When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

Faced with Peak Master Qingyu, who was ten times colder than Senior Sister, the little white tiger ultimately didn't dare cause trouble—she slightly shrank her neck, attempting to free her scruff from Qingyu's grasp, but after failing, she obediently flopped back onto her chair.

Fortunately, the high platform offered an expansive view, allowing one to take in all the activity on the arenas below.

In just this brief moment, Yun Qingyue and Zhong Heng had already landed on their respective arenas and even exchanged courtesies with their opponents. The battle-eager Zhong Heng was already swinging his heavy sword at his opponent. Yun Qingyue was half a beat slower, but when the two senior disciples' confrontation began, it immediately manifested as a clash of ice and fire, with fire sea and ice plain each occupying half the arena.

This was the first formidable opponent Yun Qingyue had encountered after several matches. She responded with measured control on the arena, but the little white tiger on the high platform grew genuinely tense at this sight. In her excitement, her claws emerged, leaving several small holes in the chair beneath her.

Qingyu might have glanced back, or perhaps not, but Sect Leader Qingxiao directly turned to look. His gaze was too powerful to ignore, causing the little white tiger, who had been fixated on the arena match, to shudder involuntarily. When she looked back, she met Sect Leader Qingxiao's smiling eyes directly... It felt like being caught doing something wrong, suddenly making her feel guilty.

The little white tiger secretly moved her paws, trying to cover the small holes in the chair. Sect Leader Qingxiao saw this but didn't say anything, merely smiling faintly before turning back to watch the matches below.

Jiang Mo sighed in relief, unaware that the seemingly unconcerned Sect Leader Qingxiao had already begun a private voice transmission conversation with Peak Master Qinglan. Naturally, Jianbing was the topic of conversation—through those small holes, the Sect Leader had noticed the little white tiger's considerable growth over these two months and was inquiring about her pill consumption.

Peak Master Qinglan had been watching the disciples' matches and was genuinely startled to receive the transmission.

Being pill-obsessed, he had been so immersed in pill refining these past two months that he had almost completely forgotten this matter. When the Sect Leader asked, he froze momentarily before sheepishly admitting the truth: "Ah, Sect Leader Brother, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten. I only sent two batches of Spirit Nurturing Pills to Niece Qingyue..."

Originally, since the little white tiger loved taking pills and they had a good effect on her leveling, Sect Leader Qingxiao had given her special advantages, personally sending a message to Qinglan to refine pills for Jianbing. Qinglan had agreed and initially kept this in mind, arranging with Yun Qingyue to modify the pills as needed, with no limit on the supply of lower-grade pills.

However, after sending two batches of Spirit Nurturing Pills, which Yun Qingyue accepted on the little white tiger's behalf, there had been no further response. As time passed, Qinglan had forgotten about it. Now he inexplicably felt guilty, as if he were back in his youth, caught by his senior sect brother neglecting his duties due to pill refining. He immediately wanted to make amends.

Thus, just as the little white tiger had relaxed for barely two minutes, not yet able to focus on watching the match, a jade bottle suddenly appeared before her eyes. Following the source of the jade bottle, she saw that Peak Master Qinglan had somehow taken the empty seat on her other side and was using a tone reminiscent of someone enticing a child: "These are newly refined Spirit Nurturing Pills. Would Jianbing like to try them?"

Nurturing Essence Pill, Spirit Nurturing Pill, Spirit Nurturing Pill... clearly a series.

Earlier, the little white tiger had indeed relied on taking pills to level up and sustain herself, naturally preferring more such pills. But now her greater concern was her combat power, which could never catch up to her level, so she had no interest in these pills.

Never mind some Spirit Nurturing Pills—she still had an entire basket of Golden Scale Fruits in her storage ring that she didn't dare eat, so she naturally declined this experience point gift package... Her tiger face solemn, she raised a small paw and pushed back the jade bottle Qinglan offered, indicating she didn't need it. Compared to experience packages, she was more interested in watching Senior Sister's match right now.

Peak Master Qinglan was an eighth-grade pill master who, for countless years, had been sought after for his pill refining, enjoying a respected position and unquestioned authority. Having his personally offered pills returned was a first for him.

He couldn't help but be startled, instinctively looking toward his senior sect brother. Seeing the latter's furrowed brow, he gave a start and somehow thought of the Golden Scale Fruits that Divine Lord Zhiming had given Jianbing a few days ago, so he blurted out: "It's fine if Jianbing doesn't like Spirit Nurturing Pills. If I use Golden Scale Fruits as the main ingredient to refine Golden Scale Pills, they should be greatly beneficial to Jianbing's cultivation."

The little white tiger's ears twitched at his words, but she remained completely unmoved, feeling only that he was interrupting her match-watching. She even shifted her body slightly toward Peak Master Qingyu, clearly adopting a posture that indicated annoyance and unwillingness to engage.

Peak Master Qingyu noticed her approach and looked down, causing the little white tiger to immediately bare her teeth in a fawning smile.

However, the master was equally unmoved, giving only a cold, indifferent glance before raising her head again to look at the arenas below—on the arena, the magical battle between Yun Qingyue and Bai Xu was intense. One excelled in fire techniques, the other had unparalleled sword intent; after several exchanges, they had not only frozen and burned the arena into fragments but even caused the surrounding protective formations to waver. The elder presiding over the arena hurriedly upgraded the protection to avoid innocent bystanders being affected.

The matches between senior disciples were truly formidable. In comparison, Yun Qingyue's previous matches hardly qualified as skirmishes, and even her battle with Zhong Heng now seemed like casual guidance, causing the spectators below to exclaim in admiration.

The little white tiger's tail began to sway again, not only sharing in the glory but also feeling somewhat proud.

