Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 25

Lin Mianmian had not expected that on her first night in the Five Elements Sect, not only had she been licked by a “ghost,” but she would also be woken at dawn by a child’s crying.
Was it really fine for this place to feel so down-to-earth? Could it still keep even a little of the cold pride of a great cultivation sect?
Complaints were complaints, but Lin Mianmian knew that she had been woken so easily because of the sharp hearing of her grass body. Outside the window, the sky seemed to have just begun to brighten. Lin Mianmian rubbed her eyes and looked at the new-disciple guide jade token by the bed. The jade token was quiet and showed nothing unusual. The child’s crying outside, however, grew more and more heartbreaking.
Lin Mianmian hugged the quilt and rolled over. After thinking for a moment, she shrank inward and buried her whole head under the quilt.
It was not that Lin Mianmian had a heart of stone. It was only that the child kept calling “Bearbear,” and judging by the direction, she should be near Xiong Lanlan’s house. Lin Mianmian believed Xiong Lanlan could handle such a small matter herself.
Good luck, Bearbear!
A little under half an hour later, Lin Mianmian came to the earth pit with her hands cupped around her mouth and a sleepy face.
“Wu… Bearbear…” Wang Minger, who had already cried until she had little strength left, sat at the bottom of the pit hugging her legs and sobbing.
Where had this pit, more than one meter deep and two meters across, come from? Lin Mianmian was rather shocked. When she had passed by here the night before, it had still been a normal dirt road. But… Lin Mianmian thought of A-Bai, who had done something bad last night and jumped out the window. From this direction, there really had seemed to be some rustling sound that lasted all night. That was also why she had slept lightly all night and was still sleepy now.
A-Bai, that fellow…
Lin Mianmian took another careful look at the pit’s size and wisely withdrew the hand of friendship she had been about to stretch out.
Which house did Xiong Lanlan live in again? Lin Mianmian followed her memory from when they had separated the night before and walked in one direction.
“Hm. This is the right one.” Lin Mianmian stopped in front of a courtyard gate not far from the earth pit. She raised her hand to knock, but suddenly hesitated.
When they had stayed in the big tent in Yingxian City, not only had Xiong Lanlan’s ears had no problem, they had seemed sharper than an ordinary human’s. Wang Minger had been crying and calling her for so long from so close by. Why had Xiong Lanlan not come out?
Lin Mianmian hesitated for a moment, then still knocked on the courtyard gate. After all, with such a large pit, she could not pull Wang Minger out alone.
Perhaps this was fated to be a terrible morning.
The moment Lin Mianmian’s hand touched the courtyard gate, the wooden gate seemed to gain its own awareness and pushed back at the same time. The force was not large, but it was enough to knock Lin Mianmian back two or three steps and make her sit on the ground.
What the heck!
Lin Mianmian climbed up with a shocked face. Before she could even pat the dirt from her body, the courtyard gate opened.
Xiong Lanlan, who had been combing the fur on her belly, put down the small comb in her hand and said unhappily, “Why is it you?”
“…” Hehe. Who did you think it was? Lin Mianmian almost fainted from anger at Xiong Lanlan’s disgusted little eyes.
Lin Mianmian had not even opened her mouth when Wang Minger’s voice floated over from the pit again. “Wu wu… bad Bearbear… wu…”
“Why is she crying? What did you do to her?” Xiong Lanlan glared at Lin Mianmian, but did not wait for an answer. As she spoke, she quickly ran toward the pit.
Truly, truly, Lin Mianmian did not understand these people… demons…
Lin Mianmian patted the dust from her clothes, smoothed down the air in her chest, took another route around the pit, and returned to her own courtyard.
Only after the sky was fully bright did the jade tokens Zihui had given the new disciples begin to glow. Like a voice GPS, they gave each disciple one-on-one directions and guided them to gather at a small square not far from their residences.
