Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 76

Lin Mianmian’s serious answer had clearly not given a more detailed range of what she wanted to protect. But Yuan Zhaoyang still felt that Rice Ball, as a calico cat, must be on Lin Mianmian’s protection list. It made her heart move.
Only, thinking carefully, Yuan Zhaoyang felt jealous along with being moved. The self who now appeared at Lin Mianmian’s side in human form might not be on that protection list at all.
Lin Mianmian could never have imagined that when her words entered Yuan Zhaoyang’s ears, they could twist and turn through so many thoughts.
She only saw the immortal-like person before her, whose eyes had become as bright as a starry sky in an instant, gradually dim again. Lin Mianmian was a little unable to understand. Was her answer good or not?
A hmph lingered at the tip of Yuan Zhaoyang’s tongue, then scattered silently with her breath.
Yuan Zhaoyang’s expression was normal as she signaled Lin Mianmian to sit down. As always, she did not comment much on the classroom answers.
Just as the deer demon had said earlier, Yuan Zhaoyang’s teaching had always focused on teaching facts and existing experience. As for thoughts belonging to each person or demon, as long as they did not violate heavenly principles, she would not guide them much.
In Yuan Zhaoyang’s view, fates and chances in the cultivation world differed from person to person. The Great Lecture Hall should never exist to create a group of high-combat puppets whose thoughts had been poured into them.
Of course, this was only Yuan Zhaoyang’s personal view.
After the short question time ended, the class returned to its proper track.
The course Cultivation History and Basic Knowledge belonged to the introductory classes of the cultivation world. But when taught, it could be short or long, simple or complex, shallow or deep. Its content stood on the foundation of historical facts, but even more depended on the teacher’s level, knowledge, interest, and degree of care.
After the separation of the four lands, the history section came to an end, and basic knowledge began.
During this time, the disciples listening to the class did not leave early because the class was too long. Instead, as time passed, more and more people came.
When the class first opened in the afternoon, only about half the seats had been filled. By the time Yuan Zhaoyang spoke of the separation of the four lands, there were no empty seats left. Adding those standing and squeezed in, there were probably more than a hundred people.
Very soon, Yuan Zhaoyang had no choice but to lead everyone through the teleportation array in the middle of the lecture and collectively switch to another classroom.
After they changed classrooms and sat down, Lin Mianmian roughly counted. There were at least around two hundred people in the class.
The group that had entered the Five Elements Sect with Lin Mianmian had only seventy-some people. More than half a year had passed. Even if they had not heard this class before and all came, there was still a difference of almost two hundred people.
Moreover, from what Lin Mianmian saw while sitting down after changing classrooms, only about half the people from her batch had come. In other words, the others should all be people who had entered the Five Elements Sect before them.
By logic, the Great Lecture Hall’s courses were opened repeatedly and often. Sometimes, it was normal for two cultivators to teach the same course in one day. There was no reason so many people had never heard this course.
But once the class continued, Lin Mianmian had no time to think more deeply.
One class went from afternoon until late night before it barely stopped.
It had to be said that Yuan Zhaoyang’s class was truly wonderful. Her teaching flowed like clouds and water and drew people in, but it was also interesting and memorable. The disciples listened with full focus and sank deeply into it. After an extremely long class, not only were they not the least bit tired, their minds were even clearer than before.
Yuan Zhaoyang in the classroom was different from the soft person with a little temper, gentle but somewhat proud and awkward, from before.
Her face was calm. She did not have the fresh liveliness from before, but she gained a few traces of solemn dignity. Paired with her pearl-like words, she seemed to shine, drawing people’s gazes so they could not look away.
Because this was not the two of them spending time alone, Lin Mianmian instead no longer had the faint helplessness from before. In addition, in class, everyone was seriously looking at Yuan Zhaoyang. Hidden among them, Lin Mianmian naturally looked with peace of mind, not turning her eyes away.
Mm. So people who had both looks and talent really did come with their own shining effect.
Yuan Zhaoyang, who had stayed at peak Foundation Establishment for several decades, had divine sense so strong that the disciples below could not imagine it.
