Chapter 355 : Rebirth from the Flames
The little tiger cub refused to listen to reason, greatly distressing Golden Peng, but even more anxious than Golden Peng was the system—heaven knows how difficult its journey had been, having to carry its host through space and time on its first day of operation, only to end up with such a stingy and apathetic user. Never properly earning points, constantly delaying tasks, and now preparing to enter dormancy and give up completely?!
The system looked at its overdue loan, then thought about the distant future of repayment, and burst into tears with a "waa."
This wasn't fake crying—it was genuine. Moreover, it was crying with a mechanical voice directly in her consciousness, an effect similar to nails scratching a blackboard while preventing someone from covering their ears—enough to shock even a dying person back to life.
Jiang Mo could barely endure it, but in her current state of despair, she truly had no interest in dealing with it.
Seeing that its host was genuinely ignoring it, the system became frantic. Unfortunately, its persuasive abilities weren't much better than Golden Peng's. With no alternative, it frantically searched through its database, trying to find a way to revive its host's spirits.
After a while, it suddenly made a sound of surprise: "Eh?"
Jiang Mo heard it but had no intention of responding. Her consciousness was becoming increasingly muddled, indifferent to everything.
But the system, having finally made a discovery, clearly wasn't about to give up. It immediately began "banging drums and gongs" in Jiang Mo's consciousness. The commotion was at least ten times louder than before, truly enough to wake the dead. Most importantly, it not only created noise but also repeatedly chanted: "Host, Senior Sister isn't dead. Host, Senior Sister isn't dead. Host, Senior Sister isn't dead..."
The noise was ineffective against Jiang Mo, but the system's repeated phrase acted like an adrenaline shot, immediately snapping her back to consciousness. She finally responded to the system: "System, what did you say?"
The system jumped up and down, clearly excited: "Host, look at your task list! Your main quest hasn't failed yet!"
Jiang Mo had three main quests in total. One was to follow the storyline, which had now reached the Nine Abyss Sect stage, but for some reason hadn't shown as completed yet, seeming temporarily stuck. The second involved her cultivation progress; while Fusion realm cultivation wasn't low, until she reached maximum level and ascended, it wouldn't be considered fully complete. The third was to find a partner—only by succeeding in both love and career could she reach life's peak.
For the third quest, the system had set up many sub-tasks. For instance, holding hands, kissing and hugging, successfully confessing, becoming Dao companions, and so on. From dating to marriage, even including relationship evaluations, the task coverage was quite comprehensive.
After hearing the system's words, Jiang Mo immediately opened the task panel to check the situation, and indeed saw that the third main quest hadn't shown as failed. Her heart instantly lifted, because up until now, the main system had never incorrectly judged a task's status. But then, looking at the task description, her joy burst like a punctured bubble with a "pop."
The reason was simple: the task description had never included her Senior Sister's name, only using terms like "beloved" or "lover" as substitutes... To put it bluntly, faithful people are rare in this world, while those who change their hearts are many. Perhaps the person these terms referred to had changed?
Jiang Mo couldn't guarantee anything for her future self, nor did she know if she might change her heart someday. But as long as there was a possibility of her changing her heart, the system task couldn't be considered completely failed—she wasn't certain if her future self would change her heart, but at this moment, her heart and eyes were truly full of her Senior Sister. Thus, having discovered this loophole in the task, she immediately returned to her dejected state.
Even more dejected than before!
Because when she realized her Senior Sister might still be alive, she instinctively swept her divine sense through the pile of feathers beneath her several times, hoping to find even a trace of life.
But there was nothing. Feathers were just feathers, ashes were just ashes. The legendary Phoenix rebirth from the flames hadn't occurred.
Jiang Mo withdrew her divine sense, the entire tiger completely sinking into despair. This time, neither Golden Peng pulling at her ears with his persuasions nor the system causing a commotion in her consciousness was effective. She no longer wanted to complete any tasks; after losing her Senior Sister, she didn't know what her purpose in the cultivation world was—to stop the Nine Abyss Sect's plot? To repair the sealing formation? She wasn't a savior and truly didn't want to concern herself with such matters.
Her consciousness became muddled again. She could no longer hear Golden Peng's words, nor even the noise the system was making in her consciousness... Whatever. If she woke from this sleep, fine; if not, that was fine too.
Jiang Mo, severely impacted and unable to accept reality, was prepared to completely give up.
Until she felt something pushing against her belly from below...
