Chapter 97: One Cat Achieves Enlightenment, A Hundred Beasts Compete
“This is my consciousness space? A divine artifact was actually brought in!”
Lu Jueming’s eyes widened as he surveyed this dreamlike yet tangible and peculiar space, his emotions surging for a moment.
Since his cultivation advanced to the Golden Core Stage, there have been quite a few changes and surprises.
Lu Jueming withdrew from his consciousness space, gently opened his eyes, and with a thought, a radiant stream of light flew out. An ancient clay pot landed on Maomao’s head again, rapidly growing from small to large.
The familiar, heavy feeling returned, pressing down and making his head slightly sink.
“This is great!” Lu Jueming was overjoyed, his mustache even trembling slightly.
He would no longer have to run around with a flower pot on his head. Now, he could control it freely with his mind. The divine artifact felt like a part of his body, making it much more convenient to use.
Next, Lu Jueming, with great interest, tried to store some surrounding items. He discovered that apart from the divine artifact, all other items such as rocks, plants, and magic items could not be stored in his consciousness space.
However, it wasn’t a big problem; ordinary items could be stored using the bell-shaped magical artifact.
Lu Jueming stroked his cat whiskers, a habitual gesture when he was thinking.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, his eyes brightening, and he thought of a clever way to use the divine artifact!
“Since the Grotto Nourishing Basin divine artifact can hold living creatures, can’t I put Yin Long, A Ren, Dog Leftover, and all the other beast servants into the Grotto Nourishing Basin, and then put the basin into my consciousness space?”
During combat, he could then take out the basin and summon all the beast servants from the Grotto Nourishing Basin.
In this way, he, a single cat, would be an army!
The enemy would think he was a lone “cutie” fighting alone, only to be surprised by an army of beast servants. It would definitely be a surprise attack, catching them completely off guard!
The more Lu Jueming thought about it, the more amused he became. He couldn’t help but chuckle, his mouth nearly splitting open in a grin.
As his laughter subsided, Lu Jueming calmed his mind, his spiritual power surging. He performed the “Earth Defense Technique” divine ability and plunged into the soil.
The surrounding soil automatically pushed away and dispersed. Lu Jueming moved through the underground as smoothly as a fish in water, unhindered. Before long, he arrived at a stone cage in an underground cave.
With a gentle sweep of his paw, the cage turned into soil and slowly fell back to the earth. Inside, three unconscious Plague Rat Kings lay.
Lu Jueming had deliberately spared the lives of the three Rat Kings for interrogation.
The dying words of Daoist Priest Ershu contained many questions that troubled him greatly.
What kind of organization is the Heavenly Demon Evil Fiend Tower?
Would that black scale reveal his location?
How could he avoid the revenge of the organization’s twenty-three Great Demons?
And the usage of that black scale…
If these questions weren’t clarified, he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly in the future.
Since Daoist Priest Ershu was dead, these pieces of information could only be obtained by using the three Rat Kings as a breakthrough point to pry out useful intelligence from them.
…………
Lu Jueming walked, stone chains clattering behind him as he dragged the three Plague Rat Kings back to the temple halfway up the mountain.
As he approached the temple, he saw that his beast servants were already lined up neatly, having waited for a long time.
Yin Long, seeing Lord Cat approaching, excitedly coiled in mid-air for a circle before landing in front of him, congratulating him with great excitement and reverence:
“Congratulations, Lord, on successfully undergoing your tribulation and returning safely!”
A Ren and Dog Leftover stood side by side. After Yin Long spoke, father and son exchanged a glance, then sat up neatly, chests puffed out slightly, and in unison, they exclaimed:
“Congratulations, Lord, on successfully undergoing your tribulation and returning!”
Yun Gu leisurely sat on a white floating cloud, drifting over with a sway, and said with a grin, “Congratulations, Lord Mountain God, on undergoing your tribulation, but alas… your temple is gone!”
