Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 81

The moon was bright and the stars were few. A breeze stirred waves of fresh spiritual plant scent through the courtyard.
The one holding the little hamster in her hand was Du Yixi, sect master of the Five Elements Sect. She wore a simple, light, pale gray robe, with only a small jade plate hanging at her waist. A wooden hairpin loosely held up her hair, giving her a lazy air within the looseness.
Du Yixi lowered her head with a faint smile and sniffed beside the little plump hamster’s cheek. She was clearly a mighty Soul Transformation cultivator, but at this moment, she looked more like an innocent young wife raising a small animal. She truly had none of the bearing of a sect master.
No matter when one looked, she had a charm that made a mouse unable to move its eyes away.
“Whether it tastes good or not, try it yourself.” The little hamster tried hard to lower her head, and her small paw lightly tapped Du Yixi’s palm.
A peanut half the size of the hamster appeared side by side with the mouse in Du Yixi’s hand.
Du Yixi gently pinched it.
One peanut, two peanut kernels.
One for the sect master, one for the hamster.
The feeding was practiced and easy. The receiving of food was smooth as flowing water.
“Is it good…” The little hamster looked at her seriously.
“Not bad.” Du Yixi tasted the peanut kernel in her mouth. The five-spice flavor was rich. This mortal-world thing was something she truly had not eaten for a very, very long time. “How did you get this after going out once? What did Yuan Zhaoyang come to you for?”
“Nothing much. You just finished pouring spiritual energy into the great array. Rest properly. It was only some small matter. I can handle it.” The little hamster spoke with a serious face while gnawing on half a peanut kernel.
“Our Yaoyao is becoming more and more capable.” Du Yixi smiled and gently stroked the little hamster’s bulging cheek with the pad of her finger.
She could not even gnaw down one peanut kernel in one go and had to store half of it in her cheek pouch. Truly too cute.
The little hamster stretched out a thin little paw and pushed away Du Yixi’s finger. “I am going to make the final adjustments to the great array.”
“No hurry.” Du Yixi’s smile was gentle. She skillfully used another finger to move the little hamster’s paw aside and continued rubbing the little fleshy face.
“I am a little in a hurry…” The beige little ball rolled out of Du Yixi’s palm. She still remembered that she had promised Yuan Zhaoyang she would settle Wang Baiguang’s side today. Seeing that night was already deep, there were probably not even two hours left.
The little furball fell from one hand, then landed in the same person’s other hand.
Han the hamster: “…”
“There is no hurry. You have not finished the peanut yet.” The sect master looked innocent.
The little hamster finished the remaining half peanut kernel in her cheek pouch with lightning speed. After that, she even lifted a paw and patted her face, showing that there really was nothing left.
Du Yixi used one finger to block the little hamster, who was about to roll down again. She gave a drifting glance at the moon in the sky, then adjusted the hairpin on her head. “How about this, Yaoyao? Let us eat one more.”
Han the hamster: “…”
A silent, serious-faced little plump mouse staring at someone was also very cute.
Du Yixi had not finished sighing over it when she felt her hand sink. Her heart said, not good. Today, Yaoyao could not take teasing at all.
Sure enough, in the next breath, there was no little hamster in Du Yixi’s hand. There was only a beautiful woman in a beige robe standing before her.
“Han Qingyao…” Du Yixi quickly loosened the corner of the woman’s robe that was still in her hand.
Han Qingyao had originally wanted to say something. But seeing how Du Yixi had clearly pulled away at once, she suddenly did not want to say anything.
“Then go handle your work. Go, go…” Du Yixi smiled and stepped back two steps, a Soul Transformation cultivator making way for a Core Formation cultivator.
“Mm.” Han Qingyao nodded, turned, and walked toward the house. The handful of five-spice peanuts she had originally held in her palm was secretly put back into her storage bag.
When Han Qingyao was in demon form, Du Yixi held her in her palm with a face full of pampering, calling her Yaoyao this and Yaoyao that, refusing to leave even when chased.
When Han Qingyao was in human form, Du Yixi kept her distance, called her by full name and surname, and even her smile carried a few traces of strain.
The sect master… truly was very hateful!
