Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 77

Back then, Yuan Zhaoyang’s aptitude had been quite good, and her cultivation progress advanced by leaps and bounds. Then she suddenly stopped at peak Foundation Establishment, and that stop lasted several decades.
Although cultivators should have tough hearts, no matter who met such a gap, they would inevitably feel somewhat discouraged.
Yuan Zhaoyang could count as having a rather firm mind. But after so many years passed, so many hopes had finally fallen into disappointments. Cultivation seemed to have become a habit, not a goal.
This was why A-Bai had been shocked earlier. Yuan Zhaoyang’s proper and serious look when she said she would enter a short seclusion was truly something that had not appeared in the past twenty or thirty years.
Was it because the past half year had finally given her the chance to break through and rekindled her hope and passion for cultivation?
A-Bai, who had been mocked by Yuan Zhaoyang and shut outside the door, shook her furry head.
No.
This serious and eager attitude seemed to have appeared only at the very beginning, when the two of them were still in Qi Refining and found cultivation rather fresh, right?
A-Bai gnawed on a chicken leg thoughtfully and could not quite understand.
But if she could not understand something, then she might as well let it go. In any case, Yuan Zhaoyang was about to condense her golden core. For Yuan to have such an optimistic and hardworking attitude now was always a good thing.
Eating with too many messy thoughts in mind would truly waste these delicious foods.
A-Bai wiped her mouth. In the night, she narrowed her eyes gently at the food before her.
There was a rabbit with a whole table of good food, eating heartily. And there were people eating fruit with rice, unable to taste it.
Although Gui Changshou still remembered Xiong Lanlan throwing him earlier, it was late now. Most importantly, there was Yuan Zhaoyang’s class early the next morning. So the matter of breaking the array could not be delayed forever because of personal grudges.
With this thought, Gui Changshou quickly ate two basins of bitter soup-soaked rice, then began searching for a way to break the array.
This array trapped everyone inside a pure white cube of about one hundred square meters on the ground. Whether above their heads, beneath their feet, or on the four walls, everything was laid with white stone-like blocks. Those stone blocks were large and small and had different shapes, yet they fit together tightly. One could see where they joined, but not any large gaps.
Aside from these stone blocks that formed the people-trapping cube, there was nothing else eye-catching inside the array.
Lin Mianmian ate fruit with rice in small bites while watching the little green turtle slowly crawl from one wall corner to another, then head toward the next corner…
“Can Gui Changshou handle it alone… Should we go help?” Lin Mianmian kept feeling that the little green turtle looked a little pitiful crawling around alone. She could not help putting down her bowl and chopsticks and looking at her little friends.
“No need. We are only at the first or second level of Qi Refining. We have not even finished listening to the overview of array courses. If someone gave us an array plate, we probably would not even know how to trap people, never mind break the array,” Xiong Lanlan answered with great self-knowledge.
“I have not finished the overview either… I have been busy with cultivation and have not had time to develop this area.” Feng Liang smiled apologetically.
Meng Tianhe spoke with a poor expression. “I cannot.”
Lin Mianmian glanced at the little green turtle, who had already walked through all four corners and begun climbing up the wall from the base. She asked in confusion, “Is Gui Changshou very good at breaking arrays? Did he not enter in about the same batch as Xiong Lanlan? Does he mainly cultivate arrays?”
“No.” Xiong Lanlan seemed to realize something and patted her bear head with a furry paw. “Right, you do not know. He is a Dragon-Thunder Green-Armored Turtle demon from Nanhe’s Silver Bamboo Forest.”
“Dragon… turtle?” Lin Mianmian froze for a moment. The kind that taunted people?
“Not dragon turtle. Dragon-Thunder Green-Armored Turtle.” Xiong Lanlan emphasized Gui Changshou’s species. “I heard this kind of turtle demon is born with a sense for certain mysterious things.”
“Hmph. Thank you for remembering what kind of turtle I am.” Gui Changshou, who had smoothly climbed down from one wall and was passing by, stretched out his head. “We Dragon-Thunder Green-Armored Turtles are born with divination ability. It is not some sense for mysterious things.”
Xiong Lanlan spread her paws. “Isn’t divination exactly a mysterious thing?”
