Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 13

“A-Bai!” Yuan Zhaoyang shouted anxiously.
Seeing that the source of the strange fragrance was about to choke to death, Yuan Zhaoyang did not even use voice transmission. She called out directly.
Unfortunately, A-Bai did not seem to understand the deeper meaning in that urgent call.
The little white rabbit twisted toward the little wooden house, rubbed her mouth with her front paws, and looked puzzled. “What?”
Where was the tacit understanding from knowing each other for a hundred years? Yuan Zhaoyang was almost choked by A-Bai’s innocent, blank look. But now was not the time to argue about that.
Lin Mianmian was suffering too. If she had known the rabbit’s name would be this funny, she would not have asked while eating. The dumpling stuck in her throat would not go up or down, and she could not cough it out. She was so uncomfortable she was almost suffocating. She did not know whether a bowl of noodle soup could help her swallow it down. She only hoped there was a bowl that was not too hot. Not expecting the rabbit to help at all, Lin Mianmian thought this while enduring the dizziness brought on by suffocation and rising to her feet.
Before she could walk toward the noodle stall, she felt as if a gust of wind swept past. Her vision blurred. At the same time, something warm brushed against her neck. The thing stuck in her throat suddenly dropped into her stomach.
“Hah…” Lin Mianmian let out a long breath and unconsciously touched her neck. What was that just now?
Yuan Zhaoyang had moved too quickly. Lin Mianmian had not seen her figure at all before she was already gone. But A-Bai saw everything. She saw Yuan Zhaoyang touch the little girl’s neck. She also saw Yuan Zhaoyang glare at her.
“Do you have too many spirit stones and nowhere to use them? It is only two steps, and you still used the Swift Movement Art just to touch a little girl’s neck?” A-Bai watched Yuan Zhaoyang flash back to the little wooden house. She endured for a moment, but in the end could not help sending a voice transmission.
As expected, this distance was the last safe distance. Yuan Zhaoyang, who had returned to the front of the little wooden house, also let out a breath. In that urgent moment, when she reached the little girl’s side, that fragrance… seemed no longer only a fragrance. It was practically a temptation that could destroy her reason. Silently beginning to circulate the heart-clearing mantra again, Yuan Zhaoyang lightly rubbed the pads of her right thumb against her index and middle fingers. In that instant of contact, it had seemed as if the fragrance followed her fingers into her body, bringing an inexplicable tingling.
Just as Yuan Zhaoyang moved spiritual energy through her body to check whether that tingling meant she had been poisoned, A-Bai’s voice transmission exploded in her heart, angering her so much her spiritual energy almost ran wild.
“A-Bai, before you choke this little girl to death with dumplings, I think we can test her spiritual roots first.” Yuan Zhaoyang did not use voice transmission. From far away, she directly mocked A-Bai with a cold laugh.
Lin Mianmian’s face reddened. She had not expected the first time that female immortal called her out by name would be over something this embarrassing. Choking to death made it sound to passersby as if she had not eaten in a hundred years. All right, although the truth was basically that.
Choke to death? A-Bai froze as if struck in an acupoint.
Lin Mianmian, blushing, stood and prepared to go to the little wooden house to test her spiritual roots. Then she saw the little white rabbit turn around blankly. Its eyes did not even move as it stared at her. Lin Mianmian thought the rabbit was about to comfort her. Unexpectedly… the little white rabbit slowly raised a paw, pressed it to its rabbit head – or rabbit forehead? The rabbit’s head was too small for Lin Mianmian to tell – and sighed. “A mortal can choke to death eating dumplings? Mortals really are fragile.”
Mm. Where was the kind and understanding rabbit she had been promised? I misjudged you. I never thought you were this kind of rabbit! Pitied by a little white rabbit, Lin Mianmian’s face was already redder than a ripe tomato. Still… in A-Bai’s eyes, was she always a mortal?
In a place neither one person nor one rabbit noticed, Yuan Zhaoyang frowned slightly. The little girl had clearly not come closer, so why had the strange fragrance in the air grown heavier?
Leaving aside the thoughts of these cats, rabbits, and grasses, the first checkpoint on Lin Mianmian’s cultivation path was about to begin: testing spiritual roots.
Every sect’s little house had its own traits. Compared with Tianji Hall’s solemn majesty, Star-Grasping Tower’s scene beyond the heavens, and Seven Treasures Pavilion’s luxurious air, the Five Elements Sect’s little wooden house before her was clearly much simpler and more low-key. Of course, the little wooden house had its own interesting parts.