In the daytime, the Five Elements Sect’s outer valley looked much like an ordinary little village. Courtyards were connected by dirt roads, making one small quiet and peaceful area. As Lin Mianmian followed the jade token’s voice directions, she kept feeling as if this were a peaceful countryside from before the apocalypse.
After she left the little residential area and walked farther forward, she saw large stretches of forest. A small river ran by the forest edge, coming from the woods, curving around the edge, and flowing back into the trees. When she looked up, the high places in the forest were covered with clouds and mist that stretched without end. There seemed to be groups of tall mountains, but she could not see them clearly. Of course, if it were truly cloud and mist, it would not hang so low over the treetops. It was likely another Five Elements Sect method.
Speaking of which, many things in this cultivation world were indeed quite interesting. Never mind the five-element roof that fought every day, the tent that was different inside and outside, or the little boat that could fly at high speed. Even the jade token in Lin Mianmian’s hand, which could speak, was interesting.
At first, it sounded like an alarm clock to remind her to go out. Then it guided her like a GPS. If she met other new disciples on the road, only one person’s jade token continued giving directions, while the other jade tokens gave a little hum and fell silent. It made one feel that resources were being saved, and it also had a strangely proud kind of cuteness.
The small square was set beside the river in front of the forest. There was a simple high platform, and dozens of round cushions were scattered below it. It very much looked as if a class was about to begin.
Although Lin Mianmian lived far away, she walked quickly. When she arrived at the square, fewer than half the people had come. She had just chosen a cushion and sat down when she saw a black bear walking upright in the distance, tiptoeing on her claws as she passed through the people and cushions toward Lin Mianmian.
Lin Mianmian glanced at Wang Minger, who was hugging Xiong Lanlan’s leg fur and looked as if she had already been washed clean. Lin Mianmian sighed deeply.
First there had been a person-licking rabbit. Now there was a bear who might frame people. Could life still go on?
“Quick. Say thank you!” Xiong Lanlan twisted her huge body and finally squeezed to Lin Mianmian’s side. She pulled the little girl off her leg fur and pushed her in front of Lin Mianmian.
“Thank you, big sister!” When Wang Minger was not crying, she was rather cute. Her little face was red as she thanked Lin Mianmian.
“No need to thank me…” As long as they were not here to accuse her of pushing the child into the pit, it was fine. Lin Mianmian waved her hands again and again.
“Earlier, I put a restriction in my courtyard, and it bounced you. Sorry. You were not hurt, right?” Seeing that Lin Mianmian seemed easy to talk to, Xiong Lanlan let out a breath and sat down on the cushion beside Lin Mianmian.
“I am fine. Have you already drawn spiritual energy into your body?” Hearing the word restriction, Lin Mianmian could not help thinking of the barriers between the sect areas back in Yingxian City. Those had seemed very powerful.
Xiong Lanlan chuckled and scratched her head. “Not yet. It is only a little thing my family had me bring, a small array plate that can block sound and people. It does not need spiritual energy. It can be activated directly with spirit stones. I still have a few. I will give you one later to play with.”
“No need…”
“Take them! Take them all!” Wang Minger’s soft voice interrupted Lin Mianmian’s refusal. “Bearbear used that to stop me from going in!”
Oh. So that was what happened. Xiong Lanlan had turned that on, failed to hear the child crying, and bounced the wrong person away…
Lin Mianmian understood the undeserved disaster from that morning. For some reason, she did not really want to have understood it. Hehe.
Just as Xiong Lanlan grabbed the little girl and opened her huge mouth as if she were going to eat her, a cool male voice sounded faintly.
“Are you done talking? Can you return my seat to me?”
Bear, grass, and human looked around.
“Get… off me!” The cool male voice sounded again, now carrying anger that was almost impossible to suppress.
Lin Mianmian looked toward Xiong Lanlan’s… hm… bear bottom.
Xiong Lanlan: “…”
The black bear reached one paw toward her rear, then… pulled out a turtle shell less than one-sixth the size of her bear paw.
