NOVEL NEXT 11. It's Milk
Yun Qingyu had been rather worried these past two days. She discovered that the little white tiger she had brought back didn’t like eating anything except the Nurturing Essence Pills, those “little sugar pills.” Not only had her own stock been depleted, but over the past couple of days, as disciples returned, she had exchanged for all the Nurturing Essence Pills the Qi Condensation stage disciples had. The little white tiger then hugged the medicine bottle, its mouth barely stopping.
How exactly should one raise a divine beast? Would it become malnourished if it kept eating like this? This little white tiger was already quite weak to begin with.
Not only was Yun Qingyu worried watching this, but Jiang Mo herself was also getting sick of consuming pills these past two days. The Nurturing Essence Pills weren’t sweet, but they had their own fresh fragrance and dissolved instantly in the mouth. However, even the most delicious food becomes tiresome when eaten excessively, especially when consumed by the thousands.
Finally, after swallowing several bottles of the little sugar pills, Jiang Mo couldn’t take it anymore. Listlessly pressing down on the empty medicine bottle, she asked the system, “System, these Nurturing Essence Pills give too little experience. I’m about to throw up. And now I can’t even level up once a day, plus I still get hungry after a while. Do you know if there are any pills in the cultivation world that give more experience?”
The system’s answer was disappointing: “Sorry, host. The system isn’t connected to the network in this world, so I don’t know.”
Hearing this answer, Jiang Mo rolled her eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky. Network? Where in the cultivation world would there be a network for it to connect to? So this useless system could only work offline now?
As luck would have it, Yun Qingyu caught sight of the little tiger’s eye-roll. Her approaching footsteps paused, feeling that something was odd about this little white tiger. However, she herself wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about divine beasts, so she only hesitated for a moment before walking over. She then saw the empty medicine bottle under the little white tiger’s paw and frowned slightly: “You’ve finished another bottle?”
Jiang Mo’s paw twitched, almost instinctively wanting to hide the empty bottle, feeling inexplicably guilty.
Though cold in demeanor, Yun Qingyu was an attentive person and didn’t miss Jiang Mo’s small movement. The cub’s guilty look was somewhat adorable, and Senior Sister Yun couldn’t bring herself to scold it. In the end, she took out a jade gourd and placed it in front of the little white tiger: “Want to try this?”
Before this, Yun Qingyu had already attempted to feed it many times. From spirit herbs and fruits to pills and meat, she had tried everything she could think of. The little white tiger had politely tasted each offering, but unfortunately, most of the spirit pills and medicines a sword cultivator would carry were for healing and detoxification. Jiang Mo’s consumption of these had little to no effect.
She had nibbled on two spirit fruits for a change of taste but didn’t particularly enjoy them. As for the meat… sorry, although she had turned into a tiger, she didn’t want to eat raw meat!
Unfortunately, Jiang Mo’s level was too low for easy communication, so Yun Qingyu didn’t know the little white tiger couldn’t eat raw food and merely thought it was vegetarian.
Now, what had Senior Sister Yun found this time? Jiang Mo was a bit curious but not averse to trying new food. She raised her tiger paw and pressed it on the jade gourd, her round tiger eyes looking up at Yun Qingyu.
Understanding her intent, Yun Qingyu helped open the lid. A milky aroma with a slight gamey smell immediately wafted out.
This was… had she finally remembered that cubs should drink milk?
Not just Yun Qingyu, but even Jiang Mo and the system had forgotten about this. The little white tiger was only half a month old, still a genuine baby. How could it survive on pills alone?!
Jiang Mo licked her lips and leaned in for a sip, then couldn’t stop.
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The cub had finally found the correct diet. Although the rate of pill consumption hadn’t slowed at all, Yun Qingyu felt much more at ease. In the days that followed, she often left the little white tiger in her room while she went out alone, sometimes on the spirit boat, sometimes not.
After seven or eight days passed this way, the gates of Xuanqing Sect finally came into view in the distance.
