The Aloof Master Relies on This Cat's Kisses to Survive - Chapter 17

East Street Reverie

Who is calling me?

“Wuwu?”

“Wuwu called me!”

In the days since Ming Xi had woken up, she had cycled through so many nicknames for Ji Wu, yet Ji Wu had never once called Ming Xi by her name.

“What is it, Wuwu~” Ming Xi skipped back from the center of the street in a few bounds. “Master, Master, do you need Ming Xi now?”

A pair of obsidian eyes, bright as a galaxy, looked over. Ming Xi was ready at a moment’s notice!

Ji Wu shook her head. “Stop fooling around. This is no ordinary dream-talk. This dreamer has likely had her soul depart to become a ‘Reverie Ghost.’ Do you have a way to reverse it?”

“Reverse it?” Ming Xi looked at the young stall-keeper. “You want to save her?”

“Can she be saved?”

Although Ji Wu practiced the Path of the Righteous Body, she was not entirely devoid of human sentiment. She understood why Ji Fang had trapped herself here.

It was because Ji Fang had never lived a truly free life.

Earlier on, she carried the weight of her family’s expectations. Even after growing up and finding a job she loved, she still felt as though she owed someone.

And now, thanks to a casual gift from Ming Xi, Ji Fang had survived the mouth of a Thought-Demon, yet she felt deeply ashamed of herself.

She had never been able to embrace joy wholeheartedly. Her heart was filled with resentment, regret, and a confused indignation toward her mother for not letting her return home. Thus, in a moment of near-death and instability, a Nightmare Demon found a crack to slip through.

“Oh~ a Nightmare Demon.” Ming Xi crossed her arms, deep in thought.

She had no recollection of her own abilities; she acted entirely on instinct. She seemed to hold a great deal of sway over things within this dream, but as for the specifics of how to save a person…

“Ming Xi doesn’t know how to save people,” she stated with utter sincerity.

“Can’t you just dissipate the emotions?” Dongfang Qianyao asked, frantic to the point of tears. “A Reverie Dream only consumes a person’s essence; it doesn’t kill… people rarely die from it, right?”

In folk terms, this was called “clashing with evil” or “ghost possession.” It certainly damaged one’s spirit, but it shouldn’t be fatal.

“It’s hard to say once a Nightmare Demon is involved,” Ming Xi said solemnly. “But why would she be tainted by one?”

“Because you tore down the array, Little Junior Sister!” Dongfang Qianyao reminded her. “Spirit Mountain was already reviving, and then you went and removed the defenses suppressing it. Can you blame it for acting up?”

“You’re mistaken, Beautiful Elder Sister.” Ming Xi was displeased. “When you first sensed the anomaly, the array was still there.”

Don’t go throwing blame around; Ming Xi was quite clever.

“She’s not wrong,” Ji Wu said, her words brief as she looked at Ming Xi. “However, you’ve always acted solely for your own pleasure. Why should the reason matter?”

The restless spirits of Spirit Mountain were acting up because of the Divine Lord, of course, but Ji Wu couldn’t say that outright. As a result, in Ming Xi’s ears, it sounded like Ji Wu was taking Dongfang Qianyao’s side again.

Ming Xi was filled with grievance. “Wuwu, why are you like this? That phrase again? This isn’t important, that isn’t important… You never held Ming Xi in your heart to begin with, so of course nothing matters.”

She stood with her hands behind her back, huffing. “Hmph, I’m not saving her. It’s much more interesting when things get chaotic. She made the cocoon, and she bound herself in it. Why should I care about the reason? It’s not important anyway, so why bother saving her?”

The Dream Beast then glanced at the items on the flower hairpin stall. “I’m not buying the pretty flowers anymore either. I can have any flower I want; why do I need this one?”

And she had only wanted to buy it for Ji Wu!

That hairpin possessed a spirit; if Ji Wu wore it, she could gather and wield spiritual energy without going through her spiritual palace—even if it was just a tiny bit, it was better than nothing.

The point was the sentiment!

Hmph!

