The cat girl was also looking at Li Qingshan. “What kind of meowster are you? Really strange!”
Little An soared up and landed behind the cat girl, then opened his mouth and sprayed out the “Cremation Blood Flames.” The white crescent moon mark on the cat girl’s forehead shot out a beam of light and dispelled the blood flames. “You too, what kind of meowster are you?”
The cat girl added another hand as she gripped Li Qingshan’s tail and swung him in half a circle with herself as the axis, throwing him out crashing against Little An.
Li Qingshan pushed Little An along as they crashed toward the cliff. He adjusted his posture and stamped on the cliff, then landed together with Little An on the ground. The beautiful fantasy had entirely vanished as he looked at that cat girl, all his guards up.
She was very strong, at least as strong as that Red Wolf captain Wang Pushi! Thinking of Wang Pushi, he also thought back to Gu Yanying.
Could the cat she was looking for be precisely this one? How was this any sort of pet, this was clearly an extremely fearsome cat monster!
The cat girl didn’t attack again, she didn’t even seem angry at Li Qingshan’s peeping. All that flashed inside her jade green eyes was curiosity. “You two are both really strange!”
Li Qingshan calmly said, “What’s strange?”
The cat girl said, “You have a humeownoid shape too, you should clearly have gone through a heavenly tribulation, but your strength is so meowsly! Really strange! Never heard of a skeleton who can spit out fire, really strange!” Li Qingshan had turned into a monstrous demon, his voice and physique had both gone through great changes, but the basic appearance of his body was still of a humanoid shape.
Li Qingshan shook off the dust and dirt from his body. “We are merely passing by, please continue what you were doing!” He turned around and walked away without the slightest hesitation! He was a little reluctant inside. The cute creature that originally only appeared in his imagination had showed herself in front of his eyes just like that. But he instantly killed his inner otaku’s heart thanks to his great wisdom and great perseverance. He made up his mind to stay definitely as far away from this cat as possible. This wasn’t an area he was capable of meddling in for the time being.
But he would come to realized very quickly just how fearsome was the curiosity of a cat, a cat monster to boot.
The cat girl roared, “Stand still, you still want to walk away after watching this old mother bathe?”
Li Qingshan went away instantly, went fast as the wind as he dashed out at full throttle. However he forgot the police warning about not to running when encountering wild beasts, otherwise they would certainly chase you.
The forest trees flashed backward at flying speed, as if they’d become a blur. Li Qingshan didn’t dare stop the motion of his steps in the slightest, but the sudden sound of bells rang in his ears. He turned his head and saw the cat girl follow beside him neither slow nor hurried, the bells at her waist ringing ding ding.
“Meowhahaha, you keep running?”
There was no need to run since he couldn’t outrun her. Li Qingshan halted his steps with a quick brake and calmly said, “What do you want?”
The cat girl also stopped. Her jade green eyes turned in a circle, as if she were planning some mischief. She walked a lap around Li Qingshan. “You be meow pet!” She beamed extremely proudly.
“What?” Li Qingshan wondered whether he’d heard wrong or not. Could she have become tired of being a pet, so she turned it around and wanted to catch a pet herself?
“Big Black, how about this nameow?” The cat girl leaped lightly and landed on top of Li Qingshan’s head. She grabbed a horn of his and rubbed Little An’s head. “You’ll be called Little White!” Her movements were extremely quick, only leaving a series of shadows behind. The changes in her thoughts were also quick to the extreme.
Li Qingshan said, “Don’t even think about it!” A solemn world-crosser like him becoming a pet, a pet’s pet even, that would lose face for every world-crosser under the heavens if it were to spread out.
The weight on top of his head intensified abruptly. The cat girl’s lithe stature seemed to suddenly become as heavy as Mt. Tai. Li Qingshan knelt down on one knee under the pressure and lowered his head.
“I’m not bargaining with you Big Black.” The cat girl said, “You’ll naturally get countless benefits if you agree, I won’t treat you unfairly. If you don’t agree, heehee, I don’t mind trying your taste.”
The savage nature of a demonic monster leaped out at first glance. She was definitely not as cute as she seemed on the surface.