Lu Jueming’s mouth twitched slightly upon hearing this.
He scanned his surroundings; the Little Fat Bird was telling the truth.
The once solemn and majestic temple now only had a single Mountain God Statue standing alone. The rooftop had been blown away by the forceful winds of the lightning tribulation to who knows where, and the surrounding walls had turned into a pile of ruins and rubble.
Yun Gu continued to comment bluntly, “Chirp, chirp, chirp, out with the old, in with the new~”
Lu Jueming looked at Yun Gu’s half-teasing, half-schadenfreude expression, feeling both angry and amused. He let out a soft snort, walked up to the floating cloud, raised his paw, formed it into a fist with a bit of spiritual power, and with a “bang,” delivered a cat punch to the Little Fat Bird.
This sudden punch dazed Yun Gu, whose smiling eyes instantly widened, as clear as a pool of spring water, instantly becoming even clearer from the blow!
At the same time, a profound and mysterious Great Dao Afterglow quietly descended onto Yun Gu’s head via the cat punch, like a spiritual light instantly illuminating the Little Fat Bird’s muddled thoughts.
Yun Gu stood frozen in place, the entire bird like a wooden statue.
But in its clear eyes, spiritual light continuously flowed, as if a door of wisdom had suddenly opened.
Numerous obscure and profound truths of cultivation seemed to pour into its mind like enlightenment at this moment!
After a brief moment of shock, Yun Gu came to its senses, its face filled with surprise and gratitude. With a “plop,” it knelt from the floating cloud, bowed its head to Lu Jueming, and exclaimed, “Thank you, Lord Mountain God, for your enlightenment. Little Sparrow will now go into seclusion to comprehend!”
With that, the Little Fat Bird quickly acted, reaching out its paws to pull and tug at the white cloud. Despite being too fat to see its feet, it skillfully molded the clouds into the shapes of a pillow and a blanket.
Yun Gu leaned back contentedly, its small body lightly lying on the cloud, casually pulling the blanket over itself, utterly at ease.
Subsequently, the white cloud slowly ascended, and its steady breathing began to sound out, as it started to sleep soundly, as if all the troubles of the world had nothing to do with it, immersed in this leisurely dream of cultivation.
While Yun Gu was sleeping soundly, a faint spiritual energy vortex began to form around Yun Gu at a visible speed.
The Little Fat Bird was like a parched sponge, greedily absorbing the boundless spiritual energy between heaven and earth, its cultivation constantly rising under this continuous nourishment.
In less than a moment, it broke through from Qi Refining Stage 8 to Qi Refining Stage 9!
Such a wondrous sight left Yin Long, A Ren, Dog Leftover, and the other beast servants stunned.
Dog Leftover, the first to recover, dashed in front of Lu Jueming, knelt, and pleaded, “Lord Master, could you also grant me a punch? Two would be even better; I can take a beating.”
Lu Jueming was slightly taken aback. He looked down at his cat paws and finally realized that the Great Dao Afterglow from the Heavenly Dao’s enlightenment still lingered on him.
It was this profound and mysterious Great Dao Afterglow that gave the Shy Venus Flytrap and Yun Gu enlightenment, allowed them to break through bottlenecks, and caused their cultivation to skyrocket!
Lu Jueming’s heart stirred. He knew that opportunities like this couldn’t be missed and that he must enlighten the other beast servants before this trace of Great Dao Afterglow disappeared.
“All of you, come closer,” Lu Jueming beckoned to the beast servants.
Yin Long, Dog Leftover, and A Ren joyfully hurried to gather around.
Lu Jueming raised his paws, spiritual energy surging in his palms, and gently touched their heads, sharing the residual Great Dao Afterglow with his beast servants.
After a pleasant head-patting session, Yin Long, Dog Leftover, and A Ren all entered a state of sudden enlightenment, standing apart, absorbing the spiritual energy from heaven and earth, their cultivation skyrocketing!