“You!” The little green turtle was angry.
“So can you use divination to break the array?” Lin Mianmian quickly interrupted the bear-turtle fight.
“Hmph. I am too lazy to talk to you, foolish bear.” Gui Changshou turned his head and stopped looking at Xiong Lanlan. Instead, he explained to Lin Mianmian, “Right now, I can only sense unusual places in the array. It might be the array eye, or the life gate, or something else. But the arrays Wang Minger has are all low-level arrays that can only trap people. As long as I can sense some unusual place and destroy it, we can get out.”
“That is still sensing mysterious things…” Xiong Lanlan pressed her bear fingers together and muttered softly.
“I suddenly understand why that little girl keeps using arrays to hit you. I think you are just asking to be hit!” Gui Changshou rolled his eyes at Xiong Lanlan. After tossing out those words, he did not say more and quickly crawled away to keep breaking the array.
It was not that he did not want to needle her a few more times. It was just that today’s array seemed trickier than usual. It was not something that could be broken in a short while, so doing proper work mattered more.
Xiong Lanlan: “…”
Usually, if Gui Changshou needled the bear, no matter how fast or far he ran, Xiong Lanlan would fire back.
But now, who knew where Gui Changshou’s words had poked the bear. The whole bear grew dull and quiet.
When little friends were too lively or too quiet, both were problems.
Lin Mianmian sighed lightly in her heart. Then she and Feng Liang took up the role of livening the mood.
From deep night to the faint light of dawn.
The little green turtle crawled over every inch of stone blocks inside the array, yet never sensed a place where the array could be broken.
Even Xiong Lanlan could not bear to watch Gui Changshou’s effort and frustration. She silently took out a cup of water, placed it on the ground beside her, and waved a paw at Gui Changshou, who was crouched in a corner. “Rest a while and drink some water…”
“Like calling a dog.” Gui Changshou weakly needled her as usual, but he still slowly crawled over.
The strength of one turtle alone seemed to be able to go only this far.
After drinking five cups of Xiong Lanlan’s water in a row, Gui Changshou pulled himself together again and said seriously, “I calculated the time. There is probably less than one double-hour until class starts. I might truly be unable to do it alone. Everyone, let us discuss together what other ways we might have to find an exit.”
Lin Mianmian, who was sleepily yawning for who knew how many times, smiled bitterly when she heard this. “You are not sleepy? You are still thinking about getting out for class?”
“You do not know?” The little green turtle raised his head in confusion. “You look quite familiar with Senior Sister Yuan and that white rabbit. You do not know that in the Great Lecture Hall, Senior Sister Yuan’s classes have the highest value?”
Right. She was so sleepy she was turning foolish. It was Yuan Zhaoyang’s class.
Lin Mianmian nodded blankly. “There does seem to be such a saying… Senior Sister Zihui seems to have mentioned it.”
“It is all my fault. I dragged everyone down.” Xiong Lanlan blamed herself. “Senior Sister Yuan’s classes, even the most basic ones, are often attended again by people who have already reached high-level Qi Refining or even Foundation Establishment. In the Great Lecture Hall, the class one should least miss is Senior Sister Yuan’s class.”
“It is not your fault either.” Feng Liang touched the stone tile beneath her. “We probably cannot get out in one double-hour. Senior Sister Yuan’s classes are so popular. Yesterday was the first time she came out to teach after more than half a year of seclusion, so many disciples had not noticed the course-list change yet. I think even more disciples will come to class today. Even if we get out, there probably will not be anywhere for us to stand. Let us stay steady and not panic. First, let us see how this array should be broken.”
Senior Sister Yuan… was this popular…
Thinking of the disciples in class earlier, all fully focused with burning gazes, Lin Mianmian suddenly felt a little restless.
Sure enough, they should hurry and break the array!
According to Gui Changshou, the arrays Wang Minger had used before had all looked different. Some formed mist to block people’s eyes, some piled all kinds of clutter and made things chaotic like a narrow cave, and some were as direct and rough as a giant wooden cage dropping over them… and so on.
