Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 56

At the door, Yuan Zhaoyang held the door with one paw and covered her chest with the other. The whole cat leaned against the crack in the door and sat down.
This was the critical moment of Lin Mianmian drawing spiritual energy into her body. Yuan Zhaoyang glared at Fried Dough, who was about to walk over. In truth, what Yuan Zhaoyang should have done at this moment was close the door and give Lin Mianmian a quiet space to break through.
But for some reason… looking at the person sitting cross-legged at the center of the spiritual energy, breathing in and out so seriously, Yuan Zhaoyang could not quite move her eyes away.
The road she had thought Mianmian would have to walk alone for several years, or even longer, had suddenly shortened into this moment.
It was truly wonderful.
The joy and relief in Yuan Zhaoyang’s heart right now were no less than when she discovered she could already form her core. It could even be said to be more.
How strange.
Lin Mianmian, who had her eyes closed and was busy controlling spiritual energy according to the method, had no idea that at this exact moment, her little Rice Ball was half-leaning against the door in a loose, slumped pose she had never seen before, looking at her with complicated eyes and not even blinking.
According to the method for drawing spiritual energy into the body, after wisps of spiritual energy entered the body, one should guide them along a set route to open the meridians, smooth the body, and finally gather them in the dantian. Repeating this until the dantian was full meant the threshold of drawing spiritual energy into the body had truly been crossed.
Lin Mianmian had never expected that drawing spiritual energy into the body would come just like that. Especially after the failure of drinking that liquid during the day, it happened that night without warning.
Fortunately, after several months of study, even though she had made no progress, she knew the method by heart. After the first shock, Lin Mianmian quickly calmed down and successfully controlled the spiritual energy that entered her body.
When spiritual energy flowed inside her, every place it passed had a faint sour numbness. This was exactly the normal feeling described in the method for drawing spiritual energy into the body. At this point, Lin Mianmian’s heart settled even more.
However, when those wisps of spiritual energy passed through the meridians in her body, the timing and feeling were about the same as what the method described. But when they reached the area of her head and forehead, it was as if a strange blockage appeared. Their speed suddenly slowed.
At first, Lin Mianmian thought it was only a temporary problem. But soon, the spiritual energy in front slowed, and the spiritual energy entering her body from behind caught up. Before long, several wisps of spiritual energy were jammed in the area of her head and forehead, making her whole head feel swollen and painful.
Realizing something was wrong, Lin Mianmian immediately slowed the speed of her breathing, hoping to reduce the amount of new spiritual energy entering her body. The reason she did not stop at once was that Lin Mianmian was still haunted by her terrible aptitude after being unable to draw spiritual energy into her body for so long. Who knew whether this chance came from luck or something else? If she misjudged for a moment, stopped, and lost this chance, who knew when the next chance to draw spiritual energy into her body would come?
Lin Mianmian was taking a bit of a risk. Fortunately, for now, her head was only slightly swollen and had not reached an unbearable level. She worked hard to push the spiritual energy mass between her head and forehead forward. Anxiety inevitably rose in her heart. If it stayed stuck here forever, then no matter how unwilling she was, she would have to stop this attempt to draw spiritual energy into her body.
Yuan Zhaoyang’s gaze had never left Lin Mianmian. When she saw the person inside the room, who had been peacefully drawing spiritual energy in, suddenly frown as if enduring something, the calico sitting slumped by the door crack felt her heart tighten and stood up at once.
What was going on? Shouldn’t drawing spiritual energy into the body be very simple? Basically, as long as one could begin, one would succeed. Why did Lin Mianmian look so uncomfortable?
Yuan Zhaoyang finally could not hold back. She squeezed through the crack in the door and quickly walked to the bed.
The person sitting cross-legged on the bed had, in only the few steps Yuan took to come over, become covered in sweat on her forehead. Her whole body looked as if she was in great pain.
This… this drawing spiritual energy into the body looked more like cultivation deviation.
Where was the problem? Was it that mouthful of liquid that might have lost effect? Was it Lin Mianmian’s own spiritual root aptitude? Or was it the way she was circulating spiritual energy right now? In an instant, many thoughts turned through Yuan Zhaoyang’s mind.
Yuan Zhaoyang leaped lightly onto the bed. Her fluffy paw lifted unconsciously. No matter what the problem was, Lin Mianmian had not yet drawn spiritual energy into her body, and her cultivation was so low it could basically be ignored. As long as Yuan gave her a light strike, she could interrupt Lin Mianmian’s current cultivation, which was still drawing in spiritual energy. Then Yuan only needed to guide things a little, and in just a few breaths, she could force out the spiritual energy Lin had drawn in.
As long as she interrupted her right now, Lin Mianmian would not feel uncomfortable and would not be injured.
Yuan Zhaoyang’s paw lifted high, but for a long time, it did not fall.
What if? What if there was no problem, and Lin Mianmian’s body was simply sensitive, making her reaction to drawing spiritual energy into her body a little strong? Lin Mianmian’s spiritual root aptitude was so poor. If Yuan acted rashly, would she destroy Lin’s only chance to draw spiritual energy into her body?
The choice was so difficult that the whole cat was about to twist into a knot.
