Chapter 9:
Affair Management
THE MORNING SUNLIGHT streamed through the open window and shone upon the wooden bed.
Mo Tianliao’s brow furrowed, and he slowly opened his eyes. Feeling something warm on his chest, he looked down and saw a snowy little ball of fluff nestling on his chest, sleeping soundly. His paws were outstretched, and one was hooked around a lock of Mo Tianliao’s hair.
The warm, amber sunlight shining onto the white fur made it glow, a sight so inviting Mo Tianliao couldn’t help but lean in to plant kisses on that furry head.
“Mew,” the cat murmured, blocking Mo Tianliao’s misbehaving lips with a paw. Yawning, he opened his eyes to the sight of a silly, grinning face.
Dummy! He raised a paw and swatted him on the cheek.
“Pawpaw…!” Mo Tianliao chuckled, and his grin got even wider. Life couldn’t get much better than waking up to this little fluffball in his arms.
He’d thought it would be years before he’d be able to find his cat. He had even mentally prepared himself for the possibility that the cat had already been forced into signing a blood pact with someone else; whoever it was, he’d have been ready to exterminate them to take his cat back. But nothing like that had happened.
The two of them lounged on the bed for a while before Mo Tianliao got up and slowly began to get ready. He’d absorbed spiritual energies a little too quickly last night, draining the spiritual stones on his bed of their energy and turning them gray.
Mo Tianliao tidied his bed while the cat sat on the pillow, eyeing those depleted stones. He raised his paw to bat at them, and the stones, no longer held together by spiritual energy, instantly crumbled to dust. What was once a slightly messy bed had become a dumpsite.
Mo Tianliao looked in resignation at the unsightly bed and picked the cat up in his arms. “Forget it. Let’s bathe first.” He had worked up quite a sweat last night and still felt sticky.
Although this courtyard was technically part of Qingning Palace, it was in a completely different style from the magnificent palace. Simple and rustic, it seemed more like a home in the countryside. It had all the essentials, though: a bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchen.
There was a tub in the bathroom, but no hot water. Mo Tianliao filled it with fresh water from the well in the courtyard, then consolidated the woodfire in his palm and stirred it into the icy water, which promptly started steaming.
“Stay here and don’t get wet. I’ll bathe you later.” Mo Tianliao set the cat on the high stool by the tub where the perfumes were kept. Then he turned around, undressed, and stepped into the tub.
The fluffy little cat looked staidly down at his paws. H-how dare he behave like this before his master… Shameless!
Mo Tianliao didn’t notice the cat’s unusual behavior and continued to happily wash himself. Absorbing spiritual energies into the body could purge any impurities within. The first time he’d absorbed spiritual energy in his previous life, he’d flushed out a whole body’s worth of black sludge, but there wasn’t even a single speck of muck this time. As a former tree, his body was free of filth. This was also why His Feline Lordship could comfortably snuggle in his arms all night.
“Pawpaw, how’s your cultivation progress? Have you reached the peak of the second level?”
The spiritual power of spirit beasts could advance through levels too, corresponding with the five stages that human cultivators went through. Some spirit beasts with exceptional aptitude could take on human form when they reached level three, or the core formation stage.
Spirit beasts were rare, and Pawpaw was the only one Mo Tianliao had ever raised. He didn’t know the speed at which they cultivated.
“What would you look like if you evolved into human form?” Mo Tianliao leaned against the edge of the tub and gazed at the little cat. “You wouldn’t end up as a little kid, would you?”
The cat stared back at him, refusing to dignify his words with a response. Standing up on his hind legs at the tub’s edge, he reached out to fish for Mo Tianliao’s hair in the warm water, but his paw got wet, and he quickly shook it dry, splashing droplets all over Mo Tianliao’s face.
Having spiritual energy made life a lot more convenient for Mo Tianliao. At the very least, his mastery of fire-element spiritual energy had reached perfection. After he was done bathing, he circulated his fire-element spiritual power through his body to thoroughly dry himself all over, even his long hair. Once dressed, he prepared a small basin of water and set it in the middle of the courtyard where sunlight could reach it. Then, he carried the cat out.
“Pawpaw, let me give you a bath,” Mo Tianliao said to the cat, pointing at the basin as he warmed the water.
The white cat looked at the simple basin, then at the gently smiling Mo Tianliao, and swished his tail. Well, considering you haven’t bathed me for such a long time, I shall grudgingly allow you to serve me today.
Having received His Feline Lordship’s consent, Mo Tianliao squatted down happily, lowered the cat into the water, and began washing his fur with practiced ease.
The cat was already quite clean, so Mo Tianliao only had to give him a quick bath. Then he wrapped the cat in a towel, channeled fire into his palms, and quickly dried the little guy from head to tail, making him warm and fluffy. But as soon as he tried to touch his belly, the cat resisted and struggled to get away.
“Stop fooling around. Let me dry your fur.” Mo Tianliao caught the escaping cat and reached out to touch him again, only to get a scratch for his trouble.
“Meow!” Insolent disciple, where do you think you’re touching?! The cat leaped onto the peach tree in the courtyard and hissed at him. Before Mo Tianliao could speak, he turned and fled without looking back.
“Huh, he got mad again.” Mo Tianliao scratched his head. He hadn’t seen this little one for centuries, and his temper had gotten even worse.
Mo Tianliao tidied up the place, changed the bedsheets, and made himself presentable. Just then, the second-generation disciples who had finished their morning practice arrived.