Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 54

Even the cutest cat in the world… cat demon, could not secretly produce a bowl of little wontons with perfect color, fragrance, and taste in such tiny scraps of time while staying so close to Lin Mianmian.
Rather than rush and lose her standard, it was better to find another path from the start.
On Hengshui Peak, A-Bai, who had been lost in the memory of the cat’s rabbit hops and laughing herself silly, inwardly refused when she received Yuan Zhaoyang’s voice-transmission paper sparrow. Unfortunately, the benefits listed at the end of the paper sparrow were too tempting. Her inner refusal could not defeat the greedy worm in her belly. In the end, A-Bai yielded.
When Lin Mianmian got up the next day, the little rabbit had already arrived with steaming hot little wontons. The light in her little eyes was so warm and eager that it was simply hard to refuse.
Lin Mianmian felt a little awkward under the little rabbit’s burning stare. She could only wash up at flying speed and sit down at the table.
More than ten little wontons nestled close together in the clear soup inside the porcelain bowl. Tiny bits of seaweed and egg strips dotted the surface. They looked simple, yet extremely tempting.
Just from appearance alone, they had already surpassed her bowl from yesterday by far.
If this world had delivery, that would be wonderful. Delivery saved people with useless cooking skills. Facing delicious food, Lin Mianmian, who was not good with her hands, thought this.
After blowing on it a few times, the wonton she put into her mouth was still a little hot.
A wrapper as thin as cicada wings held a thumb-sized bit of meat filling. The fresh flavor melted in her mouth and instantly captured Lin Mianmian’s taste buds.
“Good, right?” A-Bai, lying off to the side, spoke faintly after Lin Mianmian had eaten a few wontons with a face full of happiness.
Lin Mianmian swallowed the wonton in her mouth and hesitantly looked at A-Bai, who suddenly seemed a little resentful. “I asked you before I ate. You were the one who said you did not want any. Regretting it now?”
“Of course not. I am only asking if it tastes good.” As A-Bai spoke, she secretly turned her head and glanced at Yuan Zhaoyang, who was curled in the soft nest beside the little house door.
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
“Very good. Much better than what I made.” Lin Mianmian praised sincerely, but she could not help asking the second half of her question. “But when I eat it… it does not seem like Senior Sister Yuan… cooked it?”
“It was not her in the first place. She is in seclusion.” A-Bai had never planned to let these wontons pretend to be Yuan’s work. But now, hearing Lin Mianmian’s words, she found it a little interesting. “How do you know she did not cook it? Did you not say it tastes good?”
“It really is very good, but it is still missing something. Take the roasted chicken legs Senior Sister Yuan made before. I have also eaten many delicious roasted chicken legs, but the ones Senior Sister Yuan roasted always had a few more layers of flavor.” Lin Mianmian frowned slightly and organized her words. “Once you have eaten Senior Sister Yuan’s cooking, you have something to compare with. The roasted chicken legs from before were tasty, yes, but if I thought carefully, the flavors were always not balanced enough. Senior Sister Yuan’s were different. The seasonings on those roasted chicken legs felt as if they had been born as one with the chicken legs. Every bit of flavor and every strand of chicken blended together. Both were delicious, but the second kind was clearly much more impressive.”
Impressive, little girl. Actually, you have already seen that the calico is your Senior Sister Yuan, haven’t you? These cat-coaxing words of yours come out in full sets.
A-Bai glanced at the calico cat lying properly in the soft nest, seeming not to care about the conversation at all. If you have the ability, do not point your ears so straight this way.
“Probably because she controls fire well, so her cooking is decent.” For the twenty roasted chicken legs written on the paper sparrow last night, A-Bai held back from sending a voice transmission to mock the fake cat whose tail had unconsciously begun to swish.
Twenty roasted chicken legs. For twenty roasted chicken legs, she had flown back and forth for more than one double-hour just to buy little wontons from the place Yuan Zhaoyang had personally chosen.
A-Bai felt she had to endure. She could not lose her chicken legs for the brief pleasure of mocking someone.
And so, before Lin Mianmian had even finished her bowl of wontons, A-Bai covered her eyes and left.
Yuan Zhaoyang looked at Lin Mianmian, who continued eating wontons with a puzzled face. Her mood was rather complicated.
