighed lifelessly and lay back down—forget it, lying flat was happier.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
With cultivation at the peak of the Golden Core stage, just one step away from the Nascent Soul, Yun Qingyue might not be able to fly a thousand miles in an instant when riding her sword, but shaking off a newborn "little spirit cat" was certainly no difficulty.
In fact, she had escaped quite easily—the "little spirit cat" hadn't even reacted before she left.
However, after flying away on her sword, Yun Qingyue didn't feel relieved. On the contrary, the farther she flew, the more she thought about that clingy "little spirit cat" that had tried to stick with her—this was very unusual. A cultivator's mind should be clear, especially for those who had already cultivated to the Golden Core stage; they should have firm resolve, not easily disturbed by external matters.
It was just a "little spirit cat" she had encountered by chance—why should it occupy her thoughts?
Initially, Yun Qingyue thought it was because of her childhood experiences, feeling regret and reluctance at not being able to adopt the "little spirit cat." But the farther she flew on her sword, the stronger her thoughts became, and gradually she sensed something was amiss.
What was affecting her resolve?
Yun Qingyue stopped mid-air on her sword, closed her eyes for internal observation, but found her spiritual energy flowing smoothly and her mental state clear—there was nothing wrong at all. She carefully examined herself three times before finally realizing—there was nothing wrong, and she hadn't been unknowingly influenced by anything. Those thoughts and reluctance were simply feedback from her spiritual consciousness.
Just as earlier when she was standing on the spirit boat and suddenly felt an intuition that there was an opportunity for her in this secret realm, so she came. Now her spiritual consciousness was similarly reminding her that she might have brushed past her opportunity.
Could that clingy "little spirit cat" be her opportunity?
Yun Qingyue felt indescribably strange but couldn't ignore her intuition. After hesitating briefly, she ultimately followed her heart, turned around, and flew back the way she had come.
On the way, she kept thinking about that "little spirit cat," wondering if it had run off after all this time. If it had already fled, finding such a small spirit beast in this mountain range and forest would require some effort.
However, when she flew back to the original spot, what she saw from a distance made her heart pause—the little spirit cat hadn't left; it was still guarding the spot. A red spirit fruit lay lonely on the ground, and though the cat lay beside it, it had none of its earlier eagerness when snatching food from the eagle. Occasionally it would paw at the fruit, but with little interest, the whole cat embodying the two large characters for "dejection."
What was it waiting for? Could it be waiting for her?
Yun Qingyue couldn't help thinking this way, and her seemingly hard but actually soft heart unconsciously softened three more degrees. She jumped off her flying sword and walked step by step toward the drooping "little spirit cat."
The little white tiger heard the movement, its ears twitched, and when it turned its head to see Yun Qingyue, its tiger eyes instantly brightened.