When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

Jiang Mo didn't particularly want to see Senior Sister right now.

Every time she recalled the scene of their eyes meeting, she felt like she needed to take a breath to calm down. It would be better to delay their next meeting, long enough for Senior Sister to forget her baby-like appearance... but was that possible? Impossible!

The little white tiger wallowed in self-pity for a while. The system, seeing that it couldn't persuade her, could only say: "Host, although the exploration task has no time limit, it's not good to keep delaying. If someone else arrives, the situation will become complicated. We should complete the task and leave this place as soon as possible." It deliberately didn't mention Senior Sister at all.

Indeed, when the system stopped mentioning Senior Sister and focused on the task at hand, the dejected little white tiger finally perked up a bit.

She knew the system was right—it would be a waste not to capitalize on their head start. Moreover, the owner of this palace wasn't stingy, casually giving away several boxes of premium spirit stones. Who knew what better rewards might be in the other chambers!

Although her return to the innate space had been hurried, the little white tiger had noticed at a glance that all the spirit stones she had previously piled near Senior Sister were gone, including those she had just pried from the main hall. If nothing unexpected had happened, these spirit stones must have been fully absorbed of their spiritual energy and reduced to dust, meaning her wealth had once again been reset to zero.

Of course, it was good that Senior Sister could recover early and wake up sooner because of this. But the little white tiger's already meager assets had instantly suffered another blow, making her urgency to earn money even more pressing.

In the end, the little white tiger still didn't let Senior Sister out, and instead set off on the exploration path again by herself.

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The way Jiang Mo had arrived at this palace chamber earlier was somewhat unusual.

Initially, she had only wanted to pry out the jeweled eyes of the dragon coiled around the throne in the main hall, but somehow she was transported to a space containing a false Taotie. After she killed that deceptively weak false Taotie, everything went black again, and she was transported to the outside of the palace chamber's grand doors... In short, she hadn't walked a single step, being directly transported here through two consecutive teleportations.

While this certainly saved time and effort, when the little white tiger left the palace chamber and energetically set out to find other chambers, she was immediately at a loss—three feet beyond the palace gates was a vast expanse of white fog, with no visible path forward or back.

Having just been dragged into an illusion within the white fog not long ago, the little white tiger was now wary of this fog, afraid of falling victim again.

However, since she needed to leave, with dense, unrelenting white fog ahead and the already-explored palace chamber behind, where else could she go without entering that white fog? Even the system couldn't scan for a second exit!

Jiang Mo hesitated to take a step, but the system urged in her ear: "Host, let's go and try. Perhaps after passing through this white fog, we'll reach a new place? The system has already sampled and analyzed—there are no special substances in this fog. And even if the host is dragged into an illusion by the white fog again, the system will strive to awaken the host again."

The little white tiger's ears twitched at these words, catching the key point: "Again?"

The system immediately fell silent, even the brightness of its flickering light orb dimming by three degrees, its guilty conscience obvious at a glance.

Seeing this, the little white tiger snorted lightly in her heart, immediately understanding—illusions are ultimately designed to lure people into immersion. To break through a person's mental defenses, they either instill fear to break one's courage, or present perfect happiness making one unwilling to wake up. Seeing Senior Sister in the illusion, about to join hands with her, was clearly the latter, but the abrupt car accident that brought everything to a sudden halt was puzzling.

Jiang Mo had certainly been confused when she awoke, but given the circumstances, she hadn't had the time or inclination to investigate further. Now, the system had let it slip—so that final car accident was related to it?

Unclear whether to feel fortunate, grateful, or annoyed, the emotionally conflicted little white tiger could only pretend she hadn't noticed anything.

However, after this diversion, the little white tiger felt less fearful of the white fog before her. Combined with the fact that there was indeed no other path to take, after exchanging a few words with the system, she finally stepped into it.

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Whether there was a path after the white fog, Jiang Mo didn't know, because as soon as she stepped into the white fog, she was transported away again.

Due to her previous experience of being transported into the jaws of the Taotie, Jiang Mo was more vigilant this time. Sure enough, when the teleportation ended and the scenery before her eyes changed, the first thing she saw was a huge, sharp claw.

The claw, wrapped in a fierce gust of wind, swept down rapidly toward the little white tiger, who nimbly leaped aside to dodge. Looking back, she found that the fierce beast attacking her looked somewhat familiar—it also had the appearance of a tiger. However, this "tiger" was clearly not an ordinary tiger; it was as large as an ox, with a pair of wings on its back, but its cry sounded like a dog.

