Chapter 376 : Stark Contrast
Jiang Mo had never imagined that divine beasts and humans had completely different standards for measuring strength. She had been fixated on her cultivation realm and combat power improvements, thinking she could rank among the cultivation world's elite, only to discover that by divine beast standards, she still fell far short.
This helped her understand why human cultivation sects insisted on enshrining divine beasts.
Though she understood this in her heart and was both amazed and envious of the scenes she had witnessed, her stubbornness remained unchanged. After viewing the memory, she opened her eyes, raised her chin, still maintaining a defiant appearance: "Very impressive, but what does that have to do with me? How old are you? And how old am I? I'm not even a hundred years old yet, just a cub really. Isn't it only natural that I'm not as powerful as you?"
This reasoning made sense, as no one would expect an infant's combat ability to match an adult's. Even if the latter had learned nothing and knew nothing, the foundation granted by time alone couldn't be surpassed by the former.
The White Tiger phantom remained silent, its gaze sweeping over the completely drooping tail behind the little tiger, before projecting another point of faint light into Jiang Mo's mind, allowing her to receive another memory fragment...
This time, the protagonist of the memory was a Little White Tiger about her age, but unlike the divine beast cubs she knew who only ate, drank, and slept, the small White Tiger in the memory was extremely lively and mischievous, seemingly never at rest. It was either fighting or on its way to a fight. Those it fought weren't cubs of the same age, but a series of formidable opponents.
For instance, some large monster that looked like both bird and human, or some fiend born of malicious intent, or some ghost wreaking havoc in an area. In short, wherever there was a fight, it seemed to appear.
Sometimes it won, tearing its enemies to pieces, then proudly roaring an "aooo."
Sometimes it also lost, slinking away covered in wounds. But even after retreating, once it recovered and grew stronger, it would return to fight again. When it won, it was delighted; when it lost, it would return next time.
In short, the Little White Tiger in the memory grew through battle, and clearly, its opponents became more challenging each time. From initially being able to regard them with indifference, Jiang Mo gradually became serious in her attitude, then approached them as significant threats, until finally she almost held her breath, astonished by the opponents the Little White Tiger chose.
At this point, the scene abruptly ended.
Jiang Mo instinctively looked up and asked the White Tiger phantom: "It..."
She wanted to ask about the outcome of the Little White Tiger's final battle in the memory, but as soon as she began speaking, she suddenly realized that the scenes she had witnessed were all memories of the White Tiger phantom. The fact that the White Tiger phantom before her was so powerful proved the outcome of that final battle she hadn't seen—either the Little White Tiger in the memory had won, or after repeated defeats, it had ultimately emerged victorious.
Jiang Mo collected herself, changing the question on her lips: "How old was it?"
By now, the White Tiger phantom had released its pressure on Jiang Mo and sat properly before her. Hearing the question, it feigned an air of casual indifference and answered: "From birth to eighty-three years old."
Jiang Mo was momentarily stunned, then realized—she was under a hundred years old, but strictly speaking, this year she was exactly eighty-three. She even had an intuition that although the White Tiger phantom hadn't said so, the Little White Tiger at the end of the memory must have been exactly her age.
Not a day more, not an hour more, otherwise the memory wouldn't have ended so abruptly.
However, the more she realized this, the clearer Jiang Mo could see the gap between herself and the Little White Tiger in the memory. Compared to the other's growth through constant battle, her eighty years of diligent practice seemed like she had grown up in a greenhouse. If she were to fight such a Little White Tiger, she would probably be defeated within three moves, perhaps even dying under its claws!
With this clear recognition, Jiang Mo instantly deflated. She lay on the ground without getting up, raising her fluffy front paws to cover her eyes, as if too ashamed to face anyone: "Fine, fine, I am really weak."
Seeing that she had finally gained a clear understanding of herself, the White Tiger phantom nodded with satisfaction. However, noticing that the cub was almost completely discouraged, it felt this wouldn't do. So it raised its massive tiger paw and rubbed the little tiger's head, then said to her: "You can't be entirely blamed for this. You were born with inherent deficiencies; it's natural that your growth after birth would be slower."
Such a large White Tiger, yet when it rubbed her head, its touch was incredibly gentle, even tender.
The little tiger's ears twitched, indicating she had taken its words to heart, though she was curious that after so many years, her inherent deficiencies could still be so easily discerned. Moreover, from what the other implied, these congenital deficiencies still affected her today, and quite significantly at that?
This was a latent problem, and Jiang Mo immediately perked up, rolling to a sitting position to ask: "Is there any way to remedy this?"
The White Tiger phantom tilted its head thoughtfully, then shook it: "There is no method, unless you ascend and leave this realm." Before Jiang Mo could be disappointed, it continued explaining: "Since the demonic realm invasion tens of thousands of years ago and the cosmic calamity that followed, although the passage between the two realms was sealed by the grand formation, the damage to the Heavenly Dao was substantial. If I'm not mistaken, the current cultivation world is no longer suitable for divine beasts to live in..."