At first, when Yuan Zhaoyang came to Lin Mianmian’s side to cultivate with the help of the fragrance on her body, she had to consider not only how many layers of the jade bracelet restriction to open, but also how Lin Mianmian’s sudden changes in emotion would affect the fragrance’s density. Later, as Yuan spent more and more time beside Lin Mianmian drawing in that fragrance, at some unknown point, her spiritual energy had already begun to work very well with it. At first, Yuan had restrained herself and carefully used her spiritual energy to match the changes in the fragrance. Later, it was as if the spiritual energy and fragrance became familiar with each other. When her spiritual energy circulated, it naturally received the fragrance’s push and support.
Day by day, the restriction could now be opened three layers, and Yuan Zhaoyang’s cultivation had become more and more smooth, like a fish in water. Whether in speed or result, it was far better than Yuan Zhaoyang had expected at the beginning.
The day before, when A-Bai had thrown the matter of forming a core in her face, Yuan Zhaoyang had reflexively said she still needed to keep working hard. But Yuan Zhaoyang herself knew clearly that by now, her accumulation was already enough. Core Formation was something that would happen naturally.
Only, Yuan Zhaoyang still had not decided when to leave and go into seclusion.
Although during this period, she had finally grown from a little calico into a big calico, Yuan Zhaoyang did not think Lin Mianmian would truly stop worrying, as A-Bai had once said, just because the calico was already grown and could protect itself even if it got lost.
Also… Lin Mianmian’s spiritual root aptitude was too poor. Two months later, newcomers would arrive in the outer valley again. Yuan Zhaoyang… still could not quite set her heart down. And so, when to leave and how to leave were delayed day after day in the calico cat’s hesitation.
Aside from personal insight and the effect of outside forces, the time needed to draw spiritual energy into the body was indeed most closely related to one’s spiritual root aptitude.
Over the next two months, the remaining thirteen people broke through one after another.
By the time the newcomers entered the outer valley, among those thirteen, only Lin Mianmian and one scholarly-spoken boy remained in the outer valley.
From more than seventy people, down to two.
The once-every-ten-years disciple recruitment at Yingxian City was only one of the Five Elements Sect’s methods for recruiting new disciples. When Five Elements Sect disciples traveled outside and met promising children with spiritual roots, they could also bring them to the Five Elements Sect. After the sect approved them, they could be accepted under the sect. Besides this, cultivation families connected to the Five Elements Sect would also send over some children of suitable age with spiritual roots every few years.
In the past, the Five Elements Sect’s Yingxian City recruitment and the arrival of children from cultivation families were usually separated by one or two years. One side was made of mortal-world children who had rarely touched the cultivation world. The other side was made of children from cultivation families who had been pushed along by many outside forces. Separating them into batches allowed each group to start with companions in similar situations.
This time, however, another batch arrived after only about half a year.
A-Bai had asked around. The twenty-some children sent this time mostly came from small families. Only a few had elders above them who were Core Formation Perfecteds of the Five Elements Sect, and those Perfecteds were the kind still in the sect now, not the kind lost in the Eastern Sea. Although A-Bai knew Lin Mianmian was not someone who caused trouble for no reason, she still kindly reminded her not to get into conflict. It was not that there was anything to fear. It was only that those children had more or less been given things by their families, and if something happened and could not be controlled well, it would be troublesome.
Lin Mianmian held the few simple voice-transmission paper sparrows and the three defensive talismans A-Bai had given her, talismans said to take effect once thrown out. She was a little surprised. What happened to the Five Elements Sect being rich in supplies and its disciples being harmonious?
A-Bai was also a little surprised. Wasn’t it the same everywhere that wherever there were people, there were conflicts?
Once she put it that way, Lin Mianmian also felt A-Bai had a point. Still, she thought that aside from collecting ingredients, she would be cultivating in her room. She should not have any chance to clash with those people. Besides, the task of teaching the new batch of disciples to draw spiritual energy into their bodies was handled by another cultivator at perfect Foundation Establishment named Wang Fang. Under A-Bai’s arrangement, Senior Sister Zihui had already agreed to visit the courtyard every few days. Lin Mianmian did not even need to leave the courtyard.
