Chapter 83 : Is She a Pig
When the unexpected change occurred, the little white tiger was in the middle of a beautiful dream.
In her dream, she had finally transformed into human form and was accompanying Senior Sister as they traveled the world together. The details of their experiences were unclear, but the scene shifted to her holding Senior Sister's hand, about to confess her feelings. The words "I like you" were almost uttered when, in that instant, the dream suddenly shattered. She plunged into endless darkness, wanting to wake up but unable to.
In her consciousness, a voice seemed to be whispering something in her ear, but she couldn't make out exactly what it was saying. At first, she patiently tried to listen, but after fruitless attempts, she gradually became irritated.
Where did this fly come from? Disturbing her sweet dreams was bad enough, but it kept making such noise!
Jiang Mo felt somewhat annoyed, hazily wanting to cover her ears, but couldn't even raise her hands. What she didn't know was that the remnant soul attempting to erase her and possess her body was even more annoyed, or rather, enraged...
Everyone knows divine beasts are nurtured by heaven and earth, protected by the Heavenly Dao's favor. Attempting to possess them would be a grave offense against the Heavenly Dao. The remnant soul's bold possession attempt came with a determination to die—when it crashed into the little white tiger, it had even considered the consequence of being obliterated. Yet surprisingly, entering this divine beast's body proved unexpectedly easy, and it discovered that the soul beneath this body was pitifully weak.
The damaged soul couldn't comprehend why a divine beast's spirit would be so diminished, assuming it was due to the little white tiger's congenital weakness. It was overjoyed, believing it had heaven's assistance, and immediately sought to erase this weak soul and occupy the body.
If it could possess this body and become a divine beast, wouldn't it soar to great heights? Divine beasts reportedly don't face lightning tribulations during advancement—only during final ascension would the Heavenly Dao symbolically strike a few times, and even that was to help divine beasts eliminate impurities from their bodies, refining them for easier integration into the upper realms. Thinking of this, the remnant soul, which had been struck countless times by tribulation lightning, was almost envious.
But this was a good thing for the remnant soul attempting possession. Since lightning tribulations are trials of the Heavenly Dao, one might even face a heavenly Inquiry of the Heart, where the soul directly confronts the Heavenly Dao and nothing can be concealed. But by avoiding all lightning tribulations, the chances of the Heavenly Dao discovering its possession of a divine beast's body would be greatly reduced.
At worst, it wouldn't ascend via tribulation in the future. Wouldn't it be good enough to reign supreme in the cultivation world for life?
The remnant soul grew increasingly excited with these thoughts, but all its fantasies ultimately ended before that weak soul—it certainly hadn't misjudged; this soul was indeed pitifully weak. If it wanted to devour it, one gulp would suffice without even causing a burp!
But it couldn't touch her. Between them seemed to be an invisible membrane, firmly protecting that weak soul.
What was this—could it be the Heavenly Dao's protection for divine beasts? The remnant soul was surprised and fearful, momentarily even contemplating escape. But after calming down, the desperate courage, or rather obsession, took precedence again. Especially when it attempted to attack that soul and, though blocked by the membrane without success, suffered no rebounding damage to itself, it became even more unwilling to give up.
Nothing is unbreakable, and even if something truly is, how could one be content without trying one's utmost?!
The remnant soul thought this way, so it began frantically attacking that membrane, using every possible means. At one point, it even tried to swallow the little white tiger's soul along with the membrane, but finding it completely indigestible, spat it out and continued its struggle.
Jiang Mo's soul, protected by the membrane, found the clamor irritating; the remnant soul, unable to break through after prolonged attempts, grew increasingly agitated; and the silently enduring membrane... or rather, the system, was nearly in tears.
Yes, that's right—the membrane protecting Jiang Mo's soul wasn't the Heavenly Dao's protection but the system's.
This originated from the accident at the initial binding when the system's operational error caused the host's immediate death, forcing it to bring her soul across time and space to this place. What they experienced wasn't simply described by the four words "crossing time and space." Jiang Mo's soul felt nothing, opening her eyes to rebirth, but they had actually faced many risks, the most basic being temporal turbulence and world barriers.
To protect the host's soul in the temporal turbulence, the system had no choice but to transform into a barrier that encapsulated her, ultimately shielding her by consuming energy—this was one reason the system was now so weak, easily discovered by the Heavenly Dao and disabled by tribulation lightning. Another reason was that the system wasn't designed for rapid transmigration and lacked the function to carry the host across worlds. Besides, it was still a baby system!
In short, even though the system had malfunctioned and its code was scrambled, the basic program protecting the host's soul remained intact. Compared to temporal turbulence, a Spirit Division great demon remnant soul's attack was merely a drizzle.
If the system hadn't been disabled by tribulation lightning first, letting the remnant soul attack for a hundred or eight hundred years wouldn't break through its protection.
But the problem was that the system had been disabled by lightning, and even though the basic program was still diligently protecting its host, its energy supply was depleted. There wouldn't be issues in the short term, but if the remnant soul continued attacking like this, should the barrier have even the slightest breach, the host's weak soul would be no match for a Spirit Division great demon's soul fragment, even if that soul fragment was severely damaged.
