With the Fox Master away, Su Tangxing didn’t forget to take her Medicinal Bath herself.
After today’s routine bout of pain, she practiced her exercises in the open air again. During this, her Spiritual Qi circulated autonomously, as smooth as breathing.
Xiao Huang waited beside her the whole time.
Probably thinking her movements were play, it hopped around at her feet, wagging its little tail happily.
Afraid of hurting it, Su Tangxing gently nudged it away with her foot, but it pounced right back, clinging to her shoe and biting the pearl on it. It shook its head vigorously while biting, even letting out a low, rumbling growl from its throat.
Su Tangxing picked it up by the scruff of its neck and placed it on a nearby rock, where it happily grinned with its mouth open.
“Stay here. I’ll play with you after I finish cultivating.”
She pressed her finger against the puppy’s damp, cool nose as she spoke. The puppy tilted its head.
Whether it truly understood or not, it quieted down for the latter half, lying on the rock with its nose buried in its tail, and fell asleep.
Once Su Tangxing finished cultivating, she scooped it up and tucked it into her arms.
The Xianju kept many domestic animals. On the eastern slope of another peak, a flock of little sheep grazed, bleating as they ate grass, while a shepherd dog stood guard not far away.
Seeing someone approach, the shepherd dog perked its ears alertly. Its body was muscular and sturdy, its back straight, and its fur dark and glossy.
Not seeing anyone else around, Su Tangxing walked over, bent down to meet the big dog at eye level, and asked, “Can I shear some wool to use? I can pay with Spirit Beads.”
The big dog, which resembled a German Shepherd, tilted its head as if trying to understand her words, then barked once toward a distant tree.
The sound startled Xiao Huang awake, and it rolled over to poke its head out and look.
From the dense foliage of that tree, a drowsy head also emerged.
This flock of sheep was also managed by someone, but the person had slipped away to laze around and sleep, leaving everything to the dog.
Seeing Su Tangxing, the person hurriedly jumped down from the tree, straightened their clothes, brushed off the leaves, their naturally curly hair sticking out in all directions.
Upon hearing Su Tangxing’s request, they quickly waved their hands and said, “Just a bit of wool? It’s fine. It’s getting hot now anyway, so it’s time to shear them. I have some already sheared and cleaned here. How much does the Great-Grandmaster need?”
Su Tangxing lifted Xiao Huang. “To make a bed for it.”
The disciple was puzzled. “They sell ready-made ones outside. Why not just buy one?”
Su Tangxing: “I have nothing better to do. I want to try making one myself.”
“Alright. Then this should be enough. Do you have needles and thread? I have some here.”
The disciple quickly fetched a pile of wool and included a set of needles and thread as a bonus.
When Su Tangxing tried to give her Spirit Beads, the girl waved her off, smiling and saying, “I’ve never seen someone with such high affinity. When the Great-Grandmaster can open the Myriad Beast Sect one day, just let me see what kind of Spirit Beast you summon.”
Su Tangxing nodded. “Alright.”
The shepherd dog stood nearby watching them, neither barking nor making a fuss, its demeanor calm and steady.
Before leaving, Su Tangxing asked its owner if she could pet it.
With permission granted, she rubbed the big dog’s head a few times.
Its head was a bit flat.
Xiao Huang’s was still rounder.
The buildings around the Fox Master’s waist had the most among the peaks. Since it was on the way, Su Tangxing returned the borrowed Jade Slip and went next door to the Administration Hall to see if there were any suitable tasks.
After browsing and selecting, she finally picked several.
In recent years, with fewer new disciples, the overly simple tasks with low rewards were no longer being taken.
Su Tangxing directly accepted several, starting with the ones with time limits.
“Dining Hall Task: Catch 200 Cold Pond Azure Scale Shrimp. Task Reward: 25 Low-grade Spirit Stones.”
Cold Pond, wasn’t that the deep pool on Nothingness Mountain?
This mission hadn’t appeared in the game before. After reading it, she went to the consultation desk to rent a fishing net from a disciple.
Seeing Su Tangxing accept the mission, someone whispered while watching her back, “Actually, I wanted to take that mission too, mainly to see Nothingness Mountain.”
Someone nearby asked, “Then why didn’t you take it?”
