Little Spring’s POV

My older martial sister was almost always right... except when it came to people. I’d noticed this over the years, but she could be a little overly judgemental of certain individuals she’d had contact with in her past life. Like my immortal cooking master, Fairy Garlic. She couldn’t stand her.

She was the same way towards Little Teasing Mouse.

I knew she had her reasons, but in this case, hating Teasing Mouse just didn’t make sense. She might be a little pushy, but she was kind and enthusiastic. Everyone we passed in the sect greeted her with a smile on their face. Even those cultivators that had frown lines would warmly beam at her.

Actually, greeting everybody was why it took so long to get anywhere. Considering the amount of time we had to complete our mission, this might have bothered me. But, by slowly getting to know every disciple on North Peak, I was treated with kindness and became someone people could trust… possibly with sect secrets. Like a certain scroll’s location.

All of this unearned trust was thanks to Little Teasing Mouse.

She pointed to a small rock wall near a cliff. “And just around this corner is one place where we let the herd-type spiritual beasts roam. Be quiet or we’ll cause their wool to fall off.”

I briefly considered explaining that sheep didn’t work like that, but she was already tiptoeing around the wall. I slowly followed her until I saw a flat grassy field that appeared to have been carved into the mountainside. Fluffy spiritual sheep of various colors grazed nearby in a herd. They looked like a color-stained cloud that constantly changed shape.

“This is where we collect some of the material for our sect uniforms. And over there,” she pointed to a large but simple building, “is where our spiritual silkworms grow. Several beast tamers there specialize in raising and contracting with silk worm-type beasts.”

I glanced at her mouse ears. If a beast blood contractor took on a characteristic of their contracted beast, how did it work with silkworm farmers? Did... did they have no ears? Was their skin super white like a silkworm? Oh, no... could they shoot silk... from… from their butts?!

I shuddered.

A man with ram horns who had been tending to the herd jogged over to us.

“If it isn’t Little Teasing Mouse,” he whispered with a smile on his face.

“Greetings Senior Baa Baa Black Ram.”

We both bowed, and she gave her usual over-enthusiastic introduction: “This is Junior Verdant Spring! He is super smart and friendly. And he has the cutest puppy ever. He even wowed the poison masters! I just know he’ll be the bestest, juniorest member of the inner sect.”

He nodded to me. “Actually, you both came at the right time. How would you two like to earn some contribution points?”

Teasing Mouse nodded. “What do you need help with?”

“I want to attend a lecture, but I need to move my herd to the lower field.” He pointed to a dirt path that led into a dense forest. “It’s over by Crab Lake.”

She nodded seriously. “If you two can herd my sheep without losing a single one while I go listen to the lecture, I’ll give you each 1,000 contribution points.”

“I’ll do it!” She jumped from foot to foot excitedly. Then she turned to me. Before she could open her mouth and volunteer me, I stepped in front of her. “Senior, I’ll agree as well, but I’d rather do it in exchange for some information. Since I’m so new, I could use some advice.”

“That works better for me. If it’s something I know about, I’ll gladly give you the information. And if I don’t, I’ll pay you in contribution points.”

I nodded.

“Before I leave you to it, I’d like to know how you plan to herd them. My little lambs are precious to me.”

Little Teasing Mouse stared blankly at him. Then she scrunched up her eyebrows really hard and rubbed her glabella.

M-maybe Lin did have a point about her not being the smartest disciple in the sect.

That meant figuring this out was up to me. I picked up Xiao Bai and stared into his large blue eyes. “We have to herd these sheep down that pathway to a field near a lake. Can you help me do that?”

His mouth opened and his tongue lolled.

“We can’t lose a single one.”

He licked my face. Probably in agreement.

I nodded. “Now, when I set you down, let’s move those sheep.”

I carefully placed my puppy on the dirt ground and he took off toward the beasts. Once he was only a few feet away, he let out a quiet, “Bork!”

The sheep froze for a second, then their black faces all turned to stare at Xiao Bai. I could practically see them question his existence.

“Bork-bork!”

“Baaaaahah. Baa.”

“Bork!”

Little Teasing Mouse leaned over and whispered. “I think he’s communicating with the sheep!”

I nodded. “He is very intelligent.”

“I hate to break this to you,” Baa Baa Black Ram said, “but your puppy is not smart enough for that kind of communication. He is likely a mund—”

Xiao Bai let out one final “BORK!” that echoed through the mountainous area. A few rocks fell off the cliff. Further up the mountain, a small avalanche cascaded down, spreading snow into the forest above. The timing was a little strange. It was like his bark had caused those. Except that was just my imagination. After all, Xiao Bai was a perfectly mundane puppy. Sister Lin even said so.

