Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 10

After Tian Xiaoyu stood steady, Lin Mianmian let go of her hand. When lovers were together, what use was a third wheel? Lin Mianmian tactfully took two steps aside and was about to put even more distance between them when something soft pressed against her calf.
Lin Mianmian lowered her head. The little white rabbit – no, the little rabbit demon – was crouched beside her foot, half standing upright, one paw braced against her calf.
“Eh, leaving already?” A-Bai kept one paw firmly against Lin Mianmian. After all this commotion, if she still could not see that something was off, all her years of friendship with Yuan Zhaoyang would have been wasted. Thinking of the strange fragrance Yuan Zhaoyang had suddenly asked about before, then looking at how much Yuan Zhaoyang cared about this little girl’s affairs, A-Bai might not understand exactly what was going on, but she knew she could not let the girl leave just like this.
Lin Mianmian did want to leave, but only if she could. Never mind that the little rabbit demon’s tiny paw was very strong and held her in place so she could not move back even half a step. She was still wearing the clothes the other party had given her and owed two hundred coins. She could not simply walk away as she had planned earlier.
“I will repay you…” Lin Mianmian bent down and looked at the little white rabbit with sincerity. She had some confidence now. There were so many immortal sects. If she could enter one, she would get five hundred taels. If she could not enter any, there was still the one-tael dismissal money. Buying clothes to change into should still leave enough to repay two hundred coins.
A-Bai did not want her two hundred coins. This story’s development was not like the storytellers in the teahouses over the past few days had described. Was it not supposed to go like this? A child from the mortal world was looked down on and bullied because of poverty. Then a strong person stood up for the child and bullied back all those who had bullied the child. The child became deeply grateful and followed the strong person away. Had A-Bai not done enough earlier? A-Bai was a little unhappy. Looking at Lin Mianmian’s unenlightened expression, her eyes rolled, and she coaxed patiently, “I see you have nothing with you. Why not enter my Five Elements Sect? You should know that my Five Elements Sect has vast lands and rich resources, and has always treated its disciples generously. Never mind one outfit. Even the cultivation resources issued to disciples on ordinary days are more generous than those of most sects in the Southern Union…”
“A-Bai…” Far away, Yuan Zhaoyang heard this and sensed trouble. But A-Bai’s three-part rabbit mouth spoke far too fast. Yuan Zhaoyang had only called out once and had not yet managed to stop her when A-Bai finished speaking.
Lin Mianmian and A-Bai both looked toward Yuan Zhaoyang.
Before Yuan Zhaoyang could explain, an announcement rang out across the Five Elements Sect’s area. “The Five Elements Sect has used cultivation resources to guide a mortal from the mundane world into entering an immortal sect. First warning.”
A-Bai looked at Yuan Zhaoyang with a shocked rabbit face. “There is a rule like that? Why did I never hear it?”
“If, before we set out, you had not been busy eating that grilled fish from who knows where while the sect elder explained Yingxian City’s recruitment rules, I think you probably would have heard it,” Yuan Zhaoyang said, pressing her forehead. Thankfully, it was only one warning inside the sect barrier. She hoped the mortals who had heard it would forget once they left this barrier.
“…” A-Bai rubbed her face with her furry paws, then raised her head to look at Lin Mianmian.
Lin Mianmian had suddenly noticed that the cloud patterns on her shoes were almost the same as those on that immortal’s waist. She secretly looked at Yuan Zhaoyang and was a little distracted.
A-Bai stepped on Lin Mianmian’s foot in dissatisfaction.
“…” Lin Mianmian lowered her head and looked at the little fur ball half sprawled across her foot. She crouched and hesitated before saying, “I want to look around a little more…”
A-Bai increased the amount of herself spread over Lin Mianmian’s instep.
Warm, soft, so cute. Lin Mianmian worked hard to remind herself that this adorable fur ball was a rabbit demon much, much stronger than her. She softened her voice and carefully advised, “Didn’t it say… you cannot guide people…”
“Then where do you want to go?” A-Bai smelled the sauce-braised meat not far away and was about to die of craving. Yet this little girl, facing such a great demon as herself, still dared to bargain and did not know how to read a rabbit’s face. Thinking this, A-Bai grew a little angry. Especially when, after she asked, Lin Mianmian glanced toward the Ten Thousand Demons Sect beside them, she grew even angrier.