The system was forced to restart from hibernation, and facing such peril, it naturally grew anxious. What frustrated the system was that its host remained completely unaware of the danger, still sleeping soundly, impossible to wake up!
Was she a pig? No, that couldn't be right—it distinctly remembered binding to a human host before transmigration!
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Jiang Mo's consciousness was jolted awake as if electrocuted. Upon awakening, her ears were filled with a jumble of sounds, like noise or some incomprehensible foreign language, making her almost think she had transmigrated again.
Opening her eyes... or at least what counted as opening her eyes.
Jiang Mo's soul opened its eyes, and the first thing she saw was complete emptiness, leaving her unaware of her location. But the muttering "noise" in her ears never stopped, even growing more excited upon her awakening, the tone becoming much more urgent.
This confirmed to her that the sound was someone speaking to her, not just noise, though she couldn't understand it—of course she couldn't understand, because the system had malfunctioned, and its speech was likewise scrambled—but she could hear the urgency in the other's tone, making her instinctively become vigilant. Then, turning around, she was startled.
What was that? Some kind of monster? Had she transmigrated to some apocalyptic world?!
Jiang Mo was genuinely frightened by the remnant soul's ferocious appearance, but she quickly realized she hadn't transmigrated. Looking down by chance, she discovered she still had four furry legs, still the black and white little white tiger.
At this moment, Jiang Mo hadn't realized she wasn't in physical reality but in a soul state, nor had she realized that her soul had transformed from human to white tiger after the Heavenly Dao's inquiry of her heart.
Looking at the remnant soul before her, she felt only fear, and beyond fear, disgust.
Faced with such an unknown situation, coupled with an instinctive sense of crisis, Jiang Mo's first reaction was to escape.
But the other wouldn't let her go. Even seeing her awake, even with the membrane blocking harm to her, it wouldn't allow her to leave.
After such persistent threatening, though Jiang Mo was essentially a salted fish, even a salted fish wouldn't meekly submit to being slaughtered—after several futile attempts to escape, even the good-tempered Jiang Mo grew impatient and irritated, her fear rapidly diminishing.
Indeed, this was the cultivation world, not modern civilized society where one could always step back.
The little white tiger's eyes narrowed slightly, finally feeling that this remnant soul hurt her eyes, so she instinctively channeled spiritual energy to attack it. This might be impossible for ordinary souls, but the little white tiger didn't know she was in a soul state. She believed she was using spiritual energy against the other, and spiritual energy indeed obeyed her will, attacking the opponent without mercy.
This was a special ability bestowed upon divine beasts by the Heavenly Dao, making them unafraid of soul attacks. Even though Jiang Mo had obtained her position through possession, she had passed the Heavenly Dao's inquiry, and her soul was now transforming into a divine beast's spirit.
The spiritual energy attack passed through the system's membrane and accurately struck the remnant soul, immediately stunning it. Moreover, given its original damaged and weakened state, this strike not only dazed it but also caused a significant scattering of its already loosely gathered soul force.
Perhaps because the scattered soul force was too minimal to pose a threat, a strand floated through the system's membrane, drifting toward the little white tiger's position. The little white tiger sniffed, smelling nothing, but instinctively felt something enticing. Not the elegant fragrance of flowers or herbs, but a food-like aroma, indescribable yet more tempting to a tiger than even braised pork.
Recalling the smell of braised pork, the little white tiger unconsciously swallowed. As that strand of soul force drifted closer, the appetizing aroma grew stronger, causing the little white tiger to instinctively reach out a paw, grab it, and put it in her mouth.
Soul force itself is a manifestation of energy; once eaten, it didn't even need to be chewed, immediately converting into energy absorbed by the tiger.
The little white tiger didn't taste anything, but felt her spirit clear instantly, with an indescribable sense of satisfaction sweeping over her, even better than the feeling of leveling up in the game. She felt somewhat euphoric, and only after regaining her senses did she realize what she had done, generating some fear and regret. After all, even kindergarteners know not to eat things picked up outside—with bad luck, it could be fatal!
Fortunately, the remnant soul's soul force wasn't harmful to the little white tiger but rather a kind of "tonic," a highly nourishing one at that—the little white tiger's regret lasted less than a second, and then her gaze toward that remnant soul became heated, as if looking at a treasure.
She was mistaken; this wasn't some eye-searing monster, but a pot of fragrant braised pork!
The little white tiger was so tempted that she almost drooled, immediately rubbing her paws together, all fear gone. Then, seizing an opportunity, she eagerly pounced, clinging to the remnant soul with an "aowu" and taking a big bite.
The system was cheating here—the barrier that the remnant soul couldn't break through no matter what seemed nonexistent when the little white tiger counterattacked. This bite was solid, taking not just soul force but a complete piece of soul fragment.
The next moment, the little white tiger's bright tiger eyes grew even brighter.