Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 22

“There are many storybooks and random notes in the mortal world that say all things have spirits. They say that with enough chance and enough years, birds, beasts, plants, even cups, plates, bowls, and dishes may all have the chance to cultivate into spirits, which are what the cultivation world calls demons. In truth, that is not how it works.
“Only those born with spiritual awareness can become demons. This spiritual awareness shows in the ability to speak human language. Unlike mortals, who must slowly learn to speak after birth, demons receive their clan inheritance as soon as they are born. One of the most important parts is human language. A newborn demon already has the spiritual awareness of a human child of four or five.”
Yuan Zhaoyang looked at the bowls of braised meat in everyone’s hands and stressed, “So demons are different from the flowers, trees, birds, beasts, and insects of the mortal world. Even if their outer forms look a little similar, they are different races at the root. So there are some things you do not need to mind too much.”
“Right! Just like this older sister said, I and the braised meat are different races! Please do not stop eating braised meat just because you saw me! It smells really good!” The little pig demon finally found a chance to speak. He scratched his head shyly and added, “We pig demons are different from mortal-world pigs, and also different from many kinds of spirit-beast pigs in the cultivation world. It is only that we look about the same, so we pig demons usually do not eat mortal-world pork or spirit-beast pork. But we do not mind other people eating it. Everyone, please eat more.”
“Yes. We cow demons do not eat mortal-world beef or spirit-beast cows either. Actually, eating it is fine. We just feel embarrassed eating something that looks much like us. But when it comes to eating other things, there are no taboos.” At some point, Niu Wanli of the Ten Thousand Demons Sect had also come to the noodle stall. He tossed a small piece of silver and called to the Qiao family’s young man with a smile, “One bowl of noodles and five plates of meat.”
Hm… after hearing the explanation, it somehow felt even creepier.
Although they had received some explanation, the human disciples clearly had no appetite left.
Luckily, the Five Elements Sect had only taken in a black bear. Otherwise, who knew how many foods they would lose their appetite for in the future. Lin Mianmian looked at the little pig demon with the words Ten Thousand Demons Sect above his head and put down her chopsticks. She was truly glad she had not joined the Ten Thousand Demons Sect.
Yuan Zhaoyang had originally planned to leave after solving the matter here, but when she saw Lin Mianmian put down her chopsticks without touching her bowl of noodles, she stopped.
Niu Wanli, who had always had a good impression of Lin Mianmian, noticed this too.
“Oh, everyone really does not need to care so much. After you go to your sects, are you going to stop eating spirit-beast meat too? Do not worry. Demons are usually born from demons. They do not cultivate by drinking wind and dew like in storybooks. Little demons born from pure-blood demons and pure-blood demons are usually in complete beast form, and they are born with the intelligence of a human child of four or five.
“As for half demons born from pure-blood demons and humans, they are like me and that little pig demon. They have both human traits and demon traits, and they are also born with spiritual awareness. So rest assured. The braised meat in your bowls really has no chance to become a demon, and it never had a chance to transform into a person. Eat without worry.”
Niu Wanli comforted them with great effort.
“Yes, yes!” The little pig demon who had been mentioned nodded seriously.
Even so, it was not comforting at all.
Over the next two days, the Qiao family’s noodle stall seemed to have been reserved by the demons. When human disciples came, at most they ordered a bowl of clear-water noodles. They did not want any braised meat.
Lin Mianmian felt that this vegetarian situation would be broken sooner or later. Life was for adapting. Eating vegetarian forever was a very hard thing to do. Besides… if one talked about vegetarian food, grass and tree demons were vegetarian food too. If a group of wheat demons appeared later, would they stop eating noodles too?
Even so, Lin Mianmian was still somewhat relieved that by noon on the third day, when the once-every-ten-years immortal-sect recruitment officially ended, the Five Elements Sect had only taken in two demons: Xiong Lanlan the black bear demon and Changshou the turtle demon. Hm. She did not eat bears or turtles. That was truly wonderful.
Speaking of which, Xiong Lanlan was really an interesting bear demon.
On the first night, the youngest new female disciple who had entered the Five Elements Sect, a little girl of five or six… hm, the Wang Minger whose mouth had been stuffed with pickled steamed bun by Xiong Lanlan earlier, perhaps because she was away from home for the first time and was still so young, kept crying at night and refused to sleep.
The female disciples in the inner part of the tent took turns coaxing her. Even the unofficial helper Tian Xiaoyu came out and tried to persuade her for a long while. But the little girl would not accept any coaxing. At most, her loud crying turned into low sobs.
