Chapter 33:
Going Out
THE TIGER CLUNG PERSISTENTLY to his master’s legs: Let me tag along too. Neither of you know the way. He couldn’t help worrying about these two—one had only just established his foundation, and the other’s divine soul was damaged.
When he heard the tiger’s whimpering, Mo Tianliao’s curiosity was piqued. “What is he saying?”
He’d assumed at first that the tiger was his master’s soul beast, but he now knew his master was Pawpaw, and a spirit beast couldn’t possibly have signed a blood pact with another spirit beast. Looking at the tiger thoughtfully, Mo Tianliao patted it on the head.
After a moment of silence, Qingtong said, “He wants to tag along.”
Mo Tianliao shook his head. “That won’t do. He’s a high-level spirit beast who has yet to sign a blood pact.” High-level spirit beasts were highly sought after by high-level cultivators, and taking this fellow out would trigger a fight no less intense than the scramble for that half-baked divine artifact of his.
The tiger stiffened. He’d forgotten he was in his spirit beast form. Of course his junior wouldn’t agree. But his junior had just patted him on his head, so it would be weird to reveal his identity now…
For a moment, the atmosphere was awkward. The tiger hung his head and ran off.
Watching the tiger’s retreating back, Mo Tianliao quirked a smile and poured some tea from a nearby teapot. Then he poured it back and forth between two cups until the water had cooled slightly, before offering it to his master with an ingratiating smile.
Qingtong accepted it and took a sip. “Out with it. What do you want?” Whenever Mo Tianliao wore this expression, he wanted to either rub his belly or touch his tail.
“Lend me some money,” Mo Tianliao said shamelessly.
A glimmer of surprise flashed in Qingtong’s beautiful eyes. This guy was actually asking him for money? “How much?” He snorted.
Mo Tianliao made a rough calculation. “About fifty thousand high-grade spiritual stones.”
“Fifty thousand can’t get you that garbage.” Qingtong sneered. That worthless artifact was good for nothing except stirring up trouble, but there was no lack of fools in the cultivation world.
“I know.” Mo Tianliao certainly wasn’t such a sucker that he’d pay money for his own creations. “Just lend it to me. I’ll pay you back later.” It was honestly embarrassing to have to borrow money from his own cat. He could save up the funds through artifact forging, but Qingtong’s condition didn’t give him the luxury of time. It was imperative he find Taishi as soon as possible.
“You’re my human, so it’s only right for me to support you.” Qingtong pulled out an inventory pouch from his inventory bracelet and threw it in Mo Tianliao’s face.
Mo Tianliao was so stunned by the phrase “my human” that the pouch hit him squarely in the face. Catching the pouch, he noticed his master’s matter-of-fact expression and realized he meant “my human” the same way Mo Tianliao meant “my cat.” For a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
After an entire afternoon of chatting and sunning himself with his master, the subtle sense of unfamiliarity between them had vanished.
“Oh, right. I braided some hemp ropes at Woxuan Sanctum today and made them into a ball for you.” Mo Tianliao handed him the ball.
“So ugly.” Qingtong accepted it disdainfully and poked it with a finger.
“It’s for you to sharpen your claws,” Mo Tianliao said with a smile. Looking at those fair, delicate fingertips, he couldn’t resist squeezing them. “Do you still remember the scratching post I made you from that legendary Tree of Life?”
“Yeah.” Qingtong pulled his hand away, tossed the ball into his inventory bracelet, and continued to bask in the sun with his eyes half closed.
“I’ll buy another piece of wood some other day.” Mo Tianliao propped his chin on his hand and looked quietly at the beautiful man in front of him. He’d always talked to Pawpaw in the past, and he had always hoped the cat would someday be able to turn human and answer him. He hadn’t expected the day to come so fast.
“No need for that.” Those cold eyes swept over Mo Tianliao’s body. Sure, that legendary tree was a divine tree, too, but it didn’t feel as good to scratch as the undying tree.
Just seeing that look in the cat’s eyes made Mo Tianliao’s arms ache. Fortunately, those eyes didn’t linger on him for long before they misted over. Qingtong yawned elegantly and closed his eyes.
Although Mo Tianliao wanted to continue chatting, he made the wise decision to sit quietly until Qingtong had drifted off into sleep. Then, at last, he took Qingtong’s hand in his own.
