Legacy World 3.2 Compliments

[FenFang is approaching.] BaoBao informed BaiXue. 

/At this time? If they were predestined to meet and FenFang was the one who nursed the original soul... I can already see how this would pan out and disrupt her revenge plans./ BaiXue frowned. /No wonder this original soul needed help./

She looked in the direction that FenFang would be coming from. Perhaps she could learn something new from FenFang that the book did not contain. So, she stayed where she was.

After a short while, a young elegant beauty emerged from the plants. Her long luscious creamy white hair and sky blue robes swayed gently in the refreshing breeze. Her deep dark brown eyes immediately locked on to BaiXue. Even in her rush towards BaiXue, she looked as glamourous as ever.

"What happened? How are you?" Her voice sounded like clear gentle bells.

BaiXue looked at her flatly. "...Food." Her voice was weak, and she panted, as if talking itself took a lot out of her. 

"Come to my place." FenFang hoisted BaiXue up on her back then changed into a creamy white nine-tailed fox that was around 2 metres tall. The air around her seemed to sparkle a little and she gave off a white mystical aura.

BaiXue laid on the silky soft fur and moved her hands ever so slightly to stroke it. /Feels nice./

BaiXue did not know when she knocked out. She only knew that she eventually woke up to the smell of something delicious. Her stomach rumbled non-stop. Her mouth salivated. She laboriously pushed herself up and looked for the source of the tantalising smells. It was easy to spot the sole stone table in the middle of an empty space, that had plates and plates of yummy looking food set out. It looked like a perfect honey trap. BaiXue's eyes tracked the distance between the table and what she laid on. She was no longer on FenFang's back. Instead, it was a large flat stone bed, covered with soft fur. 

Just as she wondered about making her way to the table, FenFang's tinkling laughter drew her attention to the entrance of what seemed to be a cave. "I can hear your growls from outside." She placed down the bowl of soup that she had been carrying. "Nice timing. This is the last dish. I would have woken you up if you weren't already awake. I cooked so much because you seem so hungry! I mean, you even passed out. My goodness. Come, eat your fill!"

The food lying in wait for BaiXue gave her the spurt of adrenaline she needed to make it to the table. She dug in without any mind for courtesy. When she saw that one of the dishes had berries in it, she reflexively squinted slightly and wrinkled her nose in disgust. The original soul had eaten so many berries that it got her sick and tired of it. Although humans could change into animals, they were still fundamentally human, so they needed the typical nutrients that humans required.

"What pretty hair." FenFang complimented BaiXue out of the blue. 

BaiXue glanced at FenFang without breaking her momentum of eating. 

[She seems nice.] BaoBao commented. He liked that FenFang complimented BaiXue.

"It's almost the same colour as mine." FenFang continued.

While she continued to eat, BaiXue briefly wondered if the original soul would have been able to realise FenFang was actually complimenting herself. She doubted it.

"If the colour of your eyes contrasted more with the colour of your hair, it would have looked great. Oh, but don't you worry, your pale grey eyes is a different refreshing look!"

[...Eh...? Something feels off...?] BaoBao could not understand what about FenFang's comments was wrong and why it made him feel this confused. He only knew that he no longer liked listening to it as much. Unbeknownst to him, BaoBao had subconsciously detected the differences between the compliments made by the previous second male leads and the ones made by FenFang.

/Her compliments aren't sincere. She's really just complimenting herself./ BaiXue helpfully broke it down for BaoBao.

[Ah! You're right!]

While they were talking, FenFang had continued with her fake and backhanded compliments.

[Ughhhh... Can she just stop with it already?! It's sooo-]

/I'm actually interested to hear everything she wants to say./

BaoBao could not understand why BaiXue would be willing to entertain FenFang but he chose to believe that BaiXue's interest was more than just curiosity.

FenFang finally moved on to asking about BaiXue's background. However, BaiXue remained tight-lipped and only revealed that she left her village because she no longer liked it there. 

While FenFang continued the largely one-sided conversation, a strong gust of wind blew into the cave they were in. From how FenFang's face lit up as she stood up to greet the guest, BaiXue could already guess who was it.

A male with black hair and golden eyes, dressed in pure black robes, proudly strode into the cave.

"MengYao ge! You came today!"

MengYao frowned at her form of address. FenFang instantly knew what he was upset about and pouted. "I'm already not calling you Meng ge or Yao ge, can't you let me call you MengYao ge?"

MengYao continued to glare at her. 

"Fine..." FenFang gave in and hunched her shoulders in defeat.

"I came to plan our next attack. Any information?"

"They're not back yet~" FenFang swayed her hands around like a little girl. 

MengYao nodded then looked at the quiet BaiXue.

"Oh, she's someone new I picked up during my walk today. She was already dying from starvation when I found her! How pitiful." 

MengYao studied her for a while more, then returned to ignoring BaiXue's presence, and turned to leave. He could tell, just from looking, how pathetically weak BaiXue was. She was far beneath his notice.

"You're already leaving?" FenFang asked with sadness and reluctance.

MengYao did not reply and simply threw something wrapped in cloth to her before taking off. FenFang caught the bag and realised that it was her favourite peaches. She beamed. 

"That man looks very handsome. Very cool, dark, and mysterious." BaiXue suddenly spoke up and instantly grabbed FenFang's full attention with her words.

"Yes, isn't he?" FenFang said with a tight smile on her face.

"He makes such a good match for you." 

FenFang raised her delicate eyebrows in pleasant surprise.

