Chapter 18:
On a Narrow Path
SNOWY FUR PEEKED through the new hole in the cloak. Mo Tianliao quickly stuffed His Feline Lordship back into his robes and patted him soothingly.
The leopard cub in the cage was indeed a spirit beast with spiritual intelligence. Even though its aptitude was average, the crowd still whipped themselves into a bidding frenzy over it. The opening bid was five hundred high-grade spiritual stones.
In other words, five thousand medium-grade spiritual stones or fifty thousand low-grade spiritual stones.
Spirit beasts had always commanded such sky-high prices that most cultivators could never afford to buy one in their entire lifetime. The duo from the demonic sect kept raising the bid in their excitement—there was no sign of the heartache they’d shown over forking out money for the magical artifact earlier.
Mo Tianliao said nothing and quickly left the hall.
Once someone won the bid, they’d have to establish ownership on the spot to prevent anyone else from snatching the spirit beast away when they left the auction. The signing of a blood pact had a great impact on spirit beasts; Mo Tianliao wanted to leave quickly in case it made Pawpaw uncomfortable.
With the audience’s attention on the spirit beast, no one noticed him as he turned and moved to the back of the room. The core formation appraiser glanced in his direction and smiled knowingly.
According to the auction rules, those with wooden tokens sitting in the private area weren’t allowed to participate in bidding for their own consigned item. Mo Tianliao’s attempt to muddy the waters and drive up the price would never have been permitted at a major auction house, but small ones like Auspicious Auction House were happy to turn a blind eye.
He received a hundred and twenty-seven medium-grade spiritual stones—which was finally enough to cover Pawpaw’s medical consultation fee.
By the time Mo Tianliao left the auction house, the bidding was over. He glanced back and frowned. The buyer, dressed in azure robes, was from Qingyun Sect.
“Rowr—!” The leopard cub squeaked in terror and spat fire at the cultivator dragging him out of the cage, but another cultivator held him down and cut the cub’s forehead with a dagger to extract a drop of blood essence.
The cat peered out of Mo Tianliao’s collar, trembling very slightly. Assuming he was frightened, Mo Tianliao hurried out to make inquiries at the elixir shop. The shopkeeper informed him that their elixirist was checking the medicinal herbs in their storehouse about one and a half miles away from the marketplace, and he could head there directly to seek treatment.
Once he was on a mountain path outside Auspicious Bazaar, Mo Tianliao removed his cloak and freed His Stifled Feline Lordship.
The white fluffball was listless as he clung motionlessly and silently to his collar.
“What’s wrong?” Mo Tianliao held the cat up to his face.
Light glass eyes looked at him, appearing somewhat cold yet indescribably aggrieved.
“What’s wrong, precious?” Mo Tianliao placed the cat against his neck and stroked his back like he was comforting a child.
“Mew…” The cat tried to wrap his paws around Mo Tianliao’s neck, but alas, his forelegs were too short to make it all the way around. His little pink nose sniffed Mo Tianliao’s neck over and over again. The faint scent of grass and wood dispelled the stench of blood lingering in his nose, making him feel a little better.
Mo Tianliao sighed. He regretted not leaving sooner. Seeing them cut that poor leopard cub with a dagger must have frightened Pawpaw.
After a while, the cat perked up again and looked up to find concern in Mo Tianliao’s eyes. Retracting his claws, he patted Mo Tianliao’s chin softly with the pad of his paw. I know. That’s how everyone treats spirit beasts. I was just lamenting it for a moment. Let’s go now.
Mo Tianliao kissed that warm paw. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll never force you to sign a blood pact.”
That’s not what I’m talking about! His Feline Lordship narrowed his eyes and swatted him in the face. Do I look that timid to you?!
The two of them finally arrived at the storehouse—a small bamboo courtyard. Low-level cultivators occasionally came here to trade spiritual herbs they’d picked in the mountains, while elixirist disciples at the qi-refining stage examined the herbs. After hearing Mo Tianliao’s reason for coming, they led him to the back.
