Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 26

From A-Bai’s appearance on the high platform to her departure, less than one incense stick of time passed. Converted to the twenty-four-hour clock Lin Mianmian was familiar with, that was less than five minutes. She had truly turned the new disciples’ first lesson into a mess.
Ying Fu and Zihui could not have been more helpless. Unfortunately, they had been quick-handed and accepted the sect task of arranging life in the outer valley for these new disciples until they drew spiritual energy into their bodies. They had thought they would be Yuan Zhaoyang’s assistants and only needed to help with living matters. They had not expected that on the very first day, the one who came would be A-Bai. If things kept going like this, they could already foresee the tragic life of the next few months.
A-Bai made a mess, shook her fur, and left. But Ying Fu and Zihui could not do the same.
Ying Fu spoke and pressed the disciples, who had heard A-Bai say class was over and were already standing with their books, eager to return to their rooms and study, back into their seats.
“The place where you now live is on the outer edge of the Five Elements Sect. Because it lies between the mortal-world mountain ranges and the peaks of the Five Elements Sect, and because the land is lower, it is called the outer valley. The outer valley is divided into two parts. From the outermost Five Elements Sect barrier to the small houses where you live, then to this small square, and up to the forest ahead, this is the area where you may move freely before drawing spiritual energy into your bodies.
“After you successfully draw spiritual energy into your bodies and enter Qi Refining, you may move into the residences for Qi Refining disciples behind this forest.”
Ying Fu looked around at the disciples below. Seeing that everyone was listening seriously and did not seem dissatisfied, he nodded and continued.
“Setting this area as the place where you may move freely before Qi Refining is of course not meant to restrict your freedom. This involves the balance between the body and spiritual energy. I hope everyone will remember it carefully.”
It sounded very impressive. The disciples below were silent and watched Ying Fu on the stage very seriously as he took out a piece of paper, tore it into small scraps, then used wind control to sweep the scraps up.
“Most sects in the cultivation world are built in places rich with spiritual energy. The spiritual energy we usually speak of is mostly balanced spiritual energy formed after all five elements mix together. It is gentle and nourishing. As long as a person has a spiritual root, they can absorb it, and it will not damage the body.
“Of course, the cultivation world also has spiritual energy with special attributes. For example, the Red Flame Pool in the Southern Union is filled year-round with hot fire-element spiritual energy. In the Northern Territory’s Great Snow Mountain, there is a cave residence where spiritual energy containing both water and ice elements often appears. This elemental spiritual energy is only suitable for people with matching spiritual roots to absorb. It appears rarely, and its use is actually about the same as ordinary unattributed spiritual energy. Great sects usually do not choose such places as sect grounds. What we are speaking of today is still unattributed spiritual energy.”
Ying Fu used wind to make the scraps of paper gather and spin before him.
“Sects are built in places rich with spiritual energy, but spiritual energy cannot be evenly spread through every corner of a sect. Taking our Five Elements Sect as an example, the spiritual energy in the outer valley is thinner than on the mountains inside. The area where you, who are not yet at Qi Refining, can move is the weakest part of the outer valley in spiritual energy. This is not because the Five Elements Sect looks down on you. It is precisely to protect you.”
The stage below was silent.
Ying Fu was clearly saying the same things he had heard when he had first entered the sect. Why did they not react at all?
He frowned and looked at Zihui beside him. He wanted to exchange a look and ask whether the current situation was normal, and whether the children below had understood.
Who would have expected that Zihui… was always direct and serious, commonly known as not very good at turning corners. When she saw her senior brother stop mid-lecture and look at her with a troubled face, her first reaction was: Oh no! Did he forget the words?
“Yes, exactly. It is to protect you! Spiritual energy is definitely not a case of the thicker the better for disciples with low cultivation. Right now, you still have little mortal-world bodies, and you have not yet mastered control over spiritual energy. If you draw spiritual energy into your bodies in a place where it is too thick, it is very easy to injure your meridians. The loss would not be worth it.”
Zihui strode forward, stood beside Ying Fu, and rattled off a string of words. Then she scratched her head, glanced at Ying Fu, and remembered another section.
“Hm. Anyway, the density of spiritual energy is not only about how much spiritual energy there is within a certain area. It also has to do with how active the spiritual energy is in that region and the chance of special elemental spiritual energy gathering together. Even we Qi Refining disciples are not suited to enter the deeper mountains, where spiritual energy is too abundant, to cultivate. But once you reach Foundation Establishment, it is fine. At that point, you have truly laid the foundation of cultivation. As long as you are not too careless, cultivating in places rich with spiritual energy generally will not cause problems.”
After saying this, Zihui held her chin and thought. Feeling that she had not said anything wrong, she looked toward the senior brother who had “forgotten his words and asked for help” as if seeking praise.
