The Snow Sheep clung tightly to Nántáng's lapels, baring its teeth to intimidate the cultivator reaching toward it. Its curly fleece was puffed straight out in alarm; Nántáng could even see its back molars. Sensing Nántáng's amusement, the little lamb glared at her fiercely—even if this vessel was just a temporary expedient, he absolutely refused to bear this sheep's body only to get shaved bald and castrated. That was absolute humiliation!
Alas, his tiny appearance carried zero lethality, and was even a bit cute, posing no threat to Nántáng whatsoever. However, Nántáng did read one clear message from the sheep's eyes—I'd rather die than submit. He might just pop right out of the sheep's mouth in front of everyone and reveal his true form. Stifling a laugh, Nántáng tucked him into her embrace, turning slightly to avoid the newcomer, and gently flicked the bell hanging around the lamb's neck, saying lightly, "This is my sheep."
Wearing a bell meant it had a master.
The newcomer froze, looking toward Yānhuá for help: "Senior Sister Yānhuá, this..."
Yānhuá scratched her head. Interpersonal relationships always gave her a headache. After a moment of thought, she said, "It's just a sheep. If Martial Aunt says it's hers, then it's hers."
The man stomped his foot and left resentfully, glaring at Nántáng and the Snow Sheep one last time before departing.
Probably in less than an hour, the news of the Sect Leader's wife forcibly snatching a sheep would spread throughout the entire sect.
Nántáng brought the Snow Sheep up to her cheek, pressing her lips to its ear, and whispered, "I saved you again."
Costing her own reputation, she had to get something back.
As her light breath brushed past, the little lamb's ears folded back slightly, trembling a bit. He ignored Nántáng's blatant debt-collecting face, pretending he really was just a sheep, and buried his head into the crook of her neck.
The soft, fine fleece tickled Nántáng's neck. She chuckled twice, thanked Yānhuá, and took her leave.
————
Barely stepping out of the Spring Awakening Workshop, the little Snow Sheep struggled, leaping out of her arms and running through the mountains.
The mountain peak where the Spring Awakening Workshop was located had a gentle slope and an expansive view. As far as the eye could see, it was a bright and open landscape of boundless clouds and windswept fertile fields. Nántáng suddenly had the illusion of being entirely immersed in heaven and earth, turning into a blade of swaying creeping grass or rice seedling. Even though the troublesome matters on her hands weren't resolved and the heavy stones in her heart hadn't fallen, she still felt the refreshing ease of sweeping away the dark clouds looming overhead. Thus, she let the little lamb frolic, leisurely following behind.
The little Snow Sheep ran a distance and looked back at her, seemingly wanting to lead her somewhere.
Nántáng understood and followed, trailing the sheep until they turned behind a stone house into an empty, secluded corner. The little lamb looked around, confirming no one was nearby, before its short front hooves suddenly started digging into the dirt.
Nántáng looked at him in surprise, asking, "You snuck out of the Spring Awakening Workshop just to come here?"
The Snow Sheep didn't answer her. He just quickly dug a pit, then stood up on his hind legs and plop—jumped into the pit that could only fit one sheep. He then used his front hooves to pull the dirt from the edge back in, burying himself before looking up at Nántáng.
"You want me to bury myself in the dirt?" Nántáng found it unbelievable—did he really treat her as a seed?
The Snow Sheep darted out of the dirt again, the scattering gravel nearly blinding Nántáng.
Nántáng looked at the small dirt pit on the ground—to bury or not to bury, that is the question.
The Snow Sheep ran two circles around her. Nántáng compromised, forming a hand seal to conjure a thick earth-drilling root. Before long, a pit was formed in the ground. She bit her lip and jumped in, leaving only her head exposed above ground.
Oh well, she had to figure out exactly what had happened to her body.
The moment her body touched the soil, a dim cyan glow lit up from her lower abdomen again. Thousands of fine blue rays swam through the dirt, drilling into her skin, gathering toward the dim cyan patterns on her lower abdomen.
