Chapter 100 : Little Perverted Tiger
"Glug, glug, glug..."
The little white tiger submerged herself in the spirit spring water, trying to calm down—after coming to her senses, she felt somewhat embarrassed. Senior Sister had merely exposed a bit of her collarbone, and before her transmigration, she had seen many more revealing sights, so why would she blush just from seeing that small bit of collarbone? It must be because the hot spring water was too warm, affecting her and making her feel flushed!
As she thought wildly about this, trying to convince herself, her thoughts kept drifting back to that glimpse of snow-white skin, and her heartbeat, which had just settled down, quickened again.
The little white tiger recognized her own strange reaction but instinctively avoided thinking deeply about it. She paddled around in the water, swimming a bit farther away from Yun Qingyue.
Time passed quietly. The spiritual energy in the spring had been completely absorbed, and the spirit stones the little white tiger had thrown in were merely a drop in the bucket. Yun Qingyue finally awoke from her meditation, and as soon as she opened her eyes, she spotted the little white tiger swimming away... "Away" wasn't really that far, of course, since the spirit spring wasn't very large to begin with, and she had already collected nearly half of the spring water. Even at her farthest, the little white tiger was less than a zhang away from her.
Yun Qingyue looked at the back of the little white tiger's head with confusion. Then she also noticed the complete absence of spiritual energy in the spring, and immediately misunderstood, thinking that the little white tiger had absorbed all the spiritual energy and was now avoiding her out of guilt.
But what did that matter? It was just normal cultivation.
Yun Qingyue shook her head inwardly, then examined herself internally and found that her injuries were already healed, which lightened her mood considerably. She raised her hand and beckoned, and an invisible force drew the distant little white tiger back to her. She casually stroked the tiger's head and asked, "When did you wake up? Was the lack of spiritual energy in the spring affecting your cultivation?"
The little white tiger was suddenly and unexpectedly at Senior Sister's side. Looking up, she discovered that due to Yun Qingyue's movement, her robe had loosened a bit more, revealing even more snow-white skin. Her face instantly flushed red: "No, I, I just woke up."
Yun Qingyue didn't believe her words. Even without checking, a Nascent Soul cultivator's powerful spiritual sense still allowed her to detect something unusual—the spiritual energy in the spring was indeed depleted, but there was still a faint trace of spiritual energy around her. Upon closer inspection, she discovered this was because the bottom of the pool was lined with spirit stones. These spirit stones hadn't been there before, and it was obvious who had placed them there.
Perhaps knowing that she couldn't fool Yun Qingyue, the little white tiger immediately changed the subject: "Senior Sister, how was your cultivation? Have your injuries improved? If the Azure Essence Spirit Marrow wasn't enough, we can use more."
"No need, I've fully recovered," Yun Qingyue replied as she stood up.
The sound of splashing water followed as droplets fell from her soaked robes, causing ripples in the calm spirit spring and making the little white tiger instinctively look away. But soon she regretted it and sneakily looked back, just in time to see Senior Sister walking toward the edge of the pool. Her snow-white robes clung to her body, wet, revealing her graceful figure completely.
The little white tiger was unconsciously entranced, and by the time she came to her senses, she had already been placed on the ground by Yun Qingyue, with a tap on her forehead. Even though Senior Sister didn't say anything, those beautiful crystal eyes seemed to be both smiling and not smiling, as if saying: little perverted tiger.
With a "whoosh," the tiger cub wasn't just red-faced—her entire body seemed about to burst into flames.
She opened her mouth wanting to explain something, but since Senior Sister hadn't said anything, she couldn't find the words to begin. When she looked up again, she found that Senior Sister's robes had dried completely in the blink of an eye and were neatly worn on her body, with no trace of the enchanting sight from before... Inexplicably, the tiger felt a bit disappointed.
Due to this little interlude, the human and tiger forgot about the anomaly with the spirit spring. Or rather, Yun Qingyue hadn't paid much attention to it in the first place, and since the spirit spring was wild, why worry about its spiritual energy being depleted after use?
After quickly tidying up, Yun Qingyue removed the barrier, and the human and tiger walked out from behind the waterfall.
It wasn't until they returned to the canyon and saw that outside it was still bright daylight with the sun high in the sky that Yun Qingyue realized they hadn't spent much time cultivating in the spirit spring. Considering this, the little white tiger's speed of absorbing the Azure Essence Spirit Marrow was indeed extremely fast. Surprised, Yun Qingyue couldn't help but advise her to cultivate properly before returning all the remaining Azure Essence Spirit Marrow to her.
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Though the human and tiger hadn't spent long bathing, by the time they returned to the guest quarters on Mount Tianyang, the sun was already setting in the west.
The arena at Mount Lingxia had already concluded for the day. Under the remaining glow of the sunset, numerous streaks of light scattered in different directions. One of them was heading toward the guest quarters, and when it landed, the figure revealed was none other than Zhong Heng.
The two parties returned almost one after another. Zhong Heng hadn't delayed at all—as soon as the arena at Mount Lingxia concluded, he hurried back. On one hand, he was concerned about his Senior Sister's injuries; on the other hand, he wanted to bring her the retention stone to view as soon as possible. Even though the images in the retention stone couldn't compare to being present at the scene and feeling the power of the battles, it was still better to see the opponent's techniques before the competition.
