500: Exceeding the Limit
Jiang Mo was in a confused, half-asleep state when the system's mechanical voice sounded in her mind, and it didn't immediately wake her. Just as she was about to sink back into deep sleep, her mind suddenly jolted as she realized what the system had just announced.
Like someone waking from a nightmare, Jiang Mo abruptly sat up.
Such a large movement naturally startled Yun Qingyue beside her. When her beautiful glazed phoenix eyes opened, they were already completely clear. She promptly sat up, patting Jiang Mo's back, and asked, "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
Cultivators rarely dream, and the higher their cultivation, the more dreams become a form of warning.
Thinking of the recent situation and seeing Jiang Mo's startled expression, Yun Qingyue couldn't help feeling concerned. Although Jiang Mo hadn't had a nightmare, she felt worse than if she had—before falling asleep, she had been full of hope that the main system would increase the timed mission rewards, but before she could even complete a good night's sleep, it had already notified her of the rejection.
Jiang Mo rubbed her face and, meeting her Senior Sister's concerned gaze, guessed what she was worried about. She shook her head and said, "It's nothing, I didn't have a nightmare. I just suddenly heard some sound while sleeping and woke up with a start."
Yun Qingyue was somewhat skeptical and even instinctively glanced outside the window, only to see the deep night, silent and still.
Of course, even without looking outside, Yun Qingyue didn't really believe Jiang Mo's explanation. After all, they were so close, and she prided herself on maintaining full alertness even while sleeping—if there had been any sound, she couldn't possibly have missed it... unless someone had specifically transmitted a message to Jiang Mo, deliberately avoiding her? But who would do such a thing?
Yun Qingyue thought many things in an instant, especially noticing that Jiang Mo didn't seem to be lying and appeared completely at ease. After pondering for a moment, she seriously asked, "What kind of sound? Or did someone speak to you?"
Hearing this, Jiang Mo couldn't help but be surprised, almost blurting out to ask how she knew.
Fortunately, in the cool deep night, a last bit of rationality pulled back the words at the edge of her lips. She blinked, putting on her most innocent expression, and shook her head as if confused: "I don't remember, I don't think it was anything important."
In the end, Yun Qingyue didn't suspect her further, and unable to determine anything herself, she could only let the matter drop.
After this interruption, Jiang Mo's initial frustration upon receiving the notification had mostly subsided, but now she was completely awake and felt she probably wouldn't be able to sleep again tonight.
Just then, Yun Qingyue also asked her: "It's still early. Since there's nothing wrong, shall we go back to sleep?"
Jiang Mo shook her head, looking at her Senior Sister only to see a pair of eyes even more alert than her own. She knew her Senior Sister originally didn't have the habit of sleeping every night—this habit had developed only after being with her—so whether they slept or not didn't really matter. She hooked her hand with her Senior Sister's and said, "I can't sleep anymore tonight. Shall we cultivate instead?"
Yun Qingyue herself wasn't obsessed with cultivation, but she had always been very diligent about it. In the past, on quiet nights like this, she would mostly spend her time cultivating, so she readily accepted Jiang Mo's suggestion.
It had been a long time since the two had cultivated on Purple Cloud Peak. Although this spiritual peak had abundant spiritual energy, ever since many outsiders had come to the peak, the spiritual energy had become somewhat insufficient. As the Peak Master, Jiang Mo actually had the ability to mobilize the entire peak's spiritual energy, but if she were to direct the already limited spiritual energy, those cultivators might think they had been transported to the spiritual-energy-deficient mortal realm.
Jiang Mo didn't care much about others, but doing so might damage the Xuanqing Sect's reputation—who had ever heard of a sect being so stingy that after accommodating guests, they would drain all the surrounding spiritual energy?
Concerned about reputation, Jiang Mo hadn't done this, and besides, two or three months of meditation would provide limited improvement for her. However, today, seeing that her Senior Sister was at level 74, just one level below herself, she suddenly wanted to cultivate together with her.
......
Under the night sky, the two sat facing each other, and Yun Qingyue raised her eyes to give Jiang Mo a faint glance.
Jiang Mo pouted with a wronged expression, then her form changed, transforming into a cat-sized tiger cub that leaped into her Senior Sister's embrace. The tiger cub's fluffy body pressed tightly against her Senior Sister's lower abdomen, the position closest to her dantian. Then, as the two began circulating their spiritual energy through their meridians, passing through their dantians, some strands inevitably flowed into each other.
As time passed, the amount of spiritual energy each sent into the other's body increased... Though their spiritual energy attributes were completely different, strangely, they both accepted each other's energy well, and the two energies intertwined, eventually seeming to merge together.
If Fei Yuan from the Harmony Sect had seen this scene, she might have been surprised by their cultivation method, which was virtually indistinguishable from dual cultivation.
During dual cultivation, cultivation progresses twice as fast with half the effort, but Jiang Mo, despite enjoying these benefits, still felt aggrieved—she and her Senior Sister had tested that the closer their dantians were, the better the effect of dual cultivation. They had cultivated together countless times, either with her holding the little swan goose, or with her Senior Sister holding the little tiger cub. But what she really wanted was to directly press against her Senior Sister, with their dantians touching!
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Time always passes particularly quickly during cultivation. The two people dual cultivating hardly felt the passage of time, and a night had already gone by. The deep darkness gradually gave way to the morning light, though due to the demonic miasma, the sky was far from as bright as usual.
