NOVEL NEXT 31. Temporary Mission
Carrying the little white tiger, Yun Qingyu followed the flow of people, gradually approaching the source of the commotion.
The little white tiger craned her neck to look towards the noisy origin. In the distance, she saw several arenas erected in the city. However, they were too far away, and with many people surrounding the arenas, she couldn’t clearly see what was being contested.
Yun Qingyu didn’t need to look closely to know what was happening there. As they continued to follow the crowd, she explained, “Those are battle competitions. Besides the three-sect martial arts contest, Xuanqing Sect holds a grand competition every ten years. Before the grand competition, Xuanqing City becomes especially lively. Battle competitions, auctions, and resource exchanges all concentrate during this time, allowing disciples to obtain resources for their final sprint.”
The battle competitions naturally had prizes, and winners wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Auctions were also a way to acquire resources, albeit an expensive one, but if one could buy suitable resources, it wasn’t a loss. As for resource exchanges, they were the most straightforward, like the street vendors buying and selling to obtain what they needed.
All this effort naturally had a purpose. For example, the top ten in the outer disciples’ competition could enter the inner sect, while the top ten inner disciples could become apprentices to Nascent Soul or higher cultivators. The difference between having a master and not in the sect was significant.
These were sect rules, but they had little to do with the little white tiger, so Yun Qingyu only mentioned them briefly without going into depth.
As she spoke, the human and tiger pair had reached the arena with the crowd.
There were many competition arenas: for magic battles, sword fights, pill refining, talisman creation, artifact forging, array setting, martial arts… It was somewhat confusing. The so-called martial arts competition allowed any weapon, be it saber, spear, axe, or halberd. Yet sword fighting was a separate category, as if sword cultivators were especially unique.
Complaints aside, these competitions had nothing to do with the little white tiger; she was purely a spectator. The only arena that might have some connection to her was probably the beast taming competition.
At this moment, the pill refining arena was filled with medicinal fragrances, the talisman arena showcased flowing calligraphy, the sword arena flashed with sharp sword light, and the magic arena sparkled with spell light… Each arena had its own characteristics, almost too much for spectators to take in. But while these arenas were either dynamic or static, with only cultivators busy on them, the beast taming arena was far more lively and eye-catching.
Currently, two cultivators stood on the beast taming arena, one with a flame lion before him, the other with a cloud-splitting leopard. Both spirit beasts had the potential to advance to the Golden Core stage, but at present, they were not yet adults. Like their masters, they were barely at the Foundation Establishment stage—if both spirit beasts had already reached Golden Core, with their assistance, their masters would have long since entered the inner sect and taken masters, rather than still competing here.
Yun Qingyu was always particularly considerate. Seeing the little white tiger staring at the two feline animals, she briefly introduced, “Those are a flame lion and a cloud-splitting leopard. The flame lion excels in fire magic, while the cloud-splitting leopard is skilled in strength and speed.”
Upon hearing “cloud-splitting leopard,” the little white tiger’s ears twitched, finding the name somewhat familiar. Where had she heard it before?
After careful recollection, she finally remembered. When she first entered Xuanqing Sect, wasn’t the bottle of milk that Divine Lord Zhiming snatched from her the one that Senior Sister had “borrowed” from a cloud-splitting leopard?
With this connection, the little white tiger’s gaze instantly fell on the cloud-splitting leopard, filled with curiosity. But before the two beasts on the stage could start fighting, she suddenly heard a system prompt:
“Ding, congratulations to the host for triggering a temporary mission, First Trial: As a combative white tiger divine beast, the battle before you makes your blood boil. Even though you’re still young, you wish to test your mettle.
Complete the mission: For each same-level spirit beast defeated, gain 5,000 experience points and 25 points, with no upper limit.
For each higher-level spirit beast defeated, gain 50,000 experience points and 250 points, with no upper limit.”
The little useless tiger who had just come to watch: “…”
Thanks, but I’m just a salted fish. I’m not combative and my blood isn’t boiling to fight.
The originally excited little white tiger’s face instantly fell. Afraid that the observant Yun Qingyu would notice, she turned her head and quietly asked the system, “Where did this temporary mission come from? Can I not do it?”
The system’s light orb flickered, then spoke in a tone of exasperation, “Cub, can you stop being so lazy?!”
The little white tiger glanced at it sideways, “Speak properly, don’t call me cub, as if you’re so much older.”
The system baby, not even a month old, was momentarily speechless, but eventually returned to normal and replied weakly, “Fine, whatever, it’s up to you. The system doesn’t have a punishment mechanism anyway.”
Feeling that the system had suddenly become indifferent, Jiang Mo was satisfied with this answer. She didn’t like being forced, whether it was being forcibly bound to a system or being forced to execute missions. It was fortunate that the system had a naive and sweet nature, first using two milk candies to win her over. Otherwise, after finding a backer, it would have eventually been relegated to the cold palace.
But Jiang Mo’s happiness didn’t last long before she heard the system say gloomily, “The system won’t force the host to complete missions, but released missions will be displayed on the panel. If not completed, it will always show as incomplete.”