People could never imagine the world too beautifully.
Sometimes, even if you had no intention of provoking trouble, if trouble insisted on coming to your door, it was hard to avoid.
Ever since those newly entered disciples came to the outer valley, Lin Mianmian rarely went out. Besides focusing on cultivation, Lin Mianmian also had one matter that she could not quite describe as upsetting, or as something that simply left a sour feeling in her heart.
That was: Rice Ball seemed to be in love.
The target was… Fried Dough.
When Rice Ball had still been a tiny milk kitten, Lin Mianmian had brought it into the room to raise. Lin Mianmian still remembered how much time and care she had spent before this somewhat wary and shy little Rice Ball slowly accepted her closeness bit by bit.
But who could have imagined that over this past month or so, Rice Ball, who had never cared about the small animals coming and going in the courtyard, somehow grew closer and closer to Fried Dough? From time to time, the two cats walked side by side around the courtyard. If Lin Mianmian did not pay attention, the two would curl up close together. Little Rice Ball would even pat the cat bowl and call Fried Dough up to share the nutrition meal. The key point was that Fried Dough actually came up.
In truth, when Rice Ball and Fried Dough first showed signs of becoming close, Lin Mianmian was shocked and refused to accept it. Her direct reaction was to scoop Rice Ball up without hesitation, stuff it into the cat pouch, and separate them.
But the second time, A-Bai happened to be present. Seeing Lin Mianmian react so strongly and separate the two cats, A-Bai slowly asked Lin Mianmian a few questions. “So this cat can only follow you for life? It can only accept the things you give it? Is this you loving it? Or is it only that you need it?”
Every word was a thorn. Every needle drew blood.
After thinking for a whole night, when Rice Ball walked close to Fried Dough again the next day, Lin Mianmian… lifted Fried Dough high. Not caring whether Fried Dough could understand, she very sternly repeated again and again that falling in love was allowed, but anything else was not even to be thought about right now. If it dared think about it, she would neuter it. After saying this, she placed Fried Dough back beside Rice Ball with a complicated expression. Then she watched Fried Dough closely with an even more complicated gaze.
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
Fried Dough, who had suddenly begun living a life where it could eat delicious little meat jerky several times a day, did not know why the calico cat suddenly had so many demands. It had to get close, but also keep enough distance so their fur did not touch. It had to curl up together, but also breathe in another direction. It did not know why the human in the courtyard who cooked bad food suddenly lifted it fiercely and kept looking at it. It also did not know why there was always a chilly feeling between its two hind legs.
But with little meat jerky, it had everything. Everything else could be overcome.
Lin Mianmian had to cultivate, raise a cat, and endure heartache while watching the progress of Rice Ball and Fried Dough’s romance. Her daily life could not possibly be more full. She did not even have extra attention for the fact that the new disciples had already arrived in the outer valley.
Meng Tianhe was different. He was the other person who, like Lin Mianmian, had still not drawn spiritual energy into his body. He always spoke in a scholarly way, and before coming to cultivate, he had been preparing to take the imperial exams.
When Meng Tianhe had studied in the mortal world, he had counted as one of the more talented students. But between the imperial exams and cultivation, he had resolutely chosen cultivation, even though he knew his spiritual root aptitude was barely enough to be called average.
Making a decision was not simple. But holding to that decision afterward was even harder.
The people who had started at the same point went from more than seventy, to forty or fifty, to a dozen, and now to only two.
No amount of praise he had received while studying could save him from failure on the cultivation path.
The many suppressed feelings Meng Tianhe had developed because of his long lack of progress were already close to breaking point when the new batch of disciples entered the outer valley. Those negative emotions were like burning flames, constantly scorching his heart. Even breathing was almost a heavy pain.
Although he tried hard to act as if nothing had happened, Meng Tianhe truly was about to be unable to endure it. And in the valley, the only person he could talk to was Lin Mianmian, who was in almost the same situation.
Very quickly, under Meng Tianhe’s almost one-sided venting, the two became familiar with each other.
Even though Meng Tianhe forced himself to be calm every time he came, and most of what he said was idle talk, rarely touching on cultivation, the powerful negative aura around him was about to burst out. As long as Lin Mianmian was not blind, she could see it at a glance.
