Chapter 26 : Tiger Head Cap
Yun Qingyue had only recently returned from the Cloud Ridge Secret Realm with her young disciples. By all rights, she should have been free to focus on her cultivation, but after staying in the sect for just a few days, she was preparing to leave again, which was genuinely unexpected. What concerned Jiang Mo even more was how long this trip would last. After all, when cultivators went out, a year or half was considered brief, three to five years was normal, and no one would even search for someone who didn't return for eight or ten years!
Yes, they were that willful. Disciples who went out for experience were like unbridled wild horses—no one could control or predict them.
Jiang Mo had only just found stability in this cultivation world. Even though she now had Xuanqing Sect providing for her, the only person she was truly familiar and comfortable with was Yun Qingyue. She didn't want to be separated from her, and feared even more that she might never return.
The furry tiger paw clutched at the hem of Yun Qingyue's robe. Though the little white tiger made no vocal response, her golden tiger eyes clearly said: I don't want to go out, can't you just not leave?
Yun Qingyue was observant. Even though she couldn't understand the little white tiger's "awoo" sounds, she could guess about seventy to eighty percent of her meaning—in fact, this was quite easy. The miniaturized tiger cub's mentality seemed to have been somewhat affected, and she never hid her thoughts too deeply. Especially when facing someone familiar and trusted, whatever she was thinking or worrying about was almost clearly written on her face.
Using magic to dry the little white tiger's fur was obviously faster than using a hairdryer. In just this brief moment, the little white tiger's wet fur had become dry and fluffy again, making the whole tiger look a size larger.
Yun Qingyue casually produced a comb, and while grooming the little tiger cub, she explained: "I'm not leaving to gain experience, just going down the mountain to receive some people. I'll be back in three to five days at most. If you don't want to come along, you can stay here, all right?"
Hearing this, Jiang Mo breathed a sigh of relief, and then, curiosity piqued, looked at Yun Qingyue questioningly.
Yun Qingyue knew that a divine beast's intelligence was no less than a human's—in fact, they were even smarter—so she never dared treat the little white tiger as a spirit pet or a child. Now, seeing the little white tiger's interest, she explained eloquently: "In the cultivation world, there are three righteous sects and forty-eight gates. The three sects are Xuanqing Sect, Tiandao Sect, and Buddha Sect, while the forty-eight gates are smaller sects affiliated with these three. Besides these, there are also four demonic sects: Chiexue Sect, Jiuyou Sect, Tianmo Sect, and Hehuan Sect, which stand in opposition to the righteous path.
"Setting aside the demonic sects for now, the three righteous sects have always competed with each other. To prevent damaging relations, the leaders of the three sects established a martial arts competition held every sixty years, using the victories and defeats of the younger generations to determine the allocation of certain resources. Now another sixty-year cycle has passed, and coincidentally, it's Xuanqing Sect's turn to host the competition, so naturally things are busier.
"Senior Brother Su Hao from Mount Tianyang, Senior Brother Bei Luo from Mount Luoxing, and I are going down the mountain to receive disciples and elders from the other two sects. Afterward, there will be various competitions within the sect, and I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you for quite a long time."
As she spoke, Yun Qingyue had finished grooming the little white tiger's fur, combing it neat and tidy. Meanwhile, Jiang Mo listened to her introduction to the cultivation world's common knowledge while enjoying what could only be described as gentle service from Senior Sister, feeling so comfortable that her eyes narrowed. When Yun Qingyue finished grooming her and casually scratched under her chin, the little white tiger immediately emitted satisfied "purr" "purr" sounds.
Of course, when Jiang Mo came to her senses, she felt somewhat embarrassed. She got up and raised her paw, solemnly pushing away the hand that had been teasing her.
Yun Qingyue didn't mind, after all, she had already gotten to pet the little tiger, and the rejection now was merely a feigned refusal. She put away the comb and raised her hand to touch the part of the tiger cub's head that had been pecked bald. The little tiger cub, who had been serious and puffing out her chest, immediately covered her head with both paws, her face full of accusation.
"Awoo" "awoo"—You did that on purpose, bullying a tiger!
A hint of laughter flashed in the cold glass-like eyes. Confirming that the little white tiger, bald for several days, had learned her lesson, she finally said: "The spirit beasts in the Spirit Beast Garden often fight. I hear there are many medicinal pills specifically for treating injured spirit beasts..."
When Jiang Mo heard this, her eyes immediately lit up. Without hesitation, she pounced into Yun Qingyue's arms like a hungry tiger: "Really? Does the Spirit Beast Garden have pills that can grow fur? They must have them—I can't be the only one who's gone bald from fighting. If every beast were bald, wouldn't the spirit beasts in the garden look terribly ugly?" Especially since those spirit beasts all had spiritual awareness, if they went bald, wouldn't they become depressed too?
The little white tiger was extremely excited, especially thinking that in the system mall, even the cheapest hair growth medicine started at 5000 points. If she could find medicine in the Spirit Beast Garden, wouldn't that directly save her 5000 points?
Unfortunately, the mall wouldn't let her open a shop, otherwise she could resell some pills and become rich in no time...
With her mind full of points, the little tiger cub didn't notice that in her excitement, she was standing in Yun Qingyue's arms with her front paws practically stepping on the other's chest as they made eye contact. She kept making "awoo" "awoo" sounds, both excited and urging, her front paws pressing down several times... until the skin at the back of her neck was once again gripped by Yun Qingyue and lifted up. She had no idea what had happened, looking innocent and confused.