On this day, estimating that the time was right, the junior disciples of Xuanqing Sect who had been in seclusion in their rooms for cultivation emerged. They gathered in twos and threes on the deck, either chatting idly with familiar faces and exchanging insights from their journey, or taking advantage of the time before returning to the sect to trade resources they had acquired.
The two who had been rescued by Yun Qingyu were particularly active. With the aid of spirit medicines, their injuries had largely healed over the past few days. Now they moved from group to group, their expressions alternating between disappointment and agitation.
After their conversations were interrupted several times, someone couldn’t help but ask, “Junior Brother Zhao, Junior Brother Zhou, what are you up to?”
Hearing this, Junior Brother Zhao turned around. Seeing the person who had spoken, his eyes lit up. Instead of answering, he asked, “Senior Brother Shi, do you have any spare Star Point Grass?” As soon as he finished speaking, Junior Brother Zhou beside him quickly added, “Do you have any Cloud Soaring Grass, Senior Brother?”
Star Point Grass and Cloud Soaring Grass weren’t particularly rare items, just second-grade spirit herbs. They were part of the tasks assigned to Qi Condensation stage disciples for this secret realm training. However, precisely because they weren’t rare, people usually only gathered enough to fulfill the task requirements and rarely collected extra. So when the two asked their familiar senior and junior brothers, no one had any spare to share.
Senior Brother Shi had recently reached Foundation Establishment, so these two items weren’t part of his task. The two were just trying their luck by asking him. But this time, their luck was good—Senior Brother Shi actually had some.
As he took out Star Point Grass and Cloud Soaring Grass from his storage bag, he asked, “What’s going on with you two? These spirit herbs are in the northwest part of the secret realm, couldn’t be easier to find. How did you not gather any in half a month?”
The two happily accepted the herbs, thanking him, then began with a complex expression: “Senior Brother, you don’t know…”
They had barely started when they stopped abruptly, as both caught sight of a cyan-colored hem in their peripheral vision. On this spirit boat, there were many people wearing white robes, many wearing blue robes, but only one person wore cyan—the Senior Sister. With the just-begged spirit herbs still in their hands, they felt as if they had been caught cheating red-handed and froze completely.
Fortunately, the Senior Sister didn’t pay them any attention. The cyan hem brushed past them, heading straight for the cabin. Many gazes followed her, when suddenly someone let out a soft “Oh?”
The fact that Yun Qingyu had been raising a little white tiger on the spirit boat was known only to herself. After all, while the training secret realm wasn’t too far from the sect, it wasn’t exactly close either, and a divine beast like a white tiger was too eye-catching. Fearing that the disciples might carelessly spread the news and invite trouble if they knew, she had simply confined the little white tiger to her room.
It wasn’t until today, with the sect in sight, that not only did the junior disciples emerge from seclusion, but the little white tiger was finally able to come out for some fresh air.
Sure enough, someone quickly recognized the white tiger, and curious, intense gazes focused on it. Yun Qingyu remained unmoved. She bent down slightly and hung a jade gourd around the little white tiger’s neck.
The jade gourd was only as big as an adult’s palm, looking delicate and cute in a cultivator’s hand, but it appeared somewhat large hanging from the little tiger cub’s neck. The cub itself didn’t mind at all. On the contrary, it happily hugged the jade gourd with its paws, its little head nuzzling against Yun Qingyu’s hand, showing great affection.
Seeing this scene, someone finally murmured, “Is that a white tiger? The legendary divine beast white tiger?”
A senior brother beside him confirmed his observation: “It is indeed a white tiger. The legendary divine beast. It looks so small and friendly. I wonder what Senior Sister has in that jade gourd?”
Immediately, someone guessed, “It must be spirit liquid.”
Another suggested, “It’s probably spirit essence.”
Finally, someone concluded, “For a divine beast to treasure it so much, it must be some heavenly material or earthly treasure!”