However, Zhong Heng hadn't expected that in his hurry to return, he would encounter his Senior Sister coming back from outside. Looking more closely, he was surprised to discover that her injuries had healed so quickly. Along with his surprise came joy, and he immediately stepped forward to ask, "Senior Sister, your injuries have healed?!"
Yun Qingyue nodded, but didn't explain much: "They're already healed."
Hearing this, Zhong Heng was extremely pleased and quickly handed her the recorded retention stone: "That's perfect. Senior Sister, please look at the next few arena matches. Your opponents tomorrow are not simple—knowing both yourself and your enemy is the way to never be defeated."
Yun Qingyue accepted the retention stone and thanked him, but didn't rush to view it. Instead, she asked first, "How were today's match results?"
Zhong Heng, who had been excited just moments ago, suddenly changed expression upon hearing this, looking both conflicted and strange. However, he didn't keep her in suspense and immediately said, "After Senior Sister's match with Senior Brother Bei Luo in the first round, the second match was between the Buddha Sect brothers Tanming and Tan Xin. After a brief exchange, Tanming conceded. In the third match, Senior Brother Su Hao faced Jiang Shen from Tiandao Sect. He was truly formidable. Senior Brother Su Hao fought to mutual injury with him and only won by half a move in the end. As for the fourth match..."
When he got to the fourth match, Zhong Heng's expression became even stranger: "The fourth match was Chu Yang against You Yi. I don't know if You Yi underestimated his opponent or what happened, but somehow he inexplicably lost."
Yun Qingyue had been listening quietly, but at this point she showed a bit of surprise: "Lost inexplicably?"
Zhong Heng nodded, confirming her statement: "Yes, inexplicably lost. I was watching beneath the arena at the time, and I don't know what happened to him. He was fighting well with Chu Yang, then suddenly screamed in agony and fainted." He pointed to the retention stone in Yun Qingyue's hand: "The elders said he might have experienced cultivation deviation. I recorded the whole process—Senior Sister, you can see for yourself."
Yun Qingyue found this explanation strange, because You Yi had also been her opponent before. He had deep cultivation and a steady temperament, not the type to experience cultivation deviation so casually. Her grip on the retention stone tightened slightly as she asked, "Did the Sect Leader and the others say anything?"
Zhong Heng thought for a moment and shook his head: "No, anyway, Chu Yang won in a confused manner."
His own feelings were also complex. After all, not long ago, Chu Yang had been defeated by him, but now, in such a short time, this person had reached the final four in the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition. Even if his path was somewhat lucky, such luck was truly enviable... At the time, many people beneath the arena were jealous, and the people from Tiandao Sect were particularly unsatisfied, almost causing a disturbance.
However, regardless, a win was a win. Tomorrow's final four were set: Yun Qingyue, Tan Xin, Su Hao, and Chu Yang. Three of them were Xuanqing Sect disciples, with Buddha's Disciple Tan Xin from Buddha Sect, while Tiandao Sect was more unfortunate, being eliminated so early.
Speaking of this, Zhong Heng felt a bit smug but also a bit worried: "Senior Sister, don't you think, with Tiandao Sect not even making it to the final four while our Xuanqing Sect took three spots, they might accuse us of cheating as the host of the competition?"
The people from Tiandao Sect were extremely arrogant, especially that Jiang Shen, who arrived with an attitude as if no one else mattered, looking down on everyone. People who didn't know might have thought the competition was already over and he was already the champion of the three sects. In the end, he didn't even make it to the final four. This was more than just a slap in the face—it was like his face had been beaten into a pig's head, making it impossible for him to show his face anywhere.
Zhong Heng could imagine how awkward the atmosphere must be in Tiandao Sect's guest quarters right now. However, communication between sects wasn't something that a small disciple like him needed to worry about, so he was just saying.
Yun Qingyue obviously couldn't manage these matters either. After exchanging a few more words with Zhong Heng, she took the little white tiger back to her room.
She would definitely need to make time to view this retention stone. However, at this point, understanding her opponents' strengths and techniques was only one aspect. Besides this, Yun Qingyue was more concerned about two other points.
First was Su Hao's injuries. Zhong Heng said Su Hao and Jiang Shen had fought to mutual injury, making it sound trivial, but with Jiang Shen's arrogant personality, how would he easily admit defeat? This "mutual injury" must not be just talk—both must have been severely injured. She needed to see exactly how serious Senior Brother Su Hao's injuries were to judge how much of his strength he could display tomorrow.
Second was You Yi's defeat. Zhong Heng said You Yi's defeat was inexplicable, and Yun Qingyue didn't think he was exaggerating. As for Chu Yang, she had felt for a long time that he harbored secrets that others couldn't see through. Perhaps after viewing this retention stone, she might discover some clues, at the very least to avoid falling into the same trap as You Yi.
With these purposes in mind, Yun Qingyue returned to her guest room and activated the retention stone to begin viewing.
The little white tiger was somewhat absentminded today. Even seeing these "small videos" in the cultivation world couldn't attract her attention. Her gaze more often fell on Yun Qingyue, so while the beauty focused on watching the video, she focused on watching the beauty.
As the light and shadows flickered, that feeling of her heart stirring came again, and in a daze, she seemed to see that ray of light once more...