Chapter 147 : Injuries Healed
The familiar sound of arguing reached the system's ears, causing it to pause slightly.
The little white tiger heard it too, but paid no attention. She was currently looking down, holding her tail—the hundred or so Qiongqi rushing at her had happened just moments ago. Although these Qiongqi were only formidable in appearance, as the saying goes, enough ants can kill an elephant. The little white tiger certainly hadn't been killed by the Qiongqi, but during the skirmish, her tail had unfortunately been bitten by one of them.
Everything in the illusion had reset. The street was still the same street, the people coming and going were still the same as in her memory, and even the arguing sounds remained familiar, but the little white tiger found that her tail still hurt.
She turned and grabbed her tail for a look—there was a wound on it, with a bald patch of fur, looking extremely ugly.
The system had just been stunned by the illusion's reset. When it turned to see the host's condition, it was immediately alarmed: "Host, are you injured?" After a pause, it continued: "Everything in this illusion has reset, so why is the host's injury still there?"
Of course the injury remained—otherwise, wouldn't everything Jiang Mo had just experienced be nothing but a dream of yellow millet?
If that were true, what would be the point of resetting and starting over?
The little white tiger pondered while holding her tail, and combining this with the information about Qiongqi that the system had shared earlier, she suddenly formed a hypothesis. However, it was too early to draw conclusions, so after some thought, she decided to try again. She briefly treated the wound on her tail, then once more headed toward the center of the commotion.
Seeing this, the system hurriedly floated back to perch on her ear as she flew over the heads of the spectators, still feeling somewhat shaken. It peered down at these people for a long time, unable to detect anything unusual—how could perfectly normal people suddenly all turn into fierce beasts?
Well, it was just an illusion, inherently illogical.
The little white tiger ignored the system's thoughts. After entering the inner circle with practiced ease, she again saw exactly the same scene as before, followed by exactly the same development—the stall owner and young master again came to request her judgment.
Hearing this, the system cautiously asked: "Host, how will you choose this time? The Qiongqi punishes good and promotes evil, most illogically."
This time, the little white tiger didn't play dumb or act. She looked up at the two people before her. The stall owner appeared pitiful and humble, the young master haughty and arrogant—one glance would naturally incline one's heart toward one side. But after the previous experience, the little white tiger understood more clearly that the essence of these two was the same. They were merely created by the illusion, with no inherent good or evil, right or wrong—they were simply a choice.
The last time the little white tiger chose the stall owner, she was immediately surrounded and attacked by hundreds of Qiongqi. Although these Qiongqi were imposing only in appearance and weren't real fierce beasts, the wound they left on her tail was real and painful.
Conversely, if she followed the Qiongqi's logic and chose the young master, who was clearly in the wrong, might the outcome be different?
Jiang Mo understood this clearly in her heart and knew that her choices in the illusion wouldn't affect anyone else. During her first decision, she had been tempted to be mischievous, but this time she had no such inclination.
She unequivocally stood on the stall owner's side, and the next moment all the onlookers again transformed into Qiongqi and attacked her. But she was prepared this time, skillfully dodging and counterattacking, defeating this batch of Qiongqi even faster than before. Then the illusion reset, and she again found herself standing on the peaceful street, with the familiar sound of arguing unchanged.
The little white tiger shook her ears, feeling a subtle pain. The system told her that the tip of her ear had been bitten through, but fortunately the wound wasn't large—just another tuft of fur bitten off, making her look pitiful and disheveled.
Meanwhile, the system asked in confusion: "Host, didn't you try this already? Why are you still siding with the stall owner?"
The little white tiger raised her paw to brush her ear, the slight sting causing her discomfort. Instead of answering, she asked: "What else should I do? Stand with the young master and punish good while promoting evil like the Qiongqi?"
The system was momentarily speechless. Although as an artificial intelligence it essentially had no moral compass, it had been at the host's side since its creation and had learned more than just how to be dramatic and lazy. There were also the books and materials it had downloaded from the host's world, including quite a few on spiritual civilization. Even if it hadn't established its own values, it understood the host's principles.
Indeed, staying silent was the right choice at this moment. The little white tiger didn't pursue the system's words further. She shook her ears and ignored the minor injuries, again entering the center of the argument to repeat the previous events, as if determined to stubbornly challenge the master of this illusion.
After another cycle, this time the little white tiger's paw was bitten.
This bite seemed a bit more severe. The little white tiger grimaced and shook her paw, then looked closely to see a trace of blood slowly seeping from the wound... A divine beast's blood differs from that of ordinary beasts; their blood contains terrifying spiritual energy, so much so that even the metal-attribute white tiger's blood contained a hint of golden light. Collected, it would make an excellent material for refining pills, artifacts, or even for body refinement.
Of course, no matter how poor the little white tiger was, she had no intention of selling her blood. After using a cleaning spell to clean her paw, she put the wound in her mouth, and within moments it rapidly healed.
