Chapter 9 : The Little Sweet Pill
Jiang Mo hadn't expected Yun Qingyue to return, let alone so quickly. Her joy was beyond measure. It was as if the door to an easy victory had just closed before her eyes, and before she could even feel dejected, the door opened again by itself.
Sure enough, Yun Qingyue had come back for her this time, wanting to take her away.
The cool beauty caught the little white tiger running toward her, lifting it to eye level. Her glassy beautiful eyes met the tiger's golden ones as she asked with a somewhat solemn tone: "Are you willing to come with me?"
Yun Qingyue knew that although this "little spirit cat" was weak, it had developed spiritual awareness and could understand what she was saying.
Jiang Mo naturally understood and was overjoyed, nodding vigorously in response—of course she would go! The caretaker she had previously chosen had returned, making her even more precious and rare. Moreover, this caretaker appeared wealthy and generous; the medicinal pill she casually fed to a roadside spirit beast had given her 5 experience points. With such a benefactor in the future, would leveling up ever be a problem?
The useless little tiger felt increasingly delighted as she thought about it, becoming more determined to cling to this powerful support. In her eagerness to please, she even instinctively began using her tail, though unfortunately the tip of her tail could only wrap halfway around Yun Qingyue's slender wrist before it couldn't reach any further.
Yun Qingyue looked at the tail tip wrapped halfway around her wrist, realizing just how much this "little spirit cat" liked her. The Senior Sister, usually despised by cats and dogs alike, couldn't help feeling some joy. Her heart, which had initially returned because of a sense of opportunity, softened, and she genuinely began to feel affection for the little creature before her.
She only hoped her earlier premonition wasn't wrong, otherwise she would be harming this "little spirit cat."
"Since that's the case, you'll follow me from now on." Yun Qingyue's tone remained calm as she took the "little spirit cat" into her arms, showing no sign of her heavy thoughts.
The little white tiger was thrilled at these words, her mind filled with visions of a wonderful tiger life of leveling up while lying around. She was so preoccupied that she temporarily didn't even notice being held by the beauty. Her emotions were so direct and intense that the system immediately detected them—without Jiang Mo's knowledge, the system looked at her with pity, not telling her the secret about divine beast levels.
Meanwhile, Yun Qingyue, holding the little white tiger, naturally also noticed the small beast's joy. Her cool features softened almost imperceptibly. Seeing the little white tiger's fur dirty from the fall, she cast a cleaning spell without much thought.
In an instant, all the dust and dirt clinging to Jiang Mo's fur disappeared, transforming her back into a pristine little white tiger.
Jiang Mo naturally appreciated cleanliness, and moreover, this was her first time witnessing such a mystical technique. She immediately rubbed against Yun Qingyue's hand with delight—she had finally managed to nuzzle the caretaker's hand, albeit after being officially adopted. However, Yun Qingyue paid no attention to this affection; looking at the now-clean "little spirit cat" in her arms, her beautiful brows furrowed slightly.
Yun Qingyue was neither stupid nor blind. She knew what cats looked like and what tigers looked like; she had common sense and could recognize them. Earlier, when Jiang Mo was dirty all over, she couldn't see clearly and had mistaken her for a little spirit cat, but now that she was clean, she naturally recognized this was no cat.
This was a little tiger, with the "king" mark on its forehead clearly revealing its identity, but this little tiger's fur was white.
In the cultivation world, everyone knew what a white tiger signified. It was a divine beast, a divine beast born with Nascent Soul cultivation, a divine beast that could protect a sect for tens of thousands of years, a divine beast whose every hair could be treasured as a precious item... But the one before her seemed too weak, appearing too ordinary—so ordinary that no one would associate it with a white tiger divine beast.
Yun Qingyue's lips pressed into a thin line as her glassy eyes steadily gazed at the little white tiger acting affectionate toward her. The latter's fluffy head nuzzled against her hand, blinking its eyes innocently.
A moment later, Yun Qingyue softly called out: "Little white tiger?"
Jiang Mo hadn't noticed anything amiss from beginning to end, even forgetting her earlier fright that had caused her to meow. She happily "aowu-ed" in response, her tail tip finally successfully forming a complete circle around Yun Qingyue's wrist.
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If it's a divine beast, it probably won't be so easily killed by my care, right?
Yun Qingyue, holding the greatest opportunity of her journey, returned to the spirit boat. Her first thought was whether she could keep it alive—legendary divine beasts were certainly formidable, but the one she had just picked up was probably an exception. Upon careful examination, its constitution was comparable to a weak mortal's. Forget about cultivation power; it wasn't even strong and healthy!