One mouse was in a bad mood, but one cat was in a very good mood.
The talk with Han the hamster had gone even more smoothly than Yuan Zhaoyang had expected. For this, she truly had to thank A-Bai, who often muttered all kinds of Five Elements Sect gossip. But she truly had not expected that True Person Han was really, as A-Bai said, so devoted to the sect master. Yuan Zhaoyang had only slightly hinted that if nothing else worked, she would have to trouble the sect master, and True Person Han had neatly taken the trouble onto herself.
After going to Clear Heart Hall to pick up Lin Mianmian and escorting the little cake back to her courtyard, Yuan Zhaoyang, who was close to seclusion, had originally wanted to stay a little longer tonight. But thinking that True Person Han had said she would send news today, Yuan Zhaoyang returned to Hengshui Peak.
When Yuan Zhaoyang left, the water on Lin Mianmian’s stove had not yet boiled. The promised cup of tea could naturally only wait until next time. Yuan Zhaoyang felt some strange expectation, and also a little emotion she could not sort out herself, probably called reluctance.
On the way back, Yuan Zhaoyang could not help spitting at herself in her heart. She would see Lin Mianmian in class tomorrow morning. What reluctance? Could she have gone stupid?
Perhaps it was because Lin Mianmian had gone missing in the morning. After losing and regaining her, Yuan Zhaoyang had not yet fully calmed.
Thinking this, Yuan Zhaoyang could not help spitting at herself in her heart again. She was about to become a Core Formation cat. Did such a small rise and fall still need time to smooth out?
Like this, thinking the whole way, spitting at herself the whole way, and finding reasons for herself the whole way, she arrived at Hengshui Peak. The good mood she had gained from True Person Han was forcefully tangled into a mess by Yuan Zhaoyang herself.
When she pushed open the courtyard gate, a tiny white ball was squatting properly beside the door. Yuan Zhaoyang, who had been thinking over matters, almost stepped on it.
The little rabbit raised her head and looked at the shoe that had nearly stepped on the tip of her ear. She spoke faintly. “I did not stick on an invisibility talisman this time…”
“I thought you would not come back today.” Yuan Zhaoyang pulled her foot back in time. In the past, if A-Bai did something to anger the cat, she would always hide outside for a few days before returning. Today truly surprised the cat a little.
“I had already left the sect. But after thinking about it, this time, those children almost faced life danger. More or less, I should bear some responsibility… Also, Wang Baiguang’s side should not be left for you to handle alone. So I came back…” The little white rabbit rubbed her front paws with a sincere face. “What do you need me to do? Should I go teach Wang Chuanying a lesson, or go confront Wang Baiguang? Say the word, and this rabbit will act!”
“Besides Cultivation: Bear Ersheng’s Counterattack, what else has Lord Huanxue written?” Yuan Zhaoyang closed the courtyard gate, walked straight to the stone table, and sat. Then she took out two cups of fruit wine, looking very much as if she wanted to have a long talk.
“…” The little white rabbit shuffled to the stone table and said sadly, “I just write for fun. I did not think Wang Minger would take the story in the book seriously. But this cannot all be blamed on that little girl either. If we must blame someone, blame her master, True Person Han!”
“Oh? How so?” Yuan Zhaoyang raised a brow. She had a pretty good impression of the hamster demon who had taken over the trouble so neatly.
“When I came back this afternoon, I stopped by Array Peak and asked around. If I had not asked, I would not have known. Once I asked, hehe.” The little rabbit hopped onto the table with an aggrieved face and licked several big mouthfuls of fruit wine before continuing. “Do you know, back when Wang Minger had an epiphany and successfully drew qi into her body, and was also a five-spiritual-root, several Core Formation True Persons wanted to take her as a disciple. But that little girl refused. She insisted on going back to Xiong Lanlan, who was still in the outer valley at the time, and did not want to leave with anyone. She only knew how to cry and cry and cry. She was young, so those Core Formation elders could not say much. If she was unwilling, then forget it. Were dignified Core Formation elders supposed to coax a five-year-old milk child? Everyone scattered, leaving only True Person Han. Then she started telling Wang Minger Cultivation: Bear Ersheng’s Counterattack…”
“You mean True Person Han used the story in your book to trick herself into getting a disciple?” Yuan Zhaoyang continued with interest, stroking her wine cup.