“You want to go to the Ten Thousand Demons Sect?” A-Bai could not help raising her voice.
No, I only turned my head casually. Lin Mianmian did not have time to explain before the rabbit, who spoke very quickly, continued on her own.
“You people from the mortal world have not yet entered the gate of cultivation, so you can only see the surface of everything. Do you think the picture at the Ten Thousand Demons Sect’s table is exquisite, and the young demons on it are very cute? This rabbit will responsibly tell you that the cubs of the Ten Thousand Demons Sect are all very stupid. The ones on the picture who speak clearly and know how to act sweet and cute are all adult demons from their sect transformed into those shapes. Do you remember the little boy beside you, the one whose finger was hugged by a white bear cub? Did you think that cub was cute? Do you know what kind of bear that was?” As A-Bai spoke rapidly, she raised one paw and flicked several times through the air.
The giant ice sculpture that suddenly appeared out of nowhere startled everyone still in the Five Elements Sect’s grounds. The Qiao family’s young man immediately stood in front of Tian Xiaoyu, who had almost cried out. Even Lin Mianmian, who had seen several big scenes in the apocalypse, was frightened into taking two steps back by the giant ice sculpture that was taller than seven or eight of her stacked together, and so thick that five or six of her might not be able to circle it.
“A-Bai!” Yuan Zhaoyang had been doing two things at once: circulating the heart-clearing mantra while paying attention to A-Bai’s progress in persuading Lin Mianmian. She had not expected that as A-Bai talked, she would even start using techniques.
But A-Bai was speaking with rising excitement and could not hear Yuan Zhaoyang’s voice, which had grown a little soft from the strange fragrance.
“This is the bear you thought was cute just now. A Full Moon Mountain Giant-Palm Bear from the Northern Territory. The one you saw earlier is about this big. It shrank and acted cute on the picture to trick you.” A-Bai wore the face of someone kindly answering questions. She did not care whether Lin Mianmian could accept it, only trying to crush Lin Mianmian’s longing for the Ten Thousand Demons Sect in one blow. “Do you still think it is cute now? There are also the little squirrel, little deer, little horse, and so on from the picture. Do you need me to show you their true forms too?”
Lin Mianmian shook her head repeatedly. She even crossed over her fear of the rabbit demon and grabbed A-Bai’s waving rabbit paw, just to stop her from making more ice sculptures.
What a joke. It was one thing for the ice sculpture to be huge, but it was also carved so vividly. It truly matched the bear’s name. Never mind the towering body that almost reached the clouds. Its fur was as thick as tree branches, its eyes fierce, its fangs bared, and its mouth large enough to swallow several people in one bite. Especially those four bear paws. They were as thick as heavy logs, and even through the fur, one could see the tangled muscles beneath the skin. The paws were so big that one wave could send a person flying, and the sharp claws, almost as long as the paws themselves, were clearly killing weapons. It felt as if a casual scratch could cut a person in half. Simply terrifying.
From the gloating tone in the little white rabbit’s words, the true bodies of the other animal cubs were probably also like this. Even if Lin Mianmian could bear more ice sculptures, she did not want to see several more.
“Scared now? Still think it is cute? I say…” A-Bai saw Lin Mianmian wavering and was about to press the victory when some movement came from the Ten Thousand Demons Sect. Soon, a tiny white thing like a little glutinous rice ball wriggled through the barrier between the two sects.
“Rabbit, why did you sculpt me?” The little white bear, only as big as a person’s finger, huffed and ran to A-Bai. It stood upright, paws on its waist.
Lin Mianmian clutched her chest. How could this silly and adorable little bear possibly be the bear-shaped killing weapon from the ice sculpture?
A-Bai had been a little embarrassed at being confronted by the original, but as soon as the white bear opened its mouth, she knew the other party’s measure.
“I sculpted you for fun. Here, eat this.” A-Bai patted the golden bell, and a thick vat reaching about Lin Mianmian’s waist appeared in front of the little white bear.
