Chapter 58 : The Illiterate Tiger
As this day's competition concluded, the original 58 participants were again halved to 29, averaging fewer than 6 people per peak. It wasn't clear which peak had one less person than the others, or perhaps even more.
Throughout the day there were twenty-nine arena matches. Even setting aside the time contestants spent competing themselves, pure spectators couldn't possibly have watched all the matches. Therefore, when evening came and the dust settled, as the elder announced the end of the day's competition, the disciples didn't leave early like yesterday but rushed to the jade wall to check the results.
In this advancement, Mount Tianyang had seven people, Mount Mingxia and Mount Luoxing had six each, while Mount Qingyun and Mount Qionghua had only five each.
This result wasn't surprising; in fact, for Mount Qingyun and Mount Qionghua disciples, it was somewhat better than expected—among the five peaks, Mount Tianyang, being the Sect Leader's lineage, had always been the strongest. Besides that, Mount Luoxing inherited martial arts traditions, and their combat prowess couldn't be underestimated. Mount Mingxia, with cultivators obsessed with cultivation from top to bottom, naturally reaped rewards from their diligence. Finally, Mount Qingyun specialized in diverse studies and Mount Qionghua in pill refining; neither focused on combat, so they naturally performed slightly worse in arena matches.
As an aside, Mount Mingxia was actually considered a rising star. A hundred years ago, it had been the most mediocre of the five peaks, consistently ranking last in combat prowess. However, since Mount Mingxia had the most female disciples, the other four peaks would accommodate them to some extent, so they didn't appear too far behind on the surface. It wasn't until Peak Master Qingyu took her position—being cultivation-obsessed herself and nurturing similarly cultivation-obsessed disciples—that Mount Mingxia's combat abilities soared.
After viewing the jade wall results, someone couldn't help commenting: "Mount Mingxia has become formidable again. This time they've caught up with Mount Luoxing. Won't they be challenging Mount Tianyang next?"
As soon as these words fell, someone glared at the speaker and retorted: "What nonsense are you spouting? We're nowhere near that point! Sure, Mount Mingxia has many people advancing now, but wait until the next round. Besides Senior Sister Yun and Senior Brother Zhong Heng, what other formidable figures do they have? Unlike Mount Luoxing, where Senior Brother Bei Luo, Senior Brother Bei Chen, Senior Brother Liao Qing, Senior Brother Di Fei... which one of them is ordinary?"
These words were quite harsh, especially since not only were Mount Luoxing disciples present, but many from Mount Mingxia as well. Hearing such remarks, the Mount Mingxia disciples immediately felt indignant, and both sides quickly began to quarrel.
Just then, someone suddenly said: "Mount Mingxia's people just aren't good enough. Seven of the Peak Master's personal disciples, and only six advanced. Among those six, one is already an elder's personal disciple, and even an Outer Sect disciple managed to get in... Are your Mount Mingxia personal disciples really worse than a mere Outer Sect member?"
With these words, the scene suddenly grew quiet, and many pairs of eyes turned toward the jade wall.
After confirming that the content on the jade wall was indeed as stated, many of the Mount Mingxia disciples' faces flushed red with anger, then defiantly replied: "What's wrong with an Outer Sect disciple? Don't you also have personal disciples who were eliminated? They couldn't even beat our Mount Mingxia Outer Sect disciple!"
Comparing this way, these words were also true. The other side was left speechless and then grew embarrassed and angry. Added to the fact that the Mount Mingxia disciples were already full of anger, both sides argued more fiercely, eventually drawing their swords and daggers, nearly enacting a scene of internal strife right in front of the jade wall in the plaza. Just as the situation was about to erupt, a slender, fair hand fell on the shoulder of the Mount Mingxia disciple who was leading the confrontation.
The Mount Mingxia disciple felt a weight on his shoulder, which instantly fueled his anger threefold. He turned around, ready to confront whoever was interfering. But as he turned, seeing a familiar cold face, he immediately cowered: "Se-Senior Sister."
Yun Qingyue gave him a cool glance: "The competition is over. Why are you still lingering here instead of returning?"
The disciple looked sheepish and didn't dare argue much. He hurriedly bowed and then turned to flee. With their leader gone, the other Mount Mingxia disciples secretly glanced at their Senior Sister's expression and also didn't dare to stay, all bowing and hastily leaving. When Yun Qingyue's cold gaze swept over the group confronting the Mount Mingxia disciples, they too didn't dare meet her eyes. After greeting her respectfully, they scattered like birds and beasts.
In just a moment, the jade wall area—which had been noisy and on the verge of a brawl—was completely cleared. Aside from a few junior disciples who hadn't participated and didn't understand the situation, only Yun Qingyue and Zhong Heng, who had accompanied her, remained.
Seeing this, Zhong Heng tugged at the corner of his mouth and gave Yun Qingyue a thumbs up: "Senior Sister's prestige remains undiminished over the years, truly impressive."
Yun Qingyue glanced at him without comment, then carried the little white tiger forward to look at the jade wall.
The names on the jade wall had diminished; today's defeated contestants' names had already disappeared, leaving the remaining names glowing golden. Although there were no notations about each person's background, among those still remaining on the jade wall at this stage of the competition, few were unknown figures. Even the Outer Sect disciple mentioned earlier had already distinguished himself previously—indeed, the only Outer Sect disciple who had fought his way into the top 29 was none other than Chu Yang.
Yun Qingyue looked at Chu Yang's name on the jade wall, her brows furrowing almost imperceptibly. The little white tiger in her arms also stared at the jade wall, but unfortunately, being an illiterate tiger, she couldn't recognize a single character and was anxious about her literacy problem.