Nántáng was stunned. A cool aura, carrying the spiritual qi of the fields surrounding the Spring Awakening Workshop, poured into her body. This time, she could clearly sense that this spiritual qi was not only Wood spiritual qi, but also contained Metal and Fire spiritual qi. By all logic, within the Five Elements, Metal restrains Wood. She possessed a Supremely Pure Wood spiritual root and should be completely incapable of absorbing Metal spiritual qi. What was going on now? Furthermore, she had never felt such a massive amount of spiritual qi in her entire life. Yet, after this spiritual qi entered her body, it fell utterly silent, like stones dropped into the vast ocean—her Dāntián (Elixir Field) remained completely tranquil.
The little Snow Sheep had already stood up, plopping down against the wall. His two hind legs were crossed, and his front legs were folded across his chest, staring at Nántáng exactly like a human. He only lacked two deeply furrowed eyebrows drawn above his eyes; otherwise, he looked entirely like a sheep that had achieved human sentience.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea passed like this, the little lamb suddenly jumped up, rushing to Nántáng's side to dig her out.
Faint human voices could be heard from outside: "How did the Red Gold Swamp Fire Earth (Chìjīn Zhǎohuǒ Tǔ) that we just mixed yesterday turn into this? Did some demonic creature appear nearby? Quick, search!"
Nántáng snapped back to reality. She and the little lamb exchanged a glance, both simultaneously recalling the potted dirt in Yúnchuān that had turned into waste stone.
As more and more people gathered outside, the hurried footsteps were already ringing in their ears. Nántáng rose from the soil, not even having time to brush off the dirt on her body, and whispered, "Follow me." The little Snow Sheep was prepared; with a leap, he jumped onto her shoulder right as she spoke, and vanished alongside her, concealing their figures.
In just the time it took to drink a cup of tea, nearly a mile of newly spread Red Gold Swamp Fire Earth near the stone house had been turned into useless waste dirt.
————
Splash—
The little Snow Sheep was tossed into the Língchuān Pool (Spirit River Pool) behind Yúnchuān.
Plunging headfirst into the water, the Snow Sheep fiercely swallowed a few mouthfuls. His sheep body curled into a ball, flipping a few somersaults underwater before slowly floating back to the surface.
Following the soft sound of splashing water, the Snow Sheep saw the instigator who had thrown him into the pool brush her long hair back and stand up from the water. Her jet-black hair traced a beautiful arc in the air, scattering countless droplets of Língchuān water. Catching the skylight spilling from the top of the pool, they sparkled like flying shattered jade.
"Wash up!" Nántáng said simply.
Although cultivators could use spells to command wind and water to cleanse themselves, the fine gravel was still difficult to clear away completely. Moreover, her talismans were saved for dealing with emergencies, and she didn't want to waste them, so she brought the Snow Sheep here to bathe.
Jumping into the pool, soaking in the water, then scrubbing her face and washing her hair, and then taking off her clothes... this was her usual bathing routine, simple and straightforward. She had never considered what kind of picture this painted in someone else's eyes.
Whether it looked good or not, she couldn't see it anyway.
The little lamb floated on the water's surface, looking like a clump of woolly algae.
The cultivation realm was overflowing with beauties; there were simply no ugly ones. Although Nántáng was not stunning at first glance like Yíngxuě, she was still a bona fide beauty—her face was small with full cheeks, her nose straight and elegant, and her curved brows and smiling eyes were incredibly endearing. Her lips were moist and red, shaped like flower petals, revealing a glimpse of pearly white teeth when parted. She possessed a beauty that carried no aggressive edge.
However, in stark contrast to her face was her figure.
Slender but not frail, tall but not bulky, graceful yet radiating an athletic vigor.
Right now, with her loose dharma robes soaked through by the pool water, her curves were fully revealed. Her normally gentle beauty suddenly possessed absolute lethality, and even the posture in which she rubbed her hair exuded a careless, effortless allure.
