Chapter 115

World 4 [1]

After sending off her wife and little disciple for the third time, Jing Ke’s heart was extremely calm.

She had no choice but to be calm. There were many things she could do, but bringing the dead back to life was not among them—at least, not for the current Jing Ke.

This world didn’t have the custom of cremation, so Jing Ke didn’t need the World Consciousness’s help to share a bed in life and a grave in death with Luo Yuezhu. They just needed to find a spot to lie down together, use inner strength to seal the stone door from inside, and finally seal the coffin shut.

Thanks to the vast amount of Fortune Shao Qing had previously gifted her, Jing Ke could still travel to another world without obtaining any of Luo Yuezhu’s fortune.

However, because her energy reserves were slightly insufficient, she lost the ability to choose. She could only follow the principle of proximity; sensing her origin body, she went straight there.

The good news: this time, Jing Ke directly merged with a Fragment of the Origin Body, easily achieving her purpose for this trip.

The bad news: the origin body wasn’t just pure energy, but had a physical form. As Jing Ke absorbed the Origin Body fragment, she simultaneously bound herself to this world’s physical entity, temporarily unable to make a deal with the World Consciousness to become human.

“Eldest Senior Sister, the Divine Beast Remnant Soul outside has completely dissipated, and the Divine Beast Relic was picked up by Junior Brother. Should we let Junior Brother try it first?” A young man’s voice first entered Jing Ke’s mind.

“I think so. Junior Brother is the weakest among us. Why don’t we let him contract the Divine Beast Cub? That way, his safety will be guaranteed, and we won’t have to worry about him being targeted by those Demon Beasts,” another young male voice suggested.

“I remember Eldest Senior Sister really dislikes Demon Beasts, right? The last time we went to the Beast Taming Sect for a team-building event, Eldest Senior Sister was cold-faced the entire time and didn’t say a word,” this time, a young female voice spoke up.

After the three rather noisy voices fell, one voice tinged with guilt rang out. “This isn’t really appropriate, is it? When dealing with the Demon Beast’s Remnant Soul, Eldest Senior Sister put in the most effort. Why don’t I give the Divine Beast Relic to Eldest Senior Sister and let her awaken this still-slumbering Divine Beast Cub?”

The speaker was the suspected Junior Brother. His tone sounded very sincere, but his words had already laid claim to the so-called Divine Beast Relic as his own possession.

After Junior Brother’s words fell, everyone’s gaze settled on Wen Ruyue, their Eldest Senior Sister.

Although Wen Ruyue was called Eldest Senior Sister, she wasn’t the oldest. She had been adopted by the Sect Master of the Sky Vault Sect as a child, which was why she became the Eldest Senior Sister of her generation within the sect.

To facilitate this expedition, Wen Ruyue had tied her waist-length ink-black hair into a ponytail. She wore combat trousers and military boots suitable for movement, along with a form-fitting black tank top and a windbreaker jacket.

Due to the previous intense battle, the jacket had three gashes torn open from the front, faintly revealing the tank top beneath and a small patch of pearlescent white skin marred with dried blood.

Seeing her junior sister and junior brothers all waiting for her to state her position, Wen Ruyue held her Tang Saber with a detached expression. She cast a restrained glance at the Little White Tiger still sleeping within the seal, then quickly looked away.

“You found the relic. You should be the one to undo the seal,” Wen Ruyue said calmly. Her somewhat cold features made her words sound rather indifferent.

“Eldest Senior Sister, I don’t mean to monopolize the Little Divine Beast. It’s just that Little Senior Sister mentioned you don’t seem to like animals, so I…” Junior Brother’s words trailed off halfway, leaving a blank for others to fill in with their assumptions.

“Oh.” Wen Ruyue gave no particular reaction, simply standing still, seemingly having no desire to say more.

Sensing that this Junior Brother would use the so-called relic to undo the seal and form a contract with her, Jing Ke’s entire being—no, her entire tiger body—entered a state of high alert.

Jing Ke could sense the existence of a seal on her, but that seal was more of a protection than a restraint.

After spending a moment to accept the Inherited Memory from her body, Jing Ke opened her eyes before that Junior Brother approached with the relic. She proactively broke the seal, bared her fangs, and let out a roar.

Wuaoo—

Jing Ke wanted to unleash a Tiger’s Roar to intimidate this Junior Brother who clearly harbored ill intentions towards her. But her vocal cords weren’t cooperating. Instead of a roar, it sounded more like a fierce, mewling cry.

Thankfully, bolstered by the Divine Beast bloodline, even if her voice was a bit babyish, its offensive power was not diminished. It still sent the weakest Junior Brother tumbling to the ground.

“Junior Brother, be careful!”

“Watch out, Junior Brother!”

“Junior Brother, are you okay?”

Three voices of concern came at once. Jing Ke stood up, adjusted to her four-legged body, surveyed her surroundings, and then locked her amber eyes directly on Wen Ruyue’s position.

Taking a few steps back, Jing Ke started a running acceleration. Stepping off a protruding rock, she launched herself directly at Wen Ruyue.

A flash of surprise crossed Wen Ruyue’s eyes, but her reaction was swift. She immediately drew her Tang Saber, preparing to block the Little White Tiger’s attack.

However, as if anticipating Wen Ruyue’s move, the Little White Tiger changed its posture mid-leap. Gone was the bared-fangs and brandished-claws aggression; it curled into a small, black-striped furball and hurtled straight towards Wen Ruyue’s chest.

