Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 28

A-Bai sent Zihui away with a large bundle of Flame-Crystal Green-Bellied Spider silk. When she returned to the room, she saw Yuan the calico crouched on a chair, pawing at a small bowl on the table that looked rather familiar.
“What is this? It smells pretty good.” A-Bai jumped onto the table and hopped closer for a look. “Steamed bun cubes? Where did you get them?”
“…” Yuan Zhaoyang stretched out a paw, and the small bowl on the table disappeared.
“I never thought you were this kind of cat!” A-Bai pounced at the bowl and missed. She flopped onto the table with an unhappy face. “Hmph. Usually, whenever I have something good to eat, do I not think of you first? It is only one bowl of steamed bun cubes, and you treasure it so much you will not even let me look!”
“When have you ever only looked and not looked it straight into your stomach?” Yuan Zhaoyang was unmoved and curled up on the chair. “This is cat food Lin Mianmian made. Do you want to eat it too?”
“You only went once, and you already have custom cat food? Also, did you not say you do not eat mortal-world things?” As A-Bai spoke, she suddenly hopped up again. “Right, that bowl just now. Why did it look so much like the bowls of braised meat you took from me?”
“Tomorrow, go with Zihui and take a look. Even with the Flame-Crystal Green-Bellied Spider silk, there are many things to pay attention to when making nets. Evolving Objects Hall has been constantly innovating these past few years. It is better to watch them. Otherwise, when the Red Essence Five-Scale Fish capture time arrives, the nets may still not be ready.” Yuan Zhaoyang directly changed the subject.
“If there is not enough time to make them, just buy a small teleportation array from Evolving Objects Hall. Set up a new fish-transporting array directly where the Copper-Thread Snails are.” The little white rabbit wore the face of someone rich and did not care.
Yuan Zhaoyang was silent for a moment before speaking again. “No. The spirit stones for buying a small teleportation array cost more than the sect reward for completing the task. We are not buying one. Make the nets.”
“Are you short on spirit stones?” A-Bai looked surprised. “That makes no sense.”
“When I modified and refined the jade ring earlier, I used up many materials. To finish it quickly, I spent spirit stones in the sect to buy many materials, and I used up most of my sect contribution points too. Now… try not to make any extra expenses. After I form my core, we can travel again and rebuild our savings.” Since Yuan Zhaoyang began cultivating, she had never been short on spirit stones. But for the last ten-plus years, she had stayed in the Five Elements Sect and rarely gone out to search secret realms. The sect also gave limited things. This time, to refine the jade ring as soon as possible, Yuan Zhaoyang had bought a large batch of materials at high prices. While experimenting with the jade ring, she had wasted quite a lot. Fortunately, in the end, it could barely be counted as a success.
The original jade ring had been completely split into two. The one on Lin Mianmian’s wrist had also been given the function of adjusting the strength of its blocking power. Although it was still a little different from what Yuan Zhaoyang had imagined, managing this much in such a short time while at perfect Foundation Establishment was already very difficult.
Because of this, Yuan Zhaoyang’s spirit stones were almost used up, and the Five Elements Sect contribution points she had saved were mostly gone. Only some things that were inconvenient to sell remained on her.
A-Bai could understand Yuan Zhaoyang’s all-or-nothing way of doing things. Anyone stuck at perfect Foundation Establishment for seventy or eighty years would be impatient after meeting a chance to form a core. Even A-Bai herself, if she now met a method to strengthen her body and let her physical body catch up with her cultivation, would definitely be willing to gamble her whole fortune on it.
In the cultivation world, cultivation level still spoke loudest. No matter how many external things one had, they could always be found again later.
“It is fine. I still have some. Use these spirit stones first.” As A-Bai spoke, she shook the golden bell. Neatly cut spirit stones piled up high, filling more than half the table. “If you need sect contribution points, I have those too. When the time comes, I can exchange things for you.”