He couldn’t believe those soft pink paw pads had turned into such pretty hands. He still remembered the first time he’d tried to trim Pawpaw’s claws. He had been so nervous that he’d drawn blood, and the sight of the little paw bleeding made Mo Tianliao’s heart ache so badly he wanted to slap himself. From that day forth, he no longer dared to cut the cat’s claws—and so he ended up being scratched almost every day.
Evening was fast approaching, and the temperature would drop as the night drew in. But the man in the rocking chair showed no sign of waking up; in fact, he would probably sleep for a few more hours. After a moment’s hesitation, Mo Tianliao picked him up in his arms.
As he expected, the man didn’t wake. He continued to sleep peacefully in his arms. Mo Tianliao huffed out an amused breath and carried him into the inner chamber.
There were some things he’d have to prepare for his long journey, but since he was the one handling the realm affairs now, he had access to everything he needed. It would have been no big deal if he were traveling alone, but he was taking his master with him, so everything from food to clothing and accommodations had to be meticulously prepared.
He had the attendants prepare his master’s usual utensils, his bedding, and several sets of outfits, then had the Chamber of Administrative Affairs purchase some daily necessities. When he had the time, Mo Tianliao personally went down the mountain to buy some materials to craft some useful magical artifacts as a contingency.
The Auspicious Bazaar didn’t sell a lot of materials for crafting and refining, but they did have luminous stones. Mo Tianliao bought a high-grade fire jade, some luminous stones, and a piece of auspicious crystal.
The luminous stones allowed an artifact to be controlled by the divine soul, while the ruyi crystal enabled them to change size. Of course, these were only the most basic materials. Objects crafted from this ruyi crystal were limited to two fixed forms and couldn’t undergo additional transformations.
Mo Tianliao rented a premium fire chamber to refine the ruyi crystal and the luminous stones. Meanwhile, he repeatedly tempered the fire jade with his woodfire to remove any impurities.
The fire jade, originally vivid red, gradually turned a shade of green as it was permeated by the woodfire. He then merged it with the refined luminous stones and inscribed a complex spirit connection spell array into it.
Due to the rapid resolidification of the stone liquid during the process, the average artificer typically only had time to inscribe one spirit connection spell array to make the magical artifact responsive to the divine soul’s commands, turning it into a treasure artifact. Additional functions would require additional materials to be engraved. Mo Tianliao, however, inscribed more than a dozen arrays in a row, from transformation to spirit connection, from flight to fire invocation, and so on.
His fingers flew in a blur. These spell arrays were best inscribed using luminous stones, as they could be activated directly without going through a spirit connection array, making the process much faster. However, this method was beyond the ability of most ordinary artificers.
He sculpted the fire jade, inscribed with countless spell arrays, into a long sword. Then, he dipped his fingers, wrapped in spiritual energy, into the molten ruyi crystal and quickly drew a spatial array on the blade. Afterward, he held the sword between his palms and recited an incantation, shrinking it to the size of his palm to resemble a sword-shaped jade hairpin.
The ability to change size upgraded this from a treasure artifact to a spiritual artifact, which meant Mo Tianliao could store it in his core. But Taishi was so domineering that it might refuse to acknowledge him as its master if there were other spiritual artifacts in his core, so Mo Tianliao decided against storing it in his body. Instead, he used the remaining fragments of the fire jade to sculpt a palm-size sheath for the mini sword and used it as a hairpin on his crown.
When he returned to his courtyard, Mo Tianliao was so exhausted from the days of forging that he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. In his dreams, he felt like he was wearing a fur collar, and it made him so warm he was sweating. The next day, he woke up to see the snow-white furball perched on his pillow, pawing at the hairpin on his head. His once tidy hair was now so tousled it looked like a bird’s nest.
“Pawpaw.” He leaned in for a kiss and was promptly rewarded with a slap: Insolent disciple! What are you doing?!
Stunned, Mo Tianliao touched his nose. He’d forgotten the little cat was now his master. He could no longer kiss him as he pleased.
✦ ✦ ✦
MINI EXTRA
Sect Leader: From now on, do you take him as your human, for richer or for poorer, be he man or tree?
Pawpaw: I do.
Sect Leader: From now on, do you take him as your cat, for better or for the worst of scratches and bites, be he man or feline, and willingly serve as his cushion, scratching post, and cat tree, and provide him with coldspring fish and glass beads?
Woodworker: *speechless*