As dawn broke, Yun Qingyue seemed to hear a "crack," like an eggshell breaking.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and exhaled deeply, feeling the exceptionally abundant spiritual energy within her body. A flash of joy passed through her glazed eyes—just this one night of cultivation had given her a small breakthrough. Although since her rebirth through nirvana, her realm had been constantly breaking through over these two or three years, seeming to advance by leaps and bounds, this time was different—this breakthrough came after her realm had stabilized, making it a true breakthrough.
Sensing her Senior Sister ending her cultivation, the little tiger nestled in her embrace also stopped cultivating and opened her eyes. As she opened them, she caught the delight in her Senior Sister's eyes, and coupled with the fluctuations of spiritual energy that typically accompany a breakthrough in cultivation, she had no trouble discerning the other's achievement.
Of course, beyond such subjective perceptions, Jiang Mo had a more direct way to confirm her guess—she opened the system's battle mode and, unsurprisingly, saw her Senior Sister's level above her head change from 74 to 75.
Jiang Mo fell silent, then suddenly asked the system: "System, can you see Senior Sister's experience bar?"
The system had waited all night without seeing the host explode in anger, only to be suddenly thrown this unexpected question. Even the system couldn't help but be stunned, then blurted out: "Host, are you, kidding? Senior Sister, doesn't have, such a thing?!"
Jiang Mo certainly knew there was no such thing—apart from herself with the system, everyone else in this cultivation world was actually a living, breathing human being. The system's so-called levels were merely energy data divisions based on others' cultivation realms, and there was no need for more detailed things like experience bars. Moreover, if the system had actually set up such things, it might not necessarily be a good thing, as it would create a false sense of reality.
However, knowing this was one thing, but Jiang Mo's heart was still quite unsettled when she asked this question—imagine her diligently fleecing sheep and farming points, only to struggle an entire day without gaining a single level, while her Senior Sister could breakthrough in minutes with just a bit of cultivation. It was enough to make anyone envious and jealous.
Perhaps noticing the ton of sourness hidden in Jiang Mo's heart, the system felt compelled to offer some comfort: "Host, don't overthink. Senior Sister, was probably, just about, to break through, a coincidence, that's all. Besides, isn't, Senior Sister's, cultivation, improvement, something to, be happy about?"
The system's words made a lot of sense, but Jiang Mo just wanted the stutterer to shut up; listening to it was exhausting.
Nevertheless, the system's two sentences had hit the mark. Setting aside the first point about coincidence, Jiang Mo couldn't refute the second. Of course she hoped her Senior Sister would become as strong as possible, so she could protect herself in the upcoming great battle.
Meanwhile, Yun Qingyue, having checked her current condition, also noticed that Jiang Mo had stopped cultivating.
Probably in a good mood, she rubbed the little tiger's soft, fluffy ears, her eyes unusually containing a smile: "It's getting late, and we have things to do today, so it's good to stop cultivating." Then she asked, "How was your progress last night, A'Mo?"
Hearing this, Jiang Mo instinctively opened her status panel and glanced at it:
[Host: Jiang Mo
Race: White Tiger
Profession: Divine Beast
Level: 75
Combat Power: 96,590
Experience: 39,470/300,000
Points: 3,160
Potential: ∞
Skills: Advanced Spirit Energy Utilization, Blood Inheritance Pressure, Sharp Metal Force, Way of Transformation...]
A night of cultivation had increased her experience by 500, but her combat power had only risen by 10 points, a ratio far inferior to completing missions. This was why battles or missions were the correct path for her to improve her strength, rather than sitting and cultivating obediently.
Jiang Mo had anticipated this and didn't feel particularly disappointed. She casually flicked her tail and answered, "It was alright."
Yun Qingyue looked at the tiger tail wrapped around her wrist and stroked its tip: "Then I did better than you—I had a small breakthrough."
......
After morning cultivation, Yun Qingyue indulged in petting the tiger after a long absence. Only when the little tiger, face flushed and ears red, pounced on her and gave her a tiger kiss did this playful interlude temporarily end. Jiang Mo remembered that her Senior Sister had mentioned they had important matters to attend to today.
At first, Jiang Mo didn't know what important matters Yun Qingyue was referring to, assuming that Sect Leader Qingxiao had assigned her Senior Sister some task yesterday. But as she watched her Senior Sister send out dozens of communication talismans one after another, then begin to take her out to "visit friends" after receiving replies, she discovered that the "friends" her Senior Sister was visiting were all those with cultivation levels higher than her own.
Their first stop was the Crimson Blood Sect's temporary residence. The battle at Mount Xuanyin had inflicted heavy losses on the Crimson Blood Sect, but as one of the four major demonic sects, the Crimson Blood Sect's foundation remained strong, and many high-level powerhouses had survived.
After yesterday's events, and with Yun Qingyue's advance communication, Sect Leader Zhu readily bestowed another reward on Jiang Mo. With the Sect Leader taking the lead in "conceding," the Crimson Blood Sect's powerhouses treated this challenge as child's play—casually doing the young mistress a favor, casually exchanging a few moves, then casually saying they conceded, giving Jiang Mo another wave of rewards.
Jiang Mo went through the whole process in a daze, and before she could feel joy at this additional gain, she was taken by her Senior Sister to the Buddha Sect, the Harmony Sect, and various miscellaneous small and medium-sized sects, some known and some unknown.
High-level cultivators were indeed rare in the cultivation world, but the current Xuanqing Sect had gathered elites from all directions, and the concentration of high-level cultivators was clearly above the norm.