The three people and one bird had been at the battlefield ruins for over a year. This wasn't considered a long ti—not even enough for a cultivator to complete a session of closed-door cultivation. But now troubleso tis were upon them, and since this place wasn't particularly pleasant to begin with, naturally no one intended to stay longer.
Fortunately, Qingyu had learned about the exit through her inheritance: "Two hundred li to the southeast is the only life gate left when the formation was established."
This entire ruin was essentially the result of the ancient Demon-Confining Grand Formation. Although the demonic creatures had long since vanished, the survivors of the anti-demon war had abandoned their chance to leave and chosen to completely seal off this place to contain the yin qi and death energy that perated the entire space. Their sealing thod still relied on the Demon-Confining Grand Formation, so the life gate left in the original formation beca the only possible exit.
Jiang Mo had never had ti to study formations. Even after receiving the orthodox White Tiger inheritance in her innate space, the mories regarding formations were still pitifully scarce—White Tigers were combative by nature and clearly not suited for technical matters. When encountering formations, they would simply rely on brute force to push through.
As the saying goes, "Absolute power trumps all techniques," which worked quite well for the White Tiger clan.
Of course, Jiang Mo couldn't use this thod yet because her strength was still far from sufficient. Combined with her lack of understanding about formations, she didn't interject, but instead sat quietly with Little Swan Goose after providing the map, observing as the two experts discussed how to leave.
Unfortunately, without a foundation in formation studies, even listening in proved difficult. The various technical terms Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi discussed sounded like gibberish to Jiang Mo—for a mont, she grew drowsy and briefly dread of returning to her university calculus classroom. Then, just before the final exam began, she jolted awake.
Perhaps due to her startled reaction, Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi's discussion faltered, and both turned to look at her.
With a thin layer of cold sweat on her forehead, Jiang Mo forced a smile: "I'm fine, please continue, continue."
The two then returned to their discussion.
Jiang Mo wiped away her sweat, and as she lowered her head, she t Little Swan Goose's concerned gaze. Her heart ward, and she reached out to stroke Little Swan Goose's smooth feathers, saying again: "I'm fine, I just dozed off for a mont."
Little Swan Goose nodded in understanding, but as she looked away, Jiang Mo couldn't help feeling that the bird's subtle expression revealed a hint of disdain... This might not have been her imagination, since Senior Sister had previously studied various cultivation thods and seed knowledgeable about many things. She was undoubtedly a top student, so it was only natural for her to look down on soone who dozed off during class.
What could she do? Being the only underachiever in the family created trendous pressure.
Lost in her thoughts, Jiang Mo had no idea what Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi had discussed, but they had already reached a conclusion. Then Zhu Baiyi patted her shoulder and reminded her: "Let's go, it's ti to set out."
??????????????°??????????°??????????????
Jiang Mo believed that apart from studying, she feared nothing... and then reality proved her wrong.
Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi had spent considerable ti discussing not the location of the exit, but the possible situations they might face after all these years of changes. In the end, they ca up with many possibilities but no definite conclusions, so they decided to reach the location first before considering further actions.
With Zhu Baiyi's reminder, Jiang Mo quickly recovered from her distraction, only to face a major problem—two hundred li to the southeast wasn't a great distance for cultivators, and they could arrive in monts if they flew. However, with hidden dangers lurking in the ruins, neither Qingyu nor Zhu Baiyi recomnded flying unless absolutely necessary.
Since flying wasn't an option, they would naturally have to travel on foot, just as they had when first arriving. The fox carrying Qingyu and the White Tiger carrying Little Swan Goose could still move at considerable speed even when running.
Zhu Baiyi transford, once again becoming a massive White Fox with eight fluffy tails displayed magnificently behind her. One tail wrapped around Qingyu and placed her on the fox's back. Before Qingyu could refuse, Zhu Baiyi proactively said: "With you on my back, we'll move faster than if you ran by yourself. There's no need to be stubborn at a ti like this, is there?"
Hearing this, the "stubborn" Qingyu hesitated briefly before silently accepting her position on the fox's back.
anwhile, Little Swan Goose couldn't stand the sight of the fox and averted her gaze, refusing to even look at her biological mother. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Jiang Mo—what was a fox compared to a majestic tiger? Being so beautiful herself, she absolutely had to stand on the tiger's head!
Although Senior Sister had been reborn, Jiang Mo imdiately understood Little Swan Goose's gaze and froze in place.