"I mean, you're right, you know." BaiXue said gently with a shrug. "You're far prettier than me. Your hair is a glowing creamy white as compared to my pale white hair. Your eyes contrast yet complements your hair unlike my plain and dull eyes. I'm small, weak, and under-developed. You're tall, slender, strong, and well-endowed in all the right areas. How could any man match you besides him?" 

FenFang was praised to the high heavens and that made her blush in happiness. She started liking BaiXue. "You have a very good eye for people." 

BaiXue smiled politely then dealt her blow. "So for all the good qualities you have, he MUST be completely smitten with you."

When she saw FenFang's expression become stiff, she continued, "Is he not? Mmm... Perhaps he likes you then at least?"

FenFang's lips began to twitch in annoyance. She knew that MengYao did not like her in the least.

"No? He has got to be at least interested in you! I mean you have ALL the wonderful qualities!" BaiXue looked genuinely puzzled.

FenFang's expression finally fell. "That's enough of him. I'm going for a walk. You can rest here." And she speedily left.

BaoBao was laughing crazily. He did not understand what exactly happened or why FenFang was displeased. However, seeing her reactions was satisfying enough. [Even though she's 3 years older than you, she completely lost!]

BaiXue patiently waited for BaoBao's laughter to ease up before getting down to business. She had already noticed that the air in this world was much richer in spiritual energy than the previous worlds. Even the food she ate felt enriched in the spiritual energy of this world.

/BaoBao, why are the people in this world clueless about spiritual cultivation? There seems to be something off./

[Mmm... Maybe they just no longer notice it?]

/You mean like how air is to me? And how water is to a fish?/

[Exactly!]

BaiXue frowned. Her gut told her that there was more to this than meets the eye. 

/Some people can change into mystical creatures while so many others change into normal animals. Why is there a difference?/

[Isn't that just the way the world was made to be? The World book said it.]

/... I'll have to run errands for FenFang as the original soul did. I don't see any no books or maps to learn about the place and geography. I'll have to use this chance to explore and get whatever I can out of FenFang./ BaiXue helpfully laid her plans out clearly for BaoBao.

BaiXue pretended to go back to sleep when she was actually cultivating. Thanks to this, she found out another thing that was different about this world. It was as if the capacity of the body to hold spiritual energy was immensely larger than the previous bodies she inhabited before. No matter how much spiritual energy she absorbed, she was not storing up enough.

When FenFang came back from her walk, three smaller foxes walked in along with her. There were red, yellow, and black foxes. When they saw BaiXue, they excitedly ran up to her and transformed back into their human form to interact with her properly. 

"Are you another fox FenFang jiejie picked up?"

"You must be a white fox! Your hair's white!"

"How lucky, you must be FenFang jiejie's favourite!"

All of them spoke over each other. They did not care if they had just disturbed BaiXue from her sleep. 

"Girls, don't disturb her rest. She must still be recovering." FenFang lightly chided. 

BaiXue gently smiled and reassured them. "It's fine, I'm feeling much better now already anyway. I mainly needed food. It's all thanks to FenFang jiejie that I didn't die."

FenFang smiled back.

"To answer all of your questions... I'm not a fox. I'm a rabbit. Perhaps that makes me the least favourite instead..." BaiXue put on a look of worry.

A scheming light flashed across FenFang's eyes that only BaiXue caught.

"How can that be? Instead, I'm worried that you'd feel uncomfortable with us then." FenFang said.

"How could I be uncomfortable with the person who helped me and with such friendly people?" BaiXue continued to act amiably. 

"Is that so? That's good to hear." FenFang said with relief. 

"Will you be joining us in gathering information then?"

"FenFang jiejie, will she?"

"Gathering information?" BaiXue expressed interest in the subject.

"They're referring to the cause we're fighting for." FenFang helped to clarify.

BaiXue cocked her head.

FenFang began explaining how it is common for people to attack and kill the ones who can change into mystical beings while they are still young out of fear and jealousy. Some were even daring enough to use their weaknesses to try and control the mystical ones into being protectors of the village, forcing them into fights even if they were unwilling. She revealed how she and MengYao were victims of such cases and how these girls here were collateral damage of such incidences. 

"Now we keep tabs on villages all around and monitor their development. If a person who can change into a mystical being is born, we will highly likely wipe out the village before anyone can do anything to that family. With all our information that allows us to know their village inside and out, coupled with MengYao's power, they stand no chance against us." 

As if trying to justify herself and to pull BaiXue in, she continued. "It may seem heartless but we're doing this precisely because we aren't underestimating those ordinary villagers. When all of them work and scheme together, it is no longer an easy feat even though they seem weak and powerless against mystical beings." 

BaoBao felt like he could award BaiXue for her acting skills. Her face was filled with empathy for them. There was pain and anger expressed on her face. No one would have suspected that she usually was so expressionless that it could sometimes make BaoBao frustrated. 

FenFang could tell from BaiXue's expression that she has successfully won her over. 

"Is there any way I can help?" BaiXue's earnest question made FenFang's smile grow wider. 

"Well... People always have their guards up against foxes because of the association between foxes and vixens... Having a rabbit to infiltrate villages would definitely be helpful." 

The 3 girls enthusiastically agreed. They started sharing their experiences of gathering information. In human form, people watch their behaviour and speech. In animal form, people seek to abuse them. In the end, they could only resort to gossip and lurking around in secret. 

BaiXue looked as if she was even more resolved to help them out and asked to be involved.