When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

Yun Qingyue's lecture continued until dusk, and with the subsequent doctrinal discussions with the Buddha Sect and Tiandao Sect disciples, it didn't fully conclude until the moon had risen high in the sky. The disciples who had been listening dispersed in small groups, still savoring the experience.

With the moon hanging high, casting its clear radiance, the disciples gradually departed completely, and Yun Qingyue finally rose from the elevated platform.

The Buddha Sect and Tiandao Sect disciples, however, had not yet left. You Yi from Tiandao Sect stepped forward with a smile, saying: "Junior Sister Yun, if my words during our discussion were in any way presumptuous, I hope you won't take offense."

Yun Qingyue's temperament was naturally cool, and the cold moonlight added three parts chilliness to her beautiful countenance. However, having managed Mount Mingxia's affairs for many years, she was certainly not ignorant of social etiquette. Therefore, she did not ignore You Yi's smiling face, but slightly nodded in response: "It was merely a debate on the Dao and its methods. Each person has their own understanding—one can hardly call it presumption or offense."

Her courteous reply was naturally met with even greater courtesy from You Yi. After exchanging pleasantries for a few sentences, You Yi finally glanced around and asked with a puzzled expression: "By the way, Senior Sister came to lecture with Jianbing earlier, but where has she gone now?"

Yun Qingyue didn't answer immediately, instead turning to look in a particular direction.

Everyone followed her gaze and spotted a white tiger cub peering down from a tall, dense ancient tree. Perhaps because she heard herself mentioned, or because she realized the lecture had finally ended, she leaped down from the tree. The little white tiger landed silently, shook her fur, and walked toward Yun Qingyue at an unhurried pace, obediently settling beside her leg.

Seeing this, You Yi's eyes flickered slightly before he clasped his hands and bowed respectfully to the little white tiger.

Divine beasts held esteemed positions and possessed spiritual intelligence, and they were born with Nascent Soul cultivation—naturally, no one present dared to be disrespectful. Seeing this, the Buddha Sect disciples and the rest of the Tiandao Sect members also bowed in turn. Only Tanming seemed to notice something, his nostrils flaring slightly as he sniffed.

The little white tiger hadn't noticed the monk's action and had no interest in exchanging pleasantries. She let out an "awoo" and looked up directly at Yun Qingyue.

Yun Qingyue had always understood her thoughts, and immediately said to everyone: "It's getting late. If there's nothing urgent, perhaps you should all return to Mount Tianyang to rest. Soon the patrol disciples will be out on Mount Tianyang, and it would be troublesome to encounter them."

This obvious dismissal was understood by all, and they subsequently took their leave.

Once everyone had gone, Yun Qingyue bent down to pick up the little white tiger. Up close, she could smell the faint traces of blood on her—Jiang Mo had killed so many Splendid Chickens for points that it was normal for her to carry some of that scent. Even though she had washed her paws afterward and spent a long time in the tree letting the wind blow over her, she still couldn't hide it from a cultivator's keen sense of smell.

Yun Qingyue wasn't surprised; she didn't even need to check the kitchen to guess what had happened there. They were just Splendid Chickens after all—she didn't mind. She formed a hand seal and cast a cleaning spell, instantly dispelling the faint bloody scent.

"You've been playing for so long. Did you enjoy yourself today?" Yun Qingyue asked casually while gently stroking the tiger's head.

The little tiger cub responded with several "awoo" calls, her fluffy head nuzzling against Senior Sister's palm: "I had a great time—over five hundred combat power, just like finding it for free. But it cost you money, and now the Splendid Chickens are useless to me, so don't spend money buying them anymore..." She rambled on quite a bit, but unfortunately, the more she said, the less the other understood.

Yun Qingyue indeed didn't understand, but she was still quite pleased with the little white tiger's affectionate behavior. The cool aura surrounding her seemed to thin slightly as her fair hand stroked the cub's soft fur before unfastening the golden bell from around her neck.

The little white tiger felt the restraint around her neck loosen and looked up in confusion, letting out an "awoo."

After many days, Jiang Mo still didn't know this golden bell was a gift from Divine Lord Zhiming. She simply thought it was a cat bell her Senior Sister had seen somewhere, bought because it was exquisite and pretty, and put on her. However, given this was the cultivation world, this golden bell might not be an ordinary cat bell but some kind of magical device. It didn't matter that she didn't recognize it—Yun Qingyue wouldn't harm her, so she just obediently wore it.

Not knowing the bell's true nature, Jiang Mo was confused by Yun Qingyue's sudden removal of it and looked at her questioningly. Having removed the golden bell, Yun Qingyue only needed a brief examination to immediately understand the little white tiger's true condition.

Foundation Establishment realm, likely a recent breakthrough, with the aura still somewhat unstable...

A look of thoughtfulness and understanding flashed in Yun Qingyue's eyes before she refastened the golden bell around the little white tiger's neck. She suddenly asked: "How many Spirit Nurturing Pills that Uncle-Master Qinglan refined for you do you have left? I haven't seen you take any in the past few days—have you finished them all?"

The topic shifted rather abruptly, but Jiang Mo had no wariness toward Yun Qingyue, so she shook her head without thinking. Then, as if fearing she wouldn't be believed, she took out two bottles from her storage ring to show her—divine beasts were naturally born with spatial talents, but unfortunately, dying and being reborn had locked all her skills. So the little white tiger was still using the standard Xuanqing Sect-issued storage ring, which she had treasured greatly when she first received it.

