Chapter 59 : My Name
The first character the little white tiger learned upon transmigrating to this world was "Yun," the second was "Qing," and the third was "Yue." Even though these three characters were neither easy to write nor easy to remember, she still studied them attentively many times, her fuzzy paw following along in the air. Only after deeply engraving these three characters in her mind did she finally look away, ultimately nestling in Senior Sister's embrace with a hint of delight.
Seeing this, Zhong Heng didn't think much of it. He casually raised his hand, pointing to his own name on the jade wall, and said to the little white tiger: "Look, Jianbing, that's my name—the 'Zhong' from 'eldest and second brother,' and the 'Heng' from 'balance.' It's right next to Senior Sister's now."
As he spoke, he also gathered spiritual energy to write in midair. With his fire spiritual root, the characters he wrote glowed fiery red.
The little white tiger gave his words a cursory glance, seemingly looking at the name he had written, but her attitude was obviously much more perfunctory. Let alone raising her paw to practice diligently, she clearly couldn't even be bothered to memorize it.
Seeing this, Zhong Heng was both amused and helpless, merely muttering: "Now that's what I call preferential treatment."
This time, the little white tiger responded, waving her paw with chin slightly raised, her disdainful gaze clearly stating: Isn't this only natural?
If Jianbing wanted to show favoritism, who could do anything about it? Especially since she was just a cub.
Zhong Heng didn't want to argue with her, nor did he need to. He treated the incident as a minor interlude and turned to discuss the situation of several junior brothers and sisters with Yun Qingyue. Everything else was manageable, but among Mount Mingxia's seven personal disciples, three had been eliminated, yet the Outer Sect disciple Chu Yang continued to advance vigorously. Now the defeated junior brothers and sisters would likely face a difficult time.
Sure enough, when Yun Qingyue and Zhong Heng returned together to their guest quarters on Mount Tianyang, three of the five junior disciples were missing. They didn't need to ask to know that those three had certainly gone into seclusion to cultivate. If not for the imminent Three Sect Martial Arts Competition, some would have probably already left the mountain to gain experience.
Yun Qingyue remained noncommittal about this, but later specifically visited Peak Master Qingyu to inform her master of the situation.
After hearing this, Qingyu, whose face typically showed little expression, slightly furrowed her brows, finally commenting: "Unworthy of great responsibility!"
These words were certainly not meant to reproach the disciples for being eliminated and bringing shame. In fact, for these disciples whom she had barely met a few times, Qingyu had neither invested much nor expected much. But what kind of behavior was it to hide away in one's den after a loss? No matter how inadequate they were, they should at least watch the entire competition to understand the gap between themselves and the top senior brothers and sisters of the sect, so they could clearly know what direction to work toward.
However, as mentioned before, Qingyu had neither invested much in her disciples nor expected much from them. Therefore, she only had these four words of evaluation for the three who had returned to the peak, then said no more about them, instead asking Yun Qingyue a couple of questions.
Regardless, Yun Qingyue was Mount Mingxia's senior disciple and the future peak master. Additionally, Yun Qingyue had been personally brought back by Qingyu, and her spiritual root and talent were highly compatible with her own. Almost all of Qingyu's limited care for her disciples was bestowed upon her.
Yun Qingyue honestly answered her master's questions and received some guidance from her master. By the time she returned to her guest quarters, the sky had already turned completely dark.
Then, unsurprisingly, as soon as she entered the door, she was pounced upon by the little white tiger.
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While Yun Qingyue went to see Peak Master Qingyu, the little white tiger, not wanting to face the master's cold expression, returned to the guest quarters first. Once the door was closed, she immediately wrote down the three characters "Yun Qing Yue" on the ground, reviewing them once to avoid forgetting.
The system, which had been quiet for a long time, suddenly spoke up, sounding somewhat sour: "Host, do you know what you look like right now?"
Hearing this, the little white tiger didn't even lift her head, just happily looking at the three characters on the ground, casually replying: "Like what?"
The system was merciless, cutting straight to the point: "Like a stalker."
The subtle smile on her tiger face gradually disappeared, and then she raised her paw, very skillfully swatting the system away—what stalker? She just found this world's writing too complex and wanted to practice a couple more times to memorize it.
The system cooperatively allowed itself to be swatted away, then skillfully flew back, muttering something unintelligible, certainly nothing pleasant.
After a while, Jiang Mo suddenly asked again: "System, we've been here for more than two months now. You said earlier that it would take another month to complete the text deciphering, so have you recognized some characters by now?"
This statement made the system sound illiterate, and it immediately became dissatisfied. It puffed up its non-existent chest and said: "Of course! The system hasn't been wasting energy; it's been collecting information about this world all along. Text is just one aspect. There's also the history, legends, treasures, including cultivation techniques... the system has been diligently collecting data on all of it."
This was the effort of a disconnected system. Although it currently seemed as useless as its host, as long as it continued to collect data so diligently, its future prospects were clearly promising.
But the future was always distant, and Jiang Mo didn't want to discuss this at the moment. She merely asked: "Then do you know how to write my name?"