Ying Fu, who had never asked for help: “…”
With his entire rhythm of memory disrupted like this, how was he supposed to continue the introduction? Ying Fu really almost wanted to kneel.
Just as Ying Fu’s face stiffened and he did not know how to continue, rustling discussion rose from below the stage. Listening closely, the disciples were all sighing over how thoughtful and caring the Five Elements Sect was.
At least this was better than the dead stillness during his lecture just now.
Ying Fu scattered the little wind ball in his hand, which he had planned to use as a tool to explain spiritual-energy density. Forget it. As long as they could understand the Five Elements Sect’s care, it was fine. They could systematically learn the other knowledge after going to the main lecture hall.
This was the first time Lin Mianmian had heard about spiritual-energy density, and she was also very interested in the little booklet on drawing spiritual energy into the body that A-Bai had tossed down.
Thinking about it, apocalypse abilities and this world’s spells had many similar points. But absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth to increase cultivation was something the apocalypse had never had. In the apocalypse, increasing strength and becoming a higher-level ability user could only be done in two ways. One was to continuously absorb the energy from the cores inside zombies, mutated plants, and mutated animals. The other was like what Lin Mianmian had done, using her ability until it was almost empty, then waiting for it to slowly recover by itself, repeating the process again and again.
Now, holding the booklet that supposedly recorded the method of drawing spiritual energy into the body, Lin Mianmian could not help wondering: if this method had been used in the apocalypse, could energy have been drawn from heaven and earth?
After thinking a while, she felt it was pointless. The apocalypse was already in the past. Her spiritual-root aptitude being poor to a certain degree was the problem she had to face now.
After the matter of spiritual-energy density was explained, Ying Fu and Zihui felt they had already warned the new disciples about the most important thing. As for the rest… they could only hope Senior Sister Yuan would quickly finish closed-door cultivation.
The Five Elements Sect was unlike other sects. It did not raise servants or menials. All small matters in the sect were listed as sect tasks, and the rewards were generous. In this way, disciples actively took part in building the sect and helped each other, deepening their bonds. Also, the Five Elements Sect was rich in resources and already wanted to give disciples more cultivation resources. By making labor bring rewards, the disciples would cherish those resources more and cultivate with more care.
Only a group of new disciples lived in the outer valley. Before successfully drawing spiritual energy into their bodies, they also could not eat Qingxin Hall’s spiritual food. So after finishing the warnings, before letting the new disciples go back, Zihui took out a large amount of dry food for them to collect. As for drinking water, they could use the wells near their residences. The spiritual energy in the well water was so low it could be ignored.
Because the disciples did not have storage bags and could not keep food fresh easily, Zihui only handed out each person’s rations for today and tomorrow. They would come again the day after tomorrow to collect more.
When she said dry food, it truly was dry food.
Steamed buns, pickles, and some white flour pastries that looked a bit like sponge cakes but seemed quite hard.
Before drawing spiritual energy into the body, they could only eat this for months? Oh, with her useless spiritual root, maybe even several months would not be enough to draw in energy.
Lin Mianmian felt a little tired in the heart. This food was simply not as good as staying in Yingxian City to open a noodle stall with Tian Xiaoyu.
“Senior Sister, may I ask whether we can cook for ourselves? Earlier, I seemed to see fish in the river…” The one in front of Lin Mianmian collecting rations and asking Zihui was the gentle girl who had helped Xiong Lanlan tie up her bedding in Yingxian City. One look at her showed she was good at managing a household and very capable of working and cooking.
“Right. I also saw what looked like pigs in the forest!” Xiong Lanlan, who stood behind Lin Mianmian, pushed Lin Mianmian with one paw. “I will go hunt a pig, and you cook it!”
Lin Mianmian staggered. “…”
Such a loving suggestion made Zihui’s face change greatly. She quickly took a rectangular jade box from her storage bag and pressed it wildly.
After only a short while, the jade tokens of the new disciples all began to call out at once.
“Now playing an important sect rule. The Cave-Mountain Earthworms, Sharp-Burning Birds, Water-Spraying Bees, Half-Moon Silver-Pink Rats, and other spirit beasts in the outer valley are raised by the sect and are good helpers for low-level disciples’ sect tasks. Do not hunt them. Do not hunt them. Of course, you cannot beat them anyway. Also, other spirit beasts in the valley are raised by the sect and are hunted regularly by assigned people. They may not be hunted privately.
“Friendly reminder: many spirit beasts look much like mortal-world animals, but they are actually very different. Eating them can easily cause spiritual-energy conflict, leading to bodily explosion, and many parts are poisonous, poisonous, poisonous. Zz… zz… zzz… Next is an important announcement from Perfected Le, the Core Formation rabbit demon. Please do not hunt any small animals in the outer valley. Violators will be beaten. Will be beaten. Yes, beaten.”
When the jade token first began playing, Zihui let out a breath. But by the end, she looked at Ying Fu not far away with a shocked face.