Perhaps because it somewhat resembled herself, the little white tiger thought this fierce beast looked much better than the Taotie she had encountered before. However, its attitude toward her was no friendlier than the Taotie's; seeing that she had dodged its attack, it immediately attacked again.

The little white tiger still didn't know the nature of this fierce beast, so she flashed aside to dodge again—relying on her small body, she was extremely agile in evasion, while the fierce beast opposite her, though large and imposing, was slightly inferior in agility.

However, the fierce beast was clearly not patient; seeing the little white tiger dodge twice, it immediately became enraged. It spread its wings and took flight in the not-too-large space. Though it seemed somewhat clumsy when attacking the little white tiger, its wings were exceptionally nimble, pursuing her immediately no matter how she tried to dodge.

The system, back in the consciousness sea, observed the battle between the large and small creatures. Seeing the fierce beast in relentless pursuit, it became extremely nervous, but didn't dare make a sound, afraid of affecting the host's performance.

However, the system never expected that this fierce beast, like the previous Taotie, was all bark and no bite.

After circling with the fierce beast for a while, the little white tiger easily saw through its nature—like the Taotie, it was another false fierce beast. Since that was the case, she had nothing to fear, and moreover, she could fly without wings!

When the fierce beast least expected it, the little white tiger, who had been dodging around, began to counterattack. She leaped directly toward the false beast's face. The latter, seeing this, was not alarmed but rather delighted, opening its great mouth... In its view, the tiny little white tiger would barely fill a gap between its teeth, and her current action was no different from a lamb entering a tiger's mouth!

But soon, the little white tiger taught it how to be a proper... well, not a person, but a beast.

The little white tiger very nimbly turned in mid-air; originally her head had been heading straight for the fierce beast's mouth, but now her hind legs were on top. Before the fierce beast could react, the little white tiger, charging straight up, planted her hind legs firmly on the fierce beast's fangs.

The fierce beast's fangs were quite sharp, but they seemed to be no match for a divine beast. The system vaguely heard a teeth-grindingly awful "crack," and then saw clearly that the fierce beast's fangs had indeed been kicked off by the host with one foot. Not stopping there, the host then turned and with one swipe of her paw completely tore the fierce beast's nose, causing dark red blood to gush out instantly.

The little white tiger dodged away in disgust, while the fierce beast, having just suffered a loss, let out an angry roar—oddly, despite having the appearance of a tiger, its roar sounded like a dog barking, creating a strangely comical effect.

But no one could appreciate this humor at the moment. After its roar, the fierce beast became completely enraged, its eyes blood-red as it lunged at the little white tiger.

Without a doubt, the false fierce beast still couldn't fare well under the paws of a true divine beast.

Even though the false fierce beast was as big as an ox, its opponent was as small as a cat...

This fierce beast met the same fate as its predecessor, the false Taotie, or perhaps even worse. It howled as the little white tiger pinned it to the ground and gave it a thorough thrashing. Soon it exploded, scattering into a golden light.

The familiar scene told the little white tiger that she would soon be transported to the next palace chamber. But before that, she was still curious about the false fierce beast that had just "died" at her hands, after all, it also had the appearance of a tiger. So she asked the system: "System, what kind of fierce beast was that? Do you know?"

With the Taotie as a precedent, the system found it much easier to identify the fierce beast this time. It had been researching while observing the battle, and immediately answered: "Host, that was a Qiongqi."

The name Qiongqi wasn't unfamiliar, but it wasn't as well-known as Taotie, so Jiang Mo casually asked for more information.

The system explained casually: "Qiongqi is also one of the ancient fierce beasts. Legend has it that Qiongqi has a fierce temperament, likes to eat people, is disloyal and untrustworthy, doesn't listen to good people's words, and likes to punish the good and promote evil." It paused, seeming to think of something, and added: "Legend says Qiongqi often flies to places where people are fighting, then eats the nose of the party who is in the right."

The little white tiger, hearing this, recalled how she had just torn the false Qiongqi's nose, and immediately felt a sense of karmic retribution. But this fierce beast sounded rather strange; she just didn't know why it would appear here.

Taotie, Qiongqi, both ancient fierce beasts—could this palace be related to ancient fierce beasts?