Chapter 134 : The Ambusher Behind
Yun Qingyue didn't stop the little white tiger, as her cultivation level was no worse than her own, and battle experience was essential. Moreover, she was truly at the end of her strength. Seeing the little white tiger handling herself well, she took another spirit-replenishing pill, then sat cross-legged to refine its medicinal power.
Meanwhile, the little white tiger was indeed fighting the sand puppet with impressive skill.
Metal attribute excels at offense while earth attribute excels at defense. The little white tiger's still-immature claws, coated with Sharp Metal Force, caused significant damage to the sand puppet with each swipe. Her target was also clear—like a tiger going for the heart, she caught the sand puppet off guard once, nearly destroying its sand armor completely. Realizing this, the sand puppet no longer dared to underestimate her and became much more cautious in response to her attacks.
The White Tiger's prowess in battle wasn't just talk. Even though this tiger cub was still small, she had fought many spirit beasts to earn points in the past. Though her current opponent was different, her previous battle experience wasn't gained for nothing.
Besides, she had her system assistance...
The system's scanning function remained active, and this time the game system had also activated battle mode. In the little white tiger's eyes, the sand puppet before her became a mini-boss. A health bar floated above the boss's head, with early warnings before big attacks. Red markers indicated the range of its powerful moves, and after becoming accustomed to the warning time, she simply needed to dodge before the attacks came.
Additionally, when the little white tiger attacked, if she hit the sand armor or other heavily defended areas, "miss" would display, indicating no damage dealt. So she tried attacking other areas—any exposed part of the sand puppet could be damaged, but the most effective target was naturally the chest where the Puppet Heart was located.
Not only did the sand puppet instinctively protect and defend the Puppet Heart to prevent damage, making it cautious, but for the little white tiger, even though the sand puppet's chest was still protected by armor, attacks there would deal critical damage!
After a series of probing attacks, the little white tiger grew excited, bashing the sand puppet mercilessly while it couldn't even touch a single hair on her body.
After several rounds, the little white tiger watched as the sand puppet's health bar decreased by half, its armor becoming tattered. She pressed forward, determined to finish off the sand puppet in one go, then go seek praise from her Senior Sister.
Soon, under the little white tiger's intensified attacks, the sand puppet's ragged armor was completely destroyed. As the armor dissolved into falling sand, the sand puppet's health dropped to one-third. Based on previous experience, once the armor was broken, the sand puppet's defense would plummet, making subsequent attacks much easier.
But before the little white tiger could rejoice, the health bar above the sand puppet suddenly ignited, and the entire puppet's aura surged—according to years of gaming experience, this was the sign of a boss entering berserk mode!
The little white tiger was stunned, never expecting that the berserk state her Senior Sister had failed to trigger twice would be triggered by her.
However, there was no time to dwell on this. The little white tiger, seeing red circles covering the ground, felt her paws heating up. She immediately channeled spiritual energy and leapt into the air. Almost the instant she took flight, the yellow sand on the ground began to writhe. A tiger hair floated down lightly and was instantly swallowed by the sand. It resembled quicksand, but the boss's berserk attack was certainly not so simple.
The little white tiger escaped in time and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Though this attack had no effect on her, that was thanks to the system's assistance. Without the game system's help, unable to see the red circles on the ground, she wouldn't have anticipated the wide range of the boss's berserk attack, nor would she have thought to escape by flying... For her Senior Sister without the system, this attack would likely have caused significant damage.
Both grateful and frustrated, the little white tiger stepped on air with her paw, and the nearby sand puppet suddenly jumped. Its health bar dropped another segment, and looking closely, its sandy, flat facial features momentarily distorted.
Just then, Yun Qingyue finished regulating her breath and opened her eyes to witness this scene.
With her excellent eyesight, she not only saw the sand puppet's sudden jump but also noticed the cold gleam that flashed beneath its feet when it leapt—clearly the little white tiger had played dirty, though the cub's tactics were both amusing and effective. Stabbing the soles of its feet might have been underhanded, but the damage was real; the sand puppet's feet were riddled with holes, which would have been even more painful for a human.
Yun Qingyue smiled, but seeing the sand puppet had lost its armor, she felt completely reassured. She had no intention of helping, placing the Fuxue Sword across her knees, prepared to watch the little white tiger slowly wear down the sand puppet.
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Fighting the boss was somewhat tiring, especially since after entering berserk mode, it not only unleashed powerful attacks multiple times but also summoned minions twice. Compared to its earlier battles with her Senior Sister, its techniques had clearly multiplied.
Jiang Mo was almost frightened when she first saw seven or eight identical sand puppets rising from the sand. Fortunately, she understood that the Puppet Heart wasn't common enough to create so many. So she fought them one by one, and indeed, these puppet minions were easy to defeat—she cleared them like cutting melons and vegetables, quickly reducing them to piles of sand on the ground.
