Marry First, Love Later With The White Cat Princess - Chapter 96

Liu Fenyun’s focused efforts in peeling crabs caught Qi Niao’s attention.

Lian Yi picked up a piece of snow white crab meat. Just as she put it in her mouth to chew, she heard Qi Niao chuckle, “Back in the God Realm, Liu Liu used to feed the cat like this all the time.”

This was the truth. Having recovered all her memories, Lian Yi naturally remembered those past events.

However, she subconsciously felt it was different now. In the God Realm, she was merely the God’s spiritual pet, cherished and cared for as a pet by Liu Fenyun without even knowing it herself. Now, after living in the mortal realm for four years as a “human-possessed demon” while separated from her master and suffering from amnesia, her way of thinking had changed significantly.

She didn’t want to be a spiritual pet anymore.

Liu Fenyun didn’t think along those lines at all. She returned the smile and, before she could respond, a spoonful of sweet osmanthus fermented rice glue balls was brought to her lips.

Lowering her gaze, she met Lian Yi’s expectant eyes.

“…Thank you.” Liu Fenyun hurriedly ate the rice balls, feeling a bit puzzled.

The kitty was enjoying her crab meat just fine, why did she suddenly start feeding her?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she saw Lian Yi fetch a lamb leg. With a swift flash of a knife, Lian Yi deboned it and placed a small plate of sliced lamb in front of her, looking more attentive than a servant.

But Liu Fenyun knew that her kitty didn’t like currying favor with anyone, nor was she the type to proactively serve food to others. She watched the plate of lamb, thinking as she ate. After a long while, she finally guessed what the kitty was thinking.

When raising a cat, it’s perfectly normal for the owner to feed the cat, but cats don’t usually prepare food for humans, firstly due to biological limitations (ordinary pets can’t transform into human forms like the Demon Race), and secondly due to the difference in status.

Liu Fenyun had heard that some cats would catch mice or birds and bring them to their owners as “prey.” This was a gesture of “taking care” of the owner as an equal.

She couldn’t help but recall the system’s remark that “it takes a yandere to understand a yandere,” and a smile crept onto her face.

Was the kitty trying her best to treat her as an equal?

That was why she was doing the same thing: feeding the other person.

Liu Fenyun really wanted to pet the cat’s head and tell her she had received her feelings. However, looking at her hands covered in the scent of seafood, she remained silent for a moment before turning to Qi Niao and asking, “Do you have any hand soap?”

She remembered that back in the eleventh lunar month of last year, Lian Yi had brought back a bottle of hand soap from somewhere. The bottle looked exactly like the bottled soap sold in future cities, and its deodorizing effect was excellent.

Thinking back, perhaps Yu Qingyue had given it to Lian Yi, and Yu Qingyue’s possession of such soap likely had everything to do with Qi Niao.

“I do! Do you want to use it now?” Qi Niao asked.

Liu Fenyun thought for a moment, wiped her hands clean, and simply pulled the hand soap Lian Yi had given her out of the Medicine Garden space. She asked in a low voice, “Does this look familiar?”

Qi Niao glanced down. “Oh! Isn’t this the ‘hometown specialty’ I gave to A-Qing? How did it end up with you?”

“You call hand soap a ‘hometown specialty’?!” Liu Fenyun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she briefly explained the soap’s origin to Qi Niao.

Qi Niao laughed, “Then we really are a pair of synchronized sisters. Even across two realms, you still received my care.”

Noticing the jealous kitty’s ears prick up alertly, Liu Fenyun quickly put the soap away and said intentionally, “This is clearly Yiyi’s care for me.”

The two exchanged a glance, and Qi Niao playfully gave her a “fighting” gesture.

While the vinegar jar was nearly tipping over on their side, the atmosphere over by Fu Yao was very harmonious.

Although Fu Yao was the master of the Demon King City, she had little experience in governing. She relied entirely on her extensive reading and her friendship with the patriarch of the Tushan clan in the neighboring Qingyan City to slowly develop Kongmeng City into what it was today.

Yu Qingyue’s heart was entirely on the path of medicine, but Luo Binglun had been trained by her clan elders as the next Great Priest since she was a child. Although she had never been a monarch, she had deep research into the art of checks and balances.

Once the “monarch” and “minister” started talking, there was nothing left for Yu Qingyue to do. The gyrfalcon calmly moved the desserts on the table into her stomach one by one, thoughtfully arranging the tasty ones on a plate for her future Daoist partner.

After the welcoming banquet ended, Liu Fenyun took the kitty for a stroll through the city to aid digestion.

It was her first time in Kongmeng City, but the system already had a full map of the place. This Demon King City, governed by the Feather Race, shared many similarities with Qifeng City in the human realm. There were also many humans living in the city, both ordinary people and cultivators.

After walking a loop, Lian Yi asked, “Could it be that Qifeng City is modeling its governance after Kongmeng City?”

“It’s possible,” Liu Fenyun nodded. “However, Kongmeng City’s tolerance for humans seems higher than Qifeng City’s tolerance for demons.”

“To the Demon Race, ordinary humans are actually the weak ones,” Lian Yi said. “But for humans, it’s the complete opposite. The spiritual energy in the human realm is sparse to begin with, and the number of Exorcists and Beast Tamers is very small. If evil demons attack a city, the humans have to pay a great price.”