The sheep started stampeding toward the silkworm building.

Little Teasing Mouse gasped and grabbed my sleeve. “Oh no! We have to stop them before they destroy that building and all the silkworms again!”

Again?! Then why wasn’t there a fence?

Xiao Bai ran after them, but he wasn’t fast enough. I used Continuous Step, Impossible Leap to reach him. Quickly, I picked him up and brought him to the front of the stampede.

“BORK-BORK!”

The sheep slid to a stop. Some of them softly bumped into each other while baaing. Then they ran toward the forest pathway.

Baa Baa Black Ram’s mouth dropped open. He rubbed his cheek as if it stung.

I put my puppy back down so he could chase after the sheep before jogging back over. “Senior, what were you saying earlier about my Xiao Bai?”

He coughed. “Ah. Nothing. I’ll just… see you after that lecture is over.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

***

We easily brought the herd through a long, winding path. Then, as if taunting us, a mischievous pink sheep darted out from the group and into the forest. It started to nibble on various bushes as if it were insatiable. To prevent it from escaping, I zipped over on my flying sword. When it saw me, its eyes went wide, and it tried to run away. Fortunately, Teasing Mouse wasn’t too far behind me and we corralled it between us.

She frowned. “Now that we’ve stopped her, how are we going to get this cute, adorable little girl to go back?”

“Isn’t that the easy part?” I picked up the spiritual sheep by hugging her and lifted her up.

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“Bah!?” She started to struggle. I used spiritual energy to strengthen my muscles and threw her to the back of the herd. Since she was a spiritual beast, this wouldn’t hurt her. Besides, it was kind of fun to see a pink fluff-ball fly through the trees.

When she re-joined the herd, by landing softly on her four little legs, she immediately started baaing to her sisters as if complaining.

I was a bit bored, so I hoped more would attempt an escape, but after the first incident, the beasts didn’t bother.

***

Eventually, we arrived at the new field. It was covered in tall spiritual grasses and thorny bushes. The beasts swiftly got to work chomping on the overgrown grass.

Little Teasing Mouse took out a handkerchief and wiped her brow. “Senior Baa Baa Black Ram will definitely answer your question now.”

I nodded.

“But... you could just ask me. I’m your senior too, you know?!”

“You’ve introduced me to almost everyone in the sect. Since connections are important for someone new like me, you’re helping me a lot. I don’t want to owe you any more than I already do.”

She pouted. “My cute little Junior! I didn’t do that to have you owe me. I did it to let people know that you’re our talented martial brother. So you should just ask me whatever questions you have. I promise to answer if I can… and that way you get more contribution points! You’ll need a lot of those to survive here.”

That was kind of her but, I wasn’t sure she had the answer. Or, more accurately, the right answer. After all, while she was very charismatic, she was not terribly… mentally gifted.

Well, maybe I wasn’t being fair to her. After All, I spent most of my time with geniuses like Sister Lin, Master Chef Garlic and Junior Clear Eyes Mad Tongue.

The red sheep Xiao Bai was playfully following opened up a pathway to a massive lake. The sunlight sparkled on still blue water until the surface broke. A crab slightly smaller than the ones that overran the village during the Crab Mission jumped out. Droplets fell off its red carapace. It lifted its claws high over my puppy’s head.

“Oh, no! Not crabs!” I should have realized sooner that a place named ‘Crab Lake’ would be infested with these horrific monsters. It was so obvious!

I pulled out my sword and used Continuous Step to run over to the lake. With one last leap, I made it between Xiao Bai and the crab. I formed a few hand incantation gestures to prepare the Starfield Shield that Sister Lin taught me recently.

Horrible flashbacks ran through my mind of stampeding crustaceans, people screaming, and the fiasco that we didn’t speak about.

Never again!

“Bork!”

The crab clicked its claws and waved. It almost looked... friendly?

“Bork-bork!”

It bounced up and down on its thick legs, then scuttled back into the water.

I let out a breath I hadn’t even known I’d held.

Little Teasing Mouse casually walked over.

“Oh. I forgot to tell you that the beasts around here are super friendly.”

I briefly pinched the bridge of my nose and put my sword back inside my bag. “I see that now. Thank you for letting me know, senior.”

Though it would have been nice if she’d told me that ahead of time... Was this what my martial sister meant when she said that she couldn’t deal with Little Teasing Mouse?

Yeah. That made sense. Sister Lin didn’t have a lot of patience for people like her.

***

“You did an excellent job, you two!” Baa Baa Black Ram observed the field that had already been half-consumed by the sheep. “I supposed I should answer your question now.”

Finally!

