Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 71 Cunning Little Thief
Murong Ruyan quickly came up with a brilliant plan.

"Cough cough cough..."

Not long after, a thick plume of smoke rose slowly from the mulberry grove.

Murong Ruyan gathered many branches, tied them together, lit a fire, and peered into the tree hole.

The black smoke went straight into the tree hole—in such a place where there's only one way in and no way out, smoke is the most effective way to fumigate it!
After a short while, a reddish-brown furball, bigger than a palm, darted out of the hole. Murong Ruyan was prepared and quickly struck it with a stick. With a pitiful "woof," the furball was knocked to the ground.

Her blow was imbued with spiritual power; although she controlled the force, she still nearly killed the fur ball.

Only now did Murong Ruyan realize that the fluffy ball was actually a particularly plump squirrel with glossy, reddish-brown fur.

The fat squirrel was probably badly injured; it was curled up on the grass, writhing and struggling while making "ah ah" noises.

When the little raccoon saw the squirrel fall out, it excitedly ran over, its eyes gleaming fiercely, baring its teeth as if to bite it.

Murong Ruyan quickly stopped Xiao Li, picked up the squirrel, and began to examine it.

The squirrel's call sounds like a dog's bark?

Murong Ruyan's first instinctive reaction was to recall the "woof" she had just heard.

But then she clicked her tongue and held the squirrel in her palm with some disdain.

It really didn't look like a squirrel; it was so fat it looked like a kitten. Its tail was so frightened that all the fur stood on end, and it trembled in Murong Ruyan's hands with its eyes tightly closed.

Murong Ruyan smoked the tree hole with a burning stick for a while, and only after finding that there was no second squirrel did she approach and look into the hole.

This sight was quite remarkable. Murong Ruyan pinched a small flame from her fingertips and, by the light of the flame, discovered that the cave was filled with those extremely familiar things!
Wax blocks, honeycomb, and a pile of silkworm eggs, their condition unknown...

It turns out that the thief we couldn't catch all these days was this wretched squirrel!
Murong Ruyan's face flushed red with anger. She grabbed the squirrel by the tail, lifted it up, and shoved it against the entrance of the tree hole, yelling, "You damned little thief! Do you know how precious these things are? You still steal them! I've taken such good care of this tree, pruning and watering it, and before I could even get anything, you've stolen it all! I'm so angry!"

Unfortunately, the squirrel seemed not to understand what she was saying at all. Instead, it curled up in pain, hugged its tail, and trembled incessantly.

Seeing the squirrel like this, Murong Ruyan softened. She sighed, picked up the squirrel again, and then used her other hand to untie the Qiankun bag, grumbling as she took out the items from the tree holes and stuffed them into the Qiankun bag.

"You're so small, how much can you eat, and you steal so much? And stealing honey is one thing, but why steal wax and silkworm eggs? Aren't you stupid?"

Besides the wax blocks, honeycomb, and silkworm eggs, the tree hollow also contained a large handful of pine cones and dried mushrooms. Murong Ruyan didn't miss a thing, emptying the entire tree hollow before carrying the squirrel towards the thatched cottage courtyard.

……

"Master! I've caught that little thief who stole things from the mulberry grove!"

From afar, Murong Ruyan shouted impatiently.

Zhang Chengdao yawned, rubbed his eyes, and opened the door: "Really? Where is that little thief?"

"Well,"

Murong Ruyan held the squirrel she was carrying up to Zhang Chengdao's face and said angrily, "That's it! I found a lot of wax blocks, honey and silkworm eggs in its nest!"

Zhang Chengdao had never seen such a fat squirrel before: "Wow, it's so big? Why isn't it moving?" Murong Ruyan explained, "It's like this because I injured it with a stick! Master, what should we do?"

Zhang Chengdao examined the squirrel for a long time, feeling that it was not an ordinary squirrel. In addition to being large and fat, its demeanor was also much more agile than that of ordinary animals.

For a moment, he suspected that the squirrel might have gained sentience, so he said, "To punish someone without teaching them is cruelty. It only stole some things; it doesn't deserve to die. Let's treat it first!"

As he spoke, Zhang Chengdao took out a dose of "Trauma Powder" from his backpack.

Unexpectedly, when Zhang Chengdao poured the Dieda San into his palm and was about to think of a way to lure the squirrel into eating it, the squirrel actually struggled to crawl toward Zhang Chengdao and then licked the Dieda San clean bit by bit.

It seems to know that [Dieda San] can help it!

After the [Dieda San] took effect slightly, the squirrel then kicked its leg and was about to fly out of Zhang Chengdao's hand.

However, with Zhang Chengdao's cultivation level, how could a squirrel possibly escape? He immediately caught the squirrel and threatened, "You stole my things, so you have to return them, right?"

Unexpectedly, the squirrel could understand human speech. While struggling, it stretched out its paws and pointed desperately at Murong Ruyan, as if to emphasize that Murong Ruyan had taken everything.

Zhang Chengdao curiously patted the squirrel's head and asked, "Can you understand us?"

The squirrel nodded, but its paws remained firmly pointed at Murong Ruyan, squeaking incoherently.

Zhang Chengdao asked again, "Why did you steal it?"

This time, the squirrel stopped squeaking. It plopped down on Zhang Chengdao's hand, closed its eyes, and pretended to be dead, clutching its tail.

Zhang Chengdao was both surprised and delighted—this was indeed a squirrel that had gained sentience!

This might not be the first animal in this martial arts and cultivation world to develop intelligence!

This is briefly mentioned in the "Elementary Qi Refining Book". Animals that have awakened their intelligence have the opportunity to cultivate, but most of them cannot hide their animal nature and go astray. They will become demons, which is not only different from the path of immortality, but they will also easily die in the heavenly tribulation.

Only a small number of people who are able to control their nature and have great fortune gradually return to the right path, and some of them eventually become immortals or gods.

The initial manifestation of these animals developing intelligence is their ability to understand human speech and express complex logical behaviors... This description is exactly the same as that of this squirrel!
"You probably understand that you are different from your fellow humans, but you don't know what to do, so you can only instinctively seek out things with spirits, right?"

Zhang Chengdao shook his hand, making the squirrel, which was pretending to be dead with its eyes closed, tremble. He continued, "If you are sincere in your intention to cultivate here, I can provide you with food, drink, and lodging. However, you will also need to do some work, such as guarding the garden and sorting things. What do you say?"

Upon hearing this, the squirrel finally opened its eyes. It rolled its little eyes, turned over, rubbed its belly with its paws, and started yelling "Ah ah ah" again.

Murong Ruyan couldn't help but say, "Master, this cunning little thief wants food!"

After saying that, she asked in a low voice, "Master, has it gained sentience?"

Zhang Chengdao nodded and replied, "It has just begun to develop intelligence. What will happen to it in the future is hard to say; it depends on its own destiny. That is why I thought it would be better if I could guide it, so that it wouldn't suffer the pain of not knowing its way."

Upon hearing this, Murong Ruyan felt a mix of emotions.

Is Master truly a saint? Otherwise, how could he be so lenient even towards animals!
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(End of this chapter)