There were only a few hundred people. If she wanted to tell apart the gaze that belonged to Lin Mianmian, it was far too easy.
Never mind a hundred people. Even if there were a thousand or ten thousand, Yuan Zhaoyang could find Lin Mianmian and meet her eyes in an instant.
However, Yuan Zhaoyang did not want to do that.
Since returning to human form and interacting with Lin Mianmian, Yuan Zhaoyang had no longer felt the treatment she received as the little calico, when Lin Mianmian had paid attention to her at every moment.
Clearly, when she was Rice Ball, if she casually looked at Lin Mianmian during free time, she would receive a huge smile from the other person. There would also be Lin Mianmian’s nonstop self-talk, with mushy praise like so cute, so adorable, so good, truly my darling little treasure.
But as a person, Yuan Zhaoyang only received the other person’s gaze shifting away…
Yuan Zhaoyang knew it was because Lin Mianmian was not familiar enough with her human identity. But knowing was knowing. She was still so angry! Of course, she was definitely not angry because she had lost those strange praises like cute, adorable, good girl, darling, and all sorts of such things…
Hmph…
But now, Yuan Zhaoyang in the classroom seemed to find a little of the feeling of being a cat again.
Whether Yuan Zhaoyang looked at her or not, she was looking at Yuan Zhaoyang. No matter what Yuan Zhaoyang was doing, she was paying attention to Yuan Zhaoyang. No matter how many people were around, or what happened, the one she watched was only Yuan Zhaoyang.
Very good. Happy!
And so a class that should have ended at dusk accidentally continued until late night.
Only when some disciples in the classroom could not endure hunger but also could not bear to miss the lecture began taking out flatbread and dried meat under pressure, carefully avoiding Yuan Zhaoyang’s gaze as they stuffed food into their mouths, did Yuan Zhaoyang suddenly realize how surprisingly fast time had passed. She brought the class to an end.
Truly, it still felt unfinished…
After class ended, the disciples said goodbye to Yuan Zhaoyang one after another, then rushed through the teleportation array toward Clear Heart Hall.
When Yuan Zhaoyang had a bit of space and looked toward Lin Mianmian, she saw that Lin Mianmian had already been surrounded by Xiong Lanlan, Gui Changshou, and the others. Yuan Zhaoyang knew that today’s friendly time together would probably end here.
Being content was a basic quality of a cat demon.
As if!
Yuan Zhaoyang gave a low, soft hmph and waved to the deer demon not far away, who was about to walk toward Lin Mianmian’s group. “Come here.”
The loyal deer fan who had been called by his idol was clearly surprised and delighted. He hurriedly trotted over, da-da-da. But before he had time to tilt his head and act cute, Yuan Zhaoyang pulled him into the teleportation array.
Hmph. Before Yuan Zhaoyang became a real little friend who could make Lin Mianmian talk and laugh naturally, no one should think of cutting in line! Angry!
The deer demon, who had teleported to the mountain top with Yuan Zhaoyang and been assigned a task to clean the sparring ring, looked lost…
Logically speaking, even if he worshiped Senior Sister Yuan, and even if Senior Sister Yuan’s payment was unbelievably generous, still! He was a deer demon with metal and wood spiritual roots. He had never accepted cleaning tasks that were usually taken by water, fire, or earth spiritual roots…
So now, should he make a vine and wood broom and slowly sweep, or make a metal shovel and slowly scrape?
On the empty mountain top, the deer demon took out a handful of orange-red fruits and ate them messily in the wind.
Neither Yuan Zhaoyang, who had not yet obtained the little friend slot, nor the deer demon, who probably would never obtain the little friend slot, could have imagined that in the now mostly empty classroom, Lin Mianmian and her little friends were having an interaction called internal conflict.
When they changed from the small classroom to the large classroom in the afternoon, Lin Mianmian had discovered that Xiong Lanlan and the others had also come to listen to the class. Only, there had been many people at the time, and she had not found a chance to sit with them.
But Yuan Zhaoyang’s class was truly gripping. Even if they had been able to sit together, they probably would not have had the leisure to slack off and talk.