Qinglan was thoroughly ignored and could only look helplessly at his senior sect brother, using his gaze to indicate he had tried his best. Seeing this, Sect Leader Qingxiao didn't say anything either, just shaking his head slightly to indicate it was fine.

It seemed Jianbing's cultivation no longer relied on pills, which was quite good.

༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺

The battle between Yun Qingyue and Bai Xu was quite intense, though clearly neither had any intention of fighting to the death in an arena match. Moreover, now was not the time to reveal all their trump cards, so while the battle seemed fierce, both were still holding back.

Fire came, ice went.

The sturdy arena finally collapsed under the strain with a rumbling sound.

Yun Qingyue and Bai Xu both leaped up. Among the five peaks' senior disciples, two had reached Nascent Soul—Su Hao from Mount Tianyang and Bei Luo from Mount Luoxing. Yun Qingyue and Bai Xu were both slightly short of this. And this slight difference was as vast as heaven and earth—ignoring everything else, just looking at the current situation, if they were at Nascent Soul, they could have drawn qi to float in the air, but since they weren't, they needed external aid to remain suspended.

Flying on a sword was a good choice, but Yun Qingyue held her sword in her hand and had no intention of drawing a spare flying sword. She lightly tapped her toes in the void and actually remained suspended without falling, causing a wave of surprise among the spectators below, who almost thought she had broken through to Nascent Soul.

However, that wasn't the case. If someone with sharp eyes and attentiveness observed carefully, they would discover that beneath Yun Qingyue's feet was actually a light, floating ice flower.

Across from her, Bai Xu had good eyesight but didn't find Yun Qingyue's ice-stepping flight unusual, because what he used to assist his suspension was even more surprising. It was a golden, glistening pill that he was stepping on.

Yun Qingyue couldn't help glancing at that pill, and Bai Xu caught her look, seemingly understanding the subtle emotion in the cold junior sister's eyes. He coughed lightly and explained: "This is a Thunder Fire Pill of my own design, freshly made and brought with me. It's for storing thunder and fire. This pill isn't meant to be consumed, so Junior Sister needn't worry."

In some sense, pill refiners and artifact crafters weren't that different. There were those who followed orthodox methods, and there were those who took unconventional paths, enjoying making strange inventions. Everyone was accustomed to this—as long as the pill being stepped on wasn't meant to be eaten, it was fine.

Hearing this, Yun Qingyue withdrew her gaze, pointed her sword at an angle, and said: "Senior Brother Bai, our match has reached this point today with no clear victor. Why don't we settle it with a single move? What do you think?"

Hearing this, Bai Xu smiled freely and replied: "As Junior Sister wishes."

Having agreed, they each prepared their moves. Bai Xu didn't bother with modesty; with a wave of his hand, a thread of fire light condensed into a line and wrapped toward Yun Qingyue. Though the fire line appeared to be just a thread, anyone who approached slightly would discover that its heat was astonishing, even three degrees more powerful than the sea of fire he had released earlier. If a cultivator of the same system encountered it, they would likely be suppressed immediately.

Yun Qingyue clearly sensed the danger, but her cold face showed no emotion as she swung her sword in a seemingly ordinary strike. Then frost gathered, forming countless swords that shot directly toward Bai Xu.

When ice swords collided with the fire line, they instantly melted, leaving almost no water vapor.

But what of it? There was only one fire line, and although it moved quickly under Bai Xu's control, it couldn't match the swiftness of the countless ice swords. Moreover, the latter's momentum was tremendous; any normal person seeing this scene would tremble with fear.

Bai Xu wasn't afraid, but raising his eyebrows, he found himself with nowhere to retreat. He had no choice but to wave his hand, raising several fire walls to block the ice swords.

He was quite forthright. Having agreed to determine victory with a single move, he consciously admitted defeat after being the first to use a second move. At the same time, the thread of fire that had been approaching Yun Qingyue vanished before her, not forcing her to respond awkwardly at the last moment to preserve his so-called face. His demeanor was gracious, not letting people feel that his concession diminished his dignity.

Yun Qingyue appreciated his gesture, sheathing her sword and bowing with cupped hands: "Thank you for showing mercy, Senior Brother."

Bai Xu blinked and laughed: "I'm the one who lost. Why thank me?"

After speaking, he turned and descended from the arena, going to apologize to his master. Fortunately, Peak Master Qinglan was pill-obsessed and didn't place much emphasis on victory or defeat in matches. In any case, even if all of Mount Qionghua's disciples were eliminated, as long as the sect needed pills, they wouldn't be treated poorly. Moreover, the internal atmosphere of Xuanqing Sect was good—though the five peaks competed, they were also close, and it was truly impossible to mistreat any peak.

Yun Qingyue subsequently returned to the high platform, also reporting to her master. Peak Master Qingyu nodded with satisfaction and offered a few words of encouragement. Zhong Heng had also won his match and returned. The second brother rarely caught his master in a good mood and received two words of praise, immediately beaming with joy.

The little white tiger was naturally delighted to see Senior Sister win again, achieving five victories in five matches. However, before she could pounce into the latter's arms, due to her angle of view, she first glimpsed Yun Qingyue's sword-holding hand—after the previous match, the sea of fire had burned across the entire arena, and even with the counterbalance of frost, Yun Qingyue, who had been fighting, was still burned. A string of small blisters on the back of her hand looked painful.

Seeing this, the little white tiger was immediately distressed, though the person involved seemed unaware.

After reporting to her master, Yun Qingyue stood right beside the little white tiger's chair. Unexpectedly, she felt a cool sensation on the back of her hand. Looking down, she saw the baby tiger withdrawing its head that had been brought close to her hand...