Yun Qingyue took the jade bottle, opened it to look inside, and found that the pills were indeed plentiful. So the little white tiger hadn't taken all the medicine behind her back—her recent absence of pill-taking wasn't an illusion.

She didn't say anything more, but after returning the Spirit Nurturing Pills to Jiang Mo, she carried her back on her flying sword.

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Jiang Mo didn't know that Yun Qingyue had already seen through her little secret. Even after returning to the small courtyard, she was still preoccupied with the Splendid Chicken matter—Senior Sister hadn't mentioned the kitchen chickens again today. Yet the first time she went, there had been a normal supply; the second time, there were over a hundred Splendid Chickens; this time, the number had jumped to over five hundred and eighty. What if she continued buying them? Now the Splendid Chickens were useless to her!

Being reincarnated as a tiger, communication barriers were expected, and Jiang Mo had never been particularly concerned about it, since Yun Qingyue understood her so well. But now, being unable to speak to explain and dissuade her was truly frustrating.

Lying dejectedly in her nest, Jiang Mo asked System: "When will I be able to speak?"

The System light orb hovered at the little white tiger's nose tip. It never lacked information about its host, so it quickly found the answer: "If host simply wants to speak human language, you'll need to reach at least the Nascent Soul stage, which is level 41. Taking human form will be even later, requiring the Void Crossing stage, or level 51... The road is long and difficult, host, but keep working hard!"

After saying this, it seemed to realize that levels 41 and 51 were too distant for the current Jiang Mo, so the light orb flickered and added: "Actually, once host reaches level 41 and unlocks the innate skills, leveling up and monster hunting will become much easier."

Jiang Mo made an "mmm" sound, more like a snort through her nose, clearly not comforted.

System circled around her once and continued: "Is host dissatisfied? But this is already a very good outcome. Host is now a divine beast, and it's only because of your high bloodline level that it's like this. For ordinary spirit beasts, they'd need to reach at least Void Crossing stage to speak human language, and Fusion stage to transform into human form... Comparing like this, do you feel a little better?"

The little white tiger's fluffy ears twitched slightly, and she was indeed comforted in her heart—happiness really does come from comparison. She stood up energetically, shook her fur, and decided to seek out Yun Qingyue to find a way to tell her not to buy any more Splendid Chickens.

It was truly a predicament. Although the language of this cultivation world was the same as Mandarin, sparing Jiang Mo from being unable to understand anything upon arrival, the written characters were different from Chinese characters—at least different from the simplified or traditional characters Jiang Mo knew. Those characters looked winding and convoluted, more like the seal script used in pre-Qin times. Whether it was large seal script, small seal script, or something else entirely, she couldn't distinguish, barely guessing a few characters even with heavy inference.

Becoming illiterate overnight completely severed communication. As a result, Yun Qingyue still didn't know Jiang Mo's name, calling her either "little white tiger" or "Jianbing." Occasional communication, apart from relying on mutual understanding and Yun Qingyue's perceptiveness, was limited to gestures and pantomiming.

Thinking about having to communicate through gestures again, Jiang Mo felt exhausted. However, just as she jumped out of her nest and took a few steps, she suddenly thought of something. Her tiger eyes brightened instantly, and she hurriedly turned back to ask System: "System, I've heard that contracted spirit beasts can communicate mentally with their masters. Do you think Senior Sister and I could form a contract too?"

Logically, it should be possible, but System said: "Don't get any ideas, host. You're destined to be Xuanqing Sect's guardian divine beast in the future—how could you form a contract casually? Even if you were willing, Senior Sister wouldn't do such a thing."

Hearing this, Jiang Mo wasn't discouraged. Instead, she became eager to try: "She might not do it, but I could initiate it."

As she spoke, Jiang Mo had already opened her character panel—she didn't know any spells, her inheritance was locked, and naturally, she didn't know how to form cultivation world contracts. But since she had a game system loaded, perhaps there was a team-up function?

Without System's guidance, Jiang Mo carefully searched through the panel and eventually truly found a team-up function in some obscure corner. However, before she could rejoice, she discovered that the words "team up" were grayed out, completely unusable. Only after asking System did she learn that the feature hadn't been unlocked yet, but as for how to unlock it, System hemmed and hawed, refusing to say.

Jiang Mo was exasperated and tried to tempt System: "System, in games, teammates can help fight monsters. I'm just a useless alt account right now. If Senior Sister could help me level up, I'd advance much faster."

However, System remained unmoved, not only refusing to tell her how to unlock the feature but quickly flying away to escape.

This was the first time System had fled, and Jiang Mo was more surprised than annoyed. But before she could chase after System, she was picked up by a pair of hands. Landing back in the familiar soft embrace, Jiang Mo heard Yun Qingyue ask: "Little white tiger, you reached Foundation Establishment today, didn't you? Can you now use the divine beast inheritance techniques?"

Hearing this, Jiang Mo lowered her head in shame—she couldn't do anything; even after reaching Foundation Establishment, she was still just a useless little tiger.

Yun Qingyue seemed to guess the answer from her reaction, showing neither surprise nor disappointment. She merely pondered for a moment before suddenly asking: "Then how about I teach you some small spells? Would you like that?"

Jiang Mo abruptly raised her head, her tiger eyes bright with excitement as she looked at Yun Qingyue—Wait, wait, wait, is that even possible?!