“Is that not exactly it! After Wang Minger heard the story in the book, she kept asking True Person Han whether all bears were so pitiful. True Person Han did not say yes and did not say no. She only said that if Wang Minger became her disciple, besides the resources issued by the sect, she herself would also add many extra things. If Wang Minger had a kind heart and shared some with her little friends from before, as her master, True Person Han would not watch too closely. Tell me, even tricking a five-year-old child, is True Person Han not especially bad!” As the little white rabbit spoke, she grew angrier and angrier. Her little white paw stomped on the table, almost shaking the fruit wine out of the cup.
“Indeed…” Yuan Zhaoyang looked at the little rabbit whose fur was about to puff up from anger and nodded along with her. But her words turned. “However, the Array Peak master has been in seclusion for a long time. The Five Elements Sect’s sect-protecting array has always been maintained and run by True Person Han. True Person Han has five spiritual roots. Perhaps she also wanted to accept Wang Minger, who likewise has five spiritual roots, because she wanted to train a disciple who could take over the sect-protecting array.”
“Hmph. Anyway, using my book to deliberately mislead a child is still her fault.” The little white rabbit’s fur was still puffed.
Yuan Zhaoyang could not help tapping the table. “Who told you to happen to write a book called Bear Ersheng’s Counterattack? If you had written Mouse Ersheng’s Counterattack, even if True Person Han used it to coax a child, I think it would have had a much smaller effect on Wang Minger.”
“That would not work.” The little white rabbit shook her head seriously. “Then it would have the same main character as my Harem: Mouse Zhuangzhuang’s Rise to Power.”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
A-Bai: “…”
“Mouse… what?” Yuan Zhaoyang felt she might not have heard clearly.
The little white rabbit stepped back two steps and stood at the edge of the table. “There was no mouse anything…”
“Hahahahaha…” Yuan Zhaoyang laughed until she lowered her head and held her forehead. “Mouse Zhuangzhuang… Hahahaha, Mouse Zhuangzhuang… Guess whether Han the hamster has read this one. Hahaha…”
Yuan Zhaoyang rarely laughed so hard that she almost lost her image. Her whole person was nearly unable to stop laughing. The little white rabbit, however, did not seem infected by this surging laughter at all. She only answered with a serious face, “In terms of jade slip sales, Mouse Zhuangzhuang’s Rise to Power sold better than Bear Ersheng’s Counterattack. The possibility that True Person Han has read it is still very high.”
“Then what else have you written? Hurry and tell me.” Yuan Zhaoyang wiped away the tears of laughter at the corner of her eye, kindly filled the little white rabbit’s cup with fruit wine, and kindly took out several plates of snacks to go with the wine.
Five-spice peanuts, salted edamame, stir-fried river snails, fried shrimp balls, honeyed potato strips…
The little white rabbit narrowed her eyes. In the dozen-plus years since coming to the Five Elements Sect, when Yuan Zhaoyang had taken the initiative to bring out food for her, it was either Clear Heart Hall’s plain boiled meat or Clear Heart Hall’s plain boiled vegetables. The dishes before her now had meat and vegetables, sweet and salty, and looked good in color, smell, and taste. Most importantly, they were clearly mortal-world dishes. This was truly the first time in more than ten years.
However, this sugar-coated cannonball was something A-Bai refused.
“I am busy every day eating, drinking, playing, and having fun. How would I have time to write many books? Not many, not many.” The sensible little rabbit slowly retreated to the edge of the table.
Yuan Zhaoyang was not anxious to force her to answer right away. She smiled and reached out to take a five-spice peanut from the plate.
With a crisp crack, the little rabbit trembled slightly. Three peanut kernels fell into Yuan Zhaoyang’s hand.
Yuan Zhaoyang slowly finished eating the peanut kernels in her hand, tapped the plate, and called, “Eat.”
She did not have that kind of courage… One of the little rabbit’s hind legs was already hanging in the air, ready to run at any time.