The little white tiger swished her tail proudly, then looked up and was suddenly dumbfounded—where was her boss? That large boss she had been fighting for so long? Why was there nothing but scattered sand piles before her, with the boss nowhere to be seen?!
Standing in place and looking around, the little white tiger couldn't find the sand puppet, leading her to suspect it had escaped during the chaos.
This wasn't impossible. After several exchanges, she had observed that the sand puppet had developed intelligence under the Puppet Heart's influence. If it could feel anger, it could also feel fear, and fleeing when afraid seemed natural.
The little white tiger's face darkened at this thought, but she had no idea where to pursue it, as sand was everywhere, and who knew what form the sand puppet had taken after leaving the battlefield? With no alternative, the little white tiger was about to ask the system to scan for the Puppet Heart's whereabouts when a streak of sword energy shot over, sweeping across a sand pile in front of her.
The accumulated sand was swept away by this sword strike, revealing an icy white object beneath.
The little white tiger immediately recognized it as the frozen Puppet Heart, though the ice ball that had been the size of a small watermelon had now melted to just a thin layer... Whether due to the desert's extreme heat or the influence of being hidden within the sand puppet, this Puppet Heart was about to break through its icy prison.
This couldn't be allowed—once the Puppet Heart broke free from the ice, without hindrance it could again absorb earth-attribute spiritual energy to create puppets.
Without hesitation, the little white tiger shot a beam of spiritual energy, adding a metal shell over the Puppet Heart's icy surface. Only after completing this did she realize that the previous sand puppet, knowing it was outmatched and unable to flee for some reason, had ultimately hidden among the minions in a death feint—it didn't need to hide for long, just until the Puppet Heart thawed and its strength could be restored.
Unfortunately, it had failed to account for Yun Qingyue observing the battle, who had been watching it closely. Or even without her Senior Sister's help, the little white tiger with her system assistance wasn't to be underestimated; finding the Puppet Heart would have been a matter of moments.
Regardless, the battle was over—thoroughly over this time.
The little white tiger shook the sand from her body, showing some pride, and stepped forward to pick up the Puppet Heart from the sand pile when another unexpected change occurred. A large bird appeared out of nowhere, swooping down to snatch the Puppet Heart and flee—perhaps because she had been chased by eagles when young, the sudden appearance of a large bird overhead caused the little white tiger to instinctively back away, giving the intruder an opportunity.
Fortunately, though the little white tiger faltered, Yun Qingyue, who had been observing, did not. She reacted extremely quickly, recognizing at a glance that this large bird was no ordinary spirit beast but likely a tamed creature sent specifically to steal the treasure.
After fighting so long for the prize, who would willingly let it go when it was within reach?
Yun Qingyue's beautiful eyes focused as she swung her sword, sending fierce sword energy toward the distant bird. The bird sensed the danger behind it and attempted to dodge, but how could it escape the speed of sword energy? One of its wings was severed, causing it to fall from the sky.
Though it took time to describe, all this happened in an instant. When the little white tiger turned her head, she saw the large bird already falling.
Frustrated by her earlier retreat, she stamped her paws on the sandy ground and said to Yun Qingyue: "Senior Sister, I'll go retrieve it."
She was about to run when her Senior Sister stopped her: "I'll go with you."
With someone clearly coveting the Puppet Heart, the little white tiger didn't argue and set off with her Senior Sister toward where the bird had fallen. Fortunately, thanks to Yun Qingyue's swift reaction, the bird hadn't flown far. Human and tiger arrived at the spot in moments. From a distance, they saw a vulture-like bird lying on the ground, wailing pitifully, with blood flowing from its wound, staining a small patch of sand dark red.
The little white tiger felt no compassion at the sight, as the bird in her eyes was merely a thief. Her gaze shifted, quickly finding the metal-encased Puppet Heart nearby, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight.
Without further thought, the little white tiger ran toward the Puppet Heart—since she had carelessly lost it, naturally she should be the one to retrieve it.
The little white tiger moved swiftly, but just as she reached the Puppet Heart, dual warnings from both the system and her Senior Sister sounded in her ears. She instinctively pounced forward, first catching the Puppet Heart in her mouth while simultaneously performing a forward roll to dodge.
As it turned out, retrieving objects in critical moments was a dangerous affair. Even though the little white tiger dodged quickly, the explosive talisman that detonated behind her still singed a small patch of fur on her hind leg. With pain searing like fire, the little white tiger turned around furiously to find four or five cultivators who had somehow surrounded both her and her Senior Sister.
The ambushing cultivators stared at the white fur beneath the yellow sand and exclaimed in surprise: "A-a White Tiger?!"