The dark green turtle shell was small and cute, trembling slightly in the bear’s paw. Hm… Lin Mianmian felt he was probably trembling from anger.
“Changshou?” Xiong Lanlan remembered this turtle. He was one of the only two demon cultivators who had entered the Five Elements Sect this time.
“…” The little turtle poked out his head and sprayed Xiong Lanlan’s face with water.
Seeing that the two demons were about to start fighting, a voice suddenly rang out from the high platform not far away.
A voice that was very familiar to Lin Mianmian.
“Hello, newly entered disciples!” The snow-white little rabbit stood on a huge ice table she had just made. “Today, I will briefly introduce how to draw spiritual energy into your body.”
Ying Fu and Zihui stood behind A-Bai with rather bad expressions. They had clearly agreed that Senior Sister Yuan would teach the new disciples the method of drawing spiritual energy into their bodies. But the one who came was A-Bai, bringing the news that Senior Sister Yuan had to enter closed-door cultivation for several days. Although rumor said A-Bai was a Core Formation rabbit, she had never taught in the main lecture hall. Added to her usual behavior, it was truly hard to believe she could…
“Everyone learn from me. Come, sit properly and close your eyes. Inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale…” The little rabbit on the stage sat upright, closed her eyes, and murmured the words.
The disciples below copied her.
Lin Mianmian followed A-Bai’s calls for a while, but she kept feeling that something was not quite right.
What she did not know was that A-Bai on the stage felt that nothing was right either.
When A-Bai saw Yuan Zhaoyang forced back into cat form and looking so miserable, she had first taken some unkind pleasure in it. But very soon, she experienced how many troublesome matters she had to face after Yuan Zhaoyang turned into a cat.
First among them was going to explain to the Five Elements Sect’s higher-ups why the spirit beasts in the outermost ring of the outer valley had been driven farther in and why a temporary barrier had been set up. The reason was one they had discussed before. They would say that this better avoided injuries from conflicts between new disciples without cultivation and spirit beasts, and that harmless small animals would replace spirit beasts for now so the disciples could adapt. Before the new disciples drew spiritual energy into their bodies, these matters had originally been fully handed to Yuan Zhaoyang. Such reasons could be casually offered and should pass. The key was… originally, Yuan Zhaoyang alone would have handled all those explanations and responses. It would have had nothing to do with A-Bai. Now Yuan Zhaoyang could not come out, so A-Bai had to do it.
Then came the matter of teaching the new disciples to draw spiritual energy into their bodies at this time. That was even more troublesome.
What made A-Bai even gloomier was that the fur on her right hind leg had been chewed bald by a pink rat, greatly harming her perfect, beautiful image. This was exactly when she should have shut herself indoors to recover, yet she had no choice but to appear on stage.
“Yes, just like that… inhale, exhale… keep sensing the different things in the air… we continue… inhale… exhale…” A-Bai, who had driven spirit beasts all night, spoke lower and lower.
“This rabbit…” Xiong Lanlan could not help secretly opening her eyes. She secretly pushed Lin Mianmian, who was sitting beside her, and made eyes toward the rabbit on stage. “She is not teaching quite right.”
This bear…
Lin Mianmian had not guarded against it and was almost pushed rolling away by Xiong Lanlan. Fortunately, she quickly reached out and braced herself on the ground. With this difference in body size and strength, was it suitable to make such best-friend gestures? Tell me, bear!
“How is it not right?” Lin Mianmian had never cultivated immortality. She only felt that she was getting sleepier as she breathed deeply while already tired. She did not know anything else.
“You humans are really sheltered. Everyone knows that when drawing spiritual energy into the body, the first step is sensing the spiritual energy in the air while breathing. Then you hold it, guide it into the meridians, let it flow through the body according to the meridian paths, and finally gather it in the energy center. Completing this whole process for the first time is drawing spiritual energy into the body. It counts as the first step onto the path of cultivation.