“What, you said you came back to help me handle Array Peak’s matter, and now your words do not count? You are going to run away again?” Yuan Zhaoyang took another peanut, but only rolled it in her hand and did not crack it open.
“They count, they count!” The little rabbit nodded hard. “Whatever you need me to do on Array Peak’s side, just say it.”
“So what else have you written?” Yuan Zhaoyang asked with great interest.
As a cat, why are you showing such excellent patience on this matter!
A-Bai did not speak.
“Lord Huanxue?” Yuan Zhaoyang narrowed her eyes and smiled.
That one call of Lord Huanxue broke A-Bai’s hesitation.
Fine, fine. Her pen name was already known. Even if she did not say it, Yuan Zhaoyang could casually ask around and gather all those books.
No, she could not let Yuan Zhaoyang gather all of them…
A-Bai’s thoughts spun quickly, and she squeezed out a smile. “There is nothing I cannot say. I will show you.”
After speaking, her little white paw patted the golden bell, and a stack of jade slips was neatly piled on the table.
Yuan Zhaoyang had originally only thought the book titles were funny and wanted to tease A-Bai. Now, looking at the pile of about forty or fifty jade slips on the stone table, she was also fiercely startled.
“This is what you meant when you said you are busy every day eating, drinking, playing, and having fun, and have not written many?” Yuan Zhaoyang took one from the jade slip pile and looked at it. Fine, this one was called Run, Moon-Half Fox. It did not look as interesting as the first two titles. “What kind of fox is this Moon-Half Fox? Why have I never heard of it?”
“Read moon and half together.” The little white rabbit smoothed the fur on top of her head with her paws.
“Moon… half…” Yuan Zhaoyang read carefully.
“You are so foolish. It is fat!” A-Bai looked as if she had lost all hope. “It seems you really need to read more books!”
“Fat, moon half means fat… Hahahahaha… Fat Fox, so this book is called Run, Fat Fox…” Yuan Zhaoyang fell into laughter again. While laughing, she gripped the jade slip in her hand tightly. “I cannot, I cannot. Hahahaha, lend me this jade slip. I do not believe I am the only one who cannot read it.” Mianmian definitely cannot read it either! Thinking of Mianmian, Yuan Zhaoyang unexpectedly felt a little eager to show it to her.
“I will give it to you.” The little white rabbit pointed at the jade slip pile on the table. “I will give them all to you. But please, do not read these book titles in front of me again. Although they are all the fruit of my wisdom, having someone read them out loud to my face still feels strange.”
“Fine, fine.” Yuan Zhaoyang smoothed the breath she had nearly laughed crooked and began putting the jade slips into her storage bag.
One by one.
Look at one, laugh for a while, put one away, then pick up another and look… Like this, over and over…
Yuan Zhaoyang did follow A-Bai’s meaning and did not read the jade slip titles aloud again. But from her reaction… the rabbit’s face burned even more.
A-Bai gave a light snort and did not look at Yuan Zhaoyang, who was already laughing until she sprawled on the table. She picked up the shrimp balls and river snails from the plates and started eating on her own.
The shrimp balls were crisp outside and tender inside. The river snails were spicy, numbing, and springy. The little rabbit’s left paw, right paw, moved quickly, then right paw, left paw, repeated quickly. She ate like a sweeping wind and was extremely happy.
After Yuan Zhaoyang put away the last jade slip, she raised her eyes and saw that the dishes on the table had been mostly eaten by the little white rabbit. So she kindly took out another plate of fried soybeans and placed it beside the little white rabbit’s paw. After hesitating, she still opened her mouth to ask, “I see that many of your books are about demons… But it seems you have never written about… cat demons?”
The little white rabbit, who was eating while lying with all four feet in the air and hugging a river snail to suck at it, might have sucked too hard. She choked and coughed many times. Then she crawled up, gulped a mouthful of fruit wine, and only after letting out a breath did she shake her head and answer, “Never wrote one. Never wrote one.”
