When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

When Jiang Mo revealed her name to Yun Qingyue, she hadn't thought much of it; it was simply the most basic self-introduction when two individuals spend time together. Additionally, since Yun Qingyue had taught her to write earlier, beginning with her own name, Jiang Mo naturally responded in kind, almost instinctively.

However, this simple matter became far more complex from Yun Qingyue's perspective.

Do divine beasts have names? Of course they do. Just as the people of Xuanqing Sect addressed the two divine beasts—the Black Tortoise as Zhiming and the White Tiger as Jianbing. But these were merely names given by humans to divine beasts. Though tacitly accepted by the divine beasts, this was no different from calling humans "human." One white tiger is Jianbing, two white tigers are also Jianbing, three white tigers still Jianbing... a family of three could use a single name.

This was naturally unrealistic. In truth, human influence on divine beasts wasn't as significant as people imagined—each divine beast was born with its own name, known to them from birth, without requiring humans to bestow another.

Legend had it that these were names given by their parents during gestation. But there were also rumors claiming that divine beasts' names were bestowed by the Heavenly Dao, and thus these names were intimately connected to their very beings.

Extending from the latter, many legends, both true and false, had been passed down.

One legend told of a great shaman in ancient times who killed a divine beast through a curse using its name, thereby obtaining the beast's fur, flesh, and even a portion of its divine power. Another legend from tens of thousands of years ago spoke of a diviner who needed an Azure Dragon's horn for cultivation and used the dragon's name to divine its location, set an ambush, and ultimately achieved his goal. Yet another legend from thousands of years ago told of a curse master who accidentally learned a divine beast's name and attempted to forcibly contract it through a curse, resulting in the divine beast's self-destruction rather than submission...

Among these various tales, whose veracity remained unknown, all the divine beasts suffered due to their names.

Thus, thousands of years later, no divine beast would casually reveal its name, especially to humans. For instance, Divine Lord Zhiming had been venerated by Xuanqing Sect for eight thousand years and held considerable affection for the sect, yet almost no one knew his true name.

Ordinary people might not know these things, believing Divine Lord Zhiming was simply called Zhiming, but Yun Qingyue was no ordinary person. As Mount Mingxia's senior disciple and future peak master, the authority granted to her by the sect differed greatly from ordinary disciples or even regular personal disciples. She had access to the vast majority of the sect's ancient texts, and being clever and studious, she had long since understood these matters.

At this moment, facing the little white tiger's pure, joyful gaze, Yun Qingyue's emotions were extremely complex. She embraced the innocent cub tightly, unable to express anything else, and could only caution: "Little white tiger, remember, don't tell others your name in the future."

Jiang Mo blinked, somewhat bewildered and vaguely disappointed—she had gone to such lengths to finally reveal her name to Senior Sister, only for the latter to still call her "little white tiger"... Was it because her name wasn't pleasant enough to hear?

The little white tiger grew somewhat disheartened, curling her tail around herself, dejected.

Yun Qingyue naturally noticed her low spirits and wanted to offer an explanation, but ultimately said nothing. She expertly smoothed the little white tiger's fur, then lifted her chin, asking: "Alright, enough of that. Do you still want to continue learning characters with me?"

The little white tiger swished her tail, her expression downcast, having lost her earlier eagerness and interest in literacy. However, remaining illiterate was out of the question; the simplest way to communicate with Senior Sister was still through writing. So she reluctantly nodded, without displaying any aversion to learning, and quickly rallied her spirits to look back at Yun Qingyue.

Seeing this, Yun Qingyue seemed to smile faintly and began teaching her.

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Learning the little white tiger's name had been an unexpected occurrence, and for Yun Qingyue, teaching the little white tiger to read was merely a minor interlude in her life. With the sect competition underway and the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition approaching, she truly couldn't spare too much attention for other matters.

After a night passed, the competition continued the next day.

The little white tiger had studied characters with Senior Sister until midnight. Although she had cultivated afterward to restore her energy, perhaps due to her human habits of sleeping—and since becoming a tiger, no one had demanded otherwise from her—she found it difficult to adapt to this method of replacing sleep with cultivation. From the moment they left and encountered Zhong Heng on their way, she kept yawning, her tiger eyes bleary, appearing thoroughly exhausted.

Zhong Heng, as always, carried his heavy sword on his back, standing tall and spirited, like a straight young poplar. Seeing the little white tiger's wilted state, he was somewhat curious and approached to ask: "What's wrong with Jianbing?"

The little white tiger lazily raised her eyes to look at him once, nestling in Senior Sister's embrace without responding.

A hint of helplessness flickered in Yun Qingyue's eyes as she replied: "Didn't I mention teaching her to read yesterday? We studied until late, so she's drowsy today."

Zhong Heng found this truly peculiar. Since he had begun drawing qi into his body to cultivate until now, it had been nearly thirty years since he had experienced the sensation of drowsiness. Missing just a single night's sleep was nothing; a moment's meditation would suffice—how could one remain so exhausted?!

Fortunately, although Zhong Heng was straightforward, he wasn't foolish. There was no need to make unnecessary remarks and offend Jianbing, so he didn't say more. The two people and one tiger quickly flew by sword to Little Spirit Peak, where they found the plaza's layout had changed. The ten arenas from the previous two days had been reduced again, merging two by two into five arenas, though each arena had doubled in size.