Someone like this was actually rather dangerous. If things went wrong, he might have self-destructive tendencies.
At first, Lin Mianmian instinctively wanted to seek benefit and avoid harm by… politely and coolly ending the conversation. But facing a boy only thirteen or fourteen years old, one who was clearly about to explode from pressure yet still forced himself to talk with her about how good the weather was today, she always felt a little unable to bear it.
He was still a child. Only a child who wanted to find someone to talk to, who did not want to be completely controlled by his suppressed emotions.
Lin Mianmian could not ignore a child’s instinctive, harmless attempt to save himself.
And so, Lin Mianmian, who was not good at making comforting soul soup, taught Meng Tianhe… how to pet cats.
It happened that after Feng Liang left, Little Gray had been released into freedom. Although it often came to eat and drink, for some reason, it was frequently glared away by Rice Ball. A clingy cat like Little Gray had food and drink, but over these months, it seemed a little lacking in love.
Little Gray changed owners for the third time and hit it off with Meng Tianhe. Very soon, the time that one person and one cat spent visiting Lin Mianmian’s courtyard grew less by unspoken agreement.
Meng Tianhe had truly never imagined that these small animals wandering everywhere in the outer valley, once truly picked up, held in one’s arms, and raised, would have such… heart-soothing power.
Seeing the hostility around Meng Tianhe gradually fade and his whole person become much more positive, Lin Mianmian finally let out a breath. When the two occasionally chatted, they no longer deliberately avoided the topic of cultivation.
Lin Mianmian had finally relaxed a little.
But this thing called a breath was so annoying. Every time she had just let it out, she had to lift it again. It was simply too hateful.
The upsetting things one was meant to meet would sooner or later come to the door on their own, even if one sat at home every day.
It was one afternoon, about half a month after the new disciples had arrived in the valley. Meng Tianhe came to visit Lin Mianmian with Little Gray tucked inside his clothes and some stewed meat in his hand.
Just as the two were looking for a bowl to move the meat into, they suddenly heard a somewhat sharp female voice outside the courtyard.
“So dirty! Hurry and throw it away!”
For some reason, both of their hearts tightened at the same time. They hurried to the door and saw a chubby little boy around five or six years old holding Little Gray up in his hand. Not far from him stood several boys and girls about the same age as Meng Tianhe. One young girl in a pale lotus-pink silk dress was covering her nose and frowning, urging the boy to quickly throw the cat away.
“This is my cat. I am sorry it ran out. Could you please give it back to me?” Meng Tianhe quickly went out and reached a hand toward the boy.
“No! What are you?” The boy gripped the cat tightly, his face wild and unruly.
“Oh, aren’t these the two people who failed to draw spiritual energy into their bodies after more than half a year? I thought it was only a rumor. I did not expect there really were useless people like you. How did the Five Elements Sect accept people like you? You simply lower its status.” The girl in the pale lotus-pink silk dress looked at Meng Tianhe and Lin Mianmian with the same disgust she had used when looking at Little Gray earlier.
Lin Mianmian glanced at her calmly. So there really were people in the world who would provoke others even when no one provoked them. Novels truly did not lie to her.
“Do not grip the cat so hard. It hurts.” Meng Tianhe was closer to the boy. He saw the boy’s thick fingers dig into Little Gray’s fur, especially one finger stuck at the cat’s neck. Little Gray was so uncomfortable that its tongue was sticking out.
“Didn’t the Five Elements Sect say we cannot hurt these little animals in the outer valley? Look, the cat is uncomfortable. Put it down first, all right?” Lin Mianmian endured and stepped forward to negotiate with the boy, who looked like a spoiled brat.
“No. None of your business. Who are you?” Although the boy was fat, he had none of the honest look that sometimes came with it. His brows and eyes were full of disdain. Not only did he fail to loosen his grip on Little Gray, he used even more strength.
“Exactly. Our great-uncle is an elder of the Five Elements Sect. So what if my little brother pinches it to death?” The girl in the pale lotus-pink dress, perhaps because she had not received enough attention, changed direction and began encouraging the boy.
None of the people behind the girl stopped her.
These people were so unreasonable it was shocking.
