The cultivation world doesn't have airplanes, but it certainly has flying magical artifacts.
As Jiang Mo and the system gazed skyward, tens of thousands of meters above, a spirit boat was cutting through the clear sky. Aboard this spirit boat were Xuanqing Sect disciples who had entered the secret realm for training.
Indeed, this was a secret realm, though a small one that had been entered thousands of times before. Previous generations had already traversed the entire realm, and whatever rare treasures once existed had long been claimed by fortunate individuals over countless years. By now, this place offered few opportunities but also presented little danger, making it ideal for training the sect's newly admitted disciples.
The young disciples of Xuanqing Sect's new generation were currently chattering aboard the spirit boat, with cultivation levels ranging from Foundation Establishment at the highest to Qi Refinement at the lowest. There was, however, one exception—the blue-robed woman standing at the bow.
The blue-robed woman, holding a frost-blue sword in hand, stood facing the wind and suddenly spoke: "We've arrived."
Her voice was cold and clear, her tone not particularly loud, yet all the disciples aboard the spirit boat heard her. The previously noisy junior disciples instantly fell silent. One hesitantly stepped forward as if wanting to say something, but was stopped by a companion before uttering a word. Another more perceptive disciple immediately cupped hands in salute and said: "Thank you for your trouble, Senior Sister. We shall depart now."
The blue-robed woman turned around, revealing an incomparably beautiful face, though before one could become entranced by her beauty, they would first be repelled by the cold aura surrounding her. She slightly nodded and said: "Go then. The term is half a month; I'll be waiting here."
Everyone cupped their hands in acknowledgment. Evidently, this woman was not here for training herself, but merely to escort these disciples into the secret realm.
Moments later, streaks of light departed from the spirit boat and flew away. Disciples who couldn't yet ride swords were carried by those who had reached Foundation Establishment, setting off in small groups—their mission was simple: either find one or two specific spirit herbs or fruits, or obtain inner core materials from certain spirit beasts. All tasks were within their capabilities and normally posed no threat to their lives.
In the blink of an eye, everyone had departed, and the spirit boat became quiet once more.
The blue-robed woman remained standing at the bow. The fierce high-altitude winds, passing through the spirit boat's barrier, became gentle, lifting a strand of her hair to flutter with her hair ribbon. After a while, her gaze lowered slightly, falling upon the mountain ranges below.
No one knew what she was looking at or thinking about, but suddenly she waved her hand, storing away the spirit boat, and departed riding her sword.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
The tens of thousands of meters of altitude were too distant; Jiang Mo couldn't clearly see the passing spirit boat, nor did she feel it had anything to do with her.
The little useless tiger only looked once before losing interest and lying back down. Before the system could speak, she preemptively said: "I'm tired, I need to take a nap, don't disturb me with your constant startling." Then, feigning fierceness, she waved her paw: "Otherwise I'll swat you away!"
The system wasn't the least bit afraid of the little white tiger's milky threats, since it had no physical form—its earlier "being swatted away" was purely to play along with the host's performance. However, it quickly fell silent on its own, as data indicated the host's physical state indeed required sleep. So it obediently kept quiet, turned off its light, quietly settled on the host's head, and silently expanded its scanning alert range to maximum.
At this moment, the sunlight was perfect, with a gentle breeze by the small stream. The little white tiger closed her eyes and soon fell into deep sleep.
Who knows how much time passed when the system suddenly made a "hmm" sound, but then there was no further movement, as if that sound had been just an illusion.
Jiang Mo slept for a very long time. When she fell asleep, the sunlight had been bright; when she woke up, the brilliant sun was still gently caressing the tip of her nose. She raised her head and looked around, assuming she had merely taken a short nap, completely unaware of how much time had passed.
Seeing her awake, the system immediately exclaimed with delight: "Host, host, you're finally awake!"
Jiang Mo thought nothing of it, feeling only that this nap had completely dispelled her fatigue, which was most comfortable. She shook her fur and stood up, even arching her back like a cat to stretch... She was indeed adapting well, becoming more and more cat-like.