This made sense. Although the previous days' arena matches had been exciting, for disciples with profound cultivation, defeating an opponent might only require a single move. But now, with fewer people remaining and increasingly powerful opponents, matches like yesterday's between Xu Huang and Bei Luo had nearly demolished the arena. If two senior disciples were to meet, a small arena might not provide sufficient space for them to display their skills.

However, since opponents were determined by drawing lots, what if two peaks' senior disciples encountered each other early on? Wouldn't one of them be eliminated early, missing the chance to enter the top ten, let alone participate in the later Three Sect competition?

The little white tiger, though muddleheaded, had these thoughts and finally perked up, looking toward the jade wall.

The two people and one tiger weren't particularly late, but neither were they early; Little Spirit Peak's plaza was already crowded and bustling. At this moment, many people were standing before the jade wall, indicating that the lot-drawing arrangements had already been determined, and everyone was checking the results.

When Yun Qingyue and Zhong Heng arrived, the disciples observing the jade wall quickly made way, soon clearing a path for them.

The two nodded slightly as they moved forward, then looked up to indeed see that the names on the jade wall had been rearranged. They each checked for their opponents, while the literacy-learning little white tiger sat up straight, her tiger eyes bright and alert as she gazed at the jade wall, beginning to search for Yun Qingyue's name—not easy at all; the competition had progressed more than halfway before she could finally recognize Senior Sister's name on the jade wall.

Perhaps because she didn't know many characters yet, or perhaps because the three characters "Yun Qing Yue" left the deepest impression on her, the little white tiger didn't spend much effort before almost immediately spotting Senior Sister's name among the nearly thirty names.

The little white tiger felt somewhat pleased, and upon closer inspection, she wanted to laugh because she also recognized the opponent's name—who else but Zhong Heng?

The young man had been bouncing around these past few days, eager to compete with Senior Sister, and now he had finally gotten his wish. The only issue was that they had met too early; after Zhong Heng lost to Senior Sister, he would miss out on a better ranking... As for the possibility of Senior Sister losing, the little white tiger hadn't even considered it; her confidence in Senior Sister was absolute.

After seeing the arrangement, the little white tiger gave Zhong Heng a meaningful look. However, the young man showed no unusual expression; instead, he pointed at the jade wall, laughing heartily: "Look, Senior Sister, it's finally our turn to compete."

Yun Qingyue's expression also remained unchanged; she merely nodded slightly, seemingly unconcerned about this "internal strife."

Just as the little white tiger's confusion arose, Zhong Heng said: "Fortunately, the rules have changed. Although I really want to defeat Senior Sister, if I lose, I'll still have another chance to fight. Otherwise, being eliminated just like that would truly be hard to accept."

Indeed, the rules written on the jade wall had changed. Perhaps fearing that senior disciples might meet too early, or that elite disciples might eliminate each other, allowing weaker ones to advance, the arena competition rules had been modified starting from this round. First, the previous bye positions for odd numbers had been eliminated. Second, arena elimination was no longer determined by a single match. Each person would compete in at least five matches against five different opponents, with the top ten selected based on the number of victories.

This way, no matter how lucky someone was, they couldn't always face weaker opponents, and no matter how unlucky someone was, they wouldn't always compete against senior disciples. The final top ten might not be 100% matched in strength, but they would at least be convincing, avoiding unnecessary eliminations.

As for rankings above the top ten, they would naturally be determined by one-on-one matches, with arrangements to be made later.

This was the competition's convention, so Zhong Heng and the others accepted it quite smoothly. The little white tiger, however, still couldn't understand complex text and was left confused. Seeing her perplexity, Yun Qingyue explained everything clearly in a few words.

Afterward, Yun Qingyue and Zhong Heng didn't interact much. After viewing the jade wall, they both headed toward their assigned arena—coincidentally, not only would the senior sister and brother face each other in their first match, but they had also been scheduled for the very first bout. With less than half an hour until the competition began, the arena's edge was already crowded with spectators, and the two combatants naturally needed to proceed quickly.

With Mount Mingxia's senior sister and second brother facing off, spectators were predominantly Mount Mingxia disciples. The little white tiger was entrusted to one of Mount Mingxia's junior sisters, then after Yun Qingyue gave her a few instructions, she turned and ascended the arena with Zhong Heng.

On the arena, Zhong Heng drew his broad heavy sword, assumed a starting stance, and eagerly said: "Senior Sister, please guide me."

Yun Qingyue gave him a cool glance, raised her hand to draw her sword, and immediately sent a frosty sword energy slashing toward Zhong Heng.

Zhong Heng didn't seem surprised; the fighting spirit in his eyes intensified as he raised his sword to block the sword energy. Simultaneously, a flash of red spiritual light appeared on his broad heavy sword, forming a semicircular spiritual shield in front of him. The next moment, the red spiritual shield rapidly turned white, frost spreading quickly across it. In less than a moment, the entire spiritual shield froze solid, then gradually began to crack.

The first move was merely a test, but Zhong Heng looked at the shattering spiritual shield with trepidation. He tightened his grip on his sword, not daring to give Senior Sister another chance to strike first, channeled his spiritual energy, and attacked Yun Qingyue.