The girl was not finished. She pointed behind Lin Mianmian into the courtyard. “Oh, you have two more in there. Might as well kill them too. Your aptitude is already poor, yet you still raise these things and waste time. Do not say I am being too harsh. Maybe in three or five years, when you two useless things finally draw spiritual energy into your bodies, you will even thank me for helping you get rid of these useless things now.”
Lin Mianmian looked back at the calico and yellow cat crouching at the courtyard door and watching this side. She touched the talisman A-Bai had given her, finally unable to hold back from snapping back, “Who do you think you are? You stand at someone’s door, not a teacher, not an elder, not someone worthy of respect, and with a few words you think you can teach people cultivation, teach people how to live, teach people this and that. If you are so capable, why don’t you fly into the sky?”
The girl had not expected Lin Mianmian, who had ignored her all along, to speak like this as soon as she opened her mouth. Her face changed. Before she could strike back, something happened on the other side.
Humans could trade insults, but a cat could not endure forever.
Little Gray had always been close to people and had an excellent temper, but before it was nearly strangled to death, it truly could not hold back.
The fat boy cried out. He raised the gray cat in his hand and threw it toward a nearby tree.
Meng Tianhe, who had been watching Little Gray closely the entire time, pounced like a tiger and caught Little Gray in midair. But he was only a weak scholar. After catching the cat, his whole body crashed heavily to the ground.
“Ahhh!” The boy clutched the bloody scratch on the back of his hand. Seeing that the gray cat that dared scratch him was actually safe in that boy’s arms, and was even licking the boy’s face very gently, felt like a challenge and insult to him.
“Careful!”
“Wait!”
Lin Mianmian and the girl in the pale lotus-pink silk dress spoke almost at the same time.
But on one side was Meng Tianhe, who had fallen and was in pain and confusion. On the other was a spoiled brat who feared nothing. Their voices had no power to stop what happened.
The roaring spoiled brat recklessly pulled a handful of small silver beads from his clothes and smashed them toward Meng Tianhe, who was protecting Little Gray and trying to get up from the ground.
Lin Mianmian had no way to judge what those beads did, but without thinking, she knew they were not anything good. Because there were so many of them, Lin Mianmian feared one defensive talisman would not be enough. She threw all three talismans A-Bai had given her at once.
Fast reaction, Yuan Zhaoyang thought silently behind Lin Mianmian, drawing her paw back.
Although Lin Mianmian was rather far from Meng Tianhe, fortunately the talismans activated in midair once thrown. The spoiled brat’s silver beads, meanwhile, had to hit the ground and bounce.
A fortunate time difference.
A huge boom came with a flash and white smoke. Meng Tianhe and Little Gray were safe and sound. The spoiled brat, however, had been knocked down by the close-range rebound. The front of his clothes was torn, and he rolled on the ground kicking in anger. The onlookers were stunned by the repeated changes. Lin Mianmian was the first to come back to herself. She pulled Meng Tianhe back into the courtyard.
Only after Lin Mianmian quickly modified the small courtyard’s barrier and added a restriction forbidding entry did she finally let out a breath and send a voice-transmission paper sparrow to look for A-Bai.
Very soon, Wang Fang and A-Bai arrived almost one after the other.
Only then did the shouting and cursing from the people outside the courtyard finally pause a little.
Lin Mianmian glanced at the array plate Xiong Lanlan had given her. Its soundproofing function was also very useful.
On one side were descendants of a Core Formation Perfected. On the other was A-Bai’s insistence. In the end, the conclusion was that because no one had been killed or injured in this conflict… it would be left at that.
Of course, “left at that” only meant it was left at that on the surface. As for what happened in private, as long as it did not reach the higher-ups, how things developed was still hard to say. Everyone knew this in their hearts. They simply did not say it out loud.
But the looks those people gave Lin Mianmian when they left made her feel uncomfortable. If she were facing them alone, Lin Mianmian would not be afraid. Argue if they wanted to argue. Fight if they wanted to fight. Who was afraid of whom? But now the situation was different. They knew what she and Meng Tianhe cared about, what they valued.
These small animals from the mortal world were said to be protected from being killed. But if those people really killed them, would the Five Elements Sect avenge these little animals that could be seen everywhere in the mortal world? The answer was, of course, no.
