“Kitten?” For a moment, Li Xun found the whole thing absurd. Still, there was a kind of unspoken understanding between this “senior sister and junior brother.”

He forced a dry laugh. “Not bad at all… So where are you, senior sister? Inside this ‘cat’s’ belly?”

“Nonsense!” Lin Wuyou snapped at his clumsy joke, half pouting, half scolding. “Who said I’m in the cat’s belly? I’m still in the far north. I’m just speaking to you through it. If I hadn’t told them to pull back in time, you’d have died a hundred times over already!”

Knowing her temper all too well, Li Xun could only give a wry smile and raise his hands in surrender.

But thanks to her words, he now noticed the crimson jewel embedded in Kitty’s forehead.

The gem’s color was so close to its skin, and most of it was sunk in, that he hadn’t spotted it before.

That was probably how Lin Wuyou could speak with him instantly from a million li away. Of course, it might also be the key to controlling Kitty.

Seeing him yield, Lin Wuyou grew smug. “How could my kitten ever be wrong? It’s been in seclusion for sixty years, only just came out, and it’s cleverer than ever. Even the dog is afraid of it…

“Alright, no more small talk. I didn’t expect to run into you here. I’ve made some quick arrangements, but they won’t hold back your fellow disciples for long. Let’s keep this brief.”

You’re the one doing most of the talking, Li Xun grumbled inwardly. Still, he finally understood why he’d never seen this Kitty around Lin Wuyou before. It had supposedly been in seclusion.

Of course, that explanation deserved a closer look. Maybe it would be more accurate to say they had spent sixty years taming it?

His train of thought was cut short by Lin Wuyou’s voice. “First, I have to say, junior brother, you did well in the southeastern forest. You hardly showed your face, yet you managed to steer the situation from behind the scenes. My cousin was quite impressed. Now, let me ask... has Xiao Zhongzi died yet?”

“When I left, he was very much alive.” Li Xun lied without blinking.

Lin Wuyao's praise came as a welcome surprise. He had honestly thought he wouldn't make it through that one-month deadline, but who knew that Heart-Consuming Concubine and the others would play along so perfectly.

Still… why hadn’t the Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance made any move?

“Alive or dead, it hardly matters now… Ah, but Uncle Ox losing control really did throw many of our plans into chaos. Luckily, we managed to cover the damage in time. Don’t you agree, junior brother?”

“Uh?” Li Xun froze, caught off guard.

At first, he thought the Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance had stayed quiet simply because they were caught up in Ox Warrior’s madness. But then he suddenly recalled the rambling words Ox Warrior had spoken before his death.

For no clear reason, cold sweat broke out down Li Xun’s back, soaking through his inner robes.

He quickly nodded in agreement. Maybe it was just his nerves, but he felt as though the two demonic creatures before him were eyeing him with hostility.

Hearing his reply, Lin Wuyou sounded quite pleased. “Good, that settles everything. I’m off to bed now…

“Oh, right. I still haven’t given you your payment. Next time I’m free, or if you come visit the north pole, I’ll hand it over then. But let me be clear: I can’t give you Xiuxue again. Lady Ice Mist is really angry with you after seeing you drain her like that.”

Before Li Xun could even say “good afternoon,” Kitty fell silent. Clearly the little creature had gone to sleep.

Net Throat Demon shot him a cold glance, then turned to leave. Kitty yawned from its perch on his shoulder, shifted uncomfortably, then leapt onto his head, curled up, and dozed off.

Could this really be a case of a beast taking after its master?

Seeing Kitty like this, Li Xun felt a pang of loss. But he also knew it could never go back to being the mischievous, spirited Kitty from sixty years ago.

The only small comfort was that now, at least, it seemed to be doing fine...

Net Throat Demon’s figure had already vanished. Just as Li Xun was about to leave, a faint sound brushed past his ear. He turned toward it and saw that in the spot where Net Throat Demon had just been standing, a few tall blades of grass bent in the wind and suddenly snapped.

His heart stirred. He walked over and swept his gaze across the ground. Among the stones and weeds, there seemed to be a few oddly regular marks.

Looking more closely, he realized they formed two crooked characters:

“Save me!”

Li Xun’s eyes flew wide. The first thing that came to mind was Kitty’s constantly swishing tail.  Had it been that fidgety back in the day?

There was no doubt. This had to be Kitty’s doing. And now things were even more complicated.

As he was still thinking it over, a shout came from behind: “Brother Xun, are you alright?”

Li Xun moved his hand slightly, wiping away the marks on the ground before standing up. He turned back just in time to see Ling Ji cresting the ridge. The moment Ling Ji spotted him from midair, he shifted gracefully downward.

The way he moved was both steady and light, his transitions flowing as smoothly as drifting clouds. It was clear his foundation was solid, and the true breath within him circulated without the slightest hitch. That alone was enough to put him above many others.

Li Xun couldn’t help but think, As expected of Master Ming Je’s personal disciple.

