When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

The little white cat was surrounded by silver-backed bears and Iron-Armed Apes.

Just as she attempted to divert trouble and escape in the chaos, the system suddenly discovered that not only had the silver-backed bears and Iron-Armed Apes not started fighting each other, but they were rapidly heading toward the host's position. It was about to warn her when Jiang Mo already felt the ground trembling slightly—with the previous encounter with that level 50 beast still fresh in her mind, she had a bad feeling without needing the system's reminder.

The little white cat didn't waste a moment, standing up and running immediately. But it was too late—she had barely sprung out of the tree hollow where she was hiding when an earthen wall rose from nowhere, blocking her path. This brief delay was enough for her to fall completely into their encirclement.

An Iron-Armed Ape howled excitedly, its expression seeming to say: Run, little thing, let's see where you can run now!

The system looked at the towering silver-backed bear, then at the menacing Iron-Armed Apes, and finally at its host's tiny kitten frame, before covering its nonexistent eyes, unable to bear the sight.

Jiang Mo had no time for the system's theatrics. Seeing the dire situation, her fur stood on end. But even with her fur puffed up, making the little white cat appear larger, a kitten was still just a kitten. Not to mention the silver-backed bear—even the Iron-Armed Apes looked like they could crush her with one foot... Of course, this was just an illusion. With her Nascent Soul cultivation, neither the silver-backed bear nor the Iron-Armed Apes underestimated her.

Several Iron-Armed Apes exchanged glances before charging at her together, looking as if they wanted to devour her alive—this wasn't an illusion. The little white tiger had just swallowed the Genesis Herb recently and had been chased all the way by the Iron-Armed Apes without time to refine it. If they swallowed her whole now, fur and bones included, they could still absorb at least seventy to eighty percent of the herb's potency, which wouldn't be too wasteful.

The silver-backed bear obviously understood this logic as well. Although it had initially rushed back out of concern for its mate and cubs, now that the thief who had stolen the Genesis Herb was in its territory, there was no reason not to take advantage.

Soon, with a roar, the silver-backed bear also joined the battle.

Initially, Jiang Mo was completely at a disadvantage facing several Iron-Armed Apes—one could even say she was struggling to hold her ground. Feline animals excel in agility, and ape-type beasts are clearly the same. However, the Iron-Armed Apes weren't just nimble but also immensely strong, leaving the little white cat with no advantage against them. After the silver-backed bear joined the battle, things changed—it was clumsy and thick-skinned, perfect for blocking attacks for her.

Thus, the little white cat began darting around the silver-backed bear. The Iron-Armed Apes didn't show consideration for the bear's dignity; they attacked without holding back. When Jiang Mo dodged, those attacks landed on the silver-backed bear instead.

One or two hits were tolerable, three or four wouldn't hurt much, but constantly being hit obviously angered the silver-backed bear.

Soon, the enraged silver-backed bear forgot its original intentions and caught an Iron-Armed Ape, pounding it with several "bang-bang" punches. The ape's skull was bashed in, instantly causing severe injury. The Iron-Armed Apes lived in groups and naturally held grudges. How could they accept such treatment? So a group of apes began fighting with the black bear, and the scene became extremely chaotic.

Seeing this, the little white cat's eyes immediately brightened. She hadn't expected that while her earlier attempt at diversion had failed, this time she had easily provoked internal conflict between the two parties. She didn't plan to get involved and looked for an opportunity to escape. However, one of the Iron-Armed Apes noticed her and swung its tail over to block her.

The fiercely battling parties clearly hadn't forgotten about her, the root cause of their troubles. Jiang Mo quickly discovered she couldn't escape—one moment an ape's tail blocked her way, the next a bear's paw, and occasionally stones and earth spikes obstructed her path. It seemed they were fighting, but still regarded her as prey, waiting to determine ownership of this prize after settling their contest.

Such behavior, not regarding a tiger with respect, clearly annoyed the tiger. After several unsuccessful breakout attempts, Jiang Mo also joined the battle. But her joining only made things worse—both previously fighting parties now directed their attacks at her.

Two fists can't match four hands, and four paws couldn't block all attacks. The little white tiger soon sustained injuries.

Seeing this, the system frantically circled around, but it was originally intangible, and the cultivators and beasts in this world couldn't see it at all. Even if it wanted to cling to the beasts' eyelids and blind them, it couldn't, let alone help in any other way. With no alternative, it quickly searched through the mall, hoping to find an item to help its host escape.

Unfortunately, the mall prices were truly too high, and its host was occasionally struggling but mostly just a salted fish lying flat... Looking at those unaffordable items, the system didn't know whether to blame the mall or its host.

Finally, the system closed the useless mall with a "snap" and opened the character panel to observe its host's condition.

Suddenly, the system noticed something, its gaze fixed on a line of text in the panel, and the entire system froze. Then it became excited, its mechanical voice so high-pitched it almost broke: "Host, quick, use your Blood Inheritance Suppression skill to suppress them!"