They could kill animals. She… could not kill people, could she?
Once there were things she cared about and wanted to protect, she had concerns. Those people had probably grabbed exactly this point. They knew she could only swallow her anger, so they had agreed to this settlement so quickly.
Those with nothing to lose were always the most reckless.
Before Lin Mianmian could think of how to protect these small animals in the outer valley, A-Bai drooped her ears and took the initiative to admit fault.
So… because A-Bai liked her and wanted her to enter the Five Elements Sect so they could play together, A-Bai had lied and said there were many small animals in the outer valley. In truth, all of them had been temporarily caught from the mortal world. That kind of thing had been a lie, right?
Looking at Lin Mianmian, who was stunned by her confession, A-Bai felt a little unable to bear it. But this was also the best time for the role of the calico cat to leave reasonably. She truly had not expected such a suitable chance to appear.
“The spirit beasts raised inside the Five Elements Sect are indeed protected. That is true. But these small animals I caught from the mortal world are not included in that protection.” A-Bai glanced outside the courtyard. “But those newcomers might not know this yet. So tell me, should I send them back to the mortal world? New disciples cannot casually leave the sect before mid Qi Refining unless there are special circumstances. If I send the animals back, I do not think these people will be bored enough to specially go kill small animals. Even if they really are that bored, by the time they can leave the sect, these small animals will have already lived out their natural lives.”
“Then send them quickly…” Lin Mianmian pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. “Maybe Wang Fang will tell them today. It is all right while you are here now, but once you leave, it will be hard to say.”
“Mm, I think so too.” A-Bai nodded in agreement. Then she pointed one paw toward the calico cat lying beside Fried Dough. “These two should be sent away too, right?”
What?
Lin Mianmian froze.
After a long while, Lin Mianmian lowered her head. “Send the others away first. These two… I will think about it. Anyway, I also hung a little stone on Fried Dough. They cannot leave this courtyard, so they are safe for now.”
“But after you draw spiritual energy into your body, you will have to leave this place. They cannot live deeper inside, where spiritual energy is denser,” A-Bai kindly reminded her.
“…” Lin Mianmian clenched her palm and said softly, “I know. I will think about it.”
A-Bai did not keep pressuring Lin Mianmian. She left.
That night, in the outer valley, one more person successfully drew spiritual energy into his body.
When Meng Tianhe knocked open Lin Mianmian’s courtyard door in the middle of the night with red eyes and said, “I drew spiritual energy into my body,” his expression was not excited. Instead, it carried a bit of fierceness.
If he had not followed it with, “Sorry. I suddenly succeeded and left you alone…” Lin Mianmian would have thought he had not drawn spiritual energy into his body successfully, but had suffered cultivation deviation.
To be honest, in that instant, Lin Mianmian truly felt the bleakness of two hardship brothers tied for last place on an exam, only for one to suddenly test second from the bottom, leaving only herself at the very end of the line. But very quickly, Lin Mianmian sincerely became happy for him.
After all, Meng Tianhe’s ability to withstand pressure was truly not strong. He had been healed by Little Gray before, but what happened the previous afternoon had probably turned that healing back into depression.
Now, this was good too.
Then Meng Tianhe said a pile of messy things. The general meaning was: One day, I will make them regret it.
Lin Mianmian had expected Meng Tianhe to say things like this. But as for him saying that he was very grateful for Lin Mianmian’s protection and that in the future, he would protect Lin Mianmian in return… that was really unnecessary, right? After all, the talismans used had all been A-Bai’s.
Lin Mianmian did not take credit at all and properly praised A-Bai.
But when Meng Tianhe left, he still wore a stubborn, dead-set expression. Lin Mianmian felt that a boy who had drilled himself into a dead end was truly very stubborn.
The small mortal-world animals on the outer valley side were all sent away by A-Bai. Even Flatbread and Little Sesame were gone.
The courtyard, which had often had small animals coming to eat, drink, play, and poop, suddenly became much colder and emptier.
Lin Mianmian looked at the calico, who followed Fried Dough like a shadow. Her mood was still very complicated.
If she stayed here forever, could she keep taking care of the little calico forever? Lin Mianmian could not help thinking this.
