Chapter 378 : Refusing Goodwill
Beasts' attack methods are always savage and brutal, even for divine beasts. Especially a warlike species like the White Tiger, which enjoys overwhelmingly crushing others with its physical prowess, making its approach to teaching cubs extremely crude and brutal.
Jiang Mo had never been beaten so badly. From the moment the Little White Tiger attacked her, the pain on her body never subsided. And that wasn't all—those clumps of falling tiger fur made her even more terrified. She dared not imagine what she looked like now—she'd heard phoenixes were vain, and from her observation, the Little Swan Goose was indeed vainer than her former Senior Sister. What if she went out as a balding tiger and was rejected for being ugly?
She could take the beating and endure the pain, but her fur absolutely could not fall out!
So during a break in the beating, Jiang Mo finally found a chance to cry out desperately: "Hit me if you must, but can you stop plucking my fur? I have companions outside, how can I face them like this?!"
The Little White Tiger's fangs were about to close in, but hearing this, it actually paused—perhaps for that moment, it too considered the matter of a divine beast's dignity. But this lasted only an instant; its tiger fangs quickly closed again, deliberately biting off a tuft of Jiang Mo's fur.
"Pfft!" The Little White Tiger opened its mouth, spitting out the bitten fur amid Jiang Mo's cries of pain, then said earnestly: "Dignity must be earned by oneself, and face must be preserved through one's own efforts. Begging others is never useful. If you could dodge faster, even faster, so I can't hit you, then naturally you'd remain unscathed."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo felt so wronged that her eyes nearly reddened, feeling for the first time how difficult it was to be a tiger. But if the Little White Tiger wouldn't go easy on her, what could she do? Except try to dodge faster and faster, trying her best not to let the other bite or scratch her, counterattacking was almost impossible.
Time swiftly passed in such combat, and Jiang Mo gradually learned how to "take a beating" under the Little White Tiger's jaws.
Spells were useless at this point. She ran faster and faster, dodged more and more accurately. From initially being bitten every time the Little White Tiger tried, to gradually escaping once or twice, then to only having fur bitten rather than flesh, and finally to gradually not even having her fur caught by the Little White Tiger's teeth, the latter finally felt somewhat satisfied—this certainly didn't mean Jiang Mo was now more formidable than the Little White Tiger; she had merely reached the basic standard for her age.
Having learned to "take a beating," she naturally needed to learn to counter-attack next, as the White Tiger wasn't a species that would allow itself to be overpowered. Not only were real White Tigers combative, but even Jiang Mo, after being chased and beaten for so long, felt an accumulated anger urging her to fight back.
Gradually, the two small White Tigers in the void changed from one chasing and biting the other, to occasional counterattacks, and then to two fluffy creatures exchanging blows in a heated battle.
Time seemed to cease to exist in this void; Jiang Mo didn't notice its passage at all, nor did she feel fatigue. She simply learned, guided by the Little White Tiger, to avoid danger and to counter-attack for victory, focusing all her attention on this, even forgetting to check how much fur she had lost.
Until finally that arrogant Little White Tiger was swatted down by her paw, its head pinned down as she bit its nape, an unprecedented sense of achievement suddenly washed over her. She swished her battered tail and squeezed out from her throat: "I won!"
The Little White Tiger stopped struggling under her paw. Just as Jiang Mo thought she had finally claimed victory, the Little White Tiger beneath her paw suddenly expanded.
As it grew larger, its strength also increased, effortlessly breaking free from her restraint and standing up to shake its fur. Before Jiang Mo could accuse it of cheating, she suddenly realized that the Little White Tiger, even after expanding, was only about her size—oh, right, she had forgotten that earlier, because she couldn't defeat the Little White Tiger of the same age, it had deliberately suppressed its cultivation and become smaller.
So after all her struggling and learning, she had only defeated a cub smaller than herself—what was there to be proud of?
Jiang Mo's inflated confidence immediately deflated, and the joy emanating from her body abruptly ceased. Seeing this, the Little White Tiger's eyes flashed with satisfaction. After shaking its fur, it once again took a fighting stance, raising its chin toward her: "Again!"
The two fluffy creatures quickly resumed fighting, and white tiger fur once more floated in the void.
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Within the legacy space, time was imperceptible, but outside, people counted the days, one after another. As if in the blink of an eye, almost half a year had passed, and the waiting period had exceeded everyone's expectations.
Almost half a year wasn't actually long for cultivators; for cultivation purposes, it wasn't even enough for one session of seclusion.
But circumstances couldn't be viewed that way, because people waiting outside the space couldn't choose to enter seclusion in such a dangerous environment. Even Qingyu, whose cultivation had just improved and who should have been in seclusion to consolidate her realm in preparation for heavenly lightning, couldn't seclude herself in a place so filled with yin energy, killing intent, and death aura. Otherwise, if she accidentally allowed these negative energies to enter her body or invited inner demons, it would be a disastrous loss.
So those outside the space could only wait. Qingyu's only method to stabilize her cultivation was to spar with Zhu Baiyi, gradually integrating her cultivation and tempering her dao heart through actual combat, making her foundation increasingly solid.
