chapter 5
5. Spirit Cat
Cloud Sparse Shadow’s dancing wasn’t bad.
Though her interests were numerous and even scattered, most were at a certain level of proficiency. The few she loved most had even reached a state of perfection.
—After all, she was at the Integration Stage. The accumulation of several hundred years wasn’t something ordinary people could match.
While Lin Dongming didn’t know Cloud Sparse Shadow’s exact age, generally breaking through to the Integration Stage happened after one’s hundredth birthday. Thinking of it this way, alchemy was probably one of her interests. It was just that this interest developed particularly well, so it became her main focus.
—However, today’s dance posture… it was “Dream Floating Bridge,” wasn’t it?
This was a dance form of civilian performers, renowned for its graceful elegance. Lin Dongming knew that Dream Floating Bridge was only part of a complete dance, and although this segment was beautiful and dreamlike, it leaned more toward a lonely, sorrowful atmosphere.
Lin Dongming paced with barely passable skill, accompanying Cloud Sparse Shadow’s dance, only hoping her mood wouldn’t collapse afterward.
On the surface, Cloud Sparse Shadow was a respected alchemy elder with high moral standing. Those more familiar knew she had many interests and enjoyed mortal pleasures, like an old child at heart. But only a few close to her knew that once Cloud Sparse Shadow’s emotions became unstable, she could be quite mad.
Now Lin Dongming was her emotional stabilizer, the first to suffer when she went berserk.
But Lin Dongming felt the surrounding spiritual energy beginning to stir restlessly, making him extremely nervous. The power of someone at the Integration Stage was immensely strong; the spiritual energy fluctuations within her body could easily affect the outside world. Not to mention Cloud Sparse Shadow was likely exceptionally gifted in this respect.
“Who’s there?!” A strange spiritual force intruded.
A motley-colored wild cat meowed and pounced into Cloud Sparse Shadow’s arms.
“Oh? This little one…” Cloud Sparse Shadow was somewhat surprised.
“It’s the one you saved a few days ago, isn’t it?” Lin Dongming smiled with relief. “Seems it’s growing quite well.”
At the time, Lin Dongming had asked Cloud Sparse Shadow if she wanted to simply adopt it, since it seemed to have some spiritual awareness and might even cultivate into human form.
But Cloud Sparse Shadow’s response was absolutely firm: no.
—Do you know how long spirit cats live?
Lin Dongming shook his head:
—I only know ordinary cats live just fifteen to twenty years.
—Spirit cats live only twice as long, so thirty to forty years.
Lin Dongming immediately understood: if it couldn’t establish its Foundation within forty years to become a true demon beast, then for Cloud Sparse Shadow, the time it could accompany her would be merely the blink of an eye.
“It’s not just that,” Cloud Sparse Shadow said. “Its cultivation has improved a bit.”
As if showing off, the little wild cat proudly raised its second short tail and flicked it at Lin Dongming.
“Oh? It’s from the nine-lives cat demon lineage.” Lin Dongming was also curious. “Seems there’s some hope for Foundation Establishment.” Lin Dongming could sense the little wild cat’s current state was around the eighth level of Qi Refinement, which was indeed not bad.
However, even at the peak of Qi Refinement, many people never achieved Foundation Establishment in their lifetime. It depended on opportunity and luck.
But clearly, this little wild cat wasn’t a purebred nine-lives cat demon. After all, nine-lives cat demons were known for their pure white, flawless fur, while its messy coat obviously contained bloodlines from other cats.
Even among cats, mixed-breeds and purebreds were born into completely different fates.
But at this moment, this mixed-breed cat was licking Cloud Sparse Shadow’s hand. At first, Cloud Sparse Shadow pretended to resist, complaining “don’t lick,” but soon she stopped complaining altogether and directly revealed an expression of enjoyment.
Seeing this, Lin Dongming sighed softly and went to his room to get some spirit beast meat to feed the cat.
Thanks to it, they could pass tonight peacefully.
The next day, Lin Dongming flew on his sword to near the sword dance platform of the Heavenly Extreme Sword Sect. This was a place White Zhiqing often visited.
Before her Core Formation, White Zhiqing usually practiced swordsmanship at the sword dance platform on Sky Sword Peak, sparring with disciples from her own peak. After Core Formation, to broaden her horizons, she changed to visiting the sword dance platform near Crossing Far Lake. This was a place where all disciples within the sect could practice swordsmanship, usually entered only after Core Formation.
In the past, Lin Dongming would also come here occasionally, but when he had many client services, he would accordingly reduce his frequency. But now he definitely needed to come often—after all, he had to protect White Zhiqing.
Lin Dongming found an inconspicuous corner to land, planning to first become a familiar face in the area. After all, White Zhiqing didn’t have a good impression of him now, and if he appeared to have too strong an intention, the failure rate would be very high.
“Well, isn’t this Junior Brother Lin? You actually have time to come to the sword dance platform?” A familiar voice sounded. It was Song Yumian.
“Senior Sister Song is joking,” Lin Dongming teased. “Only disciples with poor aptitude like me would often come to the sword dance platform to practice. Someone as naturally talented as Senior Sister Song wouldn’t come here much, right? I used to run here whenever I had free time.”
In fact, Lin Dongming had been to basically all places within the sect that ordinary disciples could go.
Because Lin Dongming’s aptitude was truly ordinary among the inner disciples of the Heavenly Extreme Sword Sect, he had tried far more methods than others. He had learned a bit of various cultivation arts—after all, following the sect’s conventional cultivation methods, he could never outperform those heaven-gifted prodigies, so he had to find ways to try more approaches and overtake them on a curve.
“Oh? I didn’t expect Junior Brother Lin to be unexpectedly diligent,” Song Yumian said playfully.
“That ‘unexpectedly’ is quite hurtful,” Lin Dongming complained.
“But you’ve come today for Junior Sister White, right? She should be here soon.” Song Yumian didn’t seem to mind the other women around Lin Dongming at all. “Junior Sister White is very innocent, Junior Brother Lin. Don’t go corrupting her.”
“Rest assured, I’m just doing business,” Lin Dongming shrugged. “I have no interest in tsundere kids.”
Speaking of which, although Lin Dongming had transmigrated to this world, he couldn’t change his habitual vocabulary. Terms like “player,” “simp,” and “tsundere” had all been spread by him, and the disciples within the sect gradually got used to them.
“Speak of the devil.”
From not far away, a figure in white approached, stepping onto a small arena in the sword dance platform and beginning to spar with a fellow disciple.
Lin Dongming observed from the side: “Such fierce swordsmanship. Winning is just a matter of time.”
“Underestimating Junior Sister White?” Song Yumian smiled. “Junior Sister White is much more hardworking than you. Her swordsmanship ranks in the top five among the younger disciples of the Sky Sword Sect.”
“It really doesn’t look like the swordsmanship of a pampered young lady.” Lin Dongming had practiced with Young Lady Han Xiangjun before, and her style was typical of a sheltered miss: methodical and proper, but without a hint of killing intent, probably never having truly killed anyone.
But White Zhiqing was different. Though also lacking killing intent, her strikes were indeed fierce, never hesitating when the time came to attack. If this was innate, then she truly had extraordinary talent.
Sure enough, in just a moment, the female cultivator at Core Formation stage on the other side had been defeated, and White Zhiqing stood on the arena, triumphant.
Then, she raised her chin slightly toward Lin Dongming: “Would Senior Brother Lin be interested in coming up for a friendly match?”