It wasn't that she was unwilling to carry Little Swan Goose or show her off, but the problem was her fur had been plucked! The White Tiger had been asured when teaching her descendant, and the wounds left on her body were shallow and healed quickly, but this certainly didn't include the fur that had been plucked out. Now, while the wounds were no longer visible, her fur was still patchy in several areas!
Under Little Swan Goose's expectant gaze, Jiang Mo felt even greater pressure than an underachiever facing a top student. She tentatively patted her shoulder and said to Little Swan Goose: "Senior Sister, co sit on my shoulder, and I'll carry you."
Hearing this, Little Swan Goose tilted her head in confusion: "Why don't you transform back to your original form? A big tiger runs faster."
Jiang Mo's expression stiffened slightly. She didn't dare tell Senior Sister about her patchy fur—what if the beauty-conscious Senior Sister found her disgusting? So she hastily made up an excuse: "I've improved a lot in the inheritance space. I can run just as fast in human form as before, so we can travel like this."
But Little Swan Goose wasn't convinced. She stated directly: "But a big tiger looks more impressive."
As she spoke, she stole a glance at the fox nearby, holding her chin high in an obvious attempt to compete with her mother.
Faced with such a straightforward request, Jiang Mo felt troubled and refused again: "That... that won't be necessary."
Little Swan Goose, unaware of Jiang Mo's predicant, felt she was also favoring the fox. The entire bird puffed up angrily, spread her wings, and prepared to fly away: "If you won't carry , I'll just fly by myself. You think I'm slow on my own?!"
As she spoke, the Phoenix vanished like a white lightning bolt before their eyes.
Jiang Mo was alard, not expecting Senior Sister's temper to be so fierce, and worried that she might encounter danger on her own. Without thinking, she gave chase, calling out: "Senior Sister, Senior Sister, wait for ..."
But Little Swan Goose didn't even look back. She flew extrely fast, and although Jiang Mo's cultivation was higher and she had received special training from the White Tiger, she couldn't keep up on just two legs. After a brief chase, she completely lost sight of Little Swan Goose.
Jiang Mo grew increasingly anxious. They were supposed to be traveling together, but she wasn't sure if Senior Sister actually knew the way. After calling out several more tis with no response, fearing that Little Swan Goose had truly disappeared, she finally transford back to her original form—a massive White Tiger appeared, though no longer majestic as before. Her once sleek and beautiful fur was now patchy in various places, looking as if she had contracted so terrible disease.
The White Tiger didn't need to look back to know how disheveled she appeared, but fortunately, Little Swan Goose had flown off so suddenly that only she had given chase. With no one else around, at least it wasn't too embarrassing.
Shaking her uneven fur, Jiang Mo temporarily disregarded her appearance problem and sprinted off in the direction Little Swan Goose had taken.
A feline's speed was indeed much faster than human form, and with the guidance she had received from the White Tiger elder in the inheritance space, Jiang Mo now ran like the wind. If onlookers had been present, they would have seen only a white lightning bolt, just as when Little Swan Goose had departed, unable to clearly make out her appearance.
Jiang Mo ran swiftly, following the faint traces of aura left by Little Swan Goose, covering dozens of li in the blink of an eye. Judging by the direction, Little Swan Goose hadn't flown off course but was heading southeast as intended, and calculating the distance, she had already covered almost half the journey.
Just as Jiang Mo began to feel relieved, she suddenly discovered that Little Swan Goose's aura had vanished, with no trace of the bird to be found.
Since Jiang Mo and her companions had entered these ruins, the place had seed peaceful, at least on the surface. But this didn't an there were no dangers, so when she lost track of Little Swan Goose, the entire tiger panicked.
She abruptly halted, turned around, and prepared to go back to where Little Swan Goose's aura had disappeared. But just as she turned, before she could take more than a couple of steps, a white figure descended from the sky, landing squarely on her head... Given the familiar silhouette and weight, who else could it be but the missing Little Swan Goose?
Jiang Mo instinctively sighed in relief, then imdiately tensed up—she hadn't forgotten her current disheveled appearance, nor had she forgotten Little Swan Goose's vanity. The pitiful state she had been trying to hide had now been exposed to Senior Sister.
In that mont, Jiang Mo imagined a thousand scenarios of being rejected, and the entire tiger felt miserable.
However, Little Swan Goose didn't say anything about her appearance. She simply patted Jiang Mo's head with her wing and said: "Why are you so slow?!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)