With her sharp hearing, Lin Mianmian had no way to fall asleep like the other junior sisters.
Of course, she was not the only one who could not sleep.
In the quiet room, the little girl sobbed softly. Then a bed board suddenly creaked, followed by heavy… footsteps.
Lin Mianmian, who was so sleepy she was almost turning into dry grass, rolled over and sat up. By the moonlight spilling through the window, she saw a large black bear standing beside Wang Minger’s bed. The bear opened her mouth, and her snow-white teeth looked especially sharp in the moonlight. Her little eyes shone with displeasure.
“Cry again, and I will eat you.”
Xiong Lanlan lowered her head. Her breathing had grown somewhat heavy from anger, and it blew against the top of Wang Minger’s head, almost flattening her hair.
The crying stopped at once.
What a great bear! Lin Mianmian lay back down and slept peacefully.
The next morning, when Lin Mianmian woke, she saw the black bear lying on the ground beside Wang Minger’s bed, while the little girl who had once been so afraid of the bear that she had almost peed her pants was sleeping soundly on the bear’s belly.
Hm. What unknown story had happened in the middle of the night?
Most of the people in the tent were already awake. But faced with this situation, no one dared get out of bed or make any sound. Hm… if they woke the little girl and she directly peed on the bear’s belly, it might really become a tragedy.
In fact, of course that did not happen.
On the second night, when Wang Minger began sobbing in the middle of the night again, the female disciples of the Five Elements Sect, knowing that their own coaxing was useless, all looked expectantly at Xiong Lanlan, who was making the large bed formed from five beds pushed together.
Xiong Lanlan: “…”
And so that night also passed quietly between “Cry again, and I will eat you” and “Sleep now. If you do not sleep, I will eat you.”
By noon on the third day, when the immortal-sect recruitment ended and all the cultivation sects began leaving Yingxian City to return to their own sects, the female disciples of the Five Elements Sect were already getting along very well with Xiong Lanlan.
“Lanlan, Senior Sister Zihui said we have to take the quilts with us. I already packed yours, tied them up, and wrote your name on them. Do not take the wrong one when we go back.” A newly entered female disciple of the Five Elements Sect, about fourteen or fifteen and dressed in light-colored cotton clothes, smiled very gently.
Xiong Lanlan: “…”
Two little girls of seven or eight came in holding hands and carrying a small bowl. They went straight to Xiong Lanlan. “Lanlan, Lanlan, the noodle stall outside has marinated eggs today. Do you want to try one?”
Xiong Lanlan: “…”
“Bearbear, Bearbear…”
Xiong Lanlan lowered her head and looked at Wang Minger, who was tugging at her leg fur. She shook her leg with slight disgust. “My name is not Bearbear. Are you stupid? I will eat you.”
Wang Minger giggled foolishly.
Xiong Lanlan: “…”
Who had made the rule that children from five to fifteen could seek an immortal sect? Come out! Fight her! Five-year-olds were this stupid. What was the point of taking them? She would eat them!
“Bear…”
Xiong Lanlan’s eyes were sharp and her paw was fast. She stuffed a marinated egg into Wang Minger’s mouth.
The world… went quiet.
The female disciples in the tent gave Xiong Lanlan approving looks.
Xiong Lanlan: “…” Did this bear come here to watch your children? I will eat all of you!
Truly, this was harmonious coexistence between humans and demons.
At noon on the third day of recruitment, the other sects left Yingxian City one after another. Yuan Zhaoyang, however, kept her promise and escorted Tian Xiaoyu home. Because the methods Yuan Zhaoyang had imagined before were too fierce, A-Bai and Lin Mianmian firmly demanded to go along.
In a little over two days, the Qiao family’s young man felt as if he had almost sold all the pork in Yingxian City. Although the human disciples no longer ordered braised meat, the demon disciples could eat. They ate meat by the whole basin, casually giving silver and not asking for change. Compared with that, the price Ying Fu had first offered was not worth mentioning. Without even counting the silver the Five Elements Sect still had to pay, the Qiao family’s young man had earned about three or four hundred taels, which already passed the bride price the Tian family wanted.
With silver in the Qiao family’s young man’s hands and immortals behind him, the Tian family very smoothly agreed to the Qiao family’s marriage proposal without making things difficult at all. They did not even show Tian Xiaoyu any cold face after she had been gone for several days. They acted like a warm, loving family.
With the situation like this, Yuan Zhaoyang naturally did not need to act. Even the fire phoenix she had originally wanted to release for a circle to scare people was completely unnecessary.
