Chapter 11 : Milk at Last
Over these two days, Yun Qingyue had been quite worried because she discovered that the little white tiger she had brought back didn't like eating anything except nurturing essence pills, those little sweet pills. Not only had her own stock been emptied, but during these past two days as disciples returned, she had also traded for all the nurturing essence pills those Qi Refinement disciples carried. Then the little white tiger, hugging the medicine bottles, had barely stopped eating.
How exactly should one raise a divine beast? Would it suffer from malnutrition if it kept eating like this? This little white tiger was already so weak to begin with.
Not only was Yun Qingyue watching with concern, but Jiang Mo herself was getting sick of taking so many pills—nurturing essence pills weren't sweet, but they had their own fragrance and dissolved instantly in the mouth. Yet even the most delicious food becomes tiresome when eaten too much, especially when consuming pills by the thousand.
Finally, after swallowing several bottles of the little sweet pills, Jiang Mo couldn't take it anymore. She listlessly pressed down on an empty medicine bottle and asked the system: "System, these nurturing essence pills give too little experience, I'm about to throw up. And now I can't even level up once per day, plus I still get hungry at mealtime. Do you know if there are any medicinal pills in the cultivation world that provide more experience?"
The system's answer was disappointing: "Sorry host, the system isn't connected to the network in this world, so I don't know."
Hearing this answer, Jiang Mo rolled her eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky—network? What network would there be in the cultivation world for it to connect to? So was this useless system only able to function offline now?
Unfortunately, this eye-rolling action was caught by Yun Qingyue. Her approaching footsteps paused, feeling that something was strange about this little white tiger. However, she herself wasn't particularly knowledgeable about divine beasts, so she only paused briefly before taking a few more steps forward. She then saw the empty medicine bottle under the little white tiger's paw and her brows immediately furrowed slightly: "You've finished another bottle?"
Jiang Mo's paw moved slightly, almost instinctively wanting to hide the empty bottle, strangely feeling a bit guilty.
Though cold in demeanor, Yun Qingyue was an attentive person and didn't miss Jiang Mo's small movement. The cub's guilty look was somewhat adorable, and in the end, Senior Sister Yun couldn't bring herself to scold it. She finally took out a jade gourd and placed it before the little white tiger: "Try this?"
Before this, Yun Qingyue had already attempted to feed it many times. From spirit herbs and spirit fruits to medicinal pills and meat, she had sought out everything she could think of. The little white tiger had been courteous enough to try them all, but unfortunately, the spirit pills and medicines a sword cultivator would carry were mostly for healing wounds and detoxification. Jiang Mo had taken them in vain, with minimal effect.
She had gnawed on two spirit fruits, which at least provided some variety, but she didn't particularly enjoy them either. As for the meat... sorry, although she had turned into a tiger, she didn't want to eat raw meat!
Unfortunately, Jiang Mo's level was too low, making communication between them difficult. Therefore, Yun Qingyue didn't know the little white tiger simply wouldn't eat raw food; she just assumed it was truly vegetarian.
What had Senior Sister Yun found this time? Jiang Mo was somewhat curious but wasn't averse to trying new food, so she raised her tiger paw and pressed it on the jade gourd, her round tiger eyes looking toward Yun Qingyue.
Yun Qingyue understood and helped open the lid. A milky fragrance with a slight fishy smell immediately wafted out.
This was... had she finally remembered that cubs should drink milk?
Not just Yun Qingyue, but even Jiang Mo and the system had forgotten about this—the little white tiger was only half a month old since birth, still a genuine baby! How could she eat medicinal pills as food every day?!
Jiang Mo licked her lips, leaned in to take a sip, and then became unstoppable.
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The cub had finally found the correct diet. Although the rate of pill consumption hadn't slowed down at all, Yun Qingyue felt much more at ease. In the following days, she often left the little white tiger in her room, going out by herself, sometimes on the spirit boat, sometimes not.
Seven or eight days passed like this, and finally Xuanqing Sect's mountain gate appeared in the distance.
On this day, calculating that the time was about right, the young Xuanqing Sect disciples who had been secluded in their rooms cultivating all stepped out. They gathered in twos and threes on the deck, either chatting with familiar people and exchanging insights from this journey, or taking advantage of the time before returning to the sect to trade resources they had obtained during the trip.
Among them, the two who had been rescued by Yun Qingyue were the most active. With the help of spirit medicines, their injuries had healed almost completely over these days. Now they moved from group to group, their expressions alternating between disappointment and impatience.
After their conversations were interrupted several times, someone couldn't help but ask: "Junior Brother Zhao, Junior Brother Zhou, what are you two doing?"
Junior Brother Zhao turned around at these words, his eyes brightening when he saw who was asking. Instead of answering, he asked: "Senior Brother Shi, do you have any extra Star Point Grass?" Just as he finished speaking, Junior Brother Zhou beside him quickly added: "Does Senior Brother have any Cloud Lingering Grass?"
Star Point Grass and Cloud Lingering Grass weren't rare items, just second-grade spirit herbs. They were part of the tasks assigned to Qi Refinement disciples for this secret realm training. But precisely because they weren't rare, people usually wouldn't gather extra beyond what was required for their tasks. So although the two had asked many fellow disciples they were familiar with, no one had extras to spare.
Senior Brother Shi had reached Foundation Establishment not long ago, so these two items weren't part of his task. The two were just trying their luck by asking. But this time they were quite fortunate, as Senior Brother Shi actually did have some.
As he took out the Star Point Grass and Cloud Lingering Grass from his storage bag, he asked: "What's going on with you two? These spirit herbs are in the northwest part of the secret realm, couldn't be easier to find. How did you not manage to gather them in half a month?"
The two happily accepted the herbs, thanked him, and then began with an expression that suggested a long story: "Senior Brother, you don't know..."
But they stopped abruptly as their peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a blue-green robe hem. On this spirit boat, many people wore white robes, many wore blue robes, but only Senior Sister wore blue-green... They were still holding the herbs they had just begged for, and the feeling was like being caught cheating red-handed. They froze completely.
Fortunately, Senior Sister didn't pay them any attention. That blue-green robe hem brushed past them and headed directly toward the cabin. Many people's gazes followed, and someone softly exclaimed in surprise.
The fact that Yun Qingyue had been raising a little white tiger on the spirit boat was known to no one but herself. After all, though the training secret realm wasn't too far from the sect, it wasn't very close either, and a divine beast like a white tiger was too conspicuous. Fearing that the disciples might carelessly spread the news and bring trouble, she had simply confined the little white tiger to her room.
Only today, with the sect in sight, not only had the young disciples emerged, but the little white tiger could finally come out for some fresh air.
Sure enough, someone quickly recognized the white tiger, and pairs of curious, burning gazes all focused on it. Yun Qingyue remained unmoved, bending slightly to hang a jade gourd around the little white tiger's neck.
The jade gourd was only as big as an adult's palm, looking somewhat delicate and cute in a cultivator's hand, but appeared rather large hanging around the little milk tiger's neck. The tiger itself didn't mind; on the contrary, it was quite delighted, using its paws to hug the jade gourd and rubbing its small head against Yun Qingyue's hand, displaying great affection.
Seeing this scene, someone finally murmured: "Is that a white tiger? The legendary divine beast white tiger?"
A senior brother beside him confirmed his observation: "It's definitely a white tiger. A legendary divine beast. It looks so small and friendly. I wonder what Senior Sister has in that jade gourd?"
Immediately someone guessed: "Probably spirit liquid."
Another guessed: "Must be spirit marrow."
Finally, someone concluded: "Whatever makes a divine beast treasure it so much must be some rare heavenly material!"