“It is not to the point where I need to use yours.” Yuan Zhaoyang shook her head, leaped down from the chair, and put distance between herself and the spirit stones on the table, showing her attitude.
“Why are we still dividing yours and mine? Back then on Great Snow Mountain, if not for you, I would have long been a frozen rabbit. Besides, I used quite a lot of your things back then. These years, whenever we got anything, we split it in half. I never had a chance to repay you.” A-Bai hopped onto the pile of spirit stones and stepped on them with her little white paws. “Quick, put them away.”
“No need.” Yuan Zhaoyang stepped back a few paces, her voice very firm. “Back then, it was also thanks to you that I had the chance to survive on Great Snow Mountain. There is nothing to calculate.”
“Take them, take them, take them!” The little white rabbit rolled around shamelessly.
“…” Yuan Zhaoyang had no choice but to give a little ground in words. “I still have some things on me. I have not reached the end. When it is truly not enough, I will ask you.”
Although those words retreated three points, A-Bai knew Yuan Zhaoyang definitely would not ask. How hateful. A favor owed a hundred years ago, and with this stubborn cat, A-Bai felt she might never be able to repay it in this lifetime. Under Yuan Zhaoyang’s burning insistence, A-Bai sighed and put the spirit stones away.
Yuan Zhaoyang did not give A-Bai much time to sigh over the past. She quickly switched to another subject she cared more about. “So why are those small animals of yours so jumpy? Can they still cover for me properly or not? Did you fail to drive the spirit beasts in that area away cleanly, making them unable to relax?”
“That should not be. I checked. Unless… there is some spirit-beast poop or loose fur left where those spirit beasts used to live, and the remaining aura is too strong…” As A-Bai spoke, she suddenly paused and hopped back several steps. “Hey! You are not thinking of making me clean poop now, are you?”
“Why not stay for a midnight snack before you go? Recently, Qingxin Hall released a boiled chicken-fish-pork platter. You have not tried it yet, right? Perfect. I bought several portions for you.” As Yuan Zhaoyang spoke, she put a sample on the table.
A large basin took up most of the table. It was filled to the brim with shredded white meat. One truly could not tell that it came from three different ingredients.
“I am not eating it!” The little white rabbit, forced to the edge of the table by the large basin, fell off in a daze.
“That is fine too.” Yuan Zhaoyang waved a little paw. “Then while it is still early, go early and come back early.”
May she ask where it was early, when night had already fallen so long ago?
As a calico, how could Yuan Zhaoyang be this un-cute?
The little white rabbit ran away in tears.
Deep at night, the snow-white little rabbit moved along dirt roads, beside courtyard walls, inside pits… traveling through all kinds of hidden corners and freezing pieces of oddly shaped matter one by one.
Good thing she had brought a new low-level storage bag, the silently weeping little white rabbit thought as she shoveled.
Perhaps because she had remembered things from more than a hundred years ago that night, A-Bai, who had fallen to cleaning up spirit-beast waste, did feel that it lowered her dignity. Even so, she cleaned with great care and responsibility, thoroughly clearing every patch of land.
Then she scattered some dry food around the village to keep the small animals from starving and killing each other. After finishing that, she even went to the Beast-Taming Hall, which was responsible for raising spirit beasts, and asked for some calming powder meant for spirit beasts. She fiddled with it and diluted it greatly, then went back to the outer valley and sprayed a little on every small animal.
After being busy until daybreak, the little gray rabbit finally finished everything. As for the Red Essence Five-Scale Fish, A-Bai expressed that they could do whatever they wanted.
At dawn, Zihui’s sound-transmission paper sparrow was stopped outside the Hengshui Peak courtyard of Yuan Zhaoyang and A-Bai. The little white rabbit mercilessly slapped it back with one paw.
Having completed what Yuan Zhaoyang had asked, A-Bai was somewhat tired, but still excitedly demanded to go watch Yuan the calico’s first day of getting along with Lin Mianmian.