How had a majestic white tiger fallen to such a state? Yun Qingyue couldn't imagine, only worrying whether this little white tiger could withstand her special constitution. As for opportunity, a divine beast was certainly wonderful and an enormous blessing, but this blessing wasn't meant for her. For ordinary cultivators, raising a divine beast was beyond their capacity; one only heard of sects supporting divine beasts, never individual cultivators raising them.
The inability to afford one was the main reason, as was the inability to wait.
Although divine beasts were born with Nascent Soul cultivation, they could only truly display their power after reaching adulthood, which for divine beasts was at three thousand years old. Cultivators at Foundation Establishment had lifespans of two hundred years, Golden Core five hundred, Nascent Soul a thousand, Void Crossing two thousand, Spirit Division five thousand... This meant they would need at least Spirit Division cultivation to wait for a newborn divine beast to reach maturity.
Cultivators who could reach the Spirit Division realm were all exceptionally talented; why would they focus their attention on a divine beast? Moreover, the path of cultivation was not smooth; few succeeded in cultivation, and many perished midway. Who could guarantee they would live for three thousand years?
Of course, divine beasts didn't necessarily need to wait until adulthood to display their power; successful cultivation was also possible. But this required substantial resources. Unlike humans, divine beasts had no threshold for cultivation—they could directly consume precious materials, digest them, and increase their cultivation. As long as you had enough precious materials, you could naturally raise a divine beast.
But then again, with so many precious materials, wouldn't it be better to use them on oneself? Why give them to a divine beast? Divine beasts were naturally proud and would rather die than sign a master-servant contract; they would never become someone's possession.
In summary, personally raising a divine beast was basically a losing proposition, so even if someone obtained such an opportunity, they would most likely send it back to their sect.
Sects were different from individuals. Three thousand years for a sect's legacy was merely the rotation of one or two generations; they could afford to wait. Moreover, the resources a sect could obtain far exceeded what an individual cultivator could match. It might not be effortless, but spending some time and resources to support a divine beast in exchange for protection was generally not a problem for sects.
These were common understandings in the cultivation world, and Yun Qingyue was naturally clear about the pros and cons. Therefore, the moment she discovered she had picked up a little white tiger, she had already resolved to hand the divine beast over to her sect.
But this divine beast was different—it was too weak. Would the sect really be willing to support it?
Yun Qingyue was quite worried and had many thoughts after returning to the spirit boat with the little white tiger. In contrast, Jiang Mo was seeing a flying ship for the first time and was thoroughly fascinated.
The little white tiger jumped down from Yun Qingyue's embrace, held her head high, and toured the entire spirit boat as if inspecting her territory. Finally, she curiously lay down at the ship's railing—they were high in the sky, but the wind was gentle, undoubtedly due to a protective barrier around the spirit boat. Having never seen such a legendary thing before, she eagerly wanted to reach out her paw to touch it.
At this moment, Jiang Mo had set aside her concerns and was curiously exploring, truly resembling a young cub. But the useless little tiger was indeed too small, her paws not long enough, and she looked quite dangerous as she stretched out to touch the barrier.
Yun Qingyue noticed this scene in a moment of inattention and was startled, hurrying over to pick her up.
The little useless tiger once again had the scruff of her neck pinched by fate, and meeting Yun Qingyue's slightly furrowed brows, she felt somewhat guilty. Her round tiger eyes blinked innocently, her tail tip waving, trying to hook around Yun Qingyue's wrist.
Seeing the young cub's cautious attempts to please her, Yun Qingyue ultimately couldn't bring herself to scold it. She rummaged through her storage ring, originally intending to see if there was something edible to feed it and keep the little white tiger more settled. However, the Senior Sister was too aloof, and having practiced abstinence from food for many years, there was nothing in her storage ring that could be called food.
Apart from some precious materials, it seemed only medicinal pills were edible.
Yun Qingyue hesitated for a moment before placing a spirit-cleansing grass and a nurturing essence pill in front of the little white tiger. The former was a third-grade spirit herb, still of great use to those at Foundation Establishment, while the latter, nicknamed the "little sweet pill," was something Qi Refinement disciples took as snacks.
Jiang Mo looked at the unremarkable spirit-cleansing grass, then sniffed the nurturing essence pill, quickly recognizing its scent as the experience pill she had taken earlier. Without hesitation, she joyfully extended her small tongue, lapping up the nurturing essence pill, delighted to hear the system's notification of +5 experience points—absolutely delightful.
Watching the pleased little white tiger, Yun Qingyue's cool glassy eyes held only a complex, indescribable expression.