The disciple replied, “Didn’t dare. As soon as I heard Ancestor Tian Zhao is still in seclusion on the mountain, I didn’t dare go. Afraid of disturbing him. And that Mysterious Turtle Elder in Cold Pond is quite frightening too—it bit a Spirit Beast’s skull clean in half with one bite… Hiss! Even now, thinking about it still gives me chills. If someone accidentally fell in, they probably wouldn’t even be enough for a single bite.”
“Don’t worry, Mysterious Turtle Elder won’t eat us, and the Ancestor isn’t so easily disturbed. You mentioned his full name just now, and nothing happened, right?”
The disciple hurriedly covered his mouth, “Forgot, forgot.”
At the Ancestor’s level, even mentioning his name would draw his attention.
The disciple looked outside, saw that all was calm, and sighed in relief.
Su Tangxing didn’t hear those voices and rode a Heavenly Horse back to Nothingness Mountain.
The pond water was as clear as a whole gemstone, but it was deep, and there were many fish and shrimp inside. She had noticed this when she fell in last time.
The fishing net came with instructions. Su Tangxing studied them on the shore and made her first attempt to cast the net into the water.
It didn’t seem too difficult.
Throw with force—
It landed half a meter away.
The net didn’t spread open.
Forget shrimp, she couldn’t even scoop up a stone.
Puzzled, she pulled it back. Xiao Huang at her feet tilted its head to watch.
It must be that she didn’t use enough strength.
After thinking it over, Su Tangxing tried again, putting all her strength into the throw—
Splash.
Water exploded on the surface.
Xiao Huang froze on the shore for a moment, then barked anxiously, ready to jump in without hesitation.
Su Tangxing emerged from the water, wiping the droplets from her face, and stopped it in time, “It’s fine. Don’t come in.” It was okay if she caught a cold, but if the puppy did, it would be troublesome.
Xiao Huang whimpered and paced back and forth on the shore.
Su Tangxing placed her hands on the edge of the pond to climb out. As she pushed herself up, a head emerged from the water beside her.
“Tiankuang’s disciple, what are you doing again?”
The Mysterious Turtle wondered, “Taking a bath?”
Su Tangxing raised the net rope in her hand, “I came to catch shrimp.” But she ended up catching herself in the water instead.
Even in summer, the pond water wasn’t warm. It was icy cold.
The Mysterious Turtle swam over and nudged her up, saying, “Hurry and get out. You can’t handle this water yet.”
She really couldn’t. She couldn’t stop shivering. Xiao Huang burrowed into her arms to warm her, a small, cozy bundle.
Su Tangxing pushed it away.
“How many shrimp do you need? I’ll bring them up for you.”
When the Mysterious Turtle asked, she shook her head, “This is a sect mission. I’ve never used a fishing net before and wanted to try catching them myself. Do you know how to use one?”
“I know a little.”
The Mysterious Turtle had lived a long time and knew many things. It guided Su Tangxing from the water on how to properly use the fishing net.
She cast it out, and it landed right on the turtle.
The Mysterious Turtle laughed heartily, “Trying to catch this old one? That won’t do. Your net is too fine.”
Su Tangxing saw the massive shadow in the water and tried to guess how big the turtle was.
She retrieved the net and cast it elsewhere. The Mysterious Turtle dove underwater to check and said, “Good, there are shrimp this time. A few of them. Oh, and a fish too.”
She pulled the net up and finally saw what the Blue-Scaled Shrimp looked like.
A translucent green body, each as long as an arm, with large pincers waving menacingly as if trying to pinch her—they were quite fierce.
Once out of the net, they tried to escape, so Su Tangxing hurriedly went to catch them, picking them up one by one and placing them into the basket on her back.
The fish lying on the ground were still thrashing about. Xiao Huang trotted over to sniff them, only to be slapped in the face by a flapping tail.
It shook the water off its head,
then suddenly opened its mouth, stretching it to an impossibly wide size.
The little swimming duck transformed into a set of sharp, gleaming fangs.
With its ferocious maw, it swallowed the fish whole—a fish larger than itself.
The puppy’s body was small and delicate, yet after devouring a whole fish, its belly showed no sign of bulging.
Su Tangxing finished gathering the shrimp and turned around.
She saw her innocent, adorable little dog and the empty ground.
…Where’s the fish?