Yuan Zhaoyang pressed her lips together, as if she still wanted to ask something, but in the end, she did not. During this period, although she had stepped out of the little calico cat identity, her care for Lin Mianmian had instead grown by a few points. She had even wanted to read books with cat demons as the subject to see whether this care for a former owner was unique or common… But if there were none, then forget it. Even if A-Bai often mixed in the mortal world, she only had a few more points of understanding of mortal-world cats, not cat demons. If she wrote one, it would probably be based on Yuan Zhaoyang herself, and that would have no value as a reference.
The little white rabbit stepped on a river snail shell and half lowered her eyes. From the corner of her eye, seeing that Yuan Zhaoyang seemed to have given up this topic, she let out a small breath of relief.
But the next topic Yuan Zhaoyang brought up made her breath catch again.
“Among these books of yours, which one sold the best? Wait, do not say it yet. Let me guess.” Yuan Zhaoyang bent a finger and rubbed her chin. After thinking for a moment, she smiled and said, “I guess it is one of these three: Run, Moon-Half Fox, Moon-Half Fox Searches for Waist Lines, and Moon-Half Fox Must Be an Orange Fox. Right?”
The little white rabbit fell silent for a moment and nodded stiffly.
“The first one?” Yuan Zhaoyang knew that if it was written into a series, it must have been popular.
“The third one…” The little white rabbit said with sorrow. With the motion of her paw, she pushed aside the river snail shells beside her and worked hard to change the subject. “I think these dishes are quite good. Where did you buy them? Are you not uninterested in these mortal-world dishes?”
“So Moon-Half Fox Must Be an Orange Fox is the most powerful one.” Yuan Zhaoyang was not disappointed because she guessed wrong. She only tapped the dishes on the table. “I did not buy them. You bought them. You do not remember?”
“Me?” The little white rabbit froze. “These ten-plus years, you have never liked me eating mortal-world things. How would I dare give you these?”
“Then perhaps…” Hearing this, Yuan Zhaoyang frowned and thought. “Hm, when we had just come to the Five Elements Sect?”
Frozen like a wooden rabbit…
After a long while, a trembling rabbit paw pressed onto the empty shrimp ball plate. The little white rabbit shook as she said, “So what I ate just now was food from more than ten years ago? Food that is more than ten years old?”
Perhaps because she was too shocked, the whole rabbit’s words became a little unclear.
“Probably.” Yuan Zhaoyang hesitated. “I also cannot remember too clearly. When we had just come to the Five Elements Sect, you often went out to find all kinds of food. Some of the things you brought back for me, I put in a Moon Rock Sand Box… Recently, when I was organizing the Moon Rock Sand Boxes in my storage bag, I found them.”
“The Moon Rock Sand Box truly can keep mortal-world food fresh for more than ten years, nearly twenty. That is true…” The little white rabbit looked at the empty table and collapsed. “But I feel like I am going to have diarrhea…”
“You will not. You are already a Core Formation rabbit…” Yuan Zhaoyang comforted her. “I looked at the food, and it was all very fresh. It looked the same as when it was first put in. I even gave True Person Han a handful of peanuts.”
A-Bai lay flat on the stone table and slapped it with a furry paw. “I am going to have diarrhea! Diarrhea!”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
A-Bai: “Diarrhea!”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…How about…”
A-Bai: “Diarrhea!”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…How about… you get off the table before having diarrhea?”
A-Bai: “…”
On this night that was not friendly to rabbits at all, even though Yuan Zhaoyang said the Array Peak matter had already been handled and told A-Bai to focus on having diarrhea at home, the little rabbit still could not get happy at all.
As for the fact that Lord Huanxue’s famous work, and also the one that sold the best, was actually The Adventure of the Kitten That Fell from the Sky, A-Bai felt she would never tell Yuan Zhaoyang!
Just as Yuan Zhaoyang probably would not tell A-Bai that Lord Huanxue was probably very bad at naming things…
Between friends, there always needed to be a few little secrets to fill life with friendliness, just like those foods that should not have expired…
But between some other people, there was no need for secrets, nor were there any.
Since Han Qingyao had agreed to Yuan Zhaoyang’s request, she naturally felt she had the ability to persuade Wang Baiguang and solve this matter. But she had not expected the matter to be solved so easily, so easily that it gave her a feeling of unreality…