Zhong Heng, who had been with them and hadn't missed the earlier conversation, remarked: "This Chu Yang is quite interesting."
Hearing this familiar name again, the little white tiger's ears immediately perked up, and she instinctively turned to observe Yun Qingyue's expression. She saw her staring at the jade wall without a word, lost in thought.
Seeing Yun Qingyue's reaction, the little white tiger immediately grew wary—she might never have been to the cultivation world before, but she had read plenty of cultivation stories. Following conventional tropes, this Chu Yang must not be a simple character; there was an 80% chance he was the protagonist. Rising from an Outer Sect disciple to the Inner Sect, or even directly becoming a personal disciple, then experiencing trials and tribulations before soaring to greatness. If this were unfortunately a web novel, in the upcoming plot, there was an 80% chance the protagonist would amass a harem!
Of course, reality wasn't a novel, and the little white tiger had already tested the system and knew she wasn't in a book. But Senior Sister's position was still a high-risk profession. Combined with her nighttime excursions, perhaps the two already had some connection unknown to her?
Thinking of this, the little white tiger instinctively hugged Senior Sister's arm, really not wanting Yun Qingyue to get involved in such matters.
Yun Qingyue looked down at her in puzzlement and asked: "What's wrong?"
The little white tiger earnestly "aowu-ed" at her for quite a while, but unfortunately only the system understood her admonition: "Senior Sister, promise me, don't concern yourself with that Chu Yang, alright? Even if he might become your junior brother in the future, don't pay him any attention... Men are troublesome and will only become stumbling blocks on your path to ascension. Stepping right over them is the best choice."
Yun Qingyue only heard her continuous "aowu, aowu" and although they usually had a degree of tacit understanding, this time she was completely baffled. Meanwhile, Zhong Heng curiously approached and asked: "What's wrong, Senior Sister? What is Jianbing saying?"
Both were willing to listen to Jianbing's opinion, but unfortunately, they truly couldn't understand what she was saying.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo felt somewhat dejected. Realizing that to communicate verbally with people, she'd need to wait until at least level 41, Nascent Soul, she immediately felt a sense of distant impossibility. So she gave up trying to communicate with the two and instead asked the system: "System, do you recognize the text here?"
The system seemed to stall for a moment before answering: "Theoretically, the system can recognize languages and writing from all dimensions."
Jiang Mo wasn't fooled, narrowing her tiger eyes: "Theoretically?"
The system had to be honest: "Yes, host. Among the three thousand worlds and myriad dimensions, the system hasn't necessarily visited them all. Each dimension's language and writing system may differ, and although the system's database is vast, it may not have records of everything. However, host need not worry. The system has extremely strong analytical and learning capabilities, and whenever it enters a new world, it recollects and reorganizes this knowledge."
Jiang Mo seemed to understand something and pondered for a moment before asking: "So for this world's writing, is it not recorded in your database, and you haven't analyzed and learned it yet?"
The system, seen through at a glance, had its light orb tinged with a barely perceptible pink: "Host can't blame me. This world doesn't even have internet, everything needs to be analyzed and learned from scratch by the system, so it takes time."
Jiang Mo had to understand even if she didn't want to, so she asked again: "Then how long will you need?"
The system hemmed and hawed: "A-a year, perhaps." Then it quickly explained: "This world has many writing systems. Human script, beast race script, demon race script, ghost race script, plus divine race script and ancient inscriptions... But if host only wants to understand what's on the jade wall, learning the common human script would be enough. In another month, the system should be able to decipher it all!"
Very well, the little white tiger nodded, not pressing the system to improve its efficiency. She turned around, hugged Senior Sister's arm, and then pointed at the text on the jade wall with one paw, beginning to "aowu, aowu" incessantly.
This time, Yun Qingyue regained her tacit understanding with the little white tiger. After staring at the jade wall for a moment, she tentatively asked: "Does Jianbing want to learn to read?"
The little white tiger's eyes immediately brightened at these words, and she nodded hurriedly. Before she could wait for Senior Sister's response, she heard stifled laughter from the side. She turned her head to glare angrily at the laughing Zhong Heng, baring her teeth for good measure.
Faced with the adorably fierce Jianbing, Zhong Heng did rein himself in somewhat, suppressing his laughter but still asking with confusion: "I've heard that spirit beasts have bloodline inheritance, so they're born with innate knowledge. How come Jianbing...?"
Hearing this, the little white tiger's heart skipped a beat, feeling mysteriously guilty—she wasn't the original package at all and had no bloodline inheritance.
Fortunately, Yun Qingyue was always protective of her. She reached out to stroke the little white tiger's head and calmly said: "Jianbing was born in the Cloud Ridge Secret Realm where spiritual energy was insufficient, causing her to be weak from birth. Perhaps her inheritance was also affected." She then lowered her head to meet the little tiger's golden eyes: "If Jianbing wants to learn writing, shall I teach you?"
Of course that would be good. The little white tiger nodded eagerly, happily wrapping her tail tip around Senior Sister's wrist once more.
Yun Qingyue smiled, freed her other hand, and pointed to a spot on the jade wall, saying: "That is my name, Yun Qingyue. The 'Yun' from flowing cloud, the 'Qing' from clear wind, the 'Yue' from dense shade..." As she spoke, she began to write stroke by stroke in the air.
Spiritual energy gathered, frost condensed, and the three characters "Yun Qingyue" formed clearly in midair.