A-Bai had worked hard all night. How could Yuan Zhaoyang bear to let her keep working? So Yuan Zhaoyang very thoughtfully used some talismans and kept A-Bai at home to sleep well.
When Zihui’s paper sparrow came again, it could only stop outside the courtyard for a long time with no response.
It had to be said that A-Bai’s randomly diluted powder was quite useful. When Yuan Zhaoyang reached the outer valley, she clearly felt that the small animals had escaped their earlier jumpy state and seemed to have recovered their proper foolish look.
Along the way, Yuan Zhaoyang saw several spots where A-Bai seemed to have left food, and each spot had several small animals gathered around it. At Lin Mianmian’s courtyard gate, there were even more animals. A-Bai seemed to have put a large pile of steamed buns at Lin Mianmian’s gate. Those small animals, hungry from the night, surrounded it in layers and ate with little huffing sounds.
The night before, Lin Mianmian had cultivated somewhat late. When she woke in the morning, the sun was already quite high. As soon as she woke, she heard something strange outside the courtyard, as if many things were gathered together and eating.
Could it be the bowl of roasted bun crumbs she had put down last night? Thinking of the small animals that had run away from her the night before as if seeing a ghost, Lin Mianmian quietly climbed out of bed and tiptoed to the courtyard gate.
From far away, Yuan Zhaoyang watched those small animals bury their heads and eat fiercely. Then the courtyard gate creaked open a crack.
Inside the crack, a pair of dark, round eyes looked outside full of joy, as if they had seen some heavenly treasure.
Hmph. They were only small mortal-world animals. Was there any need to be this happy?
Yuan Zhaoyang rubbed her face impatiently, then shook the fur on her body. After making sure that compared with that pile of small animals, she was the cleanest and prettiest, she crouched down again and quietly waited for the chance to meet.
Seven or eight cats, two little dogs, and one little rabbit… Wait, there seemed to be more. It was hard to see clearly with them piled together like that.
After the apocalypse, Lin Mianmian had never seen such normal fluffy things. During the few years she had been awake in the Tian family courtyard, she had been so short she had not even seen a bird. Now, as Lin Mianmian clung to the crack in the gate, she felt every one of them was cute. She could not look at them enough.
She wanted to pet them.
In the end, Lin Mianmian was not satisfied with only feeding her eyes. She straightened and slowly opened the courtyard gate.
Two black cats rather sharply lifted their heads and looked at Lin Mianmian. Lin Mianmian froze at once. Only when they lowered their heads again and continued eating did she lighten her hands and feet and slowly move closer.
Uh… so what was going on with these dozen steamed buns on the ground? Lin Mianmian did not see the bowl she had put down last night among the animals. What she did see was more than ten steamed buns placed on a large leaf, already chewed into a mess.
Could they have robbed someone’s food?
Just as Lin Mianmian stood not far from the group of small animals, looking blankly at the steamed bun pile on the ground, Yuan Zhaoyang shook her fur one last time and stepped out in small, elegant steps.
Seeing the small animals eat so happily, Lin Mianmian quickly put aside the question of where the food had come from. In any case, Xiong Lanlan had plenty of steamed buns. Even if someone had been robbed, they would not starve. These small animals, however, were truly cute.
Lin Mianmian’s whole mind was on the fur balls before her, and she did not notice that not far away, a white fur ball was working hard to walk more elegantly as it approached.
Closest to Lin Mianmian’s foot was an orange-yellow cat, about two palms long, eating with large mouthfuls without lifting its head. It was so busy. It probably would not run, right?
Thinking this, Lin Mianmian truly could not hold back and stretched out her hand.
So soft! Much softer than those coral-fleece blankets from before, and warm too. A natural warmth. Lin Mianmian secretly and lightly stroked it twice. She really could not stop. She was so happy her eyes were about to narrow.
