Chapter 105 : Pancake Shop
The festivities among Mount Mingxia's true disciples continued for three days. After three days, the wine was depleted, the music ended, and the people dispersed, leaving only scattered peach blossoms on the ground.
Yun Qingyue was planning to leave for her training journey. A year wasn't a long time, so she didn't have much time to delay. However, before leaving, she still had several things to do, which might require staying for a few more days.
First, she needed to visit the Mission Hall. Although she had already received the sect's rewards for advancing to the Nascent Soul realm, she had been in a hurry to enter seclusion at that time and hadn't yet been assigned her spirit peak. Now, before leaving, she could go to designate one. Second, she needed to visit the Enforcement Hall, as she was still concerned about Chu Yang's situation and wanted to ask about the sect's handling of him. Finally, she needed to bid farewell to her master, who would likely have some instructions for her.
Of course, besides these matters, she also planned to personally take the little white tiger to Divine Lord Hall—although the human and tiger had already agreed on their one-year arrangement, she had noticed the little one's restless behavior. Who knew if the little creature might secretly follow her when she left?
Yun Qingyue didn't want any complications, so before her departure, she methodically took care of each matter one by one.
The first task was going to the Mission Hall to select a spirit peak, which wasn't troublesome, as assigning spirit peaks to Nascent Soul cultivators was customary. Even though Yun Qingyue was the senior disciple of Mount Mingxia and would almost certainly inherit the position of Peak Master in the future, this didn't conflict with her having her own small spirit peak. Moreover, because of her exceptional talent and her championship in the martial arts competition, which had secured benefits for the sect, the elder at the Mission Hall treated her with particular warmth.
As soon as Yun Qingyue entered carrying the little white tiger, the elder in charge of this matter saw her and approached with a smile: "True Lord Qingyue, are you here to see the spirit peak the sect has allocated for you? Come, come, I've prepared everything. Take a look and choose one."
Before the little white tiger could wonder how they would choose a spirit peak here, she saw the elder wave his hand, and a huge atlas appeared out of thin air, slowly unfolding in the room. Looking closely, one could see that the atlas contained complete mountains and waters, with all kinds of peaks extending for thousands of miles. Among this mountain range, five peaks particularly stood out, and even in the atlas, one could see their majestic presence breaking through the clouds.
Indeed, this was the map of the entire Xuanqing Sect, showing every inch of land and every spirit peak. Some spirit peaks glowed faintly, as if outlined with a golden pen, while others were plain with no distinguishing marks.
Those with a glow were territories that had been allocated by the sect over the years and had owners, while those without were unclaimed territories yet to be designated... At first glance, it appeared that most of Xuanqing Sect's mountain range, extending for thousands of miles, was already claimed, leaving few choices. Especially those spirit peaks near the five main peaks, due to their rich spiritual energy, had been designated early on.
Just as the little white tiger's tiger eyes hastily scanned over, the scroll fully unfolded. Then, without the elder making any further motion, the spirit peaks on the scroll projected virtual images, standing upright like projections, displaying their complete mountain forms.
The elder looked at the scroll, gently stroking his beard, and asked Yun Qingyue: "Does True Lord have a preferred spirit peak?"
Yun Qingyue's gaze swept across the map, pausing briefly at a certain spot, but ultimately she shook her head: "I don't. The sect has thousands of spirit peaks; does Elder have any recommendations?"
Hearing this, the elder smiled, then raised his hand to circle several spirit peaks on the scroll and asked: "How about these?"
The little white tiger followed the elder's indication and saw three to five spirit peaks, each different from the others. Some were covered in flowers, some perpetually frozen in ice, and some were dangerously steep. It was unclear what criteria the elder had used for his selection.
Yun Qingyue, however, understood at a glance. The spirit peaks the elder pointed out were all located at spiritual vein nodes with abundant spiritual energy. The spiritual energy on these peaks was no less than those near the five main peaks. As for their different appearances, that probably came down to personal preference. Being a woman, she might prefer flowers. And due to her ice spiritual root, an ice peak would also be suitable for her. As for the dangerously steep ones, perhaps those were preferred by sword cultivators?
The choices weren't many, but Yun Qingyue felt a hint of hesitation. Given her spiritual root, the ice peak would naturally be better, but the little white tiger would be with her. The white tiger belonged to the metal attribute and might not like overly cold places...
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly heard the elder say: "Does Jianbing want to choose a spirit peak as well?"
The little white tiger was startled, not expecting to have a role here. She tilted her head in confusion and looked at the elder: "Choose a spirit peak? What for? The sect is actually allocating a spirit peak to me?!"
The elder explained to the young beast: "Since Jianbing has joined our Xuanqing Sect and will be a Divine Lord guarding our sect in the future, a spirit peak is naturally due to you. Just like the spirit peak where Divine Lord Zhiming currently resides, which is his own and has been renamed Zhiming Peak. Although Jianbing is young now, this doesn't impede anything. Having a residence will also be convenient for Jianbing's secluded cultivation." Although he said "secluded cultivation," everyone knew divine beasts loved to sleep.
After hearing this, the little white tiger's expression became somewhat peculiar. Thinking of Divine Lord Zhiming's Zhiming Peak and Zhiming Hall, she felt that this Black Tortoise was truly lazy to the extreme. Following his style, would her territory be called Jianbing Peak and Jianbing Hall... Pancake Shop?
Forget it, that sounds terrible!
The little white tiger's thoughts had wandered, but Yun Qingyue turned her gaze to the map and immediately noticed that the flower mountain wasn't far from the ice peak. She thought for a moment, lifted the little white tiger to look her in the eye, and asked: "Would Jianbing like to be my neighbor?"
