The Aloof Master Relies on This Cat's Kisses to Survive - Chapter 28

Stumbling into Ji Wu’s Embrace

The journey to the West Lake indeed required traveling many waterways, and Ming Xi was deathly silent in her determination to follow.

Ji Wu couldn’t quite explain why she had given in to her in the end. She had even thought that taking the land route wouldn’t be impossible; it would just be a bit slower. She wasn’t in a hurry; her spiritual residence was damaged, but her lifespan wasn’t exactly at its end.

But Ming Xi was unwilling.

Because she knew that Ji Wu’s lifespan was indeed nearing its end.

Ming Xi didn’t remember being besieged eight years ago, so she naturally didn’t remember how severe her injuries had been. That trap had been set specifically to kill Ming Xi and silence her forever, leaving her zero chance of survival.

Therefore, the fatal depletion within Ming Xi’s body had surged toward Ji Wu the moment they formed their bond, due to their symbiotic relationship. Although Ji Wu only bore half of it, the surge was too sudden and too fast. Had Ji Wu’s cultivation not been sufficient, she would have surely died then and there.

Now, eight years had passed. If Ming Xi had remained unconscious, Ji Wu might have found a compromise to restore at least half of her cultivation. Unfortunately, Ming Xi had suddenly woken up, and it had only taken her eight years.

To a cultivator, eight years was nothing.

But the Spirit Mountain God-Lord had truly opened her eyes. Under the suppression of the Dongfang Clan, who had used the strength of their entire clan to pin her down with a dream array, she had actually woken up in just eight years.

Consequently, Ji Wu—the Ancestral Master who was nowhere near recovering her cultivation—was directly hit by the backlash of the injuries and burdened by the bond. Her life hung by a thread.

The Dongfang Clan could only resort to deception. On one hand, they tricked Ming Xi into acting as Ji Wu’s guardian beast; on the other, they misled Ji Wu. They told neither side the full truth. They coaxed Ming Xi into healing Ji Wu, while telling Ji Wu to keep Ming Xi by her side for the sake of the world’s commoners—to prevent her from wreaking havoc again and to give the spiritual cultivators who relied on the Spirit Mountain time to recover.

Because Ji Wu was accustomed to being cold and detached, she didn’t notice much, or rather, she didn’t care. As for Ming Xi, her eyes were currently only for her master. she was doing what she liked and protecting the person she loved, not bothering to wonder what the underlying reasons were.

As long as she could keep Ji Wu by her side, it was enough.

The night was as dark as ink, and a cold, thick fog rolled over the mountain path.

The two had taken the water route and reached the West Lake after two days, eventually turning toward the outskirts of Zhaoli County.

This was Ji Fang’s hometown.

The “Flower-Pinning Little Sister” could no longer be considered human. Having just condensed her soul and gathered a physical form, she didn’t dare come out during the day and could only travel by night. Thus, they didn’t rest upon arrival; Ming Xi and Ji Wu chose to continue their journey.

“It’s so quiet,” Ming Xi observed curiously, looking at her surroundings.

Yunming Town was a mountain city, and the Dongfang Clan resided by the sea; both were different from Zhaoli County.

Zhaoli County had a gloomier aura. Ming Xi was certain that even during the day, this place would feel eerie.

“Wu-Wu, are you tired from walking?” Ming Xi asked, treading on the withered, rotting bamboo leaves on the ground. “Should Ming Xi transform and carry you?”

They were currently passing through a bamboo forest.

The humidity was heavy—so heavy that it didn’t just cling to the bamboo leaves; the dampness seemed to stick to every breath and felt as if it would paste itself onto one’s skin, making Ming Xi very uncomfortable.

A cat doesn’t like feeling unrefined and damp.

Spending two days on a boat had been stifling enough. Why was it still like this after getting off?

“I am not tired,” Ji Wu replied. She indeed looked much more energetic than Ming Xi.

The Ancestral Master had always been as clear as the wind and the moon. To her, cultivation and status were merely external things. Whether her surname was Dongfang or not, whether she was the Ancestral Master or not, whether she sat high on a divine altar or lived in anonymity, Ji Wu was always like this.

But Ming Xi was different.