After class, the little friends naturally waited for one another. Once most of the others had left, they could finally gather. Feng Liang and Meng Tianhe’s seats were only a few rows away from Lin Mianmian, so they came over quickly. Xiong Lanlan, however, was taller and had sat in the last few rows, so she arrived a few steps later.
When she reached everyone, the first thing Xiong Lanlan did was touch her bear head. She took down a little green turtle from it and casually threw him onto a chair.
This…
Lin Mianmian could not quite understand. The day before, they had still been stepping on and needling each other. Today, were they friendly enough to climb all the way to the head? It did not look like it. Xiong Lanlan’s throw had used quite a bit of strength…
Lin Mianmian looked at Feng Liang, then at Meng Tianhe. Very good. Everyone had a face of not understanding.
“I say, you bear, can you be a bit more ladylike? Are you even a woman?” On the chair, the little green turtle had landed shell-down. His four small green claws waved in the air with practiced order for a while, then with one forceful push, he flipped over with a smack. He immediately angrily needled Xiong Lanlan.
Xiong Lanlan spread her bear paws, her furry face innocent. “Woman? I am only a female bear.”
“You!” The little green turtle raised one front claw and pointed angrily. “If you are so capable, do not take human form in the future!”
Xiong Lanlan smoothed the fur on her front leg with one bear paw and grinned. “All right.”
The little green turtle lowered his claw and silently lay on the chair.
Feng Liang bent down and looked at Gui Changshou. “Hey, he did not faint from anger because of Xiong Lanlan, did he?”
“I did not.” To prove his strength, the little green turtle raised his claws again and crawled two circles on the chair. “I am not angry. Next time that bear gets trapped by an array, do not come to me for help. Then we will see who faints from anger.”
Xiong Lanlan, who had originally been calmly grooming her bear fur at the side, was unhappy the moment she heard this. She pressed down with one paw. “What? During class, we clearly agreed that you would help me break arrays next time, so I let you stand on my head for class. What, little shorty, are you trying to throw away the bear after class?”
Oh.
The remaining three people looked enlightened.
“Who cares about you?” Gui Changshou swayed his body and drilled out from under the bear paw. “What, do you still remember that you threw me just now?”
“What does that have to do with our agreement?” Xiong Lanlan looked genuinely confused. “Isn’t fighting part of our daily routine?”
“…” The little green turtle stretched his neck. It was unclear whether he was angry or wanted to see clearly whether Xiong Lanlan was serious.
Seeing that Gui Changshou had already been needled by Xiong Lanlan to the edge of exploding, Feng Liang and Lin Mianmian quickly pulled one bear and one turtle away. They would be eating soon. They could not fight now.
Only, none of them could have imagined what happened next.
They heard a cry of, “Stupid bear, if you cannot get out, I will eat you!” Then some unknown object flew from a corner of the classroom and smashed down from midair.
Lin Mianmian only felt her vision blur. When she could see her surroundings clearly again, everything around her was empty and white, like she had been locked inside a pure white cube of about one hundred square meters. Clearly, she was no longer in the classroom from before.
Fortunately, her little friends were all still there…
“Do not be afraid. It is only a low-level array with no attack power. It can only trap people… Gui Changshou can break it with some time.” Feng Liang comfortingly patted Lin Mianmian’s arm. “It is Wang Minger.”
“Heh.” Without the chair, the little green turtle could only lie on the ground and tug the corner of his mouth. “Bear, back then, you shouted every day that you would eat her. Good. Now the aftereffects keep coming without end.”
“If you have strength to say that, you might as well hurry and break the array.” Xiong Lanlan did not take up Gui Changshou’s topic. But the regret on her bear face was simply obvious.
“I will not. You threw me just now.” The little green turtle happily walked a figure eight on the ground.
“This time, you are trapped here too. If you have the ability, do not break it.” Xiong Lanlan glared at Gui Changshou, sat down on the ground, patted her storage bag, and took out a big basin of spiritual rice and a water vat of plain boiled meat. Then she waved to the other three. “Hungry, right? Come eat first. This is plain-water Three-Yellow Iron-Clawed Pheasant meat. Although the taste is ordinary, at least it is not as gamey as Stone-Foot White-Skin Pig meat.”