Sadly, I couldn’t just ask him if he’d heard anything about the evil scroll, since that would be too suspicious. That left me with one option: lying.

“Since I’m close to reaching Golden Core, I wanted to buy a better sword for myself. The ones on the first floor of the treasure pavilion don’t suit me, so I was hoping to find a way to the second floor.”

Black Ram stroked his scruffy beard. “Hmmm. There are a few ways. For one, if you were at Golden Core, you’d be allowed to visit there at any time.”

That option was out. I’d merely reached the peak of Foundation Establishment only a little over a week ago. My martial sister and I didn’t even have the right defensive tools to go through a tribulation as massive as ours would be. Though she had been teaching me how to make protective items so I could help her forge them when the time came.

“If that’s not possible, you could take on a long-term sect mission to earn a treasure from the second floor.”

Too slow. We only had a little over two weeks left before the Founding Day Festival.

“What about going through the Beast Blood Contract Bath?” Teasing Mouse piped up with her squeaky voice.

But I’d told her that… oh, well. She just did what she wanted, didn’t she? Kind of like Sister Lin… not that I’d risk suffering through hell training again by saying as much.

He snapped his fingers. “Right. I almost forgot about that! Since the bath can be dangerous the first time, the sect offers those who attempt it a chance to choose a treasure on the second floor.”

That... wasn’t possible. And even if it was, Sister Lin had told me not to do anything weird that might affect my cultivation… wait! “So, even if it fails, I’d still get to go up and receive a treasure?”

They nodded.

“Though you won’t earn one the next time you go through it.”

I clutched my hands into fists and hid them behind my back so they wouldn’t see my excitement. Because this showed possibility. “Tell me more about this bath.”

Little Teasing Mouse jumped up and down excitedly. “Oh! It’s really easy. The poison masters prepare a bath for you, then you step in. Next, your beast must willingly drop its blood into the alchemical solution. Which is important because if it’s not willing, you will fail and ruin your cultivation base!”

That explained why this sect found it essential to have a good relationship with their beasts! They really hadn’t lied to me about that.

“It just takes a half day of bathing and you’ll be physically stronger by the end of it,” Black Ram said.

“Don’t forget to mention the best part, senior. You’ll gain a deeper connection to your newly contracted beast! You’ll even take on characteristics of your partner!” She sighed like that was the most wonderful thing in the whole world.

Black Ram grimaced. “But it can still be dangerous. If your chosen beast isn’t compatible with you, it’s possible that you could die.”

“Has anyone ever accidentally used the wrong blood before? Like one that wasn’t theirs? Or a mundane beast’s?”

Teasing Mouse giggled. “How did you know?”

Black Ram sighed. “Yes. It was someone who loved their pet lizard so much that they’d deluded themselves into believing that it had become a spiritual beast.”

“What happened to them?”

“Oh, they completely failed, which angered the poison masters so badly they coughed up blood,” he said.

“I remember that! He basically had an expensive bath!”

I frowned.

She pulled on my sleeve. “Even though he failed, he still received a token to go up to the second floor! Though... he had to pay for his treasure. So, even if something weird happens, you’ll be able to find a good sword if you can afford it!”

Hmmm. Perhaps there was a way to fool the bath? I could even secretly add some of my spiritual spring water.

“Here, let me check with Viridescent Fire Snake to see when the next available bath appointments are.”

She pressed her finger to her glabella and whispered to send a secret sound transmission. Then she tilted her head and frowned.

Well, if there weren’t any open within the week, then—

Her eyes grew wide, and she grabbed my sleeve. “We gotta leave! Now!”

“What? Why?”

“Someone canceled their bath appointment! If you don’t go through with it right now, you’ll have to wait three to four weeks.”

She brought out a flying fan, pulled my puppy and me onto it, and then flew faster than I’d ever seen her move before.

But... I hadn’t even decided to go through with it yet. I picked up Xiao Bai to prevent him from rolling around on the fan.

Well, if I could get Xiao Bai to pretend to cut himself, and then use some thin syrup I dyed to replace his blood, I could fool the poison master! That would cause the bath to fail. Because I’d sabotaged the concoction, there wouldn’t be any problems with my cultivation base either. Essentially, I would be perfectly safe!

Getting that second-floor token, like I had promised, would definitely surprise Sister Lin. And it should make up for all the time I was forced to spend with Little Teasing Mouse instead of forging tools to help us get home.

But, most importantly, once I reached the second floor, we could finally ask about the evil scroll!

This was the perfect plan! I just knew it.

But, in case it failed somehow, I’d keep it a secret from Sister Lin. I didn’t want to get her hopes up, only to fail at the last minute.