When Ming Xi was the Spirit Mountain God-Lord, she used to put on quite a show. She liked being the center of attention in a bustling environment. But now that she had lost her memory, she behaved more like a cat in its beast state—loving to roll her large eyes to spy on everything, quietly planning big things.

That gaze was pure and bright, limpid and transparent, yet Ji Wu knew that beneath Ming Xi’s eyes lurked a mind full of mischief.

“Well, I’m tired.” Sure enough, Ming Xi began to shamelessly show weakness. “Since Wu-Wu isn’t tired, carry Ming Xi.”

“Behave yourself. Walk on your own,” Ji Wu said, looking at the road, not at her.

Ming Xi didn’t care. She lunged and leaped onto Ji Wu’s shoulder. Then came that familiar, boneless, soft sensation as the fluffy kitten circled around the back of Ji Wu’s neck, rubbing and nuzzling until she tumbled into Ji Wu’s embrace.

The movement was seamless, not considering for a second the possibility that Ji Wu might not lift her arms to catch her. Ming Xi simply loved this; she threw herself unreservedly toward Ji Wu’s warm fragrance.

And Ji Wu truly did catch that pile of soft fluff.

But the expression on her face didn’t change at all. Her cold eyes remained focused on the road ahead, her expression solemn. Her fair face under the moonlight still looked as if she were secluded from the world; it was hard to tell who was more distant, her or the moonlight.

“The ground is sticky and smelly. I’m not walking,” Ming Xi said, raising a paw to fiddle with a few strands of Ji Wu’s hair that had fallen over her collar. “Wu-Wu, how much further?”

“Not far. Ji Fang said there will be a stone bridge a little further ahead. Once we cross the bridge, it will be Zhaoli County.” Ji Wu carried the kitten as she walked, her pace very steady.

“Okay.” Although Ming Xi’s tone was lazy and distracted, she was, after all, in a new place. Her small head couldn’t help but peek back and forth.

Not forgetting to talk nonsense to Ji Wu, Ming Xi curled her paws. “Wu-Wu, it’s cold at night. Hold me tighter.”

“How are you cold?” Ji Wu pressed down on the dream beast in her arms, instinctively stroking her once before quickly restraining the movement.

“My paws are cold. Give my paw pads a little warmth.” Ming Xi stretched out her two front paws, trying to press them against Ji Wu.

“Bold. Don’t be reckless.” Ji Wu lowered her eyes and gave her a cold look. “Behave, or I’ll throw you down and let you walk on the wet road yourself.”

“Ah, no, no, no!” Ming Xi shook her cat head in refusal, looking at the ground with great wariness.

The fallen leaves in the bamboo forest seemed to be entangled with fungal threads, twisting and pulling—ugly and foul-smelling.

Ji Wu was still the best—beautiful and fragrant. Ming Xi was very satisfied. “I don’t just let anyone hold me. It’s only because it’s Wu-Wu that I’m willing to be held.”

“…Should I thank you for the honor?” Ji Wu unknowingly rubbed Ming Xi’s cat fur again.

The texture was truly wonderful—fine, soft, and smooth.

“Wu-Wu needn’t be polite. Ming Xi likes sticking to Wu-Wu.” Having said that, the dream beast suited her actions to her words, curling her tail and tapping it rhythmically against Ji Wu’s arm.

Shadows flickered through the forest.

“Eh? It’s so late, and there are others walking here?” Ming Xi perked up, lifting her face from Ji Wu’s arms. “Wu-Wu, to the right.”

“I know.” Because of Ji Fang’s hairpin, Ji Wu could gather a small amount of spiritual power. Walking a night path in this weather, she had, of course, expanded her spiritual vision.

So she had known all along that they had company on this stretch of road.

But regardless of what was walking over there, the meeting of the two groups was merely a coincidence. The “people” over there weren’t coming for Ji Wu and her companion; they clearly didn’t want to cause trouble or alert Ji Wu.

Ming Xi, however, looked like she wanted to stir things up. She looked to the right again and again, even wrinkling her nose to sniff.

The stench of rotting leaves and wet mud was wrapped in thick fog and slapped against her face, carrying an even more uncomfortable scent… the stench of a corpse.

“A dead person?” Ming Xi became slightly alert. “A dead person is walking?”

“It’s a corpse driver,” Ji Wu responded.

