Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

The red panda and the black cat then walked out of the forest.

Before leaving, the panda looked back one last time at the cats lying lazily on the ground, and wondered if it and its brothers hadn't met the king, would they have ended up like these monsters, lying under those leaky sheds, trying their best to survive one day at a time?

Chapter 321 Immortal, Spare My Life

The black cat followed the bear out of the woods. The bear thought the black cat seemed to be in a good mood. Along the way, it carried the bare fish bone in its mouth, hopping and skipping. Whenever it saw a butterfly flying by, it would stretch out its paw to chase after it.

Even the grass seedlings by the roadside cannot escape its clutches.

As soon as the black cat emerged from the woods, it pounced on a foxtail grass swaying in the sunlight. It dropped the fishbone, bit the grass stem, and in a few swift movements, it ripped the foxtail grass off the ground, tearing the fuzzy tail to shreds.

After playing around like that, it picked up the bone it had finished gnawing and put it in its mouth.

It has a special fondness for fish bones, and even when there's no meat left on them, it still can't bear to throw them away.

Shoumu could already smell the king and the horse; the scent drifted on the wind and was very faint.

The black cat was completely unaware of this. The panda thought it was probably planning how to distribute the fish it had gotten later.

If Morimei joins the Yokai Clan with his four brothers, the black cat will get four more fish bones, making a total of five with the one it's already carrying in its mouth. For the black cat, it might be difficult to decide which fish bone to carry.

However, it will not have this happy trouble, because there is only one red panda guarding this place.

Shoumu does indeed have four brothers, but they are all well-fed and watered on the mountain. They only need to roll around in front of people to get dried fish. They don't need to come to this remote forest to join a poor monster guild just to get a little food.

The panda slowly led the unsuspecting black cat toward the king, while Zhuang Xing, who was meditating under the shade of the tree, exhaled and opened his eyes. A white feather drifted down from his head, and a white sparrow landed on a branch, preening its feathers with its beak.

Wuzhui came closer, slightly bent its knees, and nuzzled Zhuangxing's cheek. The horse's breathing was heavy.

When Zhuang Xing used the Night Travel Technique, Wu Zhui stayed by his side the whole time, protecting him.

Zhuang Xing stood up and stroked the mane on Wuzhui's neck. The horse was very tall and majestic. Horses are naturally beautiful creatures, and in order to run continuously on the vast grasslands, their four legs have strong muscles.

Wuzhui ate very well in the stables of Xuanqing Temple, and it never lacked exercise. It often went out with the other horses of Xuanqing Temple to chase and run on the flat ground. Its whole body presented a perfect streamline shape, and just standing there, it looked like a carefully sculpted statue.

In fact, in the stables, fellow disciples from other Taoist temples often wanted to choose Wuzhui to carry them when they went out, because it was truly a magnificent steed.

But Wuzhui never carried anyone other than Zhuang Xing. Zhuang Xing thought that Wuzhui was probably rambling on about something right now, but unfortunately he couldn't understand it.

Although he couldn't understand it, it didn't affect his feelings for Wuzhui.

He took a handful of radish leaves tied with straw rope from the saddlebag and fed them to the black horse, then turned his head to look to the other side.

The watercress and reeds there grow very tall and deep. The abundant summer sunlight allows these plants to grow lush leaves, reaching up to Zhuang Xing's knees. If a child were to wander into this patch of weeds, he might lose his way, as he might have to jump to see more.

This provides excellent cover for low-lying creatures like cats and pandas, making them difficult to spot while walking among them. However, the movement of the roots reveals that something is moving.

Zhuang Xing's spirit returned from that direction. He focused his Qi in his eyes and locked onto the panda and the black cat.

A cat's sense of smell is not as sensitive as a panda's; it has to get close to smell a person. Zhuang Xing was deliberately concealing his scent, so the little cat demon probably had to get right up to his face before it would realize that there was a Taoist standing there.

As the panda led the black cat to this area, Zhuang Xing also walked towards their exit.

As it turned out, the black cat followed behind the panda, in the Taoist's shadow. It looked up and stared blankly for a moment, then dropped the fish bone it was carrying to the ground.

It glanced at the red bear sitting obediently beside the Taoist priest, then at the Taoist priest who was much taller than it, and suddenly its fur stood on end. It let out a piercing meow, as if it were terrified, and turned to burrow into the reeds.

"Friend, please wait a moment," Zhuang Xing called out to it.

The black cat wouldn't listen. Only a fool would stop. It's a demon. If the Taoist priest calls for the demon to stay, what good will come of it?

When it saw the Taoist priest, it realized that the "good brother" it had been calling out to all the way had been a lie. Having finally been born into this world as a cat demon, it didn't want to be captured by the Taoist priest. Its most urgent task was to hurry back and tell the fox leader that a Taoist priest had come.

It didn't know why the Taoist priest had come. When it and its kind went to investigate human villages, they were extra careful and only dared to go out at night when humans were asleep. Could this leave any clues?

Forget about all that, getting out of here is the priority!

The black cat ran with all its might, but then the Taoist's voice called out from ahead.

"Friend, I mean no harm, please stay."

Wait... ahead...

The black cat paused, stopping its forward stride.

It looked up and saw the Taoist's smiling face again.

Oh my god, there's a ghost!

Run!

The black cat turned around and jumped back again.

This time it heard no human movement. It thought it had finally gotten rid of the Taoist priest. Ahead was the exit of the reeds, and light was coming from it.

It couldn't wait to run out and return to the woods, but once outside, it saw a familiar face; the Taoist was smiling and waving at it.

