Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 21

By reason, Yuan Zhaoyang was also a cat demon who had lived for a hundred years. She was not some newborn kitten who had never seen the world. She should not have believed A-Bai’s nonsense about a cat-food demon at all. But for some reason, Yuan Zhaoyang still could not help agreeing to A-Bai’s plan in the end.
In truth, Yuan Zhaoyang and A-Bai had crossed the Eastern Sea from the Northern Territory and traveled all the way to the Southern Union. They had eaten many good things along the way. To say nothing else, Yuan Zhaoyang had even tasted food at Heaven-Ascent Tower, which was known as the best place for fine food in the Southern Union cultivation world. The ingredients there were full of spiritual energy, and the seasoning methods were first-rate. It was far beyond the Five Elements Sect’s Qingxin Hall. One could indeed say that after eating one meal there, spiritual energy filled the body and the person felt as if they were floating up to heaven.
But no matter how delicious Heaven-Ascent Tower’s dishes were, to Yuan Zhaoyang, their scent was not even one percent as good as Lin Mianmian’s scent right now.
The term cat-food demon was perhaps a little too broad. Yuan Zhaoyang felt A-Bai meant that Lin Mianmian might be some kind of ingredient demon that was very delicious to cats. But in Yuan Zhaoyang’s view, that fragrance… was far more than something that could be summed up with the words delicious ingredient.
Although she was ashamed to say it, what the scent stirred was not only her appetite.
Yuan Zhaoyang still felt that, compared with being a cat-food demon, Lin Mianmian was more likely carrying some strange treasure that made her give off that very tasty, cat-heart-stirring aura. After all, the spiritual testing stone had tested Lin Mianmian as human. Spiritual testing stones had been passed down widely in the cultivation world. How could they break again and again? Yuan Zhaoyang did not really believe that.
She did not believe it, yet she still agreed to A-Bai’s plan, only because Yuan Zhaoyang did not know how to find out the secret on Lin Mianmian’s body for now. If there was a method, she would use it first and see how things went one step at a time.
However, although she accepted the plan, Yuan Zhaoyang did not dare use it at once. After all, merely smelling Lin Mianmian from a distance already required the heart-clearing mantra to suppress it. If she tasted her, who knew what would happen? She could only wait until they returned to the Five Elements Sect and make plans then.
Lin Mianmian, who was making her bed in the tent behind the wooden house, never imagined that she had been tricked by the rabbit onto Yuan Zhaoyang’s menu.
As time passed, more and more new disciples entered the tent. Fortunately, the tent was large enough and there were enough beds. Even with several dozen people inside, it did not feel crowded.
There were many people. As for demons, by nightfall, there was still only the black bear.
Most sects in the Southern Union accepted both human and demon disciples, but the ratio of humans to demons in each sect was not quite the same. For example, the Ten Thousand Demons Sect was mainly for demons, as its name suggested. It did not have many cultivation methods suited for humans, so there were very few humans in the sect.
And in this wide world, there were still more humans than demons. The Five Elements Sect, which was mainly made up of human cultivators, did not actually take in many new demon disciples.
Lin Mianmian wanted to ask more about demons, but the black bear kept sitting by the large table near the tent entrance. One moment she ate a steamed bun, the next she gnawed a piece of pastry, and along the way she scared every new disciple who entered the tent.
Being watched by everyone like that did not suit Lin Mianmian’s wish to ask quietly and keep a low profile.
There was food and water in the tent, but once the black bear sat there, she seemed to have claimed the place. Everyone was not very brave about going over to take food or drink.
Luckily, the Five Elements Sect’s benefits were good enough. Outside, an even tastier noodle stall was open for free. When dinner time came, the disciples who could not endure hunger and thirst began going out of the tent in twos and threes, gathering courage to circle around the black bear.
There were fewer and fewer people in the tent. This was exactly what Lin Mianmian wanted. She planned to speak with the black bear alone. Unfortunately, after more than half the people in the tent had left, before Lin Mianmian could act, the black bear stood up, twisted her waist, and went out too.
What a pity. The chance was gone.
Lin Mianmian could only hope that after reaching the Five Elements Sect, she, who had been judged human, would still have a chance to learn about demons.
But in the end, she did not have to wait that long.
At noon, she had eaten noodles, meat, fried balls, and bun filling for quite a while. Yet when dinner time came, Lin Mianmian was still hungry. Earlier, she had stayed in order to wait until there were fewer people so she could speak with the black bear. Now the bear had left, so of course…
Lin Mianmian glanced at the messy table the bear had eaten from.
As expected, she should go out and eat noodles.
Unlike during the day, when the noodle stall had almost been taken over by one person and one rabbit, the evening noodle stall was so full that there were not enough tables to sit at. Many disciples could only carry their bowls and squat to the side while eating.
More importantly, the ones eating noodles did not only have the words Five Elements Sect above their heads. There were also many people with Seven Treasures Pavilion over them, and demons with Ten Thousand Demons Sect over them. Was this the rhythm of disciples from the two sect areas beside the Five Elements Sect coming over to get free food?
Still, one could see that humans sat next to humans, while demons sat near demons. There was a faint line between them. But everyone sat properly and ate noodles, and it looked fairly peaceful. As expected, food was a necessary element for building a harmonious cultivation world.
