Chapter 21: The Spirit Cat Returns
"One bolt of lightning, and that Senior Brother Wang — with his pitiful Dharma Power — would probably be reduced to a lump of charcoal!"
Li Qingyun walked along the maple-lined stone path with a smile playing at the corner of his lips, sleeves swaying as he strolled.
Even before he had come up the mountain, Wang Baiying's swordsmanship was nothing worth taking seriously in his eyes.
He, Li Qingyun, was not only the generous and charitable young gentleman of Qinghe County — he was also a dashing young hero, skilled in archery and horsemanship, who had dared to fight bandits and fierce beasts with his own hands!
And yet in just two short days, someone like Wang Baiying — a so-called "inferior disciple" who had been loitering around Lingbao Temple for a year or two — was already no longer in the same league as Li Qingyun.
Going forward, that gap would only grow wider — as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
He found it genuinely amusing. Whether in his past life or this one, simps were everywhere.
"Senior Sister Lu really does have extraordinary charm. I wonder how many simps like Wang Baiying she's bewitched..."
Having finally tasted a measure of freedom, Li Qingyun wandered through the mountain forest, at last in the mood to appreciate the breathtaking scenery of Maple Mountain and familiarize himself with the rear mountain's surroundings.
He wanted to find a more secluded spot to study and practice his thunder techniques — somewhere that wouldn't draw the attention of more people like "Zhao Yifan."
As he explored, he realized the rear mountain was truly vast. The forest was deep and dense, with peaks and ridges stretching endlessly into one another. Bathed in the setting sun, the maple groves blazed like fire, red as blood.
On many of the more desirable hilltops with beautiful scenery, and beside springs and groves, cultivators had already claimed their spots — some gathering qi or practicing techniques, others having built small private courtyards right there.
Those who had constructed private residences were undoubtedly among the temple's elite disciples; such privileges were tacitly permitted within the temple.
Li Qingyun gave them all a wide berth.
Finding a truly secluded spot with few visitors was no easy task.
Suddenly, as he reached a small gorge with a flowing spring, Li Qingyun's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. His sharp ears twitched — he heard an angry, indignant cry from up ahead.
"You wretched beast! How dare you come again to steal my fish! Have a taste of my sword!"
Amid the flashing streaks of sword light in the distance, he heard a familiar meow.
Joy surged through his heart in an instant!
"It's Yuanbao! I knew our cat had nine lives — there's no way that old lackey Yin Xunshan could have done him in so easily!"
He channeled his Dharma Power, his Daoist robe billowing as his speed surged, and he shot forward toward the small gorge.
Maple trees swayed around him, jagged boulders jutted from the earth, and the gorge was serene and secluded. Below, a spring fed into a natural pool, and beside the rocky bank of that pool stood two wooden cabins.
At that moment, a blue-robed young woman with her hair pinned high in an elegant bun — tall and slender — gripped a gleaming longsword and flew across the stream's rocky bed like the wind, in relentless pursuit of a dark blur racing ahead of her.
Her jade-like face was flushed with fury, her teeth clenched tight, as though she had reached the absolute limit of her patience with the fish-thieving big black cat!
With every swing of her sword, cold light flashed and contracted, and from time to time she unleashed sword qi several feet long — her cultivation was far superior to that self-important Wang Baiying!
But the dark blur ahead — that fish-thieving big black cat — was incredibly agile and swift. It refused to release the plump red carp clamped in its jaws, darting left and weaving right through one near-miss after another, somehow always managing to evade the blue-robed young woman's attacks.
"It really is Yuanbao! That picky habit of his hasn't changed one bit. But this senior sister is clearly one of the temple's elite disciples — what a headache..."
Li Qingyun burst out of the maple forest and recognized his cat at a glance.
He let out a clear, joyful whistle that rang through the valley.
At the same time, he pushed off the ground in rapid steps and ran toward the girl and the cat.
"Senior Sister, please stay your hand! This cat is mine — I'll compensate you for your fish!" he shouted as he ran, pleading on the cat's behalf.
Meow!
The moment Yuanbao spotted Li Qingyun, the big black cat was overjoyed and immediately bolted toward him.
Whoosh!
But just then, the blue-robed young woman seemed not to hear Li Qingyun's plea at all. Instead, she suddenly formed a hand seal.
A streak of blue-green light landed squarely on the big black cat, and in an instant Yuanbao was bound by vines of azure radiance, unable to move.