It looked around and saw that after running around, it had actually run back to the same spot.

It has clearly been to this place before.

It clearly remembered that it was running in the direction that was away from the Taoist priest.

This is really weird, it came back again!

This time it still showed no sign of stopping. It simply changed direction, no longer running backward, but sprinting directly to the side.

Thus, back and forth, often repeating itself.

When it was panting and exhausted, and slowly walked out of the grass, it saw the Taoist's smile for the thirty-ninth time.

No, it can't run anymore.

After several unsuccessful attempts to escape, it finally gave up in despair and lay trembling before the Taoist priest.

"Immortal, spare my life! Immortal, spare my life..." the cat demon pleaded, its voice trembling with tears. "I have elderly parents to care for and young children to raise. I have only ever done good deeds and never harmed anyone. Please, Immortal, spare my life! I will repay you even if I have to serve you like a cow or a horse..."

This rhetoric was taught to it by the old cat of the clan. It was a compulsory course for every cat demon. The cat demons kept in mind the experience left by their ancestors and memorized these words perfectly.

Chapter 322 Is this fish really for the little demon?

“Friend, don’t panic. I have no intention of harming you, so how could I possibly spare your life?” Zhuang Xing said. “Please stay, I just have some things I would like to ask you.”

"Then...then, since you've finished asking your questions, may I be allowed to leave?" the black cat asked tremblingly.

"Perhaps we can become friends first," Zhuang Xing said, squatting down.

The black cat had no room to refuse. Its cultivation was too low, and it couldn't run away. Preserving its life was the most important thing right now, so it had no choice but to obediently listen to the Taoist priest.

"How should I address you?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"Just call me Black Tail, Immortal." The black cat wagged its tail.

"I am a Taoist priest, named Zhuang Xing." Zhuang Xing touched the ear of the panda beside him. "The red panda I brought to see you earlier is a little demon who works for me, named Shoumu."

"Please forgive me, Brother Black Tail. I had Shoumu conceal his identity and go to the forest to investigate because I was afraid that my sudden visit would disturb you and lead to a fight or scare you away. That's why I had to resort to this strategy."

“I noticed that Brother Blacktail seems to enjoy eating small fish, so I’ll catch a few to make amends to him,” Zhuang Xing said.

"Fish..." Upon hearing Zhuang Xing's words, the black cat glanced at the fallen fish bones beside it, but then quickly shook its head. "It must be this humble demon apologizing to the immortal. This humble demon accidentally disturbed the immortal, please do not blame me..."

The black cat appeared timid and submissive.

In fact, Zhuang Xing had only used a little magic to confuse the black cat's five senses, making it spin around in circles a few times.

This is a method I learned from a fox that accompanied me for a while on my way to the capital, when I passed through Xizhou.

It wasn't some profound technique; it was just that the cat demon's cultivation was too weak to grasp the method.

But this strange, seemingly endless experience clearly terrified the cat demon. It was now extremely respectful, afraid of saying the slightest mistake.

As a result, it's difficult to even have a proper conversation with it.

Zhuang Xing then said, "It was my fault for startling Brother Blacktail. I was impolite and should apologize. Brother Blacktail, please don't refuse. Or is it that Brother Blacktail doesn't like fish?"

The black cat was speechless for a moment, unsure how to respond.

It definitely likes fish, but should we say we like them at this moment?

The old cats in the tribe didn't teach us what to do in this situation.

It was filled with unease, wondering if there really was fish to eat.

But I don't see any river around here, so where can I catch fish?

The black cat looked around and saw it hesitate and stammer. The Taoist made a hand seal with two fingers and called out, "Go."

With a "clang," the long sword at the Taoist's waist flew out of its simple scabbard.

The sword gleamed with a purplish-blue-gold light under the sunlight. As it flew out, it hummed slightly and whooshed away to the other side of the reeds.

The black cat was startled again and quickly dodged.

The old cats all say that humans are fickle and should not be trusted. They especially do not believe in demons. If you encounter a human outside, the best way to deal with them is to stay away. If you can't escape, pretend to be an ordinary cat. If they see through you, kneel down and beg for mercy. Maybe you can save your life.

Was the Taoist priest just joking with it?

Are you going to chop its head off with a sword?!

The black cat waved its paws and threw a series of chaotic cat punches.

It was terrified, but it didn't feel any pain from the sword. It opened its eyes wide and looked carefully. The sword had spun around and flown back.

Two live river fish were strung on the tip of the sword, hovering in front of the Taoist.

The flying sword accurately pierced two grass carp from the river. The black cat recognized these fish; the most common type of grass carp with flat heads and a bluish-yellow color was this type in the nearby rivers.

The fish seemed to have been swimming happily in the river just moments ago; its body was slippery and wet, still dripping water, and you could smell the fishy and damp earthy odor.

The Taoist priest took a round plate from his saddlebag and placed it on the ground. He gripped the hilt of his sword and gave it a gentle shake, and the fish landed neatly on the plate.

The two fish had their heads pierced by the sword, but their bodies still twitched in the dish, as if they weren't quite dead yet.

"This is just a small gift, I hope Brother Heiwei will accept it with a smile." Zhuang Xing pushed the plate over.

The black cat's eyes were wide open, as if it couldn't believe it.

The Taoist's second move had astonished it; this was a sword immortal.

"Immortal...is this fish...really for this little demon?"

"Of course, Brother Blacktail has eaten this fish, so we'll let bygones be bygones, shall we?"

"Well... then we'll do as the immortal says..."