The little white bear approached and smelled through the vat. Then it sat down on its rear, rubbed front paws and back paws together, and quickly climbed up the vat.
The tiny white bear stood on the edge of the vat. Lin Mianmian stared hard, afraid it would fall in just like that.
“Good honey! You are giving me such good honey?” The little white bear sat by the vat, stretched a back paw into it, hooked a bit of honey from the surface, licked it, and looked delighted.
“It is yours.” A-Bai waved generously.
And so, the little white bear, who had seemed to come to demand justice, left carrying a honey vat several hundred times larger than itself. Before leaving, it kindly adjusted a few details on A-Bai’s ice sculpture. For example, the fangs should be longer, the eyes should be blood red, the giant palms should have thicker calluses, and the claws should be sharper. Mm. After the adjustments, it was even scarier.
Lin Mianmian watched the honey vat seemingly float back by itself – the white bear underneath was too small to see once it moved far away – and felt very complicated.
“See? The demons on those pictures are not only fierce-looking, they are stupid too.” Once the little white bear left, A-Bai quickly continued attacking Lin Mianmian. “Their true forms cannot recruit humans into the Ten Thousand Demons Sect, so in recent recruitments, they have all used this trick of changing back into cubs and modifying the parts that scare people. They do it to trick loving humans like you into entering the Ten Thousand Demons Sect.”
“Then why, if they are called the Ten Thousand Demons Sect, do they do so much just to recruit humans?” Lin Mianmian noticed that in A-Bai’s words, she was also human. The doubt in her heart deepened. But she could not ask it aloud, so she could only bury it for now.
A-Bai thought for a moment. “I heard people from other sects say it is probably because the great demons in the Ten Thousand Demons Sect are busy cultivating and hope to recruit some loving humans to help take care of the sect’s cubs, and also cook and clean up after them. But do not think about it. Those cubs are like the shrunken version of that ice sculpture. The ones on the picture were all illusions. They are really not that cute. Also, although demon cubs have awakened intelligence, their minds usually grow much slower than humans’. Before adulthood, most cannot control their wild nature well. They are not as easy to take care of as you imagine.”
“…” Lin Mianmian would absolutely not admit that when she heard the words take care of cubs, she had been a tiny bit moved. Of course, after A-Bai’s explanation, even that tiny bit of feeling scattered with the wind.
A-Bai spared no effort blackening the Ten Thousand Demons Sect as the enemy trying to steal Lin Mianmian. Seeing Lin Mianmian silent for so long, she knew the girl had likely lost interest in the sect, and she rejoiced inside.
There was a saying: success made one forget oneself. A-Bai felt there was still one final step between “lost interest” and “definitely will not go.” So she repeated the sentence she had heard Niu Wanli say to Lin Mianmian at the Ten Thousand Demons Sect. “Besides, the Ten Thousand Demons Sect’s cultivation methods are mostly suited for demons. They are not suited for a human like you to cultiva…”
The final step looked simple, but it also required technique. With good technique, one kick sent the ball into the other side’s goal and fulfilled one’s wish. With poor technique, one kicked across the entire field back into one’s own goal and knocked out a tooth. A-Bai was the latter.
Before A-Bai finished speaking, the announcement voice that had sounded once before rang out again.
“The Five Elements Sect has slandered another sect’s cultivation resources to guide a mortal from the mundane world into entering an immortal sect. Second warning. Attention: the third warning will be announced throughout the entire venue. After three warnings, the sect will be expelled from this year’s recruitment grounds.”
A-Bai froze in shock. Creating a bear had been fine just now, but simply repeating Niu Wanli’s words earned a warning?
“…” Yuan Zhaoyang could almost no longer tell whether the heart-clearing mantra she was circulating faster and faster was to resist the strange fragrance or to calm the heart A-Bai was about to anger to death. Seeing that stiff rabbit raise an innocent face toward her, Yuan Zhaoyang took a deep breath, both angry and amused. “Yes, the elder mentioned this rule too. I believe it was around the time after you finished the grilled fish and started gnawing on green fruit!”