This seemingly ordinary disciple had his own share of fortune. He wasn’t a direct heir like Li Xun or Wenhai, yet when it came to his master, Immortal Master Ming Je, even people like Mingji and Ming Song would show him respect.

Over a hundred years ago, Immortal Ming Je had already stood on equal footing with Luo Nanchuan and Li Xun’s own short-lived master, Lin Ge.

But unlike Luo Nanchuan, who was distracted by worldly affairs, or Lin Ge, who was consumed by love and hatred, Ming Je devoted himself wholly to the Dao and cultivation. With no distractions, his progress was astonishing. He had quietly become the strongest among the second generation of disciples.

For Ling Ji to be chosen as his disciple was enough to stir anyone’s envy.

Still, while Ming Je  was said to be dull and humorless, Ling Ji was warmhearted and lively by nature. It was rare that master and disciple could get along so well, and rarer still that Ling Ji’s temperament had remained untouched.

He was just as warm as ever. Seeing Li Xun unharmed, he let out a breath and smiled. “Good, you’re alright. I thought you were caught up in a tough fight too. A few rogue cultivators were making trouble just now. It took me some effort to get through… Hm? What’s that?”

Only then did he notice Ox Warrior’s corpse. At the sight of that strange and gruesome death, his face went a little pale. “What happened here?”

“Ox Warrior’s been killed.” Li Xun steadied himself and spoke with deliberate gravity. “Whoever did it was terrifyingly strong. Look around. There aren’t any signs of a prolonged fight. That means it only took them a very short time, with overwhelming force, to drain half of Ox Warrior’s Essence and Qi and shatter his skull. He didn’t even have a chance to fight back…”

“Draining Essence and Qi … that’s no proper method…”

Ling Ji scratched his head. His experience wasn’t nearly as broad as Li Xun’s, so all he could do was listen. But before long, his cheerful nature resurfaced. “Well, this works out then. With the Ox Warrior dead, our sect doesn’t have to treat him like some great enemy anymore. That takes a load off our minds. Now we can get back to our cultivation.”

Li Xun gave a dry laugh and casually reached out to clasp him on the shoulder.

“If only it were that simple. You just said it yourself; draining Essence and Qi is the work of the demonic path. With someone out there who can kill Ox Warrior so easily, and he’s lurking inside our sect’s territory... if you were the sect master, could you really rest easy? Alright, enough talk. Let’s head back to the sect and lay low for a while. Since we’ve run into each other, I might as well return and pay my respects to the Immortal Masters too…”

“You haven’t been back in over two years, have you? Ha, you’re getting more and more like Martial Aunt Ming Ji. She’ll disappear from the mountain for ages, but every time she does, she makes a huge name for herself… Did you hear? Not long ago, Immortal Master Ming Ji defeated the Rakshasa Vajra of the War Demon Sect and utterly humiliated them!”

The two of them joked and laughed, leaving Ox Warrior’s corpse forgotten to the side.

That was simply how it was. A demon who had run rampant for thousands of years – once dead, returned to dust and dirt – who would bother sparing him another glance?

By then, Wenhai had arrived with the rest of their sect brothers and sisters. Seeing the two safe, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

When they heard the news of Ox Warrior’s death, the simple-minded among them cheered loudly, while the sharp ones like Wenhai thought, as Li Xun did, of the many consequences to come, their faces too grave for celebration.

And so, for the moment, the matter was settled. Everyone was ready to head back to the mountain, when suddenly a new problem showed itself.

Of the fifteen who had come out to train, five were badly injured, three of them still unconscious. Their lives weren’t in danger, but carrying them into the air would be no easy task.

There was also the thirteen-year-old orphan girl. Her name seemed to be Ying Ning. Naturally, she had to go with the group as well. But she was so young, her cultivation shallow, that she couldn’t even control a sword to fly. Someone would have to carry her.

Faced with this situation, the only option was to use cloud-riding techniques that could bear weight. But six people weighing several hundred pounds....

On the ground, that was nothing. In the air, it was enough to exhaust them to death.

Even if everyone combined their strength, they might not make it a hundred li. And Lianxia Mountain was still nearly three thousand li away.

A distance that was usually covered in the blink of an eye now left everyone staring at each other in dismay. Would they really have to return to the sect to ask for aid?

In the end, it was Li Xun who found a solution. On the spot, he devised a restrictive formation. First he summoned the cloud-riding technique, then, modeling it after the sect’s “Cloud Tower Moon-Grasping Chariot,” he merged the surrounding qi threads and drew the water vapor. To his own surprise, he managed to fashion a simplified cloud-based vessel.

It didn’t have the intricate structure of the Cloud Tower Moon-Grasping Chariot, nor its astonishing defenses or offensive might. Its speed was nothing to boast of either. The only advantage was that it saved strength.

But to conjure such an ingenious contraption out of nothing but insubstantial vapor. This talent and brilliance left everyone wide-eyed and in awe, full of reverence.

They promptly placed the wounded and the orphan girl onto the makeshift “cloud cart.” Those who could still ride their swords surrounded it to guard the way. And so the group, in grand formation, set off back toward the mountain.