Although the array styles differed, in the end, they were all the lowest-level arrays. Gui Changshou could fully use the inheritance of the Dragon-Thunder Green-Armored Turtle demons to sense the special places where spiritual energy moved in the array.
Although he had not yet learned how to properly break arrays, for that lowest-level kind of array, there was no need to consider backlash, mechanisms, or any extra changes. As long as he found the unusual place and destroyed it, it was naturally the same as breaking the array.
Gui Changshou had broken several for Xiong Lanlan and believed he had some experience.
Only, today’s array…
Gui Changshou faintly felt that perhaps this was not like the previous ones. It might not be a lowest-level array. Gui Changshou even hesitated. If everyone really did find the array’s unusual place, should they destroy it like before, or wait and see whether a cultivator coming to this classroom to teach could see the unusual place and release them?
No matter what, although everyone knew nothing about arrays, they all began touching here and there, trying to contribute a bit of strength.
In the morning, after slowly eating through half the night with the night wind, A-Bai felt that she had not closed her eyes for long before she woke again, following a sweet fragrance.
Being a qualified food lover was actually not simple at all.
The little white rabbit rubbed her face, smoothed her fur, stretched her four short legs in the soft nest, then nimbly got down and left the room.
Sure enough!
“Cough… cough, cough…” The little white rabbit bounced cutely to the middle of the courtyard and tilted her head. “Good morning. What delicious thing are you making?”
Yuan Zhaoyang, sitting beside the stone table with fire condensed in her palm, roasting a yellow wax-like object, did not look at the rabbit pretending to be very cute. She only spoke faintly. “What, not wetting yourself today?”
“Aiya, what wetting or not wetting? How inelegant.” The little white rabbit put on a fawning face. “You are so early today. Did your seclusion go smoothly? That plate of fruit looks very tasty. Can I eat it?”
Yuan Zhaoyang moved her fingertips, turning over the yellow wax-like object in the center of the flame in her palm. Then she spared a glance at A-Bai.
The little white rabbit crouched there obediently as a small ball. The fur on her body was especially neatly smoothed in one direction, and her face was full of honesty and expectation…
“How could there be anything in this world that you cannot eat?” Yuan Zhaoyang looked at A-Bai, who was obviously different from usual, and instantly understood that this rabbit was pretending to be obedient.
“I knew you were the best!” The little rabbit leaped and landed steadily on the table. Almost at the same time, a small ice fork appeared from thin air, skewered a red fruit, and stuffed it into the rabbit’s mouth.
Chew, chew, chew…
The skin was a little astringent. It was slightly sweet with a bit of sourness. The fruit fragrance was quite strong. Why did this taste so familiar…
A-Bai produced an ice bowl and spat out the pit. She smacked her lips. “This fruit does not taste that great, but the flavor is strangely familiar.”
“Orange-Red Fruit. It is very common. It would not be strange if you have eaten it before.”
“So it was Orange-Red Fruit!” A-Bai stretched all four legs and flopped on the table, utterly without image. Her neat fur also became messy with her careless movement. “I thought it was something delicious. So it is this low-level fruit. The taste is ordinary, and it is not very useful. I have not eaten it in years.”
“What, you feel your grooming and dressing up was wasted?” Yuan Zhaoyang shook the flame in her palm. The yellow wax-like object had already turned inside the fire into a flowing ball of golden liquid.
“Not necessarily.” The little white rabbit turned over and sat up, smoothed her fur, and put on a cute face. “What is that in your hand? Let me guess. It is honey, right? What kind of honey is it? May Vine? Clear River Grass? Three-Li Vine? Wind-Rolling Flower? Iron-Thorn Bush? Maple-Ridge Tree? Why are you roasting honey? A new way to eat it? It smells so fragrant and sweet. Let me taste a mouthful.”
“Linglong Cup,” Yuan Zhaoyang revealed the answer. Then she took out a large plate from her storage bag, looked at A-Bai, and tapped the plate. “Come, make a layer of ice that will not melt into water.”
“Linglong Cup? Good stuff! But doesn’t it bloom only in deep winter? Where did the flower honey come from? Did you gather the honey yourself?” A-Bai did not know Linglong Cup honey, but she knew Linglong Cup counted as a high-grade ingredient, good stuff that only cultivators at Core Formation and above could eat.