Even so, the system was still very worried: "Host, this illusion is strange. You shouldn't keep stubbornly challenging it."
Indeed, after three attempts, Jiang Mo had also discovered the peculiarity of the illusion—although she was injured each time she fought the Qiongqi, during the first two times she mostly lost fur to bites, but this time she had actually bled. It wasn't that she had grown tired after several fights, giving the opponent an opportunity, but rather that the Qiongqi were becoming stronger. Over three attempts, each time the opponents were stronger than before!
Currently the little white tiger could still handle the situation with ease, but what about after a few more cycles?
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A divine beast's Innate Space forms its own small world. No matter how fiercely the little white tiger fought in the illusion outside, the Innate Space remained perfectly calm, completely unaffected by the outside world.
It was in this tranquility that Yun Qingyue sat cross-legged, cultivating while recovering from her injuries.
A large box of ice-attribute premium spirit stones sat not far in front of her. The originally brilliant stones gradually dimmed as she absorbed their spiritual energy during cultivation. Only after about seventy to eighty percent of the spiritual energy within these premium spirit stones had been absorbed did she finally open her eyes, her clear glassy eyes now vibrant and showing no signs of weakness.
Yun Qingyue awakened from her meditative state and internally examined herself, finding that her injuries had largely healed.
This was undoubtedly good news, and Yun Qingyue's tense nerves relaxed accordingly—exploring a secret realm was already fraught with dangers, yet after being injured, she could hide in a divine beast's Innate Space to heal, which was extremely fortunate. But no matter how fortunate, this was not a place to linger, after all, Jianbing was still so small, and leaving a lone tiger in the secret realm kept Yun Qingyue constantly worried.
"Jianbing... Jiang Mo, can you hear me? Could you let me out?" Yun Qingyue stood up, looking up at the unknown space. She didn't know if her call across the space would be heard, but divine beasts always sense when their names are called.
Sure enough, because of what had happened earlier, the little white tiger had closed off the space in embarrassment. She didn't want to see Senior Sister yet, nor did she want Senior Sister to see her and be reminded of her three-headed baby form. But the moment Senior Sister called her name, she sensed it, causing her to be momentarily distracted during her battle with the Qiongqi, nearly getting her head bitten off!
The little white tiger was truly startled, because due to her repeated attempts to find a breakthrough by resetting the illusion several times, these false Qiongqi had seen their combat ability skyrocket. To say nothing else, if she were bitten by these false Qiongqi now, her defenses would definitely be broken.
Having narrowly avoided disfigurement, the little white tiger was both frightened and angry, and unleashed a powerful attack with a roar.
After a dazzling golden light, the street before her reset once more. Standing on the street again, the little white tiger looked somewhat disheveled, with several new injuries. The system weakly asked: "H-host, are you alright?"
The little white tiger was a bit tired and didn't feel like talking. She waved her paw and was about to lie down for a rest when that feeling of being called came again. She immediately raised her head and looked around, but saw only the unchanging illusion, with no one calling her. After standing still and thinking for a long time, she finally realized something and secretly extended a trace of divine sense into her Innate Space, confirming that Senior Sister was indeed calling her.
Senior Sister's injuries looked to have mostly recovered, and the large box of premium spirit stones had nearly been depleted of spiritual energy. There was no longer any point in keeping her in the Innate Space.
The little white tiger understood this very clearly, but her face still involuntarily soured, hesitating whether to let her out.
At this moment, the system noticed something was wrong and asked: "Host, what's the matter?"
The little white tiger hesitated for a moment, but still didn't mention what was happening in her Innate Space, only saying: "Senior Sister is awake and wants to come out." After a pause, she added: "But with the illusion being so troublesome right now, would it be a good idea to let her out?"
Jiang Mo had always blocked the system's perception when entering and exiting her Innate Space, so the system naturally hadn't seen her three-headed baby form and didn't know her inner conflict. Hearing her words, it said in surprise: "Host, what are you thinking? You're trapped in an illusion right now, so wouldn't it be perfect to have Senior Sister come out and help? Senior Sister is more experienced than you; perhaps she'll know how to break through this situation."
This made sense, but before Jiang Mo could consider the pros and cons, the system continued: "Besides, host, you can't keep Senior Sister in your Innate Space forever. What if something happens to you? What would become of Senior Sister?"
The system's implication was that if something happened to the host, the Innate Space might become unstable or even collapse completely. If that occurred, Yun Qingyue would inevitably fall into spatial turbulence, and without the system's protection, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator would probably perish within moments—at that point, the host wouldn't even have a place to cry.
However, Jiang Mo seemed to misunderstand something. She lowered her head in thought for a moment before finally resolving to let Senior Sister out.
The next moment, there was a flicker on the street, and a woman in white robes, cold and elegant, appeared with her sword before the little white tiger. A passerby, caught off guard, nearly collided with her, immediately drawing the attention of everyone on the street.