Chopping at the little furball with her blade was something Wen Ruyue couldn’t bring herself to do. Perhaps sensing the furball posed no danger to her, as it was about to slam into her, Wen Ruyue angled her blade away and caught the basketball-sized furball with her left hand. She even took three steps back, greatly absorbing the inertia.

“Eldest Senior Sister?” Junior Brother exclaimed upon seeing this, immediately scrambling up from the ground and walking towards Wen Ruyue with a look of concern.

“Eldest Senior Sister, are you alright? I had just taken out the Divine Beast Relic when the Divine Beast Cub suddenly broke the seal and woke up.” Junior Brother held a complete Tiger Fang in his hand.

That was Wen Ruyue’s trophy after defeating the Divine Beast Remnant Soul. Junior Brother just happened to be luckily standing right where the Divine Beast dissipated, so he picked it up first.

“I’m fine.” Wen Ruyue’s face remained taut as she looked down at the little furball nestled in her arm.

The previously curled-up little furball had now stretched out its limbs again, lifting its fluffy head to look up at her.

Wen Ruyue’s brow subconsciously furrowed. The small patch of her exposed skin quickly registered the body heat from her arms—slightly higher than a normal human’s temperature.

“Eldest Senior Sister, how about I hold the little Divine Beast? I have something its mother left behind; it shouldn’t attack me,” Junior Brother said, his tone full of concern for Wen Ruyue.

“Even though it’s still a cub, it is a Divine Beast after all. The spiritual power within its body is immense. Without being tamed…” Junior Brother continued.

Before Junior Brother could finish, Jing Ke nimbly flipped over in Wen Ruyue’s arm, revealing her sharp little tiger teeth and giving him another babyish ‘Wuaoo.’

“It seems to dislike you quite a bit,” Wen Ruyue stated, her spine now rigid, her tone carrying a barely perceptible stiffness.

“Junior Brother, could it be because you’re holding the Divine Beast Relic that the little Divine Beast mistakenly thinks you killed its mother?” Second Senior Brother speculated.

“That’s possible. Junior Brother, why don’t you put the relic away first?” Third Senior Brother chimed in from the side.

The fourth-ranking Junior Sister remained silent, instead looking at their Eldest Senior Sister with mild surprise. Why was Eldest Senior Sister cradling the little Divine Beast like a cub? Before, Eldest Senior Sister had clearly avoided the Spirit Beasts in the Beast Taming Sect like the plague. Did the little Divine Beast have some innate, high-level affinity? Had it made even the perpetually icy Eldest Senior Sister make an exception?

Urged by the two senior brothers, Junior Brother put the Tiger Fang into his Storage Bag and tentatively reached out a hand towards Jing Ke.

“Little Divine Beast, your mother entrusted me to come and undo your seal,” Junior Brother said, putting on what he thought was a gentle and harmless smile.

“Are you willing to become my partner and fight alongside me? I’ll diligently gather heavenly treasures to provide for you. All the Spirit Stones I’ve saved can be given to you,” Junior Brother said.

To make his words more convincing, Junior Brother took out an extremely high-grade Spirit Stone. In this Age of Dharma Decline, such a stone could easily be worth ten million, a priceless treasure.

Jing Ke glanced shallowly at the Spirit Stone he produced. This time, she didn’t let out another fierce mewl, appearing to silently acquiesce.

Junior Brother secretly rejoiced at this sight. He immediately took a large step forward, his hands reaching to scoop Jing Ke out of Wen Ruyue’s arm.

A complex emotion flickered in Wen Ruyue’s eyes. Remembering childhood experiences, she didn’t stop Junior Brother’s action, and even moved her arm slightly outward.

Sensing this, Jing Ke couldn’t afford to care about anything else. She quickly opened her mouth, snatched the Spirit Stone already offered to her lips, then turned her head and burrowed directly into Wen Ruyue’s chest, worming her way through the tear in the jacket.

After squirming around inside, she poked her fluffy head out. If one ignored that Wen Ruyue was a human and Jing Ke was a little tiger, their pose was quite similar to a kangaroo mother and her joey.

Sensing the little Divine Beast’s actions, Wen Ruyue’s already rigid spine became as if petrified, utterly immobile. Even her breathing slowed considerably.

Junior Brother was also stunned. The little Divine Beast had taken his high-grade Spirit Stone… and then burrowed into someone else’s clothes?

What did this mean? It ate his stuff, but wasn’t going with him? Had he just been taken for a ride?

“Uh, I think the little Divine Beast seems to really like Eldest Senior Sister…” Little Senior Sister stroked her chin. “Eldest Senior Sister, why don’t you take the little Divine Beast for now? We can discuss how to settle it when we get back?”

“Mm.” Wen Ruyue responded, her brow still furrowed. To judge by her expression and tone, she seemed extremely dissatisfied with this outcome.

However, Jing Ke, now comfortably nestled in her embrace, knew very well that the heartbeat of this person she was pressed against was racing at an incredible speed.

Facial expressions and tone could be faked, but a heart rate spiking past one-sixty couldn’t lie. Such a high heart rate meant this Eldest Senior Sister either feared her immensely or utterly adored her.

And judging by her earlier action of moving the blade aside, the former could be ruled out. That left only one answer.

This outwardly ice-cold Eldest Senior Sister, who appeared to dislike Spirit Beasts, was inwardly utterly defenseless against fluffy creatures.