Lin Mianmian seemed to understand a little. She turned and asked Feng Liang, “Is this the array you mentioned yesterday, the one Wang Minger keeps using to trap Xiong Lanlan?”
Feng Liang smiled bitterly and nodded. “This time, your luck is bad too. Speaking of it, Wang Minger has trapped Xiong Lanlan seven or eight times, right? This is my second time being caught with her.”
Gui Changshou, who was taking out food, raised his little head and said gloomily, “This is the fifth time I have been dragged in!”
Lin Mianmian looked at Meng Tianhe, who had been silent all along.
Meng Tianhe handed a bowl of fruit to Lin Mianmian and shook his head. “This is also my first time.”
Feng Liang smiled. “That is because Meng Tianhe only just arrived. As for Gui Changshou, it is because he is always fighting with Xiong Lanlan and always near her, so he is easily caught together with her.”
“So just now, that was Wang Minger? Was the thing that flew over an array plate? But there was no one in the corner… Why is Wang Minger doing this?” Lin Mianmian did not understand.
“An invisibility talisman, probably. I did not expect her to use an invisibility talisman just to attend a class. I did not see her and thought today was safe. Who knows why she keeps targeting Xiong Lanlan. But for me, if I had not been trapped too, it would be quite satisfying. Wang Minger is impressive too. She uses up one array plate every time. After this array plate is broken, it can still be repaired and used. I asked around before. Although this array plate is the lowest level, it is still worth several spirit stones.” Gui Changshou pushed out two big vats of vegetable soup. “Drink soup.”
“Before, we advised Xiong Lanlan to take the array plates that had been broken and repaired, then talk properly with Wang Minger and explain clearly that all those earlier words about eating her were only to scare her. If they resolved the conflict, it would be fine. But it was useless. Not only did Wang Minger not take back those array plates, she casually trapped Xiong Lanlan again.” Feng Liang scooped a bowl of soup for Lin Mianmian and continued, “We are all still at the stage of cultivating spiritual energy. The Great Lecture Hall’s array courses can only teach shallow things right now. In arrays, we truly cannot compare with Wang Minger, who has already been accepted into Array Peak.”
“But these things she does, like trapping people, switching away food, and scaring the bear in the middle of the night, can only count as little pranks and minor play. There is no way to report it upward and ask someone to manage it.”
“Moreover, this bear is not willing to report it upward either.” Gui Changshou lifted his head from the plate where he had been drinking soup and added.
“It is just a child making trouble. It is not enough to report upward.” Xiong Lanlan poked the spiritual rice in her bowl and said gloomily, “Besides, we are very free in the outer valley. Who knows what the situation is on Array Peak? She was finally noticed by Array Peak’s peak master and taken up there. Could I ruin her future over such a small matter? I do not want to be that kind of narrow-minded bear.”
“Fine, fine, you are the most generous.” Gui Changshou snorted. “Why do I never see you being generous to me? She traps you every few days, steals your food, and scares you at midnight, yet you treat it all as a child’s play. What about me! Counting by demon race age! I am also only a baby!”
Xiong Lanlan looked at Gui Changshou and covered his vegetable soup plate with one bear paw of spiritual rice. “Eat, turtle baby. Unfortunately, you are a hard baby that pricks the hand even when pressed, while she is a soft baby who looks like she will break if one is not careful. What comparison is there between you two?”
There was actually no way to answer that…
After listening through two rounds, Lin Mianmian kept feeling that Wang Minger’s pranks sounded like more than just a child’s pranks.
Only, before Lin Mianmian could think carefully, the food by her hand had piled up. After eating a few bites, the terrible texture of the food made Lin Mianmian lose the mind to think more deeply.
True. Perhaps she was thinking too much. That child was so young. How could she have such deep and far-reaching thoughts?
Plain-water Three-Yellow Iron-Clawed Pheasant meat looked a bit like boiled chicken, only the taste was lighter and the meat was tougher… All right, not just a little tougher.