Blood Inheritance Suppression was a divine beast's innate ability. The little white tiger, who had died and returned to life, originally lacked this inheritance, but when she broke through to Nascent Soul and met the birth conditions for a divine beast, this basic skill was unlocked. However, she had been cultivating on her Purple Cloud Peak all along and hadn't tried using these skills, temporarily forgetting about them.

Fortunately, such innate abilities were a type of instinct and didn't require specific training to master. After hearing the system's words, Jiang Mo almost instinctively released her pressure, and the power of Blood Inheritance Suppression poured out instantly.

The noisy forest suddenly fell silent. Insect chirps and bird calls ceased to exist, as if everything had been choked at that moment.

The silver-backed bear and Iron-Armed Apes, who had been fiercely attacking, seemed to hit a pause button and froze together—fear stemming from bloodline instantly struck them, and instinctive submission immediately occupied all their thoughts. The silver-backed bear and Iron-Armed Apes didn't dare move, and gradually, their bodies began to tremble, their knees unconsciously bent, until they finally prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to raise their heads.

The terrified silver-backed bear and Iron-Armed Apes now thought alike: What kind of cat was this, how could it be so formidable? Being targeted by her now felt like being targeted by a natural predator, but they had never heard of cats being the natural predators of bears and apes!

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The Canglán Secret Realm was vast. Although Yun Qingyue had been purposefully moving toward Su Hao's direction, she had been fighting beasts and collecting spiritual plants along the way. After traveling for several days, she was still quite far from Su Hao and the others, and hadn't encountered any other cultivators.

Since the purpose of this journey was exploration, there was no rush to group up. Yun Qingyue continued to move unhurriedly toward Su Hao's direction.

That evening, Yun Qingyue stopped by a river for a brief rest. After checking that there were no strange demonic plants growing here and no beasts lurking in ambush, she finally relaxed and sat by the riverside, washing her sword—spiritual swords naturally didn't accumulate filth, but this was her habit. These days she had slain too many beasts and felt that only by washing could she cleanse that bloody scent.

At that time, the sun was hanging low, with the remaining light as red as blood. Yun Qingyue sat by the river washing her sword when she suddenly saw a small fish swimming by. Moreover, this fish was quite bold—not only unafraid of her, but it approached her Fuxue Sword and touched it twice with its mouth, as if kissing it.

Swords were originally made for killing, so most spiritual swords carried a killing aura. This was the first time Yun Qingyue had seen a living creature approach a spiritual sword.

She couldn't help but grow curious, and looking more carefully at the small fish, she saw that it was completely transparent like colored glaze, its scales reflecting points of light in the evening sun's afterglow, revealing its existence. Looking at its shape, it was slender like a snake, and even more strangely, it had a small horn on its head. If not for its fish scales and fins being no different from ordinary fish, it would have looked exactly like a miniature flood dragon!

Unexpectedly, Yun Qingyue thought of the White Dragon Fish in the sect's valley. That fish was said to have dragon bloodline, yet had only grown two dragon whiskers—in terms of resemblance to dragons, it couldn't compare to the one before her eyes.

Thinking of the White Dragon Fish, Yun Qingyue then thought of the little white tiger, or more precisely, the fish-loving little white tiger...

Once her thoughts began to wander, they couldn't be reined in. Yun Qingyue's gaze toward the small fish in the river became strange—she remembered how the little white tiger had been clamoring to explore the secret realm with her, but had been left behind. With that little one's contrary and grudge-holding nature, she would probably need a lot of coaxing after they returned. Perhaps bringing some gifts would help, but would this fish taste as good as the White Dragon Fish?

The small fish swimming around the Fuxue Sword in the river suddenly sensed a crisis and immediately flicked its tail, swimming away. Just as it was about to dive to the bottom of the river and disappear, Yun Qingyue raised her sword, about to intercept it.

But at that moment, she suddenly heard a rustling sound nearby, suggesting that some large beast was approaching.

In the secret realm fraught with dangers, no one could predict what might happen next. Compared to the potential danger before her, the unknown small fish didn't seem important anymore. Besides, resources were plentiful in this secret realm; she could find other things to bring back as gifts.

With this thought, Yun Qingyue's attention completely shifted away from the river, no longer concerned about the escaping small fish. She raised her sword and walked a few steps forward, guarding against any unexpected developments from the river behind her while temporarily hiding behind a tall tree. Her eyes remained fixed on the direction of the sound, prepared to battle beasts at any moment.

The rustling sound indeed came toward her, closer and closer, but she didn't see any large beast. She was puzzled, wondering if she had misjudged, when she suddenly noticed the grass not far in front of her swaying...

Yun Qingyue was immediately alarmed, having never expected a beast to approach her so silently. But soon she developed more doubts—she had judged from the sound that it was a large beast, but the grass before her was not even waist-high. What large beast could hide in there and approach her imperceptibly?!

Unable to find an answer, she decided that maintaining caution in the secret realm was never wrong. So without further thought, Yun Qingyue simply swung her sword at the swaying grass, intending to force out whatever was hiding there.

As the sword struck down, accompanied by an "Ow!" of surprise, the small beast hiding in the grass was indeed forced out.

A white ball of fur tumbled to her feet, the scene strangely familiar...