When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

The bottom of this crevice was pitch-black, yet it contained magma and strange fire?!

The little white tiger was slightly surprised by the system's answer, but quickly lost interest. After all, she had metal attributes, and Senior Sister had ice spiritual roots—this strange fire was clearly not something either of them could use. Among the people she knew, those with fire spiritual roots were only Bai Xu and Zhong Heng; her relationship with the former was neither close nor distant, and the latter wasn't present. The little white tiger had no interest in expending effort to find treasures for others.

After completing its scan, the system quietly asked her: "Host, do you want to go down and take a look?"

The little white tiger immediately shook her head: "No way. The crevice is so deep—what if I can't get back up after going down? Besides, that's magma down there! What if I fall in and turn into a roasted white tiger? I haven't lived nearly enough yet."

The little white tiger had never directly encountered strange fire, but the high temperature of magma made her heart wary. Even though the little white tiger, with her Nascent Soul cultivation, could be described as having a copper skin and iron bones, the ingrained influences from her previous life still made her cautious around such dangerous elements. Unless one day she could swim a lap in magma, this fear would remain insurmountable, just like her acrophobia.

Hearing this, the system didn't insist, merely sighing: "What a pity. This could have been an opportunity." After scanning everyone present, it added: "Perhaps Host could share this information with everyone? It might earn you some goodwill."

The little white tiger considered for two seconds, but still refused. First, it would be difficult to explain how she knew; second, the system's scan results weren't entirely certain. If Bai Xu and the others followed her advice and risked going to the bottom of the crevice seeking opportunities, only to find nothing but magma, making them waste a trip, she would have a hard time explaining herself. If they were injured as a result, it would be even more counterproductive.

The system found her explanation reasonable and said no more.

Meanwhile, Su Hao and the others had already settled on their collection plan. She said: "Junior Brother Bai Xu understands spirit plant habits best, so we'll trouble you to go down this time. I consider my cultivation not lacking, so I'll accompany you, and also..."

As Su Hao spoke, her gaze swept across everyone. Halfway through her sentence, Yun Qingyue stepped forward voluntarily: "I'll go too."

Since the Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower was originally the little white tiger's collection task, and Senior Sister had stepped forward, she naturally couldn't shirk her responsibility. She immediately jumped onto Senior Sister's shoulder, calling out: "Me too! I'll go with Senior Sister."

Now there were three people and one tiger, nearly half of the total group. The dangers below the crevice were still unknown, but to be safe, they needed to leave people above. So Su Hao didn't select anyone else, but instead took out several ropes from her storage ring, handing them to Bai Xu and Yun Qingyue while saying: "This many people going down should be enough. We don't know how deep this crevice is. These are spirit-binding ropes that can extend, contract, and are extremely sturdy. Tie one end around your waist, and those above will hold the other end—it's an extra precaution."

Cultivators were nimble and light as swallows, so descending into the crevice didn't require external assistance, but Su Hao's spirit-binding ropes served as safety lines, and no one would refuse her goodwill. So both accepted with thanks and tied the ropes around their waists.

Su Hao also tied one around herself, entrusting the end to Bei Luo.

Then she looked at the remaining spirit-binding rope in her hand, glanced at the tiger cub, and hesitantly asked: "Does Jianbing need one?"

The little white tiger hurriedly shook her head. Although spirit-binding ropes were designed for spirit beasts, they generally had a suppressive effect on all beast types. While the White Tiger Divine Beast wasn't afraid of them at all, just looking at the spirit-binding rope instinctively generated a feeling of disgust, making her subconsciously reject it.

Su Hao generally knew this, which was why she asked last. When refused, she didn't insist.

To be honest, even without flying, human cultivators were clearly inferior to feline animals when it came to climbing. Although the little white tiger usually seemed somewhat lazy, when she needed to act, she was completely serious. Thus, Su Hao and the others weren't worried.

After completing the preparations, they didn't delay further. After a few final instructions, they went directly to the edge of the crevice and leaped down.

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The crevice was both long and deep, and fortunately it was naturally formed rather than cleaved open by some powerful being—the rock walls on both sides weren't smooth as mirrors, but rather uneven, providing footholds for people.

The little white tiger hadn't separated from Senior Sister yet. She crouched on Senior Sister's shoulder, slightly extending her claws to grip her shoulder.

Yun Qingyue didn't mind the slight pressure on her shoulder. Her body was rapidly falling, while her gaze quickly scanned the surrounding rock walls. The darkness below the crevice clearly didn't obstruct the cultivator's vision, but unfortunately, after falling several hundred or thousand meters, still within her line of sight, she had yet to discover any Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flowers.