“Little Junior Sister, don’t be angry. It was my fault, I am to blame. You are capable, aren’t you?” Seeing what Ji Wu had said, Dongfang Qianyao guessed that Ming Xi likely had a way to break the dream. At this moment, she didn’t care about the reasons and hurriedly asked for guidance with humility. “Won’t you please be kind and help?”

“I’ve never ‘been kind’ before,” Ming Xi said righteously.

“Then… isn’t this the perfect time to try?” Ji Wu suddenly spoke.

Her expression was somewhat complex—a mix of helplessness and embarrassment—and she used an encouraging tone.

The Ancestral Master was experiencing this for the first time. She hadn’t disciplined a disciple in a long time, nor had she kept the habit of taking students for years. Asking someone to be “obedient” was truly difficult for her.

Especially when saying soft words to her former nemesis, Ming Xi.

Yet, she secretly felt she had been wrong. Seeing Ming Xi upset made Ji Wu feel slightly uncomfortable too.

Ji Wu told herself she was simply concerned about Ji Fang and the Nightmare Demon; surely she wasn’t being swayed by Ming Xi’s mood.

Align the body, clear the desires, be indifferent, keep the spirit still.

Ji Wu silently recited the Taoist incantations she had learned many years ago, shaking her head with a self-deprecating smile.

Her cultivation truly had dwindled significantly; she had reached a point where she had to rely on mnemonics to discipline herself.

“Oh! That’s true!” Ming Xi indeed fell for Ji Wu’s approach. “I do like doing things I’ve never done before.”

Being kind? How novel. Ming Xi turned back toward the hairpin stall. “But why is saving her considered ‘being kind’? This woman chose to become a dream of her own accord.”

“The reasons are complicated.” But Ji Wu knew Ming Xi didn’t actually need an explanation.

She followed Ming Xi’s way of thinking, trying to reply using Ming Xi’s logic. “But I simply had a sudden urge to save her. The hairpin Ming Xi liked is very beautiful; I like it too.”

This wasn’t a lie. When Ji Wu had first approached the stall, the hairpin she picked up was indeed that one.

She did, in fact, like it a little.

After the Ancestral Master spoke, she wasn’t sure if this expression would work. She looked up at the Dream Beast.

Her habitually cold gaze had somehow gained a touch of softness. Under the glow of the street lanterns, it looked hazy and full of unspoken words.

Her waterfall of black hair was loosely tied behind her head with a light blue coarse cloth ribbon—very unrefined, yet it did nothing to diminish Ji Wu’s elegance.

A Master like this definitely needed a flower for decoration. Since she liked that flower, Ming Xi would reluctantly step in and take care of it.

The Dream Beast let out a long breath, appearing very exhausted but forcing herself to rally her spirits for Ji Wu’s sake, arching her back and shaking her shoulders.

“Leave it to me, Wuwu.”

As soon as she said this, Ming Xi flopped onto the ground. When she rose again, she had transformed into a fluffy form.

“Awoo~!”

A cat-like creature with black and white fur stood before the hairpin stall at the end of East Street. The brawling neighbors all froze, the clamor dying down for a split second before they reacted with panic.

“A cat?!”

“That’s no cat! Where would you find a cat that big!”

“Even a tiger isn’t that big!”

“It’s a monster!”

“A monster! A monster!!”

“What are you doing?” Ji Wu hadn’t expected Ming Xi to be so direct. She truly was a wild beast; her actions were beyond logic.

“Little Junior Sister—is that Little Junior Sister—how can Little Junior Sister be a cat!” Dongfang Qianyao’s mind went blank. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

One moment she was a frail Little Junior Sister, and the next, she transformed into a cat on the spot?

And a massive cat at that, taller and sturdier than any ordinary beast.

Ming Xi, who had drawn the eyes of everyone on East Street, didn’t care one bit how shocking she was.

She only knew to rub her body against Ji Wu, her tail lightly brushing against Ji Wu’s ankles. “Master, why haven’t you petted Ming Xi yet?”