Ying Fu wore the same shocked expression.
The two looked at each other. Fine. The words at the end definitely came from Senior Sister Yuan’s jade box… and that thing was definitely in A-Bai’s hands.
Never mind how speechless Zihui and Ying Fu were over the three repeated “beaten” lines. Lin Mianmian felt rather comfortable after hearing A-Bai’s words. On the way over earlier, she had seen a little yellow dog dart behind a house beside the road. It seemed that when it came to petting fur, A-Bai was still quite trustworthy.
Only…
Lin Mianmian looked at the pile of dry food in front of Zihui and sighed. Back then, A-Bai had packed up so much braised meat and had said she had packed a portion for Lin Mianmian too. Now… where was the meat? Where was the meat? Where was the meat?
Lin Mianmian took a cloth bundle from Zihui. It held twelve steamed buns and a large packet of pickles.
After eating noodles for several days in Yingxian City, Lin Mianmian had discovered that she did not get hungry with a normal amount of food. What she ate afterward was all because she was greedy. When greed stirred, she could keep eating and eating, truly showing signs of developing in A-Bai’s direction. These steamed buns really did not look tempting. Even the skins were dry and wrinkled. Lin Mianmian had no desire to take more.
“Five hundred steamed buns, seventy packets of pickles, and two hundred of these pastries. No, make it three hundred. Three hundred pastries.” Xiong Lanlan was not very picky about food and seemed quite happy as she pointed at the dry-food pile.
Demon cultivators had always eaten a lot. Zihui’s expression did not change as she packed five sacks for Xiong Lanlan.
“Three steamed buns! One bowl of pickles!” Tiny Wang Minger waved up at Zihui from below.
“Tch. Eating that little? The crumbs I drop would be enough for you. It would save you from carrying anything.” Xiong Lanlan grabbed Wang Minger and casually hung her on her leg fur.
“Five hundred and one steamed buns, seventy-one packets of pickles, and three hundred and one pastries.” The male voice was somewhat cool, but that did not stop it from sounding very pleasant.
Zihui lowered her head and looked at Gui Changshou on the ground, who was not even as big as her hand. She did not begin packing at once and kindly said, “I will help you carry them over later.”
“Hahahaha! With that tiny body of yours, you still want to eat more than me? I could give you one steamed bun and it would last you a year.” This time, Xiong Lanlan was clearly mocking him on purpose.
Lin Mianmian swore she saw the dark green little turtle tremble, and his whole body flushed a ring of pink.
“You! You stupid bear who only knows how to eat and can only eat!” Gui Changshou trembled with anger, but could only spray water onto the furry bear’s foot without hurting her at all.
“Tch. You speak as if you came here to learn all the Five Elements Sect’s secret arts.” Xiong Lanlan easily lifted her five sacks with one paw, shook the water from her foot, bent down, and put her mocking face right in front of the little turtle. “Those sheltered human cultivators came in muddle-headed, so forget them. But we demon cultivators enter the Five Elements Sect for Qingxin Hall’s meal ticket and unlimited spiritual food, do we not? In the Southern Union, what other sect is this generous? We demon cultivators can eat a lot, and eating more spiritual food tempers the body. Quantity creates quality. I can eat, and I am proud of it. What about it? If you have the ability, then after entering Qi Refining, do not go to Qingxin Hall. Keep eating steamed buns.”
“Xiong Lanlan, I am not done with you!” The little turtle raised his head high and glared at Xiong Lanlan’s… foot.
In the end, the little turtle was so angry that he ran off like smoke.
This was the first time Lin Mianmian had seen a turtle run that fast. She deeply felt this turtle probably had a wind spiritual root. He nearly flew while walking.
A-Bai also had not expected that while Zihui was pulling the new disciples along to explain matters, A-Bai had gone to catch another batch of small animals and bring them in. Not long after returning, she had only had time to add a line to those new disciples’ jade tokens and had not yet opened the sacks when something dark green hit her waist.
“Who is it? Tired of living?” A-Bai was angry too, but when she looked back, she saw nothing.
Gui Changshou, who had been so ashamed and angry that he used a life-saving escape talisman from his family, flew back to his room and wiped his face. He had actually run into that Core Formation rabbit.
It was all that furry bear’s fault! Gui Changshou was so angry his turtle shell almost caught fire.
A-Bai had no time to fuss over the thing that had hit her waist. Zihui’s side had already finished, so A-Bai had to quickly scatter the small animals.
This time, A-Bai had brought three sacks: two sacks of cats and one sack of other small animals. In Yuan Zhaoyang’s words, even if the jade ring was successfully refined, she still needed some cover. If more cats were brought over, then when Yuan Zhaoyang came later, she would not seem too sudden.
Lin Mianmian, who was walking back with a packet of steamed buns, had no idea that such a large surprise was waiting for her.