Hearing this, Jiang Mo paused and silently opened her character panel. Sure enough, she saw a prominent red “Incomplete” notification.
This was very distressing because Jiang Mo had mild OCD, specifically manifesting in her need to click and clear every red message notification on her phone apps. Otherwise, seeing those red dots would make her feel uncomfortable all over. Now she didn’t have a phone anymore, but she had a system that would be with her for who knows how long, and the system panel now had such a prominent message notification…
Jiang Mo felt that the system might be doing this on purpose, but the existence of such notifications seemed reasonable. She stared intently at the red “Incomplete” notification, the “王” pattern on her forehead almost knotting up.
Yun Qingyu finally noticed her unease and turned the little white tiger to face her, asking, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Mo hesitated, not yet decided on whether to do this temporary mission, when she saw the competition on the arena had already begun—the flame lion attacked first, stomping its foot to send a large patch of flames across most of the arena towards its opponent. The cloud-splitting leopard remained calm, letting out a low roar and swiping with its paw, tearing through the flames and pouncing towards its opponent…
The little white tiger’s eyes widened at this sight, feeling her whole being go awry: “System, system, you mean I have to compete against them? With that fire-breathing and those claws, are you sure I can survive?!”
The system seemed to stutter for a moment before saying, “Don’t worry, host. They’re at the Foundation Establishment stage. In terms of levels, you’re only at the Qi Condensation stage right now. We can wait until the Qi Condensation stage competitors come up before you enter. There’s no rush.” Fearing the host might lose courage, it added, “Host, we’re not asking for much. Just winning one match is enough. Even a Qi Condensation level one novice is worth 25 points.”
Jiang Mo fell silent, dejectedly watching the competition on stage, forgetting to respond to Yun Qingyu.
Yun Qingyu looked at the competition on stage, then at the little white tiger in her arms, and silently sighed—she knew coming to watch the competition would discourage the tiger. Ever since the little white tiger was pecked bald by the red-crowned goose, she had no expectations for this little milk tiger’s combat ability.
Even though the little white tiger had consumed pills to nearly reach the Foundation Establishment stage, her actual strength was only slightly higher than a first-grade spirit beast, which even a Qi Condensation level one disciple could easily crush… So, this cultivation level achieved through pill consumption was truly inflated. If possible, Yun Qingyu really wanted to wring it out and see just how much substance this little milk tiger actually had.
Jiang Mo was unaware that her Senior Sister had seen through her. She opened her panel, looking at her false level and false combat power. Under the system’s incessant persuasion, she finally mustered up courage.
The little white tiger patted Yun Qingyu’s hand with her paw, then pointed at the arena, indicating she wanted to try competing.
However, this time Yun Qingyu didn’t immediately understand her meaning. She looked at the two spirit beasts fighting fiercely on the arena, then at the little milk tiger in her arms: “What’s wrong? Is something amiss?”
Yun Qingyu was usually good at understanding the tiger, but this was the first time their communication wasn’t smooth. Jiang Mo couldn’t speak, so she had to gesture wildly, trying to make Yun Qingyu understand that she wanted to compete too… preferably against a weaker opponent. She was still small and couldn’t beat someone too strong, nor did she want to be casually defeated.
Perhaps because the little useless tiger’s gestures were too vivid, Yun Qingyu finally understood.
But after understanding, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—white tigers were known to be combative, with the title of war god, but while this one was indeed combative, she was so weak that going to fight… Yun Qingyu truly feared she might accidentally get killed!
Concerned about the divine beast’s self-esteem, Yun Qingyu didn’t dare say it outright. Instead, she held the little white tiger and tried to persuade her: “You’re still young, there’s no need to rush into fights. When your constitution recovers in the future, we can talk about competing then.” She then used the two beasts on the arena as examples: “Look at that flame lion, it’s at least ten or twenty years old, and the cloud-splitting leopard next to it is probably even older. You’re barely over a month old, there’s really no need to compete with them.”
Her words were polite, but in fact, the fundamental strength of beasts didn’t lie in age, but in bloodline. The bloodlines of the flame lion and cloud-splitting leopard had already determined their upper limits, while a white tiger, by virtue of its bloodline, should have surpassed their limits at birth.
Jiang Mo had read about this before and understood the principle, but seeing Yun Qingyu patiently trying to comfort her, she felt deeply touched. She rubbed her fuzzy head against Yun Qingyu’s hand, acknowledging her good intentions, but the mission couldn’t go undone, and the “Incomplete” notification on the panel couldn’t stay forever. So she “awoo-ed” once more and pointed her paw towards the arena again.
It was clear she was determined to compete once.
Yun Qingyu felt somewhat exhausted, but she couldn’t resist the little white tiger’s coquettish persistence. Finally, she turned her gaze towards the beast tamers with spirit beasts below the arena, hoping to find the weakest among them… Of course, they couldn’t just go up like this, as there were many Xuanqing Sect disciples here, and quite a few people knew her. If someone saw Jianbing lose to a low-level spirit beast, how could she face anyone for the next thousand years?
Perhaps before choosing an opponent, they should first disguise themselves?