Chapter 377 : Leading by Example
The Little Swan Goose had received a monstrous beast clan legacy, the Little White Tiger had encountered an ancestor of her kind, and naturally, Qingyu faced a human cultivator's legacy after entering the legacy space. Though her cultivation was already high, it still fell short when compared to those predecessors from tens of thousands of years ago. Therefore, after receiving the legacy, she had greatly benefited as well. More importantly, she had inherited those predecessors' assets, along with some information about this place.
Although based on the map Jiang Mo had produced, they had previously made guesses about the exit, how could guesses compare to actual knowledge? Now their departure was almost certain, with the only issue being that Jiang Mo hadn't yet emerged.
Upon learning this, Qingyu was slightly surprised, since she was the second to enter a legacy space and didn't know what had happened afterward. But from the current situation, they had come with four people total. The Little Swan Goose had entered a legacy space, she had entered one, and Jiang Mo was still inside her legacy space... Looking around, everyone had received an opportunity except Zhu Baiyi.
Opportunities like these were always encountered by chance rather than sought deliberately, but when everyone else possessed one, the person without became the outlier. Even the typically composed Qingyu now looked at Zhu Baiyi with an unusual gaze.
Zhu Baiyi clearly understood her look, feeling instantly dejected, yet unable to react to Qingyu as she had with the Little Swan Goose.
She finally tugged at the corners of her mouth, pretending nonchalance, and asked Qingyu back: "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Qingyu shook her head, thought for a moment, then said diplomatically: "We don't know when Jianbing will come out. Qingyue and I will wait here. You... if you have nothing to do, you could walk around the vicinity." After a pause, as if remembering something, she added: "The legacy spaces Qingyue and I entered were not the same. There should be quite a few spaces hidden here."
Though these words seemed tactful, they were almost explicit instructions—while there was still time, go search nearby to see if you can find a legacy space and try your luck. If luck truly evaded her, taking matters into her own hands would be fine as well; it wouldn't affect Jianbing who was currently receiving a legacy inside a space.
Zhu Baiyi certainly understood, but this understanding only made her more dejected, because during the time when the three had entered spaces and she waited alone, she had already traversed every inch of ground within a ten-mile radius. Unfortunately, she hadn't found anything; the legendary legacy spaces were truly just legends to her. As for taking action... she had previously engaged with the Little Swan Goose, but still with no results.
Having accumulated enough disappointment, Zhu Baiyi didn't plan to lose face again in front of Qingyu, so she feigned indifference and said: "There's no need. Opportunities like these can never be forced."
Hearing this, Qingyu seemed to want to persuade her, but knowing Zhu Baiyi as she did, the words turned several times on her lips but ultimately remained unspoken.
Zhu Baiyi was also perceptive and immediately changed the subject, pointing at the Little Swan Goose perched on a pile of rocks and saying to Qingyu: "Let's not talk about my situation. Look at Qingyue; she seems to be growing her fourth tail feather. At this rate, she should recover soon, right?"
Qingyu didn't dwell on the previous topic either, and upon hearing this, she indeed looked toward the Little Swan Goose—since the feather-plucking incident, the Little Swan Goose had held a grudge against the fox who shared her bloodline, finding everything about her irritating. Just now, she had been gnawing on a spirit fruit brought from the legacy space, but with Zhu Baiyi's gesture, she immediately swallowed the fruit and bristled at her.
The tiny phoenix, with all her feathers puffed up, spread her wings in an intimidating posture, looking fiercely adorable... At least Zhu Baiyi didn't take this threat seriously, instead finding the bristling cub rather cute.
Qingyu felt the same, but her focus was clearly not limited to this. She looked at the bristling Little Swan Goose, then turned to glance at the certain fox beside her who couldn't help but smile, and suddenly asked: "What did you do to her? Why is she like this?"
Hearing this, Zhu Baiyi's smile immediately froze, and she laughed awkwardly: "Ah, well, I don't know either; she suddenly became like this."
However, Zhu Baiyi had forgotten that although the Little Swan Goose who emerged from the legacy space hadn't recovered her memories, she was now quite different and had learned to speak. Moreover, her hearing was excellent, and she could hear their conversation from quite a distance. Hearing this, she immediately spoke up to refute: "Bad fox, she plucked my feathers when no one was around. So many of my beautiful feathers were plucked; I look so ugly now!"
The Little Swan Goose's accusation still had a childish tone, but she had clearly expressed what she wanted to convey. Zhu Baiyi wanted to stop her and explain, but before she could, she looked up and met Qingyu's suddenly dangerous gaze.
The fox immediately felt guilty, shifting her feet and taking a small step backward: "Q-Qingyu, let me explain..."