"That place today—did you seek it out specifically to test the Spring Seed inside my body?" Nántáng wrung out her hair and began to undress, asking as she did so.
The little lamb didn't respond, but suddenly flipped over and sank into the water.
His line of sight blurred, leaving only a hazy human silhouette through the water.
A hand reached into the water, grabbing the sheep by the back of its neck and lifting it up.
"What's wrong with you?" Just as Nántáng was about to rub his curly fleece, she suddenly saw the Snow Sheep's woolly, ball-like tail unfurl, whipping up a ring of fine snow foam around it. Catching it in her palm to look closely, she realized they were hexagonal snowflakes.
The reason the Snow Sheep was called "Snow" wasn't just because its white curly fleece resembled snow, but because it inherently possessed the Ice attribute from its Water spiritual root. When excited, nervous, or defending against enemies, it would release weak ice spells, causing the surrounding moisture to freeze into snow.
But it was just her and the little Snow Sheep in the Língchuān Pool—no enemies to defend against. What was he nervous about?
Could it be...
Nántáng's mind turned quite fast. She looked down at her loosely hanging clothes and asked in surprise, "What are you getting so excited for? Don't tell me you guys have gender differences? Are you male or female?"
The little Snow Sheep's tail suddenly shot sky-high.
The snow began to fall even harder.
He wanted to chop off this uncontrollable tail of his.
"Did I guess right? You're a male?" Nántáng looked at the sheep tail that was wagging more and more happily, her eyes gradually filling with astonishment.
He was just a mist-like entity with no physical form, and she had always treated him as a strange anomaly. When he possessed spiritual beasts, she simply treated him like a spiritual pet, never once thinking in any other direction.
"Or rather, are you also a cultivator?"
Now, this guess was terrifying.
The little Snow Sheep looked at Nántáng's gradually chilling eyes, struggling to break free from her iron grip, forcing himself to let out a soft, incredibly pitiful sound: "Baa—"
If he could ever revert to his original body one day, he absolutely, absolutely never wanted anyone to know that he had such a humiliating moment.
————
Cultivators were mostly arrogant; cultivators who would disguise themselves as pet beasts to win someone's favor were extremely rare to see.
Nántáng was thoroughly disarmed by that sheep's bleat. He had truly grasped her preferences perfectly, knowing exactly how to pacify her suspicions. However, the doubts remained. She felt she needed to quickly find a way to make this guy speak.
Unable to figure out his true species, Nántáng ultimately bathed with her clothes on, washed the Snow Sheep's curly fleece clean, and dried both herself and the sheep before stepping back into Yúnchuān.
Outside the Yúnchuān hall, someone coincidentally came looking for her.
"Fifth Martial Aunt, this batch is the East Pole Wood (Dōngjí Wood), Marrow-Nourishing Pills (Yǎngsuǐ Pills), and one thousand Spiritual Marrows (Língsuǐ) you ordered half a year ago." The newcomer was a disciple from Níngxiá Peak, which was specifically responsible for managing and distributing cultivation resources within Chóngxū Gōng.
The disciple held a silver tray in his hands, bearing a bottle of Marrow-Nourishing Pills and a brocade bag of Spiritual Marrow, while a pile of round wood logs was neatly stacked on the ground.
Nántáng gave it a sweeping glance, casually picked up the brocade bag and opened it. A faint spiritual qi spilled out, but she couldn't help furrowing her brows. She then looked down, pulling out a log of round wood to examine it closely, and finally opened the pill bottle to sniff it.
"Aside from this bottle of Marrow-Nourishing Pills, why are the East Pole Wood and Spiritual Marrow all sub-par quality? I remember when I registered my purchase application with the sect, I requested top-grade," Nántáng asked coldly.
According to Chóngxū Gōng's inner sect rules, whenever a disciple reached the peak of their current realm and prepared to break through to the next, they could submit an application to the sect to purchase all necessary breakthrough resources at cost price. Nántáng was already at the peak of Foundation Establishment and had long begun preparing for Core Formation. She had applied for these items from the sect a year ago, only waiting for everything to be in place to enter secluded meditation and form her Golden Core.