As the descent of human and tiger accelerated faster and faster, until Yun Qingyue could barely distinguish up from down during the fall, she finally planted her foot against the rock wall, using this to disperse the gravitational force and slow her descent.

Su Hao and Bai Xu operated in much the same way, except that the three had split into two groups to search a larger area, rather than gathering in one place. Naturally, before they jumped down, the little white tiger had specifically chosen her position. As long as they weren't blind, they would definitely discover the Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flowers after falling to a certain depth, and then bringing them back to her would be the same.

Setting aside how those two were doing, the human and tiger pair continued to descend for a while. Suddenly, Yun Qingyue felt the tiger paw gripping her shoulder tighten, followed by the little white tiger's urgent voice: "Senior Sister, wait!"

Without thinking, Yun Qingyue tapped her toes on a protruding rock on the wall, immediately stopping her descent.

With the little white tiger's timely reminder and Yun Qingyue's swift reaction, she stopped at exactly the right position. As soon as her form halted, her gaze habitually swept the surroundings, and she immediately spotted a crystalline Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower not far below on the rock wall, silently blooming its splendor hidden in the darkness.

"Found it." Yun Qingyue's voice was somewhat excited about finding the first Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower.

The little white tiger was clearly delighted too, letting out an "awoo" and immediately leaping down from Yun Qingyue's shoulder. She had already extended her claws while in mid-air, and when she landed near the Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower, her sharp tiger claws immediately plunged into the rock wall, securing a firm grip.

The Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower was even more beautiful up close, not only exquisitely detailed like a work of art, but also possessing a vibrant vitality completely different from those picked and preserved in jade boxes. Few female cultivators would dislike such beautiful things, but at the moment, the little white tiger had no time to appreciate it, because the system's mechanical prompt had already sounded in her mind:

"Ding, collection target found. Does Host wish to collect? (Yes/No)."

The little white tiger's eyes lit up, and she was about to select "yes" when suddenly another figure appeared beside her—it was Yun Qingyue who had followed her down. With one hand gripping the rock wall and the other holding a small medicine spade, she wore a somewhat exasperated expression as she lectured the little white tiger: "Most spirit plants are delicate. If damaged, at best their medicinal efficacy will be lost, at worst the spiritual herb will be completely ruined. You can't just pick them directly with your claws."

As she spoke, she glanced at the little white tiger's paw that was hovering in the air. That tiger paw was extremely close to the Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower, looking very much like it was about to directly pluck the flower—absolutely reckless.

Under Senior Sister's gaze, the little white tiger instinctively withdrew her paw, feeling somewhat guilty.

After a moment, seeing that Senior Sister had already begun to collect the flower, the little white tiger suddenly realized—wait, she hadn't been planning to use her claws to pick it at all; she had been about to select the system option. Besides, with the system's one-click collection, damaging the spirit plant wasn't even possible. Compared to the laborious manual collection, wasn't that much more convenient?!

However, her realization came too late. Her instinctive earlier action seemed to have already confirmed Senior Sister's guess. It was too late to say anything now, and moreover, she couldn't explain the system's one-click collection, so she could only reluctantly accept it.

Yun Qingyue was fully concentrated on collecting the flower and didn't notice the little white tiger's glum expression. However, while collecting, she didn't forget to teach the little white tiger how to operate. Her gentle, methodical explanation captivated the little white tiger, who began to learn earnestly, quickly forgetting her earlier frustration.

Before long, Yun Qingyue had completely harvested the first Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower. Her movements were swift yet delicate, and the entire flower was picked without the slightest damage, placed into the jade box she had prepared beforehand.

"Here, for you." Yun Qingyue's eyes contained a smile as she handed the personally collected Ice Realm Dragon Flame Flower to Jiang Mo.

In that moment, the little white tiger saw nothing but pure affection in Senior Sister's eyes, making the tips of her ears inexplicably warm. She extended her paw to accept the flower, hearing the system prompt about task progress (1/10), but completely ignoring it. She just tightly clutched the jade box to her chest with her paws, stammering: "Th-thank you, Senior Sister."

Yun Qingyue was completely unaware of the little white tiger's shy excitement. She reached out and gently rubbed the tiger's head: "Such a small matter, why thank me? Let's go. Didn't you say you needed ten? Let's continue looking for the next one."

The little white tiger nodded in a daze, putting the jade box into her space while feeling like something wasn't quite right.