The Aloof Master Relies on This Cat's Kisses to Survive - Chapter 29

It’s Not That Comfortable Anyway

Whoosh—

The already tattered bamboo hat was swept away by a sinister wind, vanishing into the darkness in an instant.

The cold, clammy hand of an out-of-control corpse reached out for the corpse-driver. Just as Ming Xi craned her neck to get a clear look at her, the moonlight happened to spill across the driver’s face, brushing against the tip of her ear.

Beneath the hood, the face was unexpectedly young and quite beautiful, though her expression was utterly frantic.

“Her ears are so big,” Ming Xi noted, her sharp eyes catching a glimpse of the driver’s true form in that fleeting moment. “Whoa, and her hair is green.”

Not only that, the human’s hair was soaking wet, clinging to the side of her neck and obscuring a tattoo on her pale skin.

“Wuwu, look! She has drawings on her body.”

Ji Wu shook her head. “It’s not a drawing.”

“Oh?” Ming Xi looked again. Beneath the bamboo hat, the girl wore a cloak, wrapped tightly.

Ji Wu was right; it wasn’t a drawing. Ming Xi had seen such patterns before on the painted exterior walls of the Water God Temple—those shimmering, sparkling fragments.

Ming Xi had originally thought those glittery bits were platinum, but Ji Wu said…

“It’s dragon scales.”

“A dragon? Like a Jiaolong?” Ming Xi grew even more curious. She had read about them in storybooks. “So she’s not human?”

“Not human, but not a true Jiaolong either. There haven’t been Jiaolongs in this world for a long time.” Seeing that Ming Xi couldn’t bear to leave the spectacle, Ji Wu simply stopped walking to let her watch her fill, not forgetting to explain, “She is a half-Jiao. The reason we came here was to find the Jiao-pearl of such a creature.”

Ji Fang had mentioned that the lacquer on the sword tassel was derived from the pearl of a demon Jiao.

“Then shouldn’t I just catch her and ask?” Ming Xi’s perspective was, as always, unique.

“Do not cause trouble,” Ji Wu said with a shake of her head. “Wait a moment. If she can handle it herself, we won’t interfere.”

Ji Wu had lived for a very long time and possessed a philosophy of life entirely different from Ming Xi’s; she rarely interfered with the cause and effect of the mortal world.

Ming Xi, however, had always loved meddling in the growth of all things. Whether she had seen the profession of corpse-driving before, she could no longer remember—but right now, it looked incredibly fresh.

She didn’t know what the threads the driver used to control the corpses were made of, but their shimmering, fluorescent glow was quite pretty. If she could find some clean, soft ones, wouldn’t they be perfect for tying people up?

“There are little bells hanging from those threads,” Ming Xi made a new discovery. “Why can’t I hear them ringing?”

“The bells of a corpse-driver can only be heard by the dead,” Ji Wu said, unconsciously stroking the small cat-like waist of the girl clinging to her.

Perhaps the technique was just right, for Ming Xi couldn’t help but knead her paws twice against Ji Wu’s shoulder.

Honestly, how embarrassing… it’s not even that comfortable. It’s just a little petting; Ming Xi definitely isn’t feeling satisfied just from being touched once.

She turned her small face away, pressing her cheek against Ji Wu’s shoulder. “Can I go kick one of the corpses over for fun? Just one.”

“Absolutely not,” Ji Wu refused directly.

“Meow,” Ming Xi pouted, actually resorting to a cat cry. “Just that one. The clean one.”

She had already picked her target: she wanted to kick the one in the pink celestial dress. That corpse must have had a high status in life; it was very dignified even in death. Kicking it probably wouldn’t get her feet dirty.

“You shouldn’t speak like that.” Ji Wu wanted to correct Ming Xi’s behavior, but since she was a Dream Beast, Ji Wu didn’t want to restrict her with human etiquette.

“A corpse is already a corpse. If it were still a person, it wouldn’t be controlled,” Ming Xi reasoned. “Since it has no soul or spirit, it is nothing more than a shell of flesh. Humans use their ‘Way’ to domesticate spiritual beasts and craft tools; why should they expect respect for their bodies once they’re dead?”

“Mm.” Ji Wu naturally wouldn’t argue philosophy with this rebellious beast here.

The corpse-driver on the other side might not be able to fix the mess she was in. Ji Wu looked up to estimate the distance between them and the stone bridge, deciding that if the corpses headed toward the county town, she would stop them.

The corpse-driver let out another sharp scream.

She jumped up and slapped down a talisman, but it was immediately blown away by the yin wind. The corpse that had its claw on her shoulder remained unmoved despite her struggles; it hooked onto her cloak and bared its rotting gums, twisting its face into a terrifyingly eerie grin.

“Woohoo~” Ming Xi was an enthusiastic spectator. No matter whose performance it was, as long as it was interesting, she gave a reaction.

She tilted her cat-like head and mimicked the corpse’s grin with her own small face.

“Ugly,” Ji Wu remarked.

“Wuwu is looking at me, hee!” Ming Xi was delighted. That corpse-driver was so entertaining, yet Ji Wu didn’t even look