In the Yùkūn cultivation realm, all treasures—be they heavenly materials, earthly treasures, magical artifacts, or pills—aside from being divided into mortal, spiritual, and immortal tiers, were also categorized by quality into sub-par, fine, and top-grade. The price difference between items of different grades was astronomically vast. Nántáng considered her unique aptitude; to increase her chances of successfully forming a core, she had demanded top-grade for everything she needed.
For this, Nántáng had exhausted her life savings of several decades, even selling off a few excellent magical artifacts just to be able to afford these items.
Hearing this, the disciple immediately cupped his fists in apology: "Martial Aunt, please forgive me. The harvest for East Pole Wood and Spiritual Marrow this year was already low to begin with, and top-grade was even scarcer. After the sect's Daoist Lords took their customary shares, there was barely anything left. Coincidentally, a few days ago, Martial Aunt Yíngxuě was severely injured and depleted her primal spirit, so the Sect Leader ordered that the remaining Spiritual Marrow be allocated to Qúlíng Cave to nourish Martial Aunt Yíngxuě's spirit. As for the East Pole Wood, Martial Uncle Sòng requested it, so... The Peak Lord knows this arrangement is improper, so he ordered this disciple to come apologize to Martial Aunt first. The Peak Lord will definitely refund the price difference to Fifth Martial Aunt, along with additional compensation."
"I want the items, not money! Everything should come with a first-come, first-served order. I clearly paid first and secured the order..." Fury surged in Nántáng's heart, but the person before her was just a lowly disciple, already looking terrified upon seeing her anger. Venting her frustration on him would be utterly useless. Thus, forcing down her anger, she said, "Take these things back and tell your Peak Lord: these are not what I originally requested. I will not accept a single one, nor do I need his compensation. I only want the items we agreed upon initially, and I won't accept a single piece missing!"
With those words, she dismissed the young disciple and shoved the Snow Sheep into the hall. She merely said, "You stay right here. I am going to Qúlíng Cave, it’s not convenient for you to follow."
Before the little lamb could even snap back to reality, her figure had already vanished from Yúnchuān.
————
In the Sunset Pavilion on Níngxiá Peak, a young girl wearing a sunset-colored immortal dress covered her lips, giggling endlessly. Standing just below her was the disciple who had just returned from Yúnchuān.
"Did Yú Nántáng really say that?" After a moment, she stifled her laughter and asked.
The disciple lowered his head: "Answering Eldest Senior Sister, that is indeed what Fifth Martial Aunt said."
"She doesn't even stop to consider her own aptitude. Forming a Golden Core is sheer wishful thinking for her, does she even deserve to use top-grade spiritual items? Just like her Class Bǐng students, they are all recklessly wasting God's gifts," the girl mocked mercilessly, the corners of her eyes sharp and lifted.
"But I saw Fifth Martial Aunt was very angry. She is the Sect Leader's wife, after all, will she..." the disciple said with concern.
"What is there to fear? The Spiritual Marrow was moved to Qúlíng Cave by Sect Leader Jiāng's order, and the East Pole Wood was taken by her Third Senior Brother. What does that have to do with us? Even if she is unwilling, what can she do? At most, she'll act like she did a few days ago—suing our Níngxiá Peak to demand spiritual fruits for her students, causing me to be scolded by my father. This time, I want to see if she intends to sue the Sect Leader and her fellow martial brothers and sisters!"
As the girl spoke, her vivid beauty grew even fiercer, her brows and eyes brimming with the thrill of revenge. Finally, she added, "Go, send two people to Báiméi Peak. If they start arguing, send word back to me."
She was going to watch a good show.
Translator's Anecdote: Look at our mighty ancient spirit panicking so hard over a bath that he literally started snowing! ❄️🐑 Nántáng is totally unfazed by a naked man but the moment they mess with her hard-earned cultivation supplies? OH, IT IS ON. The swords are coming out! ⚔️🔥 ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
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