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Outside the space, a new round of chaos began in the name of maintaining family harmony.
Inside the legacy space, the White Tiger phantom had already told the Little White Tiger most of what she needed to know. So, in response to the Little White Tiger's humble request for guidance, the White Tiger phantom imparted a final piece of wisdom: No matter where you go, strength is the ultimate truth!
Clearly, the White Tiger phantom disapproved of its descendant's lack of initiative. When it heard the Little White Tiger say that Divine Lord Zhiming at her sect spent all day eating and sleeping yet was about to ascend, it scoffed—it was true that divine beasts were favored by the Heavenly Dao, true that eating and sleeping increased cultivation, and true that such pig-like growth could still lead to ascension. But once ascended, there would naturally be people in the higher realm to teach that lazy Black Tortoise a lesson.
Of course, even if the Black Tortoise's strength was insufficient after ascending, it at least had a natural turtle shell as a fallback. After all, a Black Tortoise's shell had incredible defensive capabilities, and that lazy Black Tortoise was accustomed to sleeping. It could simply retract into its shell and sleep for a thousand years, by which time enemies would have given up and left.
But the White Tiger had no such racial advantage, and White Tigers were naturally combative, causing trouble wherever they went. In other words, there might be many in the higher realm with grudges against the White Tiger clan. If the Little White Tiger ascended without the strength to protect herself, the consequences would be unimaginable... Although these matters seemed distant, considering that Jiang Mo had already reached the Fusion realm, they didn't seem so distant after all.
As the saying goes, those without forethought will have immediate worries, so Jiang Mo took the White Tiger phantom's teachings quite seriously.
Seeing that she was teachable, the White Tiger phantom naturally wanted to look after its descendant, though its method of care was somewhat overwhelming for the tiger—the interrupted legacy would of course be given, and the legacy memories that should be passed to descendants were all completed by the White Tiger phantom, and then there was nothing more... The transmission of knowledge ended there, followed by instruction through practical demonstration.
Jiang Mo had just received the legacy memories and hadn't even had a chance to try her new skills when she looked up to find that the originally mountain-sized White Tiger phantom had transformed, becoming a tiger cub about her size.
She stared at the familiar-looking Little White Tiger in a daze, immediately developing an ominous premonition.
Sure enough, the next moment the Little White Tiger spoke, its voice still the deep, rich tone of the White Tiger phantom: "Our White Tiger clan is born combative, and the so-called legacy techniques are just what they are; more important is the instinct developed in actual combat. This cultivation world probably doesn't have the formidable demons and monsters of ancient times that we could join forces against, and you, little one, have been raised too delicately. Let me personally teach you."
As the words fell, Jiang Mo wasn't given time to react. She only saw a blur before her eyes as the Little White Tiger left its original position and pounced toward her. Before she could react, it bit her ear.
"Aooo..." Jiang Mo cried out in pain, frantically kicking at the Little White Tiger biting her, but the latter flipped over and dodged.
Having succeeded with one strike, the Little White Tiger temporarily retreated to the side. Jiang Mo reached out her paw to touch her ear, waves of intense pain suggesting that the Little White Tiger had nearly bitten her ear off. Fortunately, it hadn't. Though painful, the Little White Tiger had clearly shown restraint in its bite.
Just as Jiang Mo breathed a sigh of relief, she saw the Little White Tiger opposite shaking its head: "Not a bit of vigilance, and your reactions are terribly slow. Against a truly formidable opponent, you'd probably have no chance to escape."
These words made Jiang Mo feel both ashamed and embarrassed. She wanted to say the other was bullying the weak, but upon closer inspection, she discovered that the White Tiger phantom had suppressed not only its size but also its cultivation. Moreover, while she was observing, she witnessed it shrink another size, suppressing its cultivation to even lower than hers: "Is this acceptable now? Let's practice some more; let me first see your abilities."
These words made Jiang Mo feel increasingly embarrassed, and although her personality was laid-back, she still maintained a certain pride. Now, being provoked like this by the White Tiger phantom, she naturally felt angered, and without waiting for the other to move, she took the initiative and pounced.
Her momentum was fierce, her movements sharp; Jiang Mo clearly intended to demonstrate her true abilities.
However, her attack met with emptiness. The Little White Tiger once again nimbly avoided her attack, then seized an opening and bit her again. This time it bit Jiang Mo's tail, and another "aooo" of pain echoed through the space as Jiang Mo nearly burst into tears from the pain...
Then, one after another, cries of pain resounded endlessly, and real tiger fur flew up in the void, clump after clump.
The amount of fur loss was enough to make one worry the tiger might go bald at a young age.