Chapter 216 : Furrowed Brows
Yun Qingyue was behaving strangely today. Even seeing the Little White Tiger who had come to rescue her in the territory of demonic cultivators failed to make her smile.
At first, the Little White Tiger didn't notice, as her attention was entirely focused on her Senior Sister's pale complexion—Senior Sister was already injured, and after this ordeal, her condition had likely worsened. When someone is in pain, it seemed natural they would furrow their brows and not wish to speak. So the Little White Tiger busied herself finding medicinal pills to heal her Senior Sister, and also bought antidote pills from the system.
There was no time for pleasantries. Seeing Yun Qingyue take the medicine, the Little White Tiger hastily said: "Senior Sister, I'm afraid that commotion might have alerted others. You should enter my innate space, and then I'll take you away from here."
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue lowered her gaze in thought for a moment, and for some reason refused: "No, I'll leave with you."
The Little White Tiger was surprised and hesitated, not understanding why her Senior Sister was suddenly being so stubborn.
However, Yun Qingyue showed no intention of explaining. She silently circulated her energy to activate the medicine's effects, and as soon as her spiritual energy barely resumed flowing, she stood up. Then she scooped up the Little White Tiger and walked toward the door.
The Little White Tiger, who had just been valiantly coming to the rescue, now found herself held around the middle with all four paws dangling in the air, completely bewildered.
Yun Qingyue only stopped when she reached the door. Perhaps because her cultivation had been sealed earlier, or perhaps Chu Yang had deliberately arranged it this way, but the room had no restrictive formations. She tilted her head slightly to listen for any movement outside, and detecting none, confirmed that the earlier commotion hadn't alerted anyone. Only then did she push the door open a tiny crack.
The corridor outside was indeed silent. Yun Qingyue, holding the Little White Tiger, was about to step out when she suddenly heard something and retreated. The Little White Tiger's round ears twitched, and she finally heard an elderly voice coming from a distance: "The person is being held here?"
A younger voice replied: "Yes, Second Elder. Young Master ordered Ziqi to guard her."
The elderly voice then snorted lightly: "Our Young Master is becoming increasingly muddled. I wondered why he sent Fifth Elder away a few days ago—it turns out he was using his position to capture women for himself, and at such a critical time. Is that righteous sect's female disciple so beautiful that he's been obsessed with her since spending those months at Xuanqing Sect years ago? How foolish!"
As they spoke, their voices grew closer, seemingly heading directly toward them.
The Little White Tiger's expression immediately changed as she wriggled free from her Senior Sister's arms and landed on the floor. Knowing that they couldn't defeat an Elder-level figure even if they combined forces, she didn't hesitate any longer and pulled her Senior Sister into her innate space—the safest and most secret place, where even an immortal couldn't find them!
Sure enough, the next moment the door was pushed open, and the two people at the entrance saw the chaotic scene before them. Their first thought was that the prisoner had escaped.
The Second Elder was shrewd and didn't forget to send out his divine sense to scan the room, but a divine beast's innate space exists in another dimensional plane. Even if his cultivation were two realms higher, he still wouldn't be able to find any trace.
Both their expressions turned extremely ugly. The Second Elder waved his sleeve to awaken Ziqi and asked sternly: "Where is she?"
Ziqi was dazed for a moment, but quickly came to her senses under the Second Elder's gaze and answered: "A white tiger broke in earlier, and the person... the person was rescued."
She had been knocked unconscious too early and hadn't cleared her thoughts upon waking, so her instinctive response played perfectly into the Little White Tiger's hands. The two men didn't doubt her words and immediately gave chase. Before long, the entire magic vessel was alerted.
Naturally, even if they searched every crack and corner of the magic vessel, they would never find the human and tiger.
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Inside the innate space, the still three-head-tall toddler silently withdrew her chubby little hand that had been clutching her Senior Sister's clothes, her small face scrunched into a knot—why, why was it that even though her level had increased and her cultivation had reached Void Crossing, she still appeared as a baby in her innate space? And this time she had nowhere to hide. The demonic cultivators were searching the vessel, and she didn't dare go outside.
"Sen-Senior Sister..." the toddler called out in her baby voice, conflicted.
Seeing her in this state, Yun Qingyue seemed not at all surprised and casually rubbed her head: "It's alright. At worst, we'll wait for a while until these demonic cultivators become less vigilant, then escape."
Having her hair ruffled, the toddler wasn't comforted at all. Instead, she became more dejected—she wasn't worried about the demonic cultivators outside at all. They couldn't get in here anyway, and cultivators could abstain from food and drink, so waiting for any length of time wasn't an issue. But now that her Senior Sister had seen her in this form, would she be treated like a child from now on? She absolutely didn't want to have a mother-daughter relationship with her Senior Sister!