Yun Qingyue expressionlessly lifted the little white tiger away, her gaze seemingly casually sweeping over the tiger cub's furry body, but ultimately didn't pursue the matter—never mind, even if a divine beast's intelligence was no different from a human's, at least this one was female.
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Though eager to go to the Spirit Beast Garden for medicine, they couldn't just leave immediately. At least a certain little white tiger, extremely concerned about her appearance, refused to go out with a bald head—what if someone saw her?
The dignified divine beast, the future Divine Beast Jianbing, was unwilling to leave a legend of baldness in Xuanqing Sect.
The system, which had been secretly observing for a long time, couldn't help muttering: "So fussy. I didn't remind you before, but weren't you still carried by a crane all the way with your bald head? Who knows how many people saw you."
The little white tiger had keen hearing and eyesight. Hearing this, she was immediately annoyed: "You didn't even remind me, and you have the nerve to say this?" After speaking, she felt somewhat relieved that she hadn't encountered anyone on the way, otherwise her reputation would surely have been ruined. Little did she know that cultivators' methods weren't limited to visual observation—at the very least, divine sense was often much more useful than eyes in some cases, and how could a little white tiger arriving at Xuanqing Sect truly escape notice?
However, Jiang Mo didn't know these things, so after exchanging a few words with the system, she could still maintain a calm and pleasant mood.
Yun Qingyue left for a while and returned with a small garment in her hand. She said to the little white tiger: "Would you like to try this? Perhaps it can provide some cover. If not, I can go to the Spirit Beast Garden alone to get medicine for you."
A very, very long time ago, Yun Qingyue had been blacklisted by Xuanqing Sect's Spirit Beast Garden. Because everything she raised died, she wasn't favored by spirit beasts, which also created resentment among those disciples in the Spirit Beast Garden who were dedicated to raising spirit beasts. But that was a thing of the distant past. Now, although cranes still detoured when they saw her, for the Senior Sister of Mount Mingxia, getting some medicine from the Spirit Beast Garden wasn't a difficult task.
But Jiang Mo wanted to go along because since settling at Xuanqing Sect, she hadn't left Mount Mingxia. Currently, everything beyond Mount Mingxia was novel and unknown to her, and she wanted to take this opportunity to broaden her horizons.
Though Yun Qingyue appeared aloof, she was genuinely considerate. After seeing through the little white tiger's thoughts, she went to find that small garment for her.
The garment wasn't made by Yun Qingyue, nor was it hers, but belonged to an inner disciple of Mount Mingxia who had prepared it for their spirit pet. That person raised a small spirit cat and didn't expect it to become a combat asset, so they simply kept it as a pet. Thus, they made many small clothes for the spirit cat, often dressing it up, which was known to many.
Jiang Mo was familiar with such pet clothing. In the modern world, there were far more people who dressed up cats and dogs than those who dressed up spirit pets in the cultivation world. Besides, she was originally human, so naturally she had no aversion to wearing clothes.
The little white tiger stood up, shook her fur, and without a word, walked over with dignified steps.
Seeing this, Yun Qingyue knew she was willing to wear clothes, so she spread open the small garment, waiting for the little white tiger to come over before putting it on her. Then the little tiger cub indeed cooperated, extending her paws and obediently wearing the garment... except that since the garment was originally made for the owner's spirit cat, it appeared relatively small on the little tiger, but there was nothing else wrong with it.
Seeing the garment somewhat tightly fitted on the little white tiger, Yun Qingyue pondered for a moment before frowning and saying: "It's a bit small. Will you manage with it for now?" Her hands were accustomed to holding swords and had never touched needlework.
Jiang Mo took a few steps to walk around and felt it was acceptable—the style of this small garment was different from modern clothes, modeled after cultivators' long robes, and naturally as spacious as long robes. It was small on her, but it didn't restrict her movement. At most, she looked like a nine-foot giant wearing a scholar's robe—it might look a bit awkward, but that was all.
Not complaining about the garment, nor asking Yun Qingyue to modify it, Jiang Mo was actually quite intrigued by her first time wearing a long robe. However, while the garment could cover the patches of fur pecked bald by the goose on her body, what about her head?
Just as she was thinking this, something moved on her head, and a hat was placed on it.
The little tiger cub's ears twitched, adjusting to the feeling of wearing a hat, but unfortunately, she couldn't see what the hat looked like. So she asked the system, which was watching with amusement: "What kind of hat is this? Does it look good?"
The system fell silent for a moment, then burst out laughing: "It's very nice, suits you well. You should trust Senior Sister's aesthetic taste."
A tiger head cap for a little tiger—wasn't that just perfect?
The somewhat bewildered little white tiger wearing a tiger head cap indeed looked quite adorable. Although Yun Qingyue didn't say anything, her slender fingers still gently stroked the little white tiger's ears—soft, fluffy fur and plump ears, with an exceptionally nice feel.
Perhaps unable to bear the disturbance, the little white tiger's ears twitched twice, and then she raised her paw to press down Yun Qingyue's hand. The latter, seeing this, was about to take the hint and withdraw, when she found something placed in her palm. Opening her hand, she saw a milk candy lying quietly in her palm—because of her baldness, the little white tiger had been depressed for several days, even forgetting her original intention to buy candy.
Yun Qingyue accepted the milk candy from the little tiger cub, still not asking where it came from. A smile flashed in her cold glass-like eyes, and then she picked up the newly dressed little white tiger: "Thank you."
It was just a milk candy, and Jiang Mo felt a bit embarrassed, twitching her ears: "Let's go to the Spirit Beast Garden now."