The Journey of Immortal Cultivation

Ahua picked up a bowl from the corner and wiped it clean, then went outside the cave to scoop up a handful of snow, put it over the fire to melt, brought it to a boil, then poured it out and scooped another bowl of snow water to boil.

Ning Xiaoxian quietly watched him work as she asked, "How did you end up at Jingshangxing Inn?" Last time, she had clearly left this little Cat Demon in the Central part of the Southern Continent.

Ahua looked very embarrassed. "Last time you put me down in that little town, I found a sesame cake shop and helped out there. At first things were going pretty well, but after more than half a month, things started going missing from the shop. At first it was some prepared rice dough and cakes, then money started disappearing. The shop owner began to suspect me. Although he didn’t report it to the authorities, I couldn’t stay there anymore."

"Then I kept drifting south all the way and... and ended up here." He didn’t dare look at her; his voice grew smaller as he spoke.

Ning Xiaoxian sighed and said, "Were you working especially hard in that cake shop?"

"Yeah, I only rested two hours a day; the rest of the time I was working."

She asked again, "And the other clerks all spoke with one voice, saying you were the one who stole things, didn’t they?"

Ahua said in surprise, "Eh, how did you know?"

Ning Xiaoxian gave a slight smile and said, "Silly child, you worked too hard and made the other clerks look lazy. Of course the shop owner preferred you. Under those circumstances, if they don’t get rid of you, who else would they go after?" Competition is everywhere; it’s the same even in the Mortal World.

Ahua stared blankly for a while before letting out an "oh."

Ning Xiaoxian slanted a glance at him and said, "You’re not angry?"

Ahua gave a foolish chuckle and said, "Actually, on my way south I’d vaguely guessed as much. I was a bit angry at the time, but now I don’t take it to heart anymore."

The weak have their own way of surviving. Ning Xiaoxian gave a soft "mm," and then heard him continue, "I found a job as a waiter at Jingshangxing. The day you walked in the door I saw you right away. But you stayed in your room and never came out, and I didn’t dare go up to disturb you, not until those dog-killers..." When he spoke of this, hatred filled his voice.

He didn’t say that, in fact, he’d asked the Shopkeeper for that night’s watch duty himself. Even if he couldn’t see her, just quietly guarding downstairs, he already felt perfectly content.

Only now did she remember that Ahua’s innate talent was special; he excelled at hiding his presence. Back then he’d clearly been at Jingshangxing, yet neither she nor Changtian had noticed him at all.

As they talked, the snow water had already boiled. Ahua carefully set the bowl aside to cool for a moment, then helped her sit up and drink it slowly.

The hot water turned into a warm stream as it went down into her stomach, and her gut instantly felt much more comfortable. The pain had drained too much of her spirit; with this bit of relaxation, she quickly sank into a deep sleep.

Ahua transformed into his cat form and curled up into a ball of fur at her feet, quietly listening to the crackling of the burning firewood. Only after a long time did he narrow his eyes and feign sleep.

That morning, before the sky in the East had shown a hint of dawn, he quietly left. As he departed he said to the Devouring Demon Vine Meat Ball hidden under the quilt, "Protect our benefactor well. I’ll be right back."

That one trip took more than three two hours.

After full daylight, a shadow finally flashed past the cave entrance. Meat Ball shrank in on itself warily, then immediately relaxed.

It was still Ahua.

He moved in a hurry, breathing slightly ragged, but his hands clutched several meat buns wrapped carefully in oiled paper and a roast chicken.

It was very cold outside; the wind had chilled the surface of these things until the fat congealed. But if they were roasted over the fire for a bit, they would naturally soften.

He had just set down the things in his hands, and when he looked up he instantly sensed something was wrong: Ning Xiaoxian was still unconscious, but her face was flushed an abnormally bright red, and her breathing was rapid.

She’s sick? Ahua’s heart sank.

At this moment Ning Xiaoxian’s constitution was even weaker than that of an ordinary person. Last night Ahua had held her on horseback as they galloped headlong into the wind for quite a while. Although she’d been wrapped head to toe in a quilt, it still couldn’t withstand the more than ten degrees below zero temperature outdoors, and she had caught a chill.

In this wild countryside, he had no useful medicine at hand, let alone a doctor to be found.

He grew somewhat flustered, leaned close and called out softly, "Benefactor, Benefactor!"

Although Ning Xiaoxian’s mind was muddled by the fever, her hearing was still there. Hearing his voice, she forced her eyes open, and only after a long moment did her gaze finally focus as she said, "Where... did you go?"

Since she was still conscious, Ahua breathed a little easier and said, "There’s nothing to eat out here in the sticks, so I went back to the county to buy some food." Afraid she would blame him, he hurriedly added, "Don’t worry, no one recognized me; they probably have no time for that. Something even bigger happened in the county today. Those people who died at the inn last night aren’t as big a case as what came out today!"

She hazily thought, last night, more deaths in the county?

"When I went to buy the roast chicken, all the neighbors on the street were talking, saying that Mr. Yang, who runs the biggest timber business in the county, had offended the immortals. His family of seventy, high and low, all dropped dead in a single night, even the cats and dogs at home were wiped out. And three other households met the same fate, all wealthy local gentry. They had money, sure, but none of them had clean hands."

"You... knew them all?"

"Not all of them. I only know that Yang Mo’er, who died at the hands of that tree demon on your side last night, and the escaping Third Young Master Xu, were from those families. And there was also a clerk from the inn where I worked—he’d been missing for more than half a day, and was found dead at home; except for his head, his whole body had been chopped into mincemeat." He couldn’t tell the difference between a Devouring Demon Vine and an ordinary tree demon; Meat Ball angrily lashed its vine to show its protest. "This one big case involves nearly three hundred lives. The county magistrate is tearing his hair out; he probably won’t have the time to bother with small fry like us."

Ning Xiaoxian moved her lips; her voice was weak, but what Ahua heard was, "You’d better... run." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)