Xiong Lanlan was a bear demon, so it was fine for her. But for Lin Mianmian, Feng Liang, and the others, it was truly rather hard to chew. The texture was practically like a whole piece of boiled, flavorless, old cured meat…
The Food Classic did have two dishes that used Three-Yellow Iron-Clawed Pheasant as the main ingredient. Lin Mianmian just did not know whether the pheasant meat made from those recipes would also be this hard to chew.
Thinking this, Lin Mianmian shook her head. It probably would not…
“Eat fruit.” Meng Tianhe placed two more plates of fruit in front of Lin Mianmian and smoothly moved the bowl of plain-water Three-Yellow Iron-Clawed Pheasant meat in front of Lin Mianmian farther away.
Feng Liang looked at Lin Mianmian, who sincerely thanked him, then at Meng Tianhe, who had returned to shut-in mode. Hm…
Plain-water Three-Yellow Iron-Clawed Pheasant meat was already a tragedy. Of Gui Changshou’s vegetable soups, one was Bitter Jiji Grass Soup, and the other was an unknown soup that tasted even more bitter than Bitter Jiji Grass.
The spiritual rice was still soft and dense. Paired with fruit, for Lin Mianmian, it barely counted as an emergency meal.
Only… in the end, that bowl of little wontons from the morning had flavor.
Thin skin and lots of meat, filling with juice, and a fresh, delicious soup. The wonderful taste bloomed on the tip of the tongue. Every bite was satisfaction to the extreme…
Just thinking about it made her mouth water. She had really eaten too quickly in the morning. She should have eaten more slowly and tasted it more carefully, so she would have longer memories now to pair with her meal…
Lin Mianmian had not expected that she would so quickly use the apocalypse-era skill of eating with memories as side dishes again.
Tonight, there were always some delicious things that only belonged to a prepared rabbit.
On Hengshui Peak, the night wind was gentle. The little bunny was home alone.
On the left were three bowls of little wontons. On the right was a handful of big chicken legs. In the middle was a roast suckling pig, every bite crisp!
When Yuan Zhaoyang returned, she saw ice knives and ice forks flying back and forth in the courtyard. Ice spoons floated through the air, busy without pause. The little rabbit, who had already eaten herself into a white ball, lay openly on the soft cushion in the center of the table, eating one bite after another as if countless invisible servants were waiting on her.
The spells coming and going in the courtyard were no less busy than Yuan Zhaoyang had been when roasting meat that morning.
Truly… one used spells to make food, and the other used spells to eat. There was probably no one else like them.
Yuan Zhaoyang shook her head, both annoyed and amused. She did not plan to disturb the rabbit’s late-night snack and directly prepared to return to her room.
A-Bai, who was already used to being mocked by Yuan Zhaoyang, was a little unused to Yuan Zhaoyang quietly passing by like this. The rabbit sprang up and sat properly in the soft nest with a friendly face. “You are back. Have you eaten?”
“Do you want to chat with me about Clear Heart Hall?” Yuan Zhaoyang turned back and smiled just as friendly.
A-Bai’s face fell, and her ears drooped. “Can we still chat properly? I was only caring about you. Coming back and returning to your room without a word is not like you.”
Yuan Zhaoyang lifted her head and looked at the sky. “So, chatting about Clear Heart Hall would be like me?”
“Go!” A-Bai raised a paw and angrily pointed at the door.
Yuan Zhaoyang waved her hand and prepared to enter the room. Suddenly, she turned back to look at A-Bai. “Right, I will enter a short seclusion. I will come out tomorrow morning. If you are hungry, do not call me.”
“You? Enter a short seclusion?” A-Bai trembled in fright, jumped out of the soft nest, then stretched her head to look inside it.
“What? Is there a problem? What are you doing?” Yuan Zhaoyang looked confused.
“Oh, from twenty or thirty years ago, you have not entered seclusion for cultivation, right?” The little white rabbit carefully reached out a paw and touched the soft nest where she had just been crouching. “I just felt that I seemed to have been scared into wetting myself by you.”
“A! Bai!” Yuan Zhaoyang was furious. “I told you to read fewer storybooks! Now you are acting them out!”