“After you get used to absorbing spiritual energy and circulating it, you will be able to keep absorbing surrounding spiritual energy with only the skin of your body, even without breathing. You can even draw spiritual energy from farther away.” Xiong Lanlan explained to Lin Mianmian in a low voice.
“Then she did not teach it wrong. The first step really is breathing…” Lin Mianmian could not help speaking up for the little white rabbit, who was still cute today. Hm… as for the debt from being licked once, that could be settled later.
“Heh…” Gui Changshou, who had been forced to sit on the cushion beside them, gave a cold laugh. “A sheltered bear.”
“Who are you talking about?” Xiong Lanlan flew into a rage and slapped a paw over.
It landed on… a hard turtle shell.
It hurt so much. But she could not cry! Xiong Lanlan glanced at Wang Minger, who was watching her, and forced her tears back.
“All right. Today, go back and continue practicing the first step of drawing spiritual energy into the body that I taught you. The other steps are all in the book. Those who can read may study the later steps by themselves. Those who cannot read can put the jade token you received yesterday on the book, and it will read the book aloud. That is all for today. Go back.”
A-Bai yawned and patted the golden bell. A stack of books scattered down from the stage, and one landed steadily in front of each person.
Lin Mianmian picked up the book and glanced toward A-Bai. Her gaze happened to meet the rabbit’s. Then she saw the rabbit turn her head away guiltily and dart into the forest with a whoosh, vanishing from sight.
Tch. A Core Formation rabbit was afraid that someone with no cultivation would settle accounts with her?
Lin Mianmian angrily pinched the white hair in her sleeve.
A-Bai had no idea what Lin Mianmian was imagining. She only felt that she did not know how to face Yuan Zhaoyang’s new great tonic pill.
Earlier, Yuan Zhaoyang had insisted on refusing to lick Lin Mianmian again. A-Bai’s persuasion had failed. The two argued for a long time, and in the end, Yuan Zhaoyang proposed a new plan.
The jade ring Yuan Zhaoyang wore had been obtained by chance in a secret realm in the Eastern Sea. In theory, it should have been part of a high-level array. But that place had actually been a ruin, so it was hard to tell what the item’s original use had been. Yuan Zhaoyang had dual earth and fire spiritual roots and quite a bit of talent in artifact refining. After studying it, she could tell the jade ring had great potential in blocking demon aura, spiritual energy, and even hiding cultivation.
However, after long years in the secret realm, the jade ring seemed to have been damaged, and its grade had fallen quite a lot. Yuan Zhaoyang had stayed at perfect Foundation Establishment and was unwilling to refine it again while her cultivation was still low. So the jade ring had stayed on Yuan Zhaoyang and had only been used to block demon aura.
This time, Yuan Zhaoyang wanted to add other materials and refine the jade ring again. She hoped to refine something that could block… no, control the density of the aura on Lin Mianmian’s body.
According to Yuan Zhaoyang, when she was in human form and smelled Lin Mianmian’s fragrance, she felt an unbearable urge to get close, closer and closer. The previous night, when she was in cat form, she discovered that the fragrance made her very comfortable. Although she still especially wanted to get close, it was more like a gentle temptation, not the near-mad impulse she felt in human form.
Even more importantly, Yuan Zhaoyang discovered that when she was in human form and smelled Lin Mianmian’s fragrance, her spiritual energy went wild. Never mind cultivation, even activating a few small spells in Yingxian City had been less smooth than usual. But the night before, when she turned into a cat, she tried cultivating before returning to Hengshui Peak. She found that cultivating while smelling that fragrance in cat form went very smoothly and even had twice the result with half the effort. It was only that the fragrance was still too strong and somewhat confused a cat’s heart. If it were a little lighter, it would simply be a great aid to cultivation.
In truth, A-Bai did not quite understand what Yuan Zhaoyang meant. But she did understand Yuan Zhaoyang’s plan. Yuan Zhaoyang wanted to turn Lin Mianmian into a great tonic pill with adjustable fragrance strength. Only this great tonic pill was not for eating. It was for smelling.