No, no. There had to be another way.
Yuan Zhaoyang quickly swept through her storage bag. She no longer cared about hiding things as carefully as usual. She directly took out several pills, placed them between her paws, pressed her paws together, and crushed them into powder. Then she flicked out a fireball the size of a claw tip and burned the powder. A clear fragrance instantly filled the room.
No, no. It was still not enough.
Yuan Zhaoyang only hated that she had been too lazy when refining pills in the past. She had been unwilling to spend dozens of times more effort to refine a few pills with absolutely no pill poison, ones even mortals could endure. If cultivators used the pills, that was one thing. After all, that tiny bit of pill poison would dissolve by itself after they circulated spiritual energy a few more cycles. Everyone used them like this in daily life. After all, spending dozens of times more time to refine something without pill poison was less practical than just circulating spiritual energy a few extra cycles. Right now, aside from the few pills she had refined in the past just in case, the rest were all common calming pills from the cultivation world, the kind that worked after ordinary refining and nothing more.
Under the medicinal fragrance, Lin Mianmian’s expression did not grow more pained, but her brows remained tightly furrowed. Clearly, whatever trouble she had met, this had not improved it.
Even though Yuan Zhaoyang could be considered experienced and well-informed, at this moment she could not tell what exactly was happening to Lin Mianmian.
Still, even if this was not cultivation deviation, using things that cleared the mind and calmed the spirit was never wrong. These things were gentle in nature. They helped soothe emotions, made a person calmer, and helped increase their ability to endure.
In the current situation, Yuan Zhaoyang did have many pills in her storage bag that could be used, but there were none left suitable for someone like Lin Mianmian, who had no cultivation. After throwing out an array plate that could dispel demonic influence and dissolve inner obstacles, Yuan Zhaoyang swept through her storage bag again. Finally, her gaze stopped on a jade box.
Inside the jade box was a small ice-blue fruit.
Even though Lin Mianmian deliberately slowed the speed at which she drew in spiritual energy, because she could not bear to lose this chance and had not stopped cultivating, spiritual energy was still slowly entering her body. Following the meridian path the earlier spiritual energy had opened, it reached the area of her head and forehead.
Clearly, this place should have passed smoothly like before. Why exactly was it blocked here?
Lin Mianmian could not understand it. As more and more spiritual energy blocked up, the pressure on her meridians grew greater and greater. The feeling had already gone from sour swelling to pain.
No. No matter the reason, if this still did not work, she was afraid she would explode.
Just as Lin Mianmian was full of unwillingness and preparing to stop cultivating, she smelled a clear fragrance. Her mind, which had already been pressed into dull confusion by the spiritual energy, seemed to clear a little.
But only a little.
Very soon, as the next batch of spiritual energy arrived, Lin Mianmian was pressed into dizziness and swollen eyes again.
Perhaps the blockage was making her hallucinate.
Lin Mianmian, already somewhat unable to bear it, could not think further. She could only slowly prepare to give up this chance that might never appear again.
Suddenly, just as Lin Mianmian was about to stop breathing in spiritual energy, something was stuffed into her mouth.
Who? What?
Lin Mianmian had no time to think more. She did not even have time to spit out the thing that had suddenly appeared in her mouth. It turned into a warm liquid with a slightly sour-sweet taste and slid into her stomach.
Was it those two siblings?
My calico!
Lin Mianmian was greatly alarmed.
No, it was not.
Just as the frightened Lin Mianmian was about to end this cultivation without any buffer and hurry to check on the cat, her mind suddenly became clear. She felt… a cleverness she had never felt before.
The area of her head and forehead still hurt and swelled, but it could no longer stop her ability to think calmly.
Almost in the turn of a thought, Lin Mianmian understood the thing she had not been able to figure out before.
Lin Mianmian did not stop cultivating. She knew it was not those siblings, because what she had just swallowed should be a good thing. At the same time, she also knew what was blocking the path of that spiritual energy.
If her guess was right…
Lin Mianmian controlled the spiritual energy gathered at her head and forehead. She recalled the appearance of ability users who had died in battle during the apocalypse after they were dissected. Then she guided the spiritual energy around the outline of the core inside the ability user’s brain from her memory, toward the familiar place from those years when she had still been a wood-type ability user, the place where her ability energy had come and gone.
This was an experiment so bold it was almost a wild fantasy. If Lin Mianmian guessed wrong, what awaited her would be spiritual energy she could not guide back, spiritual energy blocked in the wrong place until it became impossible to control.
At this moment, Lin Mianmian was calmer than she had ever been. She could clearly feel that her cleverness had reached the highest point within her ability.
She had guessed right.
The spiritual energy that turned a corner had deviated from the route written in the method for drawing spiritual energy into the body, yet it flowed all the way without obstruction. At last, following this path, it returned to the dantian.
As more and more spiritual energy gathered in the dantian, Lin Mianmian finally let out the breath she had been holding in her chest.
She had thought this would be another failed attempt at drawing spiritual energy into her body, one she had not prepared for.
Unexpectedly, not only had she succeeded in drawing spiritual energy into her body, she truly still had the core from the apocalypse. It was simply a wonderful surprise.