Occasional customs like this existed in the West Lake area. However, in other places, the profession of corpse driving was meant to bring those who died far from home back to their ancestral lands for burial. But the West Lake was different; corpses appearing in the West Lake were usually for sacrifices.

There was a tradition of corpse sacrifice here. The locals were reluctant to sacrifice their own kin, so they naturally went outside to abduct some and bring them back.

“Oh?” Ming Xi had clearly never heard of this. “I want to see, I want to see.”

As she spoke, she stood up in Ji Wu’s arms, bracing her kitten legs against Ji Wu’s palm and hanging over Ji Wu’s shoulder to peer into the depths of the bamboo forest. “Ooh, so many, many corpses.”

“Do not provoke them,” Ji Wu warned.

“I’m just looking,” Ming Xi promised casually, though her mind was already calculating what kind of chaos would be appropriate.

What are these corpses walking on? Can they walk during the day? Are they afraid of cats? Can they carry a cat?

“Don’t be too blatant,” Ji Wu patted Ming Xi’s back.

“I’ll watch secretly.” Ming Xi shrunk her neck, lowering her cat body and resting her chin on the side of Ji Wu’s shoulder. “Wu-Wu, are they all corpses? The one walking at the very back seems to be alive.”

“They are alive; that is the corpse driver.” Ji Wu’s hand moved up, pressing against the back of Ming Xi’s neck and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t you go disturbing them.”

Ming Xi had indeed been thinking of causing trouble, but being squeezed like that by Ji Wu, she temporarily behaved herself. “Alright.”

She tilted her head to observe the “living person” over there.

The figure walking behind the several corpses was wrapped in a wide cloak. Over the hood sat a bamboo hat, the brim pressed very, very low, revealing only a half-section of a pale, slightly bluish chin.

It was a bit pointed, and the lips weren’t red but purplish—perhaps from the cold.

Walking a night path in this damp weather was indeed freezing, let alone controlling corpses.

Crinkled, earthy-yellow talismans were raggedly stuck to the forehead of each corpse. The corpse driver didn’t walk fast, occasionally opening her mouth to mutter something. No sound came out, but every time she finished muttering, the corpses would sway slightly.

She didn’t look tall. Many clothes were padded under the cloak, making her entire body look somewhat sturdy at first glance.

But based on the small section of wrist Ming Xi caught a glimpse of, this person should be quite thin.

Suddenly, a wind blew.

It was a burst of eerie, sinister wind carrying a sense of malice, scraping against the dense leaves of the bamboo forest and making a grating sound like grinding bones. The corpse driver seemed to dislike this sound intensely, startled into stumbling a step.

The corpses she controlled with fluorescent silk threads also swayed. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but one of the dead people’s feet got caught on a sticky, rotting vine. When it took the next step, its other foot tripped over the stuck one, and it immediately lost its balance and flipped forward, crashing into another corpse.

The corpse driver was horrified.

She raised her hand to flick a talisman, intending to ignite it, but she was a step too late. Another gust of strange wind whistled past, swirling up fallen leaves and slapping them against the corpses’ faces. The group of corpses, already tumbling and crashing, completely lost their order. The fluorescent threads hidden behind their necks snapped all at once.

The rotten flesh was torn from the skeletal remains by the thin threads, carrying splatters of blood as they flew out. The sight made Ming Xi knit her brows.

“Oh, they’ve gone mad, the corpses.” She smiled and turned her face toward Ji Wu. “Is something wrong with that wind?”

“Yes.” Ji Wu didn’t intend to interfere; that corpse driver should be able to protect herself.

As for the wind, it carried resentment and wasn’t clean. Appearing in such a place was only fitting. They had seen many burial mounds piled around them along the way; this place was inherently yin, so abnormalities at night were inevitable.

Ji Wu’s cultivation was currently entirely damaged, and she was accompanied by the trouble-loving Ming Xi. Sometimes, not acting was a form of help.

The corpse driver, however, wasn’t nearly as calm as this outsider. The tightly wrapped girl had initially known how to burn talismans and pull threads, but now she was in a frantic mess. The words she muttered were no longer incantations, but rather…

“Ancestral Mama help me!”

The moment those frantic words left her mouth, a corpse-pale hand landed on her shoulder. The sinister wind struck again, blowing her bamboo hat away.