Chapter 36 : Senior Sister's Tiger
The Three Sect Martial Arts Competition was still half a month away. Today was merely the arrival of disciples from the two sects coming to pay their respects. Therefore, Sect Leader Qingxiao didn't plan to delay too long, offering simple courtesies and encouragement before entrusting the reception duties to Su Hao and the others, preparing to conclude the meeting.
At this moment, True Lord Ji Ling suddenly stepped forward: "Sect Leader Qingxiao, please wait."
Qingxiao had already risen, preparing to leave, and the other four Peak Masters clearly wanted to depart as well. Hearing this, they paused, though Qingxiao's expression remained gentle: "What is it? Does True Lord Ji Ling have some matter to discuss?"
Ji Ling didn't beat around the bush and immediately said: "Indeed, I have something to discuss with Sect Leader Qingxiao." As he spoke, he swept his gaze over the young disciples from the three sects: "It's like this—earlier this year, an elder from our Tiandao Sect was traveling and accidentally discovered a secret realm. However, this secret realm is quite high-level and also has restrictions; only young people under fifty years of age can enter."
This statement immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the hall, as secret realms often represented resources. While new secret realms were full of dangers, they also meant no one had explored them before, and the rewards could be more bountiful.
Moreover, the restriction was not on cultivation level but on age, increasing the possibility that it was a legacy secret realm.
Even Sect Leader Qingxiao couldn't ignore this last point, so his eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly as he asked: "Does True Lord Ji Ling mean that Tiandao Sect plans to share this secret realm among the three sects?"
Ji Ling's eyebrow twitched, but he still nodded: "That's correct. This secret realm has newly emerged. Our sect's formation array expert elders examined it and confirmed no one has entered to explore it yet. While the potential benefits are great, the risks are equally high. Though our Tiandao Sect doesn't lack young elite disciples, we can't guarantee they'll all return safely. As we happen to be at the sixty-year cycle, the winners of the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition will undoubtedly be talented individuals. If they lead the expedition into the secret realm, it would be beneficial both for the sects and for themselves."
His words sounded elegant, but Sect Leader Qingxiao and the four Peak Masters immediately understood that the secret realm must be significant and likely had additional restrictions. Perhaps there was a limit to the number of times it could be opened, or it would disappear after being opened once.
Tiandao Sect couldn't consume the entire secret realm on their own, and they weren't confident about sending all their young disciples in. After all, the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition occurred once every sixty years, affecting resource allocation among the sects, and a fifty-year gap could cripple a sect. It was better to share the secret realm, distributing the risk while potentially gaining no less than if they kept it to themselves, with the added benefit of earning gratitude from the other two sects.
It must be said that although Sect Leader Qingxiao immediately understood the underlying motives, he truly couldn't decline this favor. He relaxed his expression and smiled at Ji Ling: "This is indeed a good matter, but we'll need to discuss it with the leaders of the other two sects before making a decision."
Ji Ling straightened his back and nodded in agreement: "That is indeed appropriate."
In just a few words, the matter was set aside, but the news of the new secret realm left a deep impression on everyone's minds. Especially among the younger generation participating in the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition, their exchanged glances revealed varying degrees of interest—the path of cultivation was dangerous, with fortune playing a crucial role. If they were lucky enough to encounter a legacy secret realm and obtain its inheritance, if not achieving instant success, at least their future path would be smooth.
With business concluded, everyone finally dispersed. The Sect Leader and Peak Masters left first, followed by the others.
Before departing, Peak Master Qingyu transmitted a message to Yun Qingyue, asking her to return to Mount Mingxia to see her later—perhaps with the competition approaching, she had instructions for Yun Qingyue. Or perhaps, having been in seclusion for so long, she wanted to see her disciple's progress during this time.