"You may be spared death, but you cannot escape punishment!"
The blue-robed young woman swung her sword downward, intending to sever both of Yuanbao's front paws.
She hadn't even spared a second glance at the Li Qingyun who had suddenly appeared — the token at his waist marked him as nothing more than the lowest-ranked idle guest disciple, barely worth acknowledging.
Crack!
But then, amid a low rumble of thunder, a bolt of lightning descended from above and struck the longsword in the blue-robed young woman's hand!
Hum!
The young woman felt her arm go numb. She could no longer keep her grip on the sword, and it was blasted away by the lightning strike.
"You—!"
She stumbled back two steps, Dharma Power surging as she glared furiously at Li Qingyun across from her — like a beautiful azure bird roused to fury. Her hands formed seals, her lips moving in a low incantation, as she prepared to unleash some technique.
Evidently, even for an elite disciple of the temple, techniques were not always practiced to the point of instant execution.
"Senior Sister, please wait — let's talk this through. I'm willing to make it right!"
Li Qingyun quickly raised his hand in a placating gesture. The Dharma Power within him transformed into the essence of thunder, surging and flickering, and his handsome face naturally took on a faint air of thunderous authority, making him appear all the more striking and extraordinary.
At the same time, he crouched down, threads of thunder flickering from his hand, and broke apart the azure vine bindings around Yuanbao.
Meow!
Having narrowly escaped death, Yuanbao let out two grateful cries and darted behind Li Qingyun's heels.
It inexplicably felt a surge of security — though it had no idea how its litter-box servant had suddenly become so formidable!
Bang!
Thunder and azure light collided in midair, exploding into a burst of luminous mist.
Buffeted by the shockwave, both Li Qingyun and the blue-robed young woman were pushed back several steps.
"Your Thunder Seal Art — you've actually trained it to this level! At only the first layer of Qi Refining, you can completely neutralize my Azure Vine Bind!"
This time, the blue-robed young woman's jade face finally shifted with genuine surprise. Astonishment rising within her, she began to look at the handsome idle guest disciple across from her with new eyes.
Thunder techniques were notoriously difficult to master — this was common knowledge among Lingbao Temple's disciples. Yet the young man before her had brought his Thunder Seal to such a level. Zhao Keyi's heart was undeniably filled with shock and bewilderment.
Among cultivators, strength alone commands respect. The fury on Zhao Keyi's jade face began to slowly dissipate.
"What is this Junior Brother's name? I am Zhao Keyi. This place is my private cultivation retreat, and the red carp in the spring pool are no ordinary fish — they are resources for my cultivation. Your black cat has already stolen and eaten four or five of them!"
She extended her hand, and the sword that had been blasted away earlier flew back into her grasp — though she promptly sheathed it, her demeanor considerably more composed.
"So it's Senior Sister Zhao. I'm Li Qingyun. This black cat got separated from me a couple of days ago, and it was injured at the time. It probably couldn't help stealing your spirit fish to help itself recover."
Li Qingyun studied Zhao Keyi and guessed she was around fifteen or sixteen — about his own age. But she clearly possessed a decent Dao Bone and Spiritual Root; the aura drifting from her slender frame indicated a cultivation of at least the second layer of Qi Refining.
Just now, he had managed to split apart Zhao Keyi's Azure Vine Bind with his thunder technique — but that was largely due to the inherent dominance of thunder arts, especially given how deeply he had already comprehended them.
The deeper one's understanding of a technique, the more powerful its execution naturally became.
But in terms of raw Dharma Power cultivation, there was still a considerable gap between him and Senior Sister Zhao.
Of course, in Li Qingyun's estimation, that gap amounted to no more than a few more days of meditation.
So he felt no particular awe toward Zhao Keyi, and regarded her as an equal.
"Then how does Junior Brother Li intend to compensate me? I diverted a natural spring, then paid a high price to obtain the fry from an uncle-master — I raised over a dozen Silver-Lined Red Carp with great difficulty, intending to use them to advance my cultivation further..."
As Zhao Keyi spoke, the anger in her heart had not fully subsided, and she kept glancing at the big black cat circling around Li Qingyun's feet.
"Senior Sister can name a price in Spirit Stones or the like — though I'm a bit short on funds at the moment. Oh, I'm absolutely not trying to weasel out of it! I'll definitely pay you back next month!" Li Qingyun's handsome face flushed ever so slightly.