It wasn't wrong at all. The current cultivation world was not just unsuitable for divine beasts but fundamentally unsuitable for any race besides humans. Dragons and phoenixes had broken through to other realms, monstrous beast clans had vanished without a trace, ghost clans remained hidden, and demons... there had been no demons since that battle years ago. Those diverse opponents from the White Tiger cub's memories could no longer be found anywhere in the cultivation world today.
Was all this due to the Heavenly Dao's favoritism toward humans? From Jiang Mo's perspective, perhaps, but in the White Tiger phantom's view, this wasn't the case.
The White Tiger phantom earnestly instructed its descendant: "We divine beasts are mostly born and nurtured by heaven and earth; even occasional mating and reproduction only occurs with the Heavenly Dao's permission. But after the calamity, the Heavenly Dao declined, and the spiritual energy in the world likely decreased significantly. Under such circumstances, each additional divine beast becomes a burden on the Heavenly Dao. Because our growth requires too much energy, even if the Heavenly Dao favors us, for the greater good, we had to be abandoned."
At this point it paused, suddenly eyeing Jiang Mo suspiciously, asking with curiosity: "According to my prediction, divine beasts shouldn't still be born in today's cultivation world, so why are you so young?"
Hearing this, Jiang Mo immediately felt a chill in her heart, thinking of that small White Tiger that hadn't successfully survived—perhaps the Heavenly Dao truly did favor the divine beast clan, unable to bear their extinction, and thus had endeavored to nurture such a small White Tiger, but unfortunately it had died shortly after birth.
Of course, Jiang Mo couldn't speak truthfully about this, so she said: "I don't know, but I was born with inherent deficiencies, without even having cultivation."
The Little White Tiger in the memory was different; from birth it appeared full of vigor, even fighting a monstrous beast on its very first day. The White Tiger's combative nature wasn't particularly evident in Jiang Mo, but it was fully displayed in that Little White Tiger.
Hearing this, the White Tiger phantom sighed and didn't probe further, only emphasizing again: "This place is no longer suitable for your survival. You should ascend to the higher realm as soon as possible." After a pause, its huge tiger eyes scanned Jiang Mo, and it sighed again: "But that won't work either. You're so weak now, although the Heavenly Dao will be lenient during your tribulation, once you ascend to the higher realm, you'll be at a disadvantage like this."
Jiang Mo didn't take these words too seriously, because even if she couldn't match the majesty of former divine beasts, she was at least not inferior to human cultivators. If human cultivators weren't worried about disadvantages after ascending to the higher realm, what did she have to fear?
However, the White Tiger phantom immediately followed with: "If you ascend like this, our clan members won't accept you."
Jiang Mo was stunned upon hearing this. Although modern people were accustomed to independence and didn't care much about clan members, if ascending to the higher realm meant facing a completely new environment, having support would certainly be beneficial. Besides, being despised wasn't a pleasant experience.
The little tiger immediately sat up straight, asking with a serious expression: "Then what should I do?"
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Judging by the order of entry into the legacy spaces, the Little Swan Goose was the first to enter and receive a legacy, and was also the first to emerge. Though she herself couldn't clearly explain what benefits she had received, anyone could see that her gains were substantial—when entering the secret realm, she had been like a chicken chick of a little phoenix, but upon emerging, not only had plumes grown on her head, but several tail feathers had also sprouted.
A phoenix's cultivation level could be seen from its appearance; the higher their cultivation, the more beautiful they became. Now that the Little Swan Goose had grown tail feathers, it was clear her cultivation had greatly increased, and she was getting closer to adulthood.
Although her cultivation had improved, her memories evidently hadn't returned, otherwise she wouldn't have caused such chaos with Sect Leader Zhu.
After quite a "confrontation" between mother and daughter outside the space, it ended with several wounds pecked onto Zhu Baiyi's hand and a few feathers plucked from the Little Swan Goose—naturally not her beautiful tail feathers or the plumes on her head, otherwise the Little Swan Goose wouldn't have given up so easily.
Even so, the Little Swan Goose held a grudge against her birth mother, disliking foxes even more.
Fortunately, this mutual antipathy only lasted seven or eight days. After that period, Qingyu also emerged from the legacy space. She was the second to enter a legacy space, and now the second to come out, though in terms of time spent inside, she had stayed for considerably less time than the Little Swan Goose. It was unclear whether this was because the Little Swan Goose had dawdled too long in the space or for some other reason.
The Qingyu who emerged from the legacy space had gained no less than the Little Swan Goose. Although her external appearance hadn't changed, her entire aura had undergone a tremendous transformation...
After her journey in the legacy space, the injuries that had previously not fully healed were now completely recovered, and her cultivation had also risen a level, directly entering the Fusion Perfect realm. Moreover, this increase in cultivation wasn't at all shallow but extremely stable, giving the impression that tribulation lightning could fall at any moment, and she could enter the Grand Achievement realm at any time.
However, tribulation wasn't possible for the moment, as this realm was clearly sealed. With heavenly mechanisms obscured, tribulation lightning naturally couldn't descend; it would probably have to wait until they left this place before she could be struck by tribulation lightning.
Beyond her increased cultivation, Qingyu also brought another piece of news: "I know how we can leave this place."