While these two were occupied with constructive activities, the Little Swan Goose was much more idle—the former Yun Qingyue, though not as cultivation-obsessed as her master, had never neglected cultivation. Unfortunately, after nirvana and losing all memories, the Little Swan Goose seemed to have completely changed personality, becoming not only lively and beauty-loving but also showing little interest in cultivation. Daily, apart from eating and drinking, what she did most was admire herself.
Fortunately, she was recultivating, and before her cultivation surpassed her level at the time of the tribulation, there were no bottlenecks hindering her. She only needed to eat and drink, replenishing sufficient spiritual energy, and her cultivation would naturally rise.
Once her cultivation was restored, the memories sealed by nirvana would return, and everything would go back to normal.
Because of this, Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi didn't overly discipline the Little Swan Goose for her lack of initiative, only providing her with more spiritually abundant "food." Watching her gazing at herself in mirrors, they occasionally regretted not asking Jiang Mo for a few retention stones to record these moments.
The Little Swan Goose naturally didn't know the malicious intentions of those around her. After nearly half a year of continuous feeding and appeasement from Zhu Baiyi, she finally reluctantly forgave the other's feather-plucking offense—mainly because the feathers Zhu Baiyi had plucked had all grown back after nearly half a year of development, and due to consuming so many good things, they had grown back even more beautiful than before.
Looking at herself in the mirror, the Little Swan Goose was extremely satisfied with the beautiful little phoenix she saw, and finally showed generosity toward her birth mother. She took out the pearl that emitted a faint light, which she had obtained in the bamboo house, and handed it to Zhu Baiyi: "This is for you."
Zhu Baiyi recognized what it was at a glance and exclaimed in surprise: "A core? Where did you get it?"
As soon as the Little Swan Goose had emerged from the space, she and Zhu Baiyi had engaged in a chaotic scene. When Qingyu left the legacy space, she had been busy informing her, so she hadn't actually talked about her experiences in the legacy space. Legacies were always private matters; even between master and disciple or mother and daughter, one rarely actively inquired. So this was the first time Zhu Baiyi had asked about what happened in the legacy space.
Fortunately, the Little Swan Goose had no such reservations and directly replied: "Of course I got it from the legacy space. I met a fox inside, with one more tail than you, but somehow it turned to ashes, leaving only this behind."
When mentioning the Nine-Tailed Fox turning to ashes, the Little Swan Goose's eyes shifted slightly, clearly showing some guilt, but Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu's attention was entirely focused on the Nine-Tailed Fox's core, completely failing to notice. Of course, even if they had noticed, they wouldn't have thought much of it, but rather would have told the Little Swan Goose that the Nine-Tailed Fox had turned to ashes and disappeared simply because the energy it had left behind was exhausted.
At this moment, the Little Swan Goose missed the opportunity to know the truth, while Zhu Baiyi's gaze remained fixed on the core for a long time.
After holding out the core for a long time without seeing the other reach out to take it, the Little Swan Goose finally grew impatient: "Hey, do you want this thing or not? If not, I'll just keep it." Then she muttered: "I only offered it to you because you look like that fox, take it or leave it."
Hearing this, Zhu Baiyi's hand twitched slightly, as if she wanted to reach out and take it, her face showing obvious temptation. But in the end, she restrained herself, forcing her gaze away as her hand fell back: "It's not necessary. You keep it. Since it was left to you by the Nine-Tailed Fox ancestor, it must be useful for you."
Among the four people present initially, although Zhu Baiyi was a half-demon hybrid, in terms of bloodline, her Nine-Tailed Fox blood was the strongest. Yet even so, the one chosen by the legacy space was the Little Swan Goose with her diluted Nine-Tailed Fox blood, which indicated many issues.
Zhu Baiyi wasn't stupid; she didn't believe there was a problem with the legacy space's selection process, but rather that fate had its own plans.
And she believed that opportunities not meant for oneself couldn't be forced, or one would inevitably pay a price!
So facing temptation, Zhu Baiyi soberly maintained her rationality and declined the Little Swan Goose's goodwill. The latter was still too young to understand these complex matters and only felt her goodwill had been rejected, becoming thoroughly angry.
The Little Swan Goose put the core away and flew off with a flap of her wings, fuming: "If you don't want it, then fine. Did you think I was eager to give it to you?"
Zhu Baiyi wanted to explain but was too late. Despite the Little Swan Goose spending her days eating and drinking without proper cultivation, her racial talent was undeniable—if she wanted to fly away, even Zhu Baiyi couldn't stop her in time. In almost the blink of an eye, the white figure flashed before her eyes, and the Little Swan Goose disappeared. Zhu Baiyi could only turn back to Qingyu with a bitter smile.
Qingyu shook her head and comforted her: "It's all right, you can explain when she returns."
The Little Swan Goose did return later, but she didn't listen to a single word of Zhu Baiyi's explanations. Whenever Zhu Baiyi tried to approach her, she flew away faster than anyone, and the mother-daughter relationship seemed on the verge of breakdown.
Amid such squabbling, the Little Swan Goose's fourth tail feather finally grew out completely, and another half year swiftly passed.