“With such a huge disparity in strength, it’s inevitable that humans would have prejudices against demons.” Liu Fenyun thought about the growing site of the spiritual medicine “Endless Sorrow” (Bujiantou) and hesitated for a few seconds. “Actually, I want to visit places in the human realm where spiritual energy is dense, to see how the inhabitants there coexist with the Demon Race.”

She had confirmed with the God of Time, Qi Niao, that she was still in her “tribulation period.” Bearing in mind that her tribulation was to experience the myriad states of mortal life, she still intended to contact different people and lifestyles as much as possible.

Lian Yi could guess where she wanted to go. She had seen Liu Fenyun’s memories from before her transmigration, she knew that the era called the “Future” also faced the issue of dwindling spiritual energy, which didn’t match Liu Fenyun’s words.

The only place she knew of where spiritual energy was dense and humans coexisted with demons was the God Realm. But Liu Fenyun seemed to have things to do and likely wouldn’t return to the God Realm anytime soon.

In that case, Liu Fenyun could only go to the hidden paradises occupied by cultivators in the human realm.

“Does A-Yun want to go to the Qingmu Immortal Mountains?” Lian Yi asked as they passed a street hung with lanterns.

Liu Fenyun paused.

She hadn’t told anyone about going to the Qingmu Immortal Mountains to find “Endless Sorrow,” and before this, the kitty hadn’t had the chance to probe her memories.

Perhaps… this was what they called synchronization?

“…Yes, I want to go and see,” Liu Fenyun didn’t dodge the question. She nodded, then promised, “But not in the short term. Our grand wedding hasn’t happened yet!”

Realizing she was keeping something back, Lian Yi didn’t press her. She smiled and took her hand. “Then let’s play in the Demon Realm for a while longer.”

The markets in the Demon Realm weren’t much different from those in the human realm, it was just that the stall owners and shopkeepers were of a different race. Neither Liu Fenyun nor Lian Yi had been to the Demon Realm before, and they were soon drawn to the various demons at the stalls.

Demons in the human realm were mostly birds and beasts, but in the Demon Realm, there was a vast variety, including cross-breed demons that inherited physical traits from both parents, looking much like the “monstrous beasts” of legend.

Even though Lian Yi was a spiritual pet of a God, walking among these strange looking demons made her a bit nervous. To avoid unnecessary trouble, both she and Liu Fenyun restrained their divine aura. To the other demons, they appeared to be a simple cat demon and an ordinary human, aside from sellers, no one spared them a second glance.

But it was precisely in this harmonious atmosphere that Liu Fenyun sharply sensed a gaze.

The owner of that gaze had been watching her the whole time; whether they were watching Lian Yi was unknown.

Liu Fenyun frowned, gripped Lian Yi’s hand, and walked quickly toward a quiet area.

Lian Yi had just been captivated by a spectacular acrobatic performance and was quite reluctant to follow Liu Fenyun away from the bustling street. However, once they reached the quiet spot, she also sensed an approaching aura. She immediately turned her head alertly, looking in a certain direction.

Before she could speak, Liu Fenyun asked in a cold voice, “Your Highness, what is your purpose in tailing us all this way?”

The other party’s aura was hidden too well for Liu Fenyun to identify them normally, but this person happened to be someone she had marked and added to the system’s priority alert list. As long as they were within a certain distance, the system would ping.

Lian Yi’s cat ears twitched in surprise at the title “Your Highness.” Then, a male voice rang out leisurely: “How can you use the word ‘tailing’? This Prince means no harm.”

As the voice faded, a youth of the Di tribe dressed in purple robes stepped out from the shadows of the buildings. It was none other than Sha Fuli, the eldest prince of the Zhuhuang Kingdom!

Sha Fuli took out a tobacco pipe and took a slow puff. Amidst the drifting smoke, his face actually transformed into someone else. Seven purple star seals appeared on his brow, and his waterfall-like black hair fell loose, bound at the bottom by a silver hair clip.

“Cangxuan Star Seals!” Lian Yi cried out, staring at the stranger for a long time before it dawned on her. “No wonder you helped us many times. So you are…”

“So your Excellency is the divine envoy of the God of Dreams?” Liu Fenyun reflexively followed up. “Is your name… Fu Shujin?”

She didn’t have much interaction with the God of Dreams, but she knew more or less who was around that deity.

For instance, the man before her who never let go of his pipe was the elder brother of the God of Dreams from when she underwent her tribulation in the mortal realm. His name was Fu Shujin. After ascending, he also went to the God Realm, and because he couldn’t stay idle, he asked his sister for a job as a divine envoy.

“I didn’t expect the Great God of Medicine to recognize me,” Fu Shujin bowed to her and smiled. “That saves us the time for introductions.”

He released a bit of divine aura to let the two confirm his identity and then said, “I was commissioned by the God of Dreams to descend and assist you, though I personally have something to ask for your help with as well.”

“During the Midsummer Festival, your Excellency helped us escape a fatal tribulation. I consider myself owing you a favor,” Liu Fenyun said. “What is the matter?”

“I must find a rare spiritual medicine,” Fu Shujin said. “It is the companion herb to the spiritual flower ‘Endless Sorrow,’ and it only grows in the mortal realm. But as a divine envoy, the number of times I can descend is limited. Each use is one less, so I can only search for the medicine in this realm.”

Hearing this, Liu Fenyun looked at Lian Yi with a meaningful expression and said, “Then I must congratulate your Excellency for finding the right person. I was just planning to look for ‘Endless Sorrow.’ We can travel together when the time comes.”