Then, as if heaven had sensed her weakness, the array Xiong Lanlan had given her broke the next day.
Lin Mianmian had no choice but to send A-Bai a voice-transmission paper sparrow.
A-Bai came and brought a bottle of water. Oh, no. It should be called a bottle with only one mouthful of liquid left.
“You should know I will not give you another array. Just like I know that if I gave you one, you would stop cultivating,” A-Bai said directly after hearing Lin Mianmian’s request.
Lin Mianmian: “…”
“Actually, deep down, you have always been very clear about the path you should take next. You just cannot bear to part with things. But in life, there is always giving up before gaining.” A-Bai worked hard to repeat the words Yuan Zhaoyang was transmitting to her on the spot. “Since this array broke, that is heaven’s will. Heaven’s will is telling you not to keep trapping yourself because you cannot bear to let go. Heaven and earth are so vast. There is always something else quietly waiting for you in some corner of the world. If you hesitate too long and stay trapped too long, toward that other thing, how is it not also a kind of betrayal?” Tch. What heaven’s will? One look and it was obvious Yuan Zhaoyang broke it.
Lin Mianmian: “…A-Bai, did someone write a speech for you before you came?”
A-Bai rolled her eyes at the calico cat beside her. For forty-five roasted chickens, she slapped a bottle out of her golden bell and tapped it with a little paw. “See this? Drink this mouthful, and you will draw spiritual energy into your body. The benefit is that it lets you draw spiritual energy into your body quickly. The downside is… hard to say. Some possible issues might be blocks when breaking through realms, such as going from Foundation Establishment toward Core Formation. It is also possible that after demons drink it, their transformation period is delayed. For example, no matter what, a demon in Core Formation should be able to take human form, and yet she cannot.”
From the moment A-Bai took out the bottle, Lin Mianmian’s gaze had not left it.
The bottle was clearly stoppered, yet she seemed to smell endless fragrance inside.
Hungry. Thirsty. Want to drink…
Rather than a desire to drink it all in one breath, it would be more accurate to say her whole body was longing for it. Yes, forget her mouth and stomach. Even her hands and feet, which could not drink water, were almost unable to control their desire to merge with it.
This strange attraction was like a fish drying on the shore, close to death, longing for a single drop of water. This feeling made Lin Mianmian have no doubt about A-Bai’s words. Lin Mianmian could completely imagine that after drinking this thing, it would be like dry land finally being watered, the soil becoming rich, flowers blooming all over the mountains and fields. Drawing spiritual energy into the body should be no problem at all.
“Senior Sister Yuan and you both drank it?” Lin Mianmian moved closer and looked carefully at the bottle. Mm, it seemed there was about one-third left.
The calico cat at the side rolled her eyes at A-Bai. She had told A-Bai not to speak outside the transmitted script. Now A-Bai had exposed them in minutes.
Fine. Even if they were exposed, it did not matter.
A-Bai explained very clearly the possible benefits and harms of this thing. She also said that this was something she and Yuan Zhaoyang had obtained by chance, with an unknown formula. So the benefits and harms they could state now were all things that had already happened, and the downsides might not be these, or might not only be these. Because they lacked repeated chances to try it and did not have enough cases to analyze, all of this was only guesswork.
It was only that Lin Mianmian’s spiritual root aptitude was truly too poor. To put it bluntly, according to common sense, if there were no strong and effective outside force, or sudden insight, Lin Mianmian was unlikely to draw spiritual energy into her body before her lifespan ended.
So A-Bai brought this out only because she wanted Lin Mianmian to have one more path to choose.
What choice was there?
Even if she did not choose to draw spiritual energy into her body, without the barrier, she had no way to protect little Rice Ball.
Since drawing spiritual energy into her body was already inevitable, then let this thing, which she wanted to drink dry at first glance, bring her farther down the road.
Although A-Bai said this thing was being given for free, Lin Mianmian would never drink it for nothing. It was useless to speak of repayment now. Lin Mianmian recorded the debt in her heart. She only hoped her aptitude was not so bad that it could not be saved, and that she would at least be given a chance to pay back the spirit stones.
Lin Mianmian turned back and looked deeply at the calico cat.
Then, with firm resolve, she picked up the bottle and drank it all in one breath.