However, Yun Qingyue still had matters to attend to and couldn't return immediately. After all, Sect Leader Qingxiao had entrusted the reception duties to them. While Su Hao and Bei Luo were hosting the male disciples from the two sects, she was responsible for arranging accommodations for the few female disciples from Tiandao Sect.
Yun Qingyue had a cold temperament, naturally exuding an otherworldly quality that made people think she was solely focused on pursuing the Dao and disregarding worldly affairs. However, in reality, as Master Qingyu was often in seclusion, the affairs of Mount Mingxia had long been entrusted to her as the Senior Sister. Accommodating a few female disciples was naturally no difficult task for her.
All visitors were arranged to stay on Mount Tianyang, so they followed Su Hao, the Senior Brother of Mount Tianyang, to the guest quarters.
The guest quarters of Mount Tianyang were vast, with hundreds of rooms, easily accommodating everyone who had come. However, it wouldn't be appropriate for so many people to crowd in one place, so upon arrival, men and women were separated first, followed by disciples from Tiandao Sect and Buddha Sect being housed separately.
Setting aside the male disciples, the female disciples were naturally led away by Yun Qingyue.
There weren't many, just four or five people, including mature and steady Senior Sisters as well as young and lively Junior Sisters. Perhaps because they had left the main group and shed their previous restraint, the previously silent girls now became quite talkative. Some spoke of experiences from their journey, others discussed the new secret realm, and some admired and commented on the scenery of Mount Tianyang.
Tiandao Sect's youngest junior sister, Ruan Le, approached Yun Qingyue at this time, smiling as she greeted her: "You must be Immortal Maiden Qingyue? I'm Ruan Le from Tiandao Sect. For the upcoming period, I'll be in Senior Sister's care."
Yun Qingyue nodded, her words few: "Later, I will arrange for Junior Sisters to attend to you all."
The implication was that she wouldn't visit often, and if Ruan Le and the others needed anything, they could ask the attending disciples—this was normal. With the competition approaching, as the Senior Sister of Mount Mingxia, she would likely be training intensively with her master. At such a time, no one would waste energy entertaining guests. Conversely, these people from Tiandao Sect probably wouldn't go into secluded cultivation at the last minute; seizing the opportunity to observe and probe their opponents' strengths and weaknesses was more practical.
Hearing this, Ruan Le wasn't surprised; she was merely finding an excuse to strike up a conversation. Her eyes darted to the little white tiger in Yun Qingyue's arms, and she asked with curiosity: "Is this Jianbing? She looks so small..."
As she spoke, she tentatively reached out her hand, wanting to stroke the tiger's fur.
Before Yun Qingyue could intervene, the little tiger cub righteously pushed away her hand—although Jiang Mo was appearance-conscious, and Miss Ruan was quite pretty, she was already Senior Sister's tiger, and others couldn't touch her!
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When Yun Qingyue carried the little white tiger back to Mount Mingxia, it was already afternoon.
Qingyu had earlier transmitted a message asking her to come over. Having delayed until now, Yun Qingyue naturally couldn't postpone any longer, so she left the little white tiger in the small courtyard and hurriedly departed. As soon as she left, the little tiger cub poked her head out and sneaked away.
No one could see the system, so it ran out first, then turned back to urge Jiang Mo: "Host, Host, hurry up! Don't dawdle; there's no one around here." After urging, it added: "I'll call the crane for you first. When you come out, leave immediately. If we go to the Hall of Inquiry now, we can make it before dinner and avoid too many chickens and ducks being killed without anyone knowing, which would spoil by tomorrow."
Hearing there was no one around, Jiang Mo immediately felt at ease and began running: "Alright, hurry up."
The tiger and system worked in perfect coordination. Just as the little white tiger reached the mountain cliff, the crane summoned by the system arrived. By now, Jiang Mo was no stranger to riding cranes, showing no nervousness as she leaped onto the crane's back and flew away.