Li Qingshan bared his teeth in a cold smile and said, “What benefits? Cat food?” But the sound of his voice hadn’t even fallen that a spirit pill flashing with spiritual light went into his mouth, transforming in the blink of an eye into a surge of spiritual qi that overflowed from his body, almost about to break its way out.
He unexpectedly had the sensation he couldn’t rein this spiritual qi inside even with his current monster body countless times stronger than before. Li Qingshan hurriedly operated the heart technique of the [Spirit Turtle Sea Guarding Secrets] to absorb and circulate this gust of spiritual qi. The slow-moving progress of the [Spirit Turtle Sea Guarding Secrets] actually sprinted forward a small segment just like this. This spirit pill’s medicinal power was many times stronger than even the spiritual wine soaked in the spirit ginseng.
“Did you steal those from your owner?”
“What, I wouldn’t steal meow owner’s things. The owner gave all those to meow, I still have meowny of them left. How about it, are you tempted?”
Li Qingshan only understood then what was called “wine and food are wasting behind wealthy doors1.” He had no idea what status that concubine Serenity had that she could feed her pets with this kind of spiritual pill. It was simply extravagance to the utter limit. But he could certainly succeed very quickly in the cultivation of his [Spirit Turtle Sea Guarding Secrets] if he could truly have the assistance from so many spirit pills. Then he could restore a human shape and return to the human world.
The combination of might with favor, of the carrot and the stick. One had to say that the effects wouldn’t be bad no matter who used it, no matter who it was used upon. The most important thing was that he had no right to choose to begin with.
Li Qingshan said, “What do you want me to do?”
The cat girl did a somersault and nimbly landed in front of Li Qingshan. “That’s better. You’re meow pet, so of course you’ll do whatever I tell you to do. Now, I want you to take meow out of the Verdant province!”
A frog at the bottom of the well like Li Qingshan who’d never left the Suncheer City area all of his life was immediately stupefied by this far-reaching ambition. “Where do you want to go?”
“Dragon province!”
“How do we go there?” Li Qingshan was a bit lost. Where was the Dragon province again?
“You don’t even know that? Follow along the Boundless Meowtains, stick north and cross meowbe a few thousand meowtains.” The cat girl lifted her gaze and looked in the far distance, the expression of her eyes suddenly becoming infinitely remote. Her tender and adorable face took on a romantic aura that only one who’d lived through great changes and traveled far away could have.
She didn’t want to be anyone’s pet anymore. She wanted to be free like the wind.
Li Qingshan unexpectedly felt thoroughly shocked. He took in a deep breath. “You’re pointing south though.”
“Shut up, this mistress knows!” The cat girl flew into a rage and threw a flying kick his way.
Li Qingshan lifted his hands to block, but he still felt a scorching pain on his hands. He thought a while and said as he looked at the cat girl, “I can help you go to the Dragon province as long as you pay me with spirit pills.” He was worried about Gu Yanying’s pursuit, but at present he had absolutely no leeway for refusing, hence he could only search for wealth amidst danger.
“Of course I’ll feed you. That’s right, what does Little White eat?” The cat girl very conscientiously took on the role of a mistress, then she looked again at Little An with a very curious gaze, as if trying to guess what a skeleton’s diet consisted of.
Feed? Li Qingshan decided not to bicker about the wording. “Also, I’m not your servant.”
“Not a servant, you’re a pet!” The cat girl rubbed Li Qingshan’s cheeks, all smiles.
Li Qingshan’s body stiffened all over. He took in a deep breath: “In brief, this is our agreement. What are you called?”
“My name is Halfmoon. You just call me mistress!” Halfmoon crossed her arms in front of her chest that didn’t have a lot of chest and proudly introduced herself.
Little An suddenly shook from head to toes when he heard this name for some reason. The flames in his eyes flashed constantly, billows reaching the skies rising inside his mind.
1. Wine and food are wasting behind wealthy doors: An excerpt from a poem by Du Fu, From Chang’An To Feng Xian. The actual line is closer to something like: “Wine and food rot behind crimson doors” meaning that wealthy families (crimson doors) are very wasteful.