The force was very light. Compared to Golden Peng's shaking and ear-pulling, the pressure on her stomach was almost negligible. However, the White Tiger lying prone on the ground had nothing beneath her abdomen except a pile of Phoenix feathers. Those feathers were soft, warm, and even carried her Senior Sister's scent, giving her great comfort, but they certainly couldn't push against her belly.
The White Tiger's foggy brain inexplicably cleared for a moment. And before her sluggish brain could resume functioning, something pushed against her belly from below again. This time, the force was slightly stronger, giving the tiger an even clearer sensation.
Jiang Mo suddenly jolted awake. When she abruptly opened her eyes, even Golden Peng, who hadn't expected it, was startled.
Golden Peng felt somewhat awkward, thinking his ear-pulling had been too forceful and had woken her up. But after a brief moment of guilt, he quickly resumed his righteous attitude—regardless, the little tiger cub waking up was a good thing.
Compared to the terrible consequences of falling into dormancy, even if he had torn off her ear, she couldn't blame him!
Jiang Mo indeed didn't blame him. In fact, she had no time to pay attention to Golden Peng at all. Because just as she opened her eyes, she felt something push against her belly for the third time, and this time, whatever was pushing didn't retract but continued to push upward. It was as if some tiny being was trying to move this enormous creature out of the way...
The White Tiger suddenly rolled over, moving away from the pile of feathers.
Perhaps because her movement was too sudden, the small thing that had been pushing against the White Tiger's soft belly couldn't control its force and tumbled out—a tiny, fluffy little one, a chick that hadn't even grown its feathers yet!
Jiang Mo turned to see this sight and froze. Beside her, Golden Peng, who had been racking his brains for what to say, also froze.
What was this? Where had this young creature come from? Why had it appeared here?
Three questions arose in both their minds, but only for a moment. Jiang Mo quickly detected a familiar aura from this small fledgling. She immediately held her breath, overwhelmed with joy: "Phoenix, Phoenixes are reborn from the flames, right?!"
Golden Peng's eyes widened. Despite his extensive knowledge, he was speechless at this moment—it was true that Phoenixes could be reborn from the flames, but not every Phoenix possessed this ability. Otherwise, wouldn't the Phoenix race be immortal and long since have defied the heavens? He had heard that only Phoenixes with the purest bloodline had the possibility of rebirth through nirvana, and the Swan Goose that had undergone atavism clearly didn't have such bloodline.
Furthermore, even if the Swan Goose's bloodline had been sufficient, when the Heavenly Dao sends down annihilation tribulation lightning to destroy, no Phoenix could escape such a fate!
Golden Peng was very confident in the power of the Heavenly Dao, but if not through nirvana rebirth, where had this small fledgling come from? He was filled with doubt and carefully used a secret technique to investigate, only to become even more confused.
Because the small fledgling before him not only lacked pure Phoenix bloodline but could even be said to have quite a mixed one—it had divine beast Phoenix bloodline, ancient great demon bloodline, and more incredibly, even a trace of human bloodline... Was this truly a Swan Goose that had successfully undergone atavism? Wasn't it more likely a mongrel that just happened to resemble a Swan Goose?!
The knowledgeable Golden Peng was bewildered for the first time, but Jiang Mo beside him clearly didn't care about bloodlines. The tiger that had been on the verge of death was now full of vitality, her golden tiger eyes almost glowing as they fixed on the fluffy fledgling.
She lowered herself, her large tiger head pressed against the pile of feathers, striving to maintain the same height as the fledgling.
After careful observation for a moment, Jiang Mo cautiously called out: "Senior Sister?"
The fledgling had earlier tumbled out due to its unchecked force and struggled in the pile of feathers for quite a while before standing up again. Just as it stood properly, it met a pair of gleaming tiger eyes. It wasn't particularly afraid and even tilted its head when it heard the big tiger speak, its small Phoenix eyes full of innocence and purity... Oh no, Senior Sister had lost her wits and didn't recognize her!
Jiang Mo instantly realized this, and her joy was somewhat diminished. However, regardless, the person was still alive. After a brief moment of shock and disappointment, Jiang Mo quickly regained her happiness.
She moved her head closer, and the small Swan Goose showed no fear at all, even walking forward a few steps.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo became happier. She pressed her head lower against the feathers, and when the small Swan Goose approached, she nudged it, lifting the miniature fluffy creature onto her head.
The small Swan Goose landed with a plop on the tiger's head, and the White Tiger stood up with it perched there. Feeling the tiny weight on top of her head, the entire tiger appeared majestic and lively, as if crowned with the world's most precious treasure...