“Ice.” Yuan Zhaoyang tapped the edge of the empty plate again.
“…” A-Bai waved her little white paw, and a layer of thick ice appeared at the bottom of the plate, cold air seeping from it.
“You are supposed to be a rabbit from Great Snow Mountain in the Northern Territory. Do you not know Great Snow Mountain has a kind of Hidden-Wing Bee that can gather honey in winter? Besides, if I can buy it, why would I gather it myself?” Seeing the ice, Yuan Zhaoyang was satisfied and naturally answered A-Bai’s doubt.
“Hidden-Wing Bees are not that easy to catch either, and they can only live in winter. Catching them to gather Nanhe flower honey is truly a big move…” A-Bai looked at the sweetly fragrant ball of honey in Yuan Zhaoyang’s hand and smacked her lips. “I want to eat it!”
Yuan Zhaoyang looked at A-Bai. With a slight movement of her fingers, a large ball of flame suddenly appeared, wrapping the Orange-Red Fruits from the earlier fruit plate. In an instant, the skins of the fruits were roasted away by the flame, while the flesh was not harmed at all. Even the juice was sealed properly on the fruit flesh by the flame.
Then Yuan Zhaoyang turned her wrist. Several fine threads of flame entered the large fireball and quickly cut open the Orange-Red Fruit flesh, picking out the pits. In only a short while, a small pile of pits appeared on the table, while inside the flame were fruit halves separated by thin fire threads.
They were clearly little fruits she did not love eating, but once they lost the skin and pits, the petal-like pale pink fruit flesh looked a little tasty…
A-Bai secretly swallowed. “Your fire spells are getting more and more skilled at cooking!” If she had known there would be more delicious food today, she would not have argued with the cat last night.
Hmph, hmph.
Yuan Zhaoyang took a small Moon Rock Sand box from her storage bag. Several apricot-yellow round beads about the size of a little fingernail were swept by fire threads into the large fireball.
“Woman’s Wood!” A-Bai stretched her paw to grab at the air, but a thin fire thread tapped her paw.
The fire threads seemed like skilled weaving workers. They led the halves of Orange-Red Fruit flesh to wrap one apricot-yellow bead after another. Then they carried the Linglong Cup honey, like golden liquid, and wrapped it around each reconstructed fruit.
One fruit after another was reborn from the flame and landed on the huge ice plate Yuan Zhaoyang had prepared, finally setting into shape.
The fruits had originally been plain red fruits. Now, they were half-transparent gold wrapped around pale pink fruit flesh. In places beyond sight, little apricot-yellow beads were hidden inside.
“Taste it.” Yuan Zhaoyang picked up one and placed it on A-Bai’s little white paw.
The thin outer layer of Linglong Cup honey was slightly sweet, mellow, and fragrant. It was soft like fruit skin and made the sweetness and fragrance of the Orange-Red Fruit flesh several times stronger. Because the fruit flesh itself had a faint sourness, it did not feel cloying at all. One only felt the fruit fragrance was pleasant, enough to intoxicate.
When she bit harder, the innermost Woman’s Wood seed was flexible and chewy, carrying a trace of coolness in texture that suited this early summer season perfectly.
Without the earlier skin and pit, and with added ingredients, the Orange-Red Fruit flesh had been improved far too much. Most importantly, after eating one fruit, it was sweet, sour, and pleasant, with honey fragrance and fruit fragrance lingering. The whole rabbit became fragrant.
“Delicious…” A-Bai exhaled deeply, sniffed and sniffed, then sighed. “I feel like I am the heaven-gifted woman in storybooks. Even when I breathe out, the fragrance intoxicates people.”
“And yet you are only a rabbit who has not taken human form.” Yuan Zhaoyang patted away A-Bai’s paw, which had reached again toward the ice plate. Then she quickly took out a clean Moon Rock Sand box and poured the fruits inside.
“N-not… not giving them to me… to eat?” The little white rabbit froze.
“Right. They are not for you.” Yuan Zhaoyang put the Moon Rock Sand box back into her storage bag and smiled. “So tasting one is enough.”