The little white tiger, with her mind full of pancake shops, blinked, turned her head to look at the scroll again, and in that glance saw the two adjacent spirit peaks. Her tiger eyes brightened, and she quickly nodded: "Yes!" After agreeing, she suddenly realized—wasn't it better to live with Senior Sister now? Why did she need a spirit peak to be Senior Sister's neighbor?!
The little white tiger immediately regretted it and was about to shake her head and say it wasn't good, but she saw that Yun Qingyue's beautiful crystal eyes had already filled with joy. She smiled so beautifully that the appearance-loving tiger was stunned on the spot, forgetting to change her mind.
The elder beside them acted quickly. Seeing that they had made their choices, he promptly made the registration and took out a jade tablet. The jade tablet controlled the spirit peak's formation eye. After imprinting their spiritual signatures, every blade of grass and every tree on the spirit peaks would be under their control—of course, on Senior Sister's ice peak, there was nothing but ice; grass and trees simply didn't exist.
The little white tiger received the jade tablet in a daze, and her thoughts of changing her mind faded. After all, who would refuse free territory?
Yun Qingyue also put away her jade tablet and, after bidding farewell to the elder, carried the little white tiger out. As the human and tiger left the Mission Hall's entrance, the little white tiger's tail secretly wrapped around Yun Qingyue's wrist: "Senior Sister, your chosen spirit peak is too cold, it's all ice. In the future, you should come live with me. I'll build a palace better than Zhiming Hall, and you'll definitely be comfortable..."
The little white tiger's milk-voiced invitation was urgent and sincere. Yun Qingyue lowered her eyes to look at the tail wrapped around her wrist, feeling a warmth pass through her heart. Her eyes were calm as she seemingly casually replied: "Let's talk about it when you've finished building your palace."
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The visit to the Mission Hall went smoothly, but the Enforcement Hall and Mission Hall were not in the same location. The Mission Hall was bustling with people and full of life, while the Enforcement Hall was a place of solemn dignity. Ordinary disciples not only wouldn't stroll there without reason, but even those with business preferred not to go there. Therefore, these two important sect locations had incompatible atmospheres, and even the spirit peaks they chose had different styles, with quite a distance between them.
Yun Qingyue wasn't afraid of the Enforcement Hall's serious atmosphere and wanted to go there to inquire about Chu Yang's situation. However, the Enforcement Hall was far away, and with her newly acquired spirit peak, she naturally wanted to see it in person. So in the end, the visit to the Enforcement Hall was postponed.
After leaving the Mission Hall, Yun Qingyue carried the little white tiger toward those two spirit peaks.
Because Yun Qingyue was a disciple of Mount Mingxia, the few spirit peaks the elder had circled for her were all on the eastern side, closer to Mount Mingxia. Yun Qingyue carried the little white tiger, flying on her sword for about a quarter of an hour, before seeing a snow-white mountain peak in the distance—strangely enough, of the two adjacent spirit peaks, one was covered in flowers, while the other was frozen in ice. This clearly wasn't affected by climate, but by the different spiritual energy attributes beneath the mountain range.
Variant ice spiritual roots were uncommon in the cultivation world, and ice-attribute spiritual energy was similarly rare. Looking around, among the hundred or so spirit peaks in sight, only this one was frost-white, and it was pure luck that it fell into Yun Qingyue's hands.
Yun Qingyue flew her sword above the frozen peak but didn't land. Nevertheless, the little white tiger nestled in her arms could feel a wave of cold air hitting her face. She shrunk her head slightly, not really feeling cold, perhaps due to her thick fur or her cultivation. However, seeing an ice mountain, she psychologically felt cold first and instinctively burrowed deeper into Senior Sister's embrace.
The next second, the little white tiger's fateful scruff was pinched, and the entire tiger was lifted out and held properly: "Don't be naughty!"
The little white tiger whimpered pitifully, muttering: "I'm not being naughty, I'm just cold."
Yun Qingyue didn't believe her. A beast at the Golden Core stage, how could she not endure this bit of cold? But she didn't dwell on the little white tiger's deliberate coquetry. Seeing that she was behaving and not trying to burrow into her arms again, that slight discomfort in her heart disappeared. She took out the jade tablet, infused it with spiritual energy, and tossed it toward the spirit peak below. The jade tablet, as if it had eyes, landed precisely in the center of the mountaintop, and then invisible ripples spread out, swallowing it.
Soon, Yun Qingyue felt a new awareness in her mind; every piece of ice and stone on this spirit peak appeared in her consciousness. With a thought from her, a layer of ice on the mountain peak immediately shattered, countless ice crystals floating and turning to powder.
This level of control was somewhat unexpected, but Yun Qingyue's eyes suddenly brightened threefold. She discovered that this invisible connection not only allowed her to control the spirit peak, but simultaneously, the spiritual energy from the peak flowed continuously to her through this connection. Even though the spiritual energy from this connection was far less than what she would get by cultivating on the spirit peak itself, with this connection, she could utilize the peak's spiritual energy for cultivation even if she were at the ends of the earth!
No wonder the sect allocated spirit peaks to disciples after they advanced to the Nascent Soul realm; this was the main part of the reward. Fortunately, she hadn't rushed off for her training journey and had first gone to the Mission Hall to claim her spirit peak, otherwise, who knows how much she would have missed.
Yun Qingyue closed her eyes to feel for a moment, then opened them and said to the little white tiger: "Let's go see your spirit peak."