Lin Mianmian petted with a happy face and completely failed to notice that the yellow-furred cat under her hand had already let go of the steamed bun in its mouth and twisted its body.
Was she stupid? Yuan Zhaoyang could tell at a glance that the cat was about to strike with its claws, yet that fool was still petting it lightly.
In the time it took for a spark to fly, almost at the same moment the yellow cat showed its claws and twisted to scratch Lin Mianmian, a white shadow flashed past. Yuan Zhaoyang blocked the yellow cat’s outstretched paw with one claw and pressed it to the ground.
She had said she would come over pretending to be an ordinary cat. Who would have thought that as soon as she arrived, she would have to reveal this demon’s unusual skill? No need to thank her. She only hoped Lin Mianmian had not seen how different she was.
Yuan Zhaoyang pressed the yellow cat to the ground and sighed inwardly.
“No, no. You cannot fight. There is still a lot of food. Do not fight.” Lin Mianmian, who had completely failed to notice that she had nearly been scratched, reached out and pushed aside the new calico cat, rescuing the yellow cat from under the calico’s paw.
Fight? Are you blind?
Yuan Zhaoyang widened her eyes and stared straight at Lin Mianmian.
Lin Mianmian took a steamed bun from the bun pile, placed it in front of Yuan Zhaoyang, and stroked her head. “All right. Eat. No fighting.”
After saying that, Lin Mianmian parted the fur on the yellow cat’s body and muttered to herself in relief, “Hm. Good thing you are not hurt.”
Are you blind? Are you blind? Are you blind?
So angry!
Yuan Zhaoyang felt that her intelligence had been insulted.
She might as well scratch Lin Mianmian to death!
Yuan Zhaoyang smacked the steamed bun in front of her with one paw, hitting Lin Mianmian’s leg with it, then ran away.
One cup of tea later, A-Bai yawned and lay sprawled in her soft nest like a rabbit-fur blanket, listening to Yuan the calico describe for the eighth time how Lin Mianmian had failed to recognize a good demon’s heart.
“So the jade bracelet on her hand was still in full-blocking mode. You did not have time to adjust it, and you came back before smelling the fragrance, right?” A-Bai finally could not help weakly raising a paw to interrupt Yuan Zhaoyang’s complaint. Please return her cold and proud companion. “How about this? You go open the jade bracelet and smell the fragrance. Maybe then you will not be so angry.”
“You mean I am the kind of cat demon who can be falsely accused at will just to rub against some fragrance?” Yuan Zhaoyang paced back and forth around the soft nest. “I am not going! She only knows how to protect that yellow cat. Its claws were so long. She almost got scratched bloody. Who saved her? Who? And she told me not to fight. Was I the one who wanted to fight? Was it me?”
“It was you…” A-Bai rolled over and happened to meet Yuan Zhaoyang’s wide eyes. “Cough, cough. I mean it was you who saved her. It was not you who wanted to fight. Not you.”
“Hmph.” Yuan Zhaoyang shook her fur and continued pacing in circles.
“Can you stop walking around my bed? I am getting dizzy.” A-Bai hopped out of the nest. “She has not drawn spiritual energy into her body yet, so naturally she cannot observe as carefully as you. Besides, you said that yellow cat was only two palms long. Look at you. You are three palms long, right? Lin Mianmian is very soft-hearted. If she did not see that she almost got scratched, then of course her attention fell on the big cat bullying the little cat. Hey… what are you doing…”
A-Bai was stunned. In that instant, the adult calico three palms long turned into a little kitten barely one palm long. What was this supposed to be?
“A small cat, is it? Fine. Who has not been a kitten before?” Yuan Zhaoyang rubbed her now-smaller cat face. “I am leaving.”
“Wait… where are you going?” A-Bai was tired in the heart. The kitten was a kitten, yes, but why did she look like she was going to wreck the place?
The tiny fluffy calico turned back and gave a cold smile. “To fight.”
A-Bai: “…”