After this whole day, the Qiao family’s young man could also be considered someone who had seen the wider world. Facing bears, cows, and leopards, he raised and lowered his knife steadily, slicing meat, topping noodles, and serving food. When Tian Xiaoyu saw so many people coming to eat noodles, she naturally went to help on her own. She was so good and capable that Lin Mianmian did not know what to say.
No matter what, the Five Elements Sect’s braised meat noodles were selling hot. The low-level disciples who had not yet stopped needing food were all eating until they were satisfied. For a time, there was quite a peaceful feeling between humans and demons.
Until…
Lin Mianmian had just received her bowl of braised meat noodles, found a seat, and had not even started eating when the noodle stall welcomed an unwelcome guest.
“One bowl of noodles.” A boy of about eight or nine years old, wearing brocade clothes and with the words Ten Thousand Demons Sect above his head, held up a piece of broken silver and ordered from the Qiao family’s young man.
Even the Qiao family’s young man, who had already seen much of the world today, could not help his hands trembling a little in front of this child.
“Noodles boiled in plain water. Add salt. No sauce and no meat.” The boy shook the broken silver and added his order.
If he had not added that, it would have been better. Once he did, whether they were humans or demons, everyone eating noodles could not help looking toward the source of the voice. Of course they looked. The Qiao family’s braised meat really tasted good. What foolish person or demon did not know how to eat and would order plain water noodles, not even wanting broth?
But when everyone saw the boy clearly, they all stopped their chopsticks at the same time. Among them, the human disciples’ faces became somewhat ugly.
Of course, it was not because the boy was too ugly. Just the opposite. The child was eight or nine, fair and tender, with proper features. His slight plumpness was just right and made him cute. The key was… behind his bottom, poking out from his pants, thin, short, and curled, was a pig tail.
How were the people eating braised meat noodles supposed to feel?
The human disciples especially regretted not staying in the tent and making do with pickles and steamed buns for dinner.
On the demon side, however, they only paused their chopsticks to look at the boy and satisfy their curiosity about what person or demon would actually eat plain water noodles. Then they went right back to eating noodles and meat with bold bites.
The demon side’s reaction made the human disciples feel even more blocked in the chest. As a grass demon, Lin Mianmian had excellent hearing. Even though the human disciples near her lowered their voices, she could still hear them mutter that demons really were cruel, eating pork in front of a pig demon without the slightest mental block.
If all demons had hearing like hers, they were probably about to start fighting.
Lin Mianmian could not tell whether the demons over there could hear the human side’s complaints. But the human side had stopped eating, and they were looking at the pig demon and the demons eating noodles with strange, hard-to-describe eyes. Even if the demons could not hear them, anyone with eyes could see the fearful disgust on this side.
Unfortunately, although Lin Mianmian saw that the situation was not good, she had no power to stop it from changing.
As expected, the human disciples’ unchecked gazes finally angered the demons.
“Those fools!” The first one who could not hold back was a tiger demon who had eaten three plates of braised meat and had just ordered a fourth plate that had not yet arrived. He had a tiger head, tiger claws, and a human body. He looked very intimidating, and right now he glared at the human disciples with clear displeasure.
“Exactly. They know nothing, yet they look so accusing.” At another table, a large orange-yellow bird demon standing on the tabletop and slurping noodles gave a cold laugh in agreement.
“Heh. Humans really have no depth. So stupid.” In a large water vat, a fish demon leaped up. Its dark blue scales flashed under the lights of the recruitment area.
“Country bumpkins! Country bumpkins! Country bumpkins!” A group of little hamster demons lined up and followed along.
Very unfriendly. Even Lin Mianmian, who loved soft fur, could not help frowning.
Seeing that the demons were being too unfriendly and that the fire between humans and demons was about to be fanned up, a demon on the demon side suddenly made a move.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!”
The last three little hamster demons who had spoken were swept off the table by a girl wearing beast hide and swinging a long yellow tail with coin-like markings. They fell like three fur balls into the fish demon’s large vat.
The girl licked her claw and sneered. “Dirt hamsters. Who were you calling dirt leopards just now? Tired of living?”
With a splash from the vat, the three wet hamster demons, who were no longer fluffy at all, were slapped back onto the table by the fish demon.
“We said country bumpkins, achu… bumpkins, bumpkins! Achu…” The three wet hamster demons huddled together and sneezed.
The leopard demon girl: “…”
The human disciples, who had thought the demon side had made a big move and was about to go against them, could not help looking awkward.
Hm… what was with this strange silly-cute feeling? What happened to demons being cunning, cruel, brutal, and fierce by nature?
Honestly, she could not keep watching.
Yuan Zhaoyang, who had been keeping her divine sense spread out to watch Lin Mianmian, also could not keep watching those foolish demons and those human disciples who truly lacked knowledge.
A streak of fire flew through the air, circled the three wet hamster demons on the table, and vanished before the terrified squeaking hamsters could pee on the table.
The three hamster demons, now dried and returned to the peak of fluffy beauty, looked at one another. They pressed close together and stopped talking.
“All right. I imagine you have some questions in your hearts, so I will overstep a little and tell you some things about demons ahead of time.” Yuan Zhaoyang arrived beside the noodle stall as the firelight faded.
It was not that she loved acting like a teacher. She had only suddenly remembered something. This leopard demon and tiger demon should be very close to cat demons. Why did it seem as if they had no feeling toward Lin Mianmian at all?
Could Lin Mianmian really be her fated… cat food?