Lin Mianmian knew the Tian family’s behavior at this moment was probably not sincere. But for Tian Xiaoyu, who wanted to stay in the mortal world, this should already be the best result.
On the way to the Tian family home, Lin Mianmian had asked Tian Xiaoyu again. After seeing the strange wonders of immortal families and learning how marvelous and brilliant the world beyond the mortal world was, was she still so firm about staying behind to be the wife of a noodle-stall owner?
But it was not until many years later that Lin Mianmian truly understood the feeling behind what Tian Xiaoyu had said then: “When I think of all those wonderful things and know he cannot experience them, what meaning would there be if I were alone?”
Once Tian Xiaoyu’s matter was settled, the cat, rabbit, and grass should have returned to the city center to meet the main group.
Yuan Zhaoyang had endured the fragrance the whole way and truly could not bear it much longer. Especially after A-Bai had mentioned cat food, Yuan Zhaoyang always felt that her gaze was a little wrong whenever she looked at Lin Mianmian. Now that Tian Xiaoyu’s matter was over, Yuan Zhaoyang found an excuse and returned to the Five Elements Sect area first.
Only one grass and one rabbit were left to walk back slowly.
After hesitating again and again, Lin Mianmian still asked A-Bai, “Senior Sister Yuan was so eager to help, but the Tian family gave in before she could act. Is she a little angry?”
A-Bai, who was carefully watching both sides of the street for any food she liked, waved a paw without caring. “She is a cultivator almost at Core Formation. How could she fuss over such things with mortals?”
“…” Lin Mianmian paused, hesitated, and changed the question. “Then… does Senior Sister Yuan not like me very much?”
“Why would you ask that?” A-Bai put away her last thoughts of searching for good food.
Yuan Zhaoyang did not like Lin Mianmian? What a joke. If they had not still been in Yingxian City, Yuan Zhaoyang liked her so much she might have put Lin Mianmian straight into her mouth. Of course, A-Bai would never say that truth out loud.
“I just feel… when she looks at me, she always seems a bit angry? And she also does not really like walking with me?” Lin Mianmian thought about it and swallowed the matter of the strange wronged look she had seen in Yuan Zhaoyang’s eyes when they first met. That might have been her imagination.
Silly girl. That was probably because she was working so hard to keep herself from biting you. Anyone who had recited the heart-clearing mantra for several days would probably feel like they were about to explode.
A-Bai silently sympathized with Yuan Zhaoyang in her heart. Naturally, her mouth leaned a little toward that pitiful cat. “Maybe she has been tired from cultivation lately. Do not overthink it. Think about it. If she did not like you, why would she support you? Do you think a cultivator at perfect Foundation Establishment has nothing to do every day, so she stares at mortals and waits to set off fireworks for them? She is not putting on a street show.”
Thinking about it that way, it did make sense. But Lin Mianmian still felt something was not quite right.
Seeing Lin Mianmian lower her head and fall silent, A-Bai could not help sighing. To be honest, she liked this little girl quite a bit. If Lin Mianmian really was a cat-food demon, A-Bai truly did not know whether she should let her be eaten.
At this time, Yuan Zhaoyang, who had already returned to the Five Elements Sect area, sneezed. She rubbed the tip of her nose and called Zihui over from where Zihui was urging the new disciples to pack their things.
“This is the housing arrangement for the newly entered disciples in the outer valley.” Yuan Zhaoyang handed a sheet of paper to Zihui.
“When we first entered the sect, we still lived in large tents for several days after reaching the Five Elements Sect. Senior Sister Yuan arranged the rooms so quickly. You have worked so hard.” Zihui took the paper, gave it a quick look, and looked full of admiration.
“If things are arranged earlier, they can become familiar with the environment and go to the main lecture hall sooner.” Yuan Zhaoyang looked deeply at the paper in Zihui’s hand and reminded her again, “Arrange it according to what is written on this paper.”
If it had been Ying Fu, he would inevitably have asked one more question in his heart. The little houses on the far edge of the outer valley, used as temporary housing for new disciples, were not really different from each other. Even if people were stuffed in randomly, it would not matter much. After they drew spiritual energy into their bodies, formal residences would be assigned according to their specific situations anyway. Why did Yuan Zhaoyang stress following the arrangement?
But Zihui was not Ying Fu. Zihui was always direct and serious when doing work, so she respectfully agreed.
Only after Zihui continued back toward the new disciples did Yuan Zhaoyang take out the invisibility talisman she had been playing with for two days.
How this matter truly stood would be decided tonight.