Qingyuan did not mind making things sound a little more serious. It was also a warning to Jiang Chan, so that the girl would not underestimate what lay ahead.
“I understand what you mean. Don’t worry. I never underestimate any world.” Even ants could bite an elephant to death, let alone humans, the most intelligent of all creatures.
“By the way, since you’re going to the cultivation world this time, there’s something I urgently need: Soul-Nourishing Wood.”
“Soul-Nourishing Wood? Something that nurtures the soul?” Jiang Chan understood as soon as she heard the name. Looking at Qingyuan’s current form as a ball of light, nothing more than a soul, it was understandable that she would specifically ask for Soul-Nourishing Wood.
“That’s right. It’s something that exists in legends. I don’t know whether it really exists, but legends don’t come out of nowhere. It would be best if you could find it. If you can’t, I won’t insist.”
“What does this Soul-Nourishing Wood look like?” Jiang Chan asked carefully. What a shame it would be if she happened to stumble across it through sheer luck and failed to recognize it.
“I don’t know the details either. You’ll have to look for information yourself. When you go to the cultivation world this time, I’ll place a wisp of my divine sense on you. If you encounter Soul-Nourishing Wood, it will alert you.”
Jiang Chan was immediately delighted. If Qingyuan went with her on the mission, wouldn’t that be like having a living encyclopedia at her side? An unknown world always made people uneasy, and she was no exception.
In the next moment, Qingyuan poured cold water on her hopes. “My recovery is limited. I can only pass on some basic knowledge of the cultivation world. There’s nothing else I can do. Besides, this small world might not be the one I once lived in. You’ll still have to rely on yourself.”
Jiang Chan nodded. Rely on herself, then. To be honest, relying on others always left her feeling uncertain. Trusting herself was more reassuring.
She was about to enter a completely unknown world. Her breathing grew a little quicker, and she felt the nervous excitement of someone about to face a challenge. She closed her eyes and saw Qingyuan turn into a streak of white light that shot straight toward her face…
“Squeak, squeak.” Jiang Chan let out a feeble cry. Her entire body felt awful, but that discomfort was nothing compared with the despair in her heart. Who could stay calm after opening their eyes and discovering that they were lying in a mouse’s nest?
Qingyuan, that swindler! For the hundred and first time, Jiang Chan cursed her inwardly. She had known that being coaxed into a mission by that woman could not be so simple. In the previous world, she had spent three years in the body of a teenage boy. Now she had been demoted straight to a four-legged animal.
And a mouse, at that! Jiang Chan felt like dying. As a mouse, all that came out when she opened her mouth was squeaking, and people would try to kill her whenever she ventured outside. How was she supposed to complete the mission like this?
Fortunately, she was in a forest with no sign of human habitation nearby. But a forest was still an extremely dangerous place for a tiny, weak, pitiful, and helpless mouse like her!
Natural enemies were everywhere. Even a random rabbit could trample her to death. Jiang Chan felt that this was the hardest of all the missions she had taken so far.
She slowly took a bite of a red fruit, then lay back down in the nest. Looking at the darkening sky, she resolved to keep herself well hidden that night.
After calming down, Jiang Chan began receiving a mouse’s memories. The very thought made her want to cough up blood. She wondered whether she would ever be able to speak during this lifetime as a mouse.
Not wanting to speak and being unable to speak were two completely different things! After finishing her inward complaints, Jiang Chan quietly sorted through the memories left by the original owner. Qingyuan really had no standards. She would even take a mouse’s soul?
But after receiving the original owner’s memories, Jiang Chan understood. So this was not an ordinary mouse. Of course, how could an ordinary mouse make a deal with Qingyuan?
From its memories, Jiang Chan learned that it was a mouse with the bloodline of an ancient Treasure-Hunting Mouse. Ancient Treasure-Hunting Mice were divine beasts that existed only in legends. With one at your side, your path of immortal cultivation would be like playing a game with cheats enabled.
The original owner’s Treasure-Hunting Mouse bloodline was thin, and it could usually find only medicinal herbs and the like. Even so, it attracted covetous attention. Without the care of its former master, Feng Qiwu, it would not have been able to survive safely.
Feng Qiwu was the cherished daughter of the leader of the Sword Sect, the greatest sect in the world. Born with sword bones, she had studied the sword under the Supreme Elder since childhood. At the tender age of three, she was already swinging her sword thirty thousand times a day.
She successfully reached Foundation Establishment before turning sixteen and comprehended sword intent while still at that stage. She was one of the foremost young female geniuses on the Fengyun Continent.
If the female lead, Gu Miao’er, had never appeared, Feng Qiwu could have smoothly formed her Nascent Soul and eventually ascended. She would not have died along the way, taking the Treasure-Hunting Mouse bound to her by a master-servant contract down with her.
The original owner was called Xiao Jin. When it first met Feng Qiwu, there had been a fine golden line between its brows. Hopeless at naming things, Feng Qiwu had simply called it Xiao Jin. That fine golden line was the mark of its Treasure-Hunting Mouse bloodline.
As the Treasure-Hunting Mouse’s cultivation increased, the line would grow wider and wider until it covered its entire body, turning it into a glittering golden Treasure-Hunting Mouse.
Returning to the original owner’s memories, it had lived cautiously in this forest of magical beasts for several years after its birth. As a weak little Treasure-Hunting Mouse, it did have abilities of its own.
When danger came, it could spit out wind blades and use the wind element to help itself escape. It was only by relying on that wind element that the original owner had barely managed to survive.
One struggled cautiously to survive in the forest of magical beasts, while the other was the Sword Sect’s favored daughter. By all rights, the future master and pet should never have crossed paths.
Yet chance worked in just that way. Once, while the original owner was out looking for food, it was caught by a beast-catching team. These teams specialized in searching for spirit beasts, capturing them, and selling them for handsome profits.
A little mouse like the original owner hardly attracted attention. But the team believed that even a mosquito’s leg was still meat, so they took it back to the Spirit Beast Pavilion anyway.
As it happened, that day was Feng Qiwu’s turn to patrol the marketplace. This was one of the Sword Sect’s rules. They were responsible for the marketplaces within their territory and protected their safety.
Feng Qiwu encountered the beast-catching team as soon as she entered the marketplace. She had not intended to keep a spirit pet. Sword cultivators devoted themselves to the way of the sword and had no need for other forms of outside assistance.
But the team leader was so insistently courteous that Feng Qiwu had no choice but to casually point at the original owner. After all, it looked small and thin and probably was not worth much.
The original owner and Feng Qiwu got along very well. Feng Qiwu was not a master who mistreated spirit beasts. Whenever she obtained natural treasures, she gave Xiao Jin priority, while she herself continued to cultivate the sword diligently.
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