This particular marketplace at the foot of the mountain only had the one foundation establishment elixirist. There were a number of high-level elixirists in the sect, but Mo Tianliao didn’t dare to expose Pawpaw’s existence there, so he had to find one down the mountain instead.
“Meow!” The cat scratched the elixirist trying to take his pulse. How dare you touch my hand?!
The elixirist was left with no choice: He had to use the silver-threaded gloves meant for examining the elixir furnace. He spent quite a while examining Pawpaw, but he couldn’t make a diagnosis. “Your kitten’s fine, but it’s a little small. I have some excellent pills for beasts here. Would you like to buy some for it?” He tipped out several ochre-colored pills from a gourd and placed them before the small cat.
The cat glanced at those ugly, stinky things and swatted them under the table, then shook his paw in disdain.
“What a waste!” A parrot—the elixirist’s soul beast—flew over and ate the pills from the floor. Elixir concoction was as lucrative a business as forging artifacts, but an elixirist at the foundation establishment stage probably couldn’t afford a spirit beast. It was likely he’d caught this one himself.
Compared to that unappetizing pill, the colorful parrot proved to be more appealing to the cat. The little furball pounced on the parrot and chomped down on its neck.
“Murder! Murder!” the parrot shrieked.
Mo Tianliao quickly picked up the cat. “Spit it out!”
The elixirist, who’d been about to reach out to save his bird, pulled his hand back. Pleased with this customer’s manners, he decided he’d charge only twenty-five spiritual stones for the consultation.
“Spit it out now! Or the feathers might get stuck in your nose and make you feel terrible.” Mo Tianliao plucked the bird out of the cat’s mouth and tossed it to the side, focused solely on his cat.
The elixirist speechlessly picked up his discarded parrot and decided to charge him forty.
“Noooo, I’m bald!” the parrot squawked sorrowfully, looking down at his newly plucked neck.
In the end, Mo Tianliao paid a hefty consultation fee for learning practically nothing. On the way back to the sect, Mo Tianliao looked at the yawning cat and frowned. “Pawpaw, will you let me see your divine soul?” He held him up and pressed his forehead against the cat’s.
“Meow!” The cat turned his head away, refusing contact.
“Come on. Show me!” Mo Tianliao was getting anxious. If Pawpaw was physically fine, the only explanation for his sleepiness was that his divine soul was damaged.
Getting agitated, the cat scratched him, leaped to the ground, and fled.
Mo Tianliao chased after him. The mountain forest was dense; it would be extremely difficult to find such a tiny little ball of fluff if he hid among the trees. Besides, this wasn’t the back mountain of Woqing Sanctum. Here, danger lurked everywhere.
“Look what we have here!” said a snide voice. “A qi-refining cultivator with a soul beast!” A burly hand grabbed the furball.
Mo Tianliao jumped and looked up to find the demonic sect duo he’d seen earlier at the marketplace.
“My lord!” the woman exclaimed in surprise when she saw Mo Tianliao’s face.
“Meow!” The cat, furious at being caught, pushed at his assailant with all four paws. When that didn’t work, he spat a mouthful of icy mist at the man’s eyes.
“Ow!” The bone-chilling icy mist turned to countless ice blades that slashed at the man’s face. “Shimei, this isn’t a soul beast, it’s a spirit beast!”
The cultivation of a soul beast bound by a blood pact was limited to its owner’s cultivation. If their master was at the qi-refining stage, the soul beast could only unleash its powers up to the qi-refining stage. But that attack just now had far surpassed the qi-refining stage.
Mo Tianliao caught the cat as it leaped into his arms and glared coldly at the duo.
“How are you related to the Venerable Lord Duantian?” The woman summoned forth the magical artifact she’d won in the auction earlier. She clearly wasn’t planning to let them leave unless she received an acceptable answer.
Mo Tianliao narrowed his eyes as he stroked the little creature in his arms, deciding there and then that these two people had to die.
✦ ✦ ✦
MINI EXTRA
Burly Man: No blood pact! Mine, mine, mine!
Female Cultivator: He looks like the Venerable One! Grab, grab, grab!
Woodworker: How dare you touch my cat! Die, die, die!