"What's the matter? I just took a little nap; why are you so excited?" The little white tiger basked in the sunshine, feeling lazy.
Upon hearing this, the system was momentarily speechless, then exclaimed excitedly: "Host, it wasn't a little nap—you slept for three whole days!" Then, in a tone of bitter anguish while highlighting its own accomplishments, it added: "You were sleeping so deeply that if the system hadn't been constantly simulating high-level spirit beast pressure to intimidate the surroundings, you would have been carried off by wolves, do you realize that?!"
Jiang Mo was somewhat surprised at this news, her round tiger eyes widening a bit. But soon she remembered her current environment and new identity, and became calm again: "What's the big deal? In cultivation, time isn't even measured in days."
Cultivators enter closed-door meditation, and several years or a decade passes; divine beasts take a nap, and several hundred or thousand years go by.
Isn't this all normal in the cultivation world?
The system was momentarily speechless. After a while, it could only change the subject: "Well, sleeping for three days isn't really a big deal. Host, quickly open your character panel and take a look—there's a surprise!"
Although Jiang Mo had reservations about the system, in this foreign realm, ultimately it was the only thing she could rely on. And since she had awakened, the system had been doing its utmost to help her survive, so her feelings toward it were quite complex. Occasionally taunting the system was her way of venting and retaliating, but she would also seriously listen to its suggestions.
Just as now, she smoothly opened the character panel and saw that the data had indeed changed—
[Host: Jiang Mo
Race: White Tiger
Profession: Divine Beast
Level: 1
Combat Power: 5
Experience: 3/5
Points: 0
Potential: ∞
Skills: Blood Inheritance (Not Activated)]
Jiang Mo first scanned it quickly, then looked more carefully, discovering that the experience value had indeed increased by 3 points. She was initially confused, then quickly looked around, and finding no crushed insect corpses, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, full of confusion, she clicked on the history messages—
[Xuantian Continent Year 75891, Month 7, Day 22, 15:07:35
Host gained +1 experience due to racial factors, current experience 1/5.
Xuantian Continent Year 75891, Month 7, Day 23, 15:07:35
Host gained +1 experience due to racial factors, current experience 2/5.
Xuantian Continent Year 75891, Month 7, Day 24, 15:07:35
Host gained +1 experience due to racial factors, current experience 3/5.]
Looking at the time, the last message was from about ten minutes ago, meaning she had inexplicably gained another experience point ten minutes ago. And at that time, apart from sleeping, she hadn't done anything else.
Jiang Mo was not stupid; on the contrary, she was quite clever and quickly grasped the key point in these brief message notifications. Her tiger eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the swaying system light orb before her: "System, are these 3 experience points from sleeping?" Without waiting for the system to answer, she added: "I've read before that divine beasts experience a great increase in power upon reaching adulthood, so is their power related to their age?"
The system hadn't expected Jiang Mo to react so quickly, but honestly answered: "The host is correct; there is that factor. A divine beast's power mostly comes from its bloodline. As they grow, the power of their bloodline gradually awakens, making them stronger."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo's eyes brightened, and she fully understood those message notifications—she was no longer a day-old tiger cub. As she grew, her bloodline gradually awakened, which was reflected in the data panel as experience points. And once she grew to a certain stage, meaning she had accumulated enough experience points in the game system, it would directly manifest as leveling up.
Understanding this point, Jiang Mo suddenly felt the sky was bluer, the water clearer, and the future full of hope.
Looking at the suddenly excited Jiang Mo, the system had a certain ominous premonition. It cautiously suggested: "Host, look, you're only two experience points away from leveling up. Why not try to kill a monster now?"
Standing on a boulder by the stream, looking at the character panel before her, Jiang Mo raised her tiger paw with a commanding gesture: "No, I don't want to step on bugs. Isn't it much better to just sleep for two more days and level up directly?!"