The system watched with great amusement, presumably hearing her thoughts, and laughed like a pig from within its database.
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Chu Yang received the news quickly. He wasn't surprised that Yun Qingyue had escaped, but he hadn't expected the white tiger from the lower deck to break free so soon—by his calculations, the Little White Tiger should have just awakened and should still be affected by the poison. How had she escaped so easily? Truly, the foundation of divine beasts couldn't be underestimated. Even a cub wasn't so easy to deal with.
The subordinate reporting the news kept his head lowered, while Ziqi, who had come to accept punishment, knelt on the ground, not daring to raise her head even slightly.
After a while, they finally heard Chu Yang say: "Very well, you may withdraw."
"Thank you, Young Master." Ziqi felt as if she'd been granted amnesty, and her tense body relaxed. She didn't dare make any excuses for her incompetence. She had expected severe punishment from the Young Master for her failure, but was surprised that it was dismissed so lightly. Feeling both relieved and confused, she silently kowtowed despite her injuries, then rose and withdrew.
The subordinate who had reported the news left with her. Once the two had left the room, the attendant beside Chu Yang couldn't help but ask: "Young Master, are you really letting this go? You went to the trouble of having Fifth Elder capture her."
Chu Yang's expression remained calm, appearing unconcerned as he waved his hand: "I was going to release her anyway, so it makes no difference if she escapes on her own."
The attendant didn't understand why Chu Yang would capture someone only to release them, but he didn't dare ask, so he obediently kept quiet.
Chu Yang certainly had no intention of explaining. He relaxed against the back of his chair, his fingers tapping the armrest intermittently, as if everything was proceeding according to plan. After a while, he asked: "What's the situation with Crimson Blood Sect?"
The attendant reluctantly took out an invitation card from his sleeve and said awkwardly: "This... Young Master, it was returned again."
Chu Yang's expression finally darkened. Since capturing Yun Qingyue, he had sent seven or eight invitation cards to the Crimson Blood Sect Leader. At first, the other party had made excuses to decline, but later didn't even bother with excuses and simply returned the cards. That decisiveness made him doubt his judgment, or wonder if the other party hadn't even looked at his invitations at all.
Although he was reluctant to admit it, Chu Yang felt the latter possibility was far greater than the former. Even knowing the disparity in their status and position, being treated with such disregard still made him angry.
The attendant had followed Chu Yang for many years, and one look at his expression told him that the Young Master was furious—in other matters, subordinates like them would naturally help the Young Master resolve his concerns, and anyone the Young Master wanted to see would be brought back even if they had to be kidnapped. But the Crimson Blood Sect Leader was clearly beyond their ability to handle. Forget kidnapping—just the thought made his heart tremble.
At that moment, one person in the room seethed with suppressed anger, while the other kept his head down, not daring to breathe loudly. The silence became almost frightening.
Perhaps after a moment, or perhaps after a long while, the sound of fingers tapping the armrest resumed, one tap after another. Just as the attendant's heart was rising to his throat, Chu Yang spoke again: "Fine, have someone watch their vessel. If the Crimson Blood Sect Leader leaves the magic vessel, report to me immediately."
The attendant opened his mouth, wanting to ask why the Crimson Blood Sect Leader would leave their vessel—not only was there no real conflict between the righteous and demonic paths yet, but even when the secret realm closed and both sides clashed, the latter had shown no intention of helping.
Though confused, the attendant knew it wasn't his place to question, just as with the Young Master's handling of Yun Qingyue. So he suppressed his many doubts, simply accepting that whatever the Young Master said must be right, and bowed in acknowledgment: "Yes, Young Master."
Chu Yang waved his hand, about to dismiss the attendant, when he thought of something else and added: "Also, keep an eye on Xuanqing Sect. Since Yun Qingyue has escaped, monitor when she returns to their side."
The attendant agreed once more, then was dismissed by Chu Yang and went to carry out his orders.
Chu Yang's seemingly disjointed instructions offered no clear insight into his purpose. Meanwhile, after Nine Abyss Sect's magic vessel remained sealed for several days, it began to attract attention—the righteous sects were far away and unconcerned, but the Celestial Demon Sect and Harmony Sect, positioned on either side of Nine Abyss Sect's vessel, quickly noticed the abnormality. To avoid further complications, Nine Abyss Sect soon lifted their restrictions.
Outsiders never knew what had transpired, while in the innate space, the Little White Tiger had been waiting anxiously for days. Initially, she was extremely uncomfortable due to her physical form, but later noticed that her Senior Sister rarely glanced at her.
She seemed to have something weighing on her mind, always wearing a troubled expression.