Indeed, although she had fought with the wolf and received decent points and combat power rewards, after discussing with the system, Jiang Mo and the system ultimately decided to start farming points from chickens and ducks. After all, caged poultry was easy to kill, and practice makes perfect. This time, going to the Hall of Inquiry to farm points, the round trip would take less than half an hour to earn the same 50 points she had gained from defeating the Wind Speed Wolf.
Jiang Mo's only concern was one thing. Standing on the crane's back, she asked the system: "Senior Sister already knows about us stealing the goose from the Hall of Inquiry last time. If we go again this time, will she think I'm a psychopath when she finds out?"
The system had originally planned to make the Hall of Inquiry's back kitchen a fixed point-farming location, but hearing its host's words, it suddenly didn't know how to respond. After all, the host was already weak, yet she enjoyed slaughtering even weaker spirit birds. From a normal person's perspective, this was indeed quite disturbing... Would Xuanqing Sect dare to keep a psychopathic, bloodthirsty divine beast?
When that time came, the host being sent to Buddha Sect to listen to monks reciting sutras would probably be the best outcome.
Thinking of this, the system also felt anxious and abandoned the idea of regular point farming there. After accelerating its processor to think for a while, it discussed with Jiang Mo: "How about just going this one more time? I see that the Hall of Inquiry's back kitchen has quite a few chickens and ducks stored today. Killing them all would give us considerable combat power and point rewards. Next time, we can try finding spirit beasts in the mountains behind the sect?"
Fearing Jiang Mo might not know about the back mountains, it further explained: "There's a training field in the back mountains prepared for Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment disciples, with low-level spirit beasts. I'll help you scan and only approach those you can defeat."
Things could be done once or twice, but not three times. The system racked its brains to arrange a clear monster-farming path for its host. And Jiang Mo, looking at her pitiful combat power, also understood that to minimize injuries, the system's arrangement was the best. So she didn't question further, nodding in agreement. When the crane landed at the Hall of Inquiry, she sneaked into the back kitchen with practiced ease.
The system was right; today, the Hall of Inquiry's back kitchen was well-stocked with poultry. There were seventy to eighty Splendid Chickens alone, plus other birds and livestock. After the tiger and system made a rough estimate, they could easily farm one to two hundred points of combat power and points here today.
For Jiang Mo, who had struggled for over a month and had only accumulated 315 combat power, this was quite substantial.
The little white tiger's eyes visibly brightened. Each beautiful-feathered Splendid Chicken before her automatically transformed into 1-point rewards in her eyes. At this moment, she didn't worry about secretly coming to kill chickens and being discovered by Yun Qingyue again. With an "awoo," she charged toward those lambs to the slaughter in their cages.
The massacre indeed proceeded quickly. Half an hour later, not a single living creature remained in the cages. Simultaneously, on Jiang Mo's character panel, both her points and combat power had increased by 199 points.
Just 1 point short of 200—not a round number, which might bother someone with OCD.
Jiang Mo didn't have a compulsion for round numbers and felt quite pleased with the results. However, the system seemed somewhat dissatisfied. It opened its scanning function and rescanned the back kitchen, then excitedly told Jiang Mo: "Host, Host, quickly look at the five o'clock direction. There's a mouse hole there with three mice. If you kill those three mice, we can farm exactly 200 today."
Recalling her past experience of stomping on bugs to survive, Jiang Mo instantly stiffened: "..."
Was it crazy? She wasn't lacking that 1 point of experience to save her life anymore. Why should she disgust herself by killing mice? And this system, which had just arranged everything so clearly, why had it suddenly become so unreliable? It kept recommending either bugs or mice for her to kill!
The little white tiger, having just earned 199 points, was quite domineering and completely uninterested in killing mice to round up the number. She ignored the system's bad idea, shook the blood off her paws, and turned to leave, leaving behind a floor of Splendid Chicken corpses.
As for why the Hall of Inquiry suddenly had so many poultry in storage, especially Splendid Chickens?
Who knows? Perhaps the newly arrived little disciples liked to eat chicken?