The two characters "Jiang Mo" weren't obscure, at least much more common than the "Yue" in "Yun Qing Yue." The system had been deciphering text for two months already, and it did indeed know these two characters.
Originally, upon hearing that the host needed something, the system felt somewhat smug, wanting to hear a few words of praise from the host. But before it could speak, its intentions seemed to have been seen through by the host. Then it saw the little white tiger's tender little paw's claws suddenly extend, covered with a faint golden light, leaving a claw mark on the floor with one scratch.
Threat, a naked threat. Even though it knew it had no physical form and wouldn't be harmed by such means, the system instantly yielded. Without a second's delay, the system light orb directly transformed into a character in midair, ingratiatingly saying: "Host, this is the character 'Jiang'."
The little white tiger gave a barely perceptible snort, but her gaze fixed unblinkingly on the character in midair. Then she practiced writing this twisted text in her mind. Without her needing to speak, the system, which had some ability to sense its host's intentions since being bound to her, automatically transformed again, becoming another character, saying once more: "Host, this is the character 'Mo'."
After another round of practice and memorization, once Jiang Mo was certain these two characters were also deeply imprinted in her mind, she finally left the system to practice on her own.
The little white tiger might not have received a bloodline inheritance, but the white tiger divine beast's talent was clearly extraordinary. Earlier, she had watched Yun Qingyue gather spiritual energy to write in the air, and then seen Zhong Heng perform the same operation, gaining some vague insights.
Now, taking advantage of Senior Sister's absence, Jiang Mo began self-learning based on those insights... Golden spiritual energy gradually gathered in the void, initially just a chaotic mass, then slowly stretching and extending into shapes and straight lines. But perhaps due to the little white tiger's insufficient cultivation and spiritual energy, the gathered spiritual energy only maintained its form for a few breaths before disintegrating and disappearing.
Jiang Mo didn't get discouraged. Tilting her head, she carefully recalled the previous operation, then raised her paw to try again. The system, seeing this, didn't disturb her, secretly flying to rest atop the host's head, watching the tiger earnestly learn to write.
The little white tiger practiced straight until nightfall, with the golden characters in midair crooked and barely recognizable.
The system observed, commenting that they looked like "dog scratch writing," but after being swatted away again by the little white tiger, it corrected itself, calling them "tiger scratch writing." Joking aside, it had to admit that its host was truly talented, learning to write in the air with spiritual energy without anyone teaching her. The unsightly characters were just temporary; once she practiced controlling spiritual energy more perfectly, her writing would naturally improve.
But there was no more time for practice tonight, as the system suddenly sensed Yun Qingyue's return and promptly reminded: "Host, Senior Sister is back." Then it added: "Do you want to show her your tiger scratch writing? And the claw marks on the floor."
The system's words had already disrupted the little white tiger's control over spiritual energy; the awkward golden characters in midair trembled, then shattered completely. Looking at this scene, she shook her head, not continuing to write, but turned toward the door, then pounced into Yun Qingyue's embrace the moment she entered. As for the claw marks she had scratched on the floor to threaten the system... As the majestic Jianbing, did she need to concern herself with a mere floor panel?
The system didn't know her exact thoughts, otherwise its feelings would have been quite complex—the host had once turned the system mall upside down looking for a way to repair Senior Sister's floor, and that hadn't been too long ago, had it?
But the floor wasn't really the focus. Yun Qingyue noticed at a glance but didn't say anything, and her usual coldness seemed to soften a bit when faced with the enthusiastic baby tiger. While petting the tiger, she explained her late return, finally saying: "I only taught you my name earlier. Would you like me to teach you other characters now?"
As she spoke, she raised her fingertip, effortlessly writing "Jianbing" in the void, her handwriting upright and elegant with a subtle sharpness.
It was beautiful calligraphy, and the little white tiger's eyes brightened slightly. However, after Yun Qingyue told her those two characters were "Jianbing," the little white tiger's original plan to practice her writing before showing Senior Sister her own name immediately wavered—a name is very important to a person; in some sense, it's proof of your existence. Jianbing was the white tiger's name, but not hers.
The little white tiger hesitated for a moment, raised her tiger paw, but didn't practice the new "Jianbing" characters that Yun Qingyue had taught. Instead, she began gathering points of golden light in midair. Then the golden light twisted and stretched into lines, slowly forming two crooked golden characters.
Writing two characters at once seemed somewhat strenuous for the little white tiger, so these golden characters only existed for two breaths before shattering. But unlike before when they would disappear without a trace after breaking, under the little white tiger's control, the shattered golden characters transformed into specks of golden light. At first glance, they resembled a swarm of fireflies dancing in the night, creating a somewhat beautiful artistic conception.
Yun Qingyue also seemed somewhat surprised. Her gaze lingered on those specks of golden light for a moment, then when she spoke, though her tone was soft, it seemed to carry some indescribable emotion: "Jiang Mo... that is, your name?!"
Jiang Mo hadn't thought too much about it. As she heard these two words slowly pronounced from Senior Sister's lips, only an inexpressible joy spread through her heart.