The little white rabbit instantly collapsed on the table and twisted. “Sob sob sob…”
“I am leaving.” Yuan Zhaoyang stood.
“I was wrong last night! Forgive me!” The little white rabbit climbed up and quickly hugged Yuan Zhaoyang’s sleeve.
“I forgive you. But they really are not for you.” Yuan Zhaoyang smiled kindly.
“You! You have another rabbit outside!” A-Bai kicked her legs. But halfway through kicking, she slowly stopped. “Linglong Cup, Woman’s Wood… They are both wood-attribute ingredients. Did you make them for Lin Mianmian? No, wait. Then why did you use fire-attribute Orange-Red Fruit instead of some other wood-attribute fruit?”
Yuan Zhaoyang pressed her lips together and did not answer.
A-Bai, still hugging the sleeve tightly, continued talking to herself. “That is not right either. Not right, not right.”
“What is not right?” Yuan Zhaoyang tugged her sleeve.
A-Bai was like a rock and blinked. “The spiritual energy in that Linglong Cup honey just now was a little off. It seemed a little low. Is that not an ingredient only Core Formation cultivators can use? It should have plenty of spiritual energy… Oh, I know!”
The little white rabbit looked shocked. “You! You tempered that honey? You removed the excess spiritual energy inside and the parts unsuitable for low-level disciples to eat, right? That is why I felt the spiritual energy was a little low when I ate it!”
“…” Yuan Zhaoyang took out a Moon Rock Sand box from her storage bag and placed it before A-Bai. “To praise you for being a smart rabbit, this is what I made for you. I will stop teasing you. I am leaving. I hope after eating these, you will not be this smart.”
After speaking, Yuan Zhaoyang pushed away the rabbit paw and quickly left the courtyard gate.
“Wasting heaven’s gifts… Tempering a Core Formation ingredient down to something early Qi Refining can eat… What are you after!”
Even though the cat had already left, the little rabbit still could not help complaining.
Complaints were complaints. A-Bai immediately opened the Moon Rock Sand box.
Inside were also little fruits, one after another, looking about the same as the box Yuan Zhaoyang had made earlier…
A-Bai took one out and ate it. Linglong Cup honey, Orange-Red Fruit flesh, Woman’s Wood seed. Mm… the honey had plenty of spiritual energy.
So this box was rabbit food for her! At least that cat had a conscience! Exactly. With more than a hundred years of friendship, how could it not compare with Lin Mianmian, whom she had known for less than a year!
A-Bai proudly ate several fruits in a row.
But as she ate, she felt something was a little wrong.
Thinking carefully, although Linglong Cup was a Core Formation ingredient, it had always had the effect of clearing and opening meridians. Linglong Cup honey should also have this effect. Woman’s Wood seed was a low-level ingredient, but Woman’s Wood was especially nourishing for low-level disciples, especially low-level female disciples who were still growing and developing…
Although A-Bai also had a box that seemed a little higher grade… no matter how one looked at it, the ingredients and method for this fruit had been specially decided for Lin Mianmian, right? Using spell fire to refine ingredients was not simple either.
Only, why use Orange-Red Fruit? Because its fruit flesh was pink and a little cute?
Forget it, forget it. She would not think about it!
Anyway… she was only the rabbit who got something on the side!
The sorrowful A-Bai took out a roast suckling pig and pounced on it.
Because A-Bai had delayed her like that, by the time Yuan Zhaoyang reached the Great Lecture Hall, it was almost time for class to begin. Yuan Zhaoyang knew in her heart that even more people would come to today’s class than yesterday afternoon’s. As it happened, today’s lecture was about the circulation and movement of spiritual energy, so she had set it in an open-air classroom on a grassy field.
When Yuan Zhaoyang reached the classroom, more than five hundred people and demons were already seated on the wide grass. But with only a rough sweep, Yuan Zhaoyang discovered that Lin Mianmian had not arrived yet.
It did not matter. Class time had not arrived yet.
In that glance, Yuan Zhaoyang also did not miss the deer demon in the last few rows. But… Yuan Zhaoyang lightly raised her brows. Who could compare with her Orange-Red Fruits today!
She was a little impatient to see the fruit-flavored little white sugar cake.