On the roof of the little wooden house were all five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. They were like living things, moving freely over the roof, playing with each other, and even fighting.
When Lin Mianmian first saw them, metal was shaped like a gold ingot, wood was a green vine, water had gathered into a ball, fire was a strip of flame darting everywhere, and earth was… a square mud brick.
Then came the Tian family, the Giant-Palm Bear ice sculpture, and many bowls of noodles. Throughout it all, Lin Mianmian could not help looking at the roof from time to time. The changes among the five elements up there were truly amazing. If a patient person watched for a while, the subtlety might even surpass the Ten Thousand Demons Sect’s picture.
At first, the water ball often rubbed against the gold ingot. As the water ball grew bigger, it chased the strip of flame around. Seeing the flame grow shorter and shorter, the mud brick suddenly slapped onto the water ball and absorbed more than half of it. The strip of flame, now only half as long as before, seized the chance to wrap around the gold ingot and the green vine. The two gradually thinned, while the flame quickly recovered its former length. When the water ball came again, although the flame retreated, it only rescued a smaller, misshapen gold ingot, and rubbing against it no longer made the water grow as quickly as before.
The five elements moved back and forth, their shapes and sizes constantly changing. By the time Lin Mianmian was ready to enter the little wooden house and test her spiritual roots, the roof held a huge golden fan blowing with a whooshing sound. The water ball had become half ice and half water. The flame strip had been blown down to a tiny fire seed. A charred piece of wood desperately leaned toward the water ball. As for earth… mm, that dark cloud of dust flying in the wind.
Lin Mianmian followed A-Bai to the front of the little wooden house. The battle of the five elements on the roof was so interesting that it greatly reduced her nervousness.
“Good timing. She has decided to enter our sect too. A-Bai, bring her in together.” Ying Fu led Tian Xiaoyu over and pushed the girl toward the rabbit. “More people are coming. I will go watch the front.”
One sheep to herd or two sheep to herd, it was all the same. The little white rabbit waved a paw to show she understood.
But before Ying Fu left, he followed Lin Mianmian’s gaze to the roof and sighed. “The Evolving Objects Hall did not do this five-element sample well. Was it not supposed to demonstrate how the five elements generate and restrain each other? Why does it keep changing into new patterns…” As he spoke, he raised a hand, ready to restore the sample.
“Isn’t it interesting?” A-Bai, who had been crouching on the ground, kicked Ying Fu’s leg. “Do mortals not all love gold? It just happens that the metal element is bigger. It can be used as a signboard too.”
That seemed to make some sense. Ying Fu lowered his hand. Looking at the increasing number of people by the introduction platform, he turned back and reminded A-Bai, “Then keep an eye on it. When we tested it in the sect before, the fire element and wood element seemed to suddenly join together and make a towering blaze. Although this is only a sample and will not harm real objects, it looks rather frightening. Do not scare all those mortals away.”
A-Bai naturally agreed.
So what misunderstanding do you people have about mortals? Lin Mianmian could not help complaining in her heart. But honestly, what Ying Fu said did not seem wrong either.
“You decided to enter the Five Elements Sect too?” Feeling as if she had been left out by the person and rabbit, Lin Mianmian turned to speak with Tian Xiaoyu, the fellow human in the area.
Mm. She had probably forgotten that she was a grass demon.
Tian Xiaoyu nodded. “Sixth Brother said the people of the Five Elements Sect are very good.”
All right. Everyone who looked after your Sixth Brother’s business was a good person. Lin Mianmian nodded, barely agreeing in her own way.
“Eh…” Tian Xiaoyu pulled Lin Mianmian, who was about to walk into the little wooden house. Her face reddened as she murmured, “My parents… I did not handle it well. Do not be angry.”
What was there to apologize for? Never mind that Tian Xiaoyu had helped her so much. Even Tian Xiaoyu’s parents had not really done anything wicked. At most, they had only lectured their own daughter. Lin Mianmian shook her head and was just about to speak to comfort her when the door of the little wooden house suddenly opened.
“…” As soon as Yuan Zhaoyang opened the door, Lin Mianmian almost bumped into her chest. Mm, all right. It was more like Yuan Zhaoyang almost used her chest to bump into Lin Mianmian.
What was the Evolving Objects Hall doing? Why did they make a wooden house with soundproofing? Yuan Zhaoyang looked annoyed. She had only been able to tell from the fragrance that Lin Mianmian had been staying very close for a long time. Unable to hold back, she had come out to see why the girl had not come in already, tested early, and finished the matter. In the end, the person was this close. The tingling on Yuan Zhaoyang’s hand had finally faded, and there was no sign of poison, but that did not mean she wanted her chest to tingle too, all right?
“Come in.” Yuan Zhaoyang’s body felt hot and restless, and she had no mind to complain more. She needed to test Lin Mianmian quickly, accept her into the sect, then send her outside, far away. Other matters could be planned slowly later. In any case, she truly could not bear this close distance for much longer.
Did something about me displease her? Lin Mianmian reflexively touched the face that had been swept by the female immortal’s displeased gaze.
Beside her, Tian Xiaoyu had long lowered her head obediently under Yuan Zhaoyang’s somewhat stern gaze.
A-Bai hopped into the wooden house behind the two of them and kicked the door shut with one leg.
“These two both want to enter the Five Elements Sect,” A-Bai said casually to Yuan Zhaoyang. Feeling she had completed Ying Fu’s request, she hopped to the table on one side, patted the golden bell, took out a soft nest, and lay inside.
Lin Mianmian quickly looked around. This room was a little larger than it looked from outside, but not by much. It was about forty square meters. In the middle of the empty room, the table A-Bai was now lying on was the only furniture. Mm, the only object.
“Which of you will test first?” Yuan Zhaoyang very much hoped to test Lin Mianmian quickly and send her outside, but she could not show too much urgency.
Tian Xiaoyu turned to look at Lin Mianmian.
Lin Mianmian understood and took one step forward. “I will go first. Sorry to trouble you, Immortal Master…” Mm, television dramas were always like this. Polite children got pills to eat.
“My surname is Yuan. Just call me Senior Sister.” Yuan Zhaoyang signaled for Lin Mianmian to come to the table.
She was calling her Senior Sister before aptitude was even tested? It seemed that even if Lin Mianmian had no spiritual roots, Yuan Zhaoyang was still going to bring her back. A-Bai smoothed the fur on her face and poked her head out of the soft nest. “My surname is Le. You can call me Senior Sister Le.”
“Le as in joy?” Lin Mianmian worked hard not to think of Tuzki.
“Le as in music.” A-Bai corrected with a serious face, then pointed at Yuan Zhaoyang. “Yuan as in original wife.”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
Lin Mianmian: “…”
“By rules, you should call her Master Le. But you can just call her A-Bai. No one in the sect calls her Master anyway.” For some reason, Yuan Zhaoyang felt a little strange inside. She could only blame it on A-Bai’s poor literacy and her habit of randomly pairing words. She could not help opening her mouth to undermine her.
Lin Mianmian did not dare casually answer this, but in her heart, she very much agreed with Yuan Zhaoyang.
Testing spiritual roots was the key step deciding whether a person from the mortal world could cultivate. It sounded very impressive, but doing it was extremely simple.
Following Yuan Zhaoyang’s instructions, Lin Mianmian placed her hand on an ordinary-looking stone on the table. Then, with that stone as the center, a complex pattern gradually lit up across the very ordinary wooden table.
It was so unscientific that if Yuan Zhaoyang had not warned her beforehand, Lin Mianmian would probably have already pulled her hand back.
When the round pattern finally took shape, a cylindrical screen of light appeared above it. At the same time, Lin Mianmian seemed to feel a very faint thread of energy, like the energy she had absorbed from crystals in the apocalypse, enter from the stone, follow her arm, and travel downward.
The light screen formed in only a few seconds. That thread of energy had already made a circuit through Lin Mianmian’s abdomen, then returned from the hand she had pressed to the stone back to where it came from.
The moment the energy left her body, Lin Mianmian saw many green dots flash inside the cylindrical light screen. Then those green dots slowly gathered together.
“Wood spiritual root. Single spiritual root!” When Yuan Zhaoyang saw the green word for wood on the light screen, she could hardly hide her joy. Mm. Lin Mianmian had spiritual roots. Bringing her to the Five Elements Sect would be even more convenient. “Do not let go. Now we need to see your spiritual root aptitude.”
Compared with that word “wood,” Lin Mianmian paid more attention to the two words above it: human race.
Wait. Was she not supposed to be a grass demon?
Before Lin Mianmian could think deeper, the green dots suddenly scattered and vanished.
Yuan Zhaoyang froze. “Is the spiritual root testing stone broken? After measuring race and spiritual root element, shouldn’t the next step be showing the spiritual root’s state? Why is there nothing?”
“There is…” A-Bai, still lying in one corner of the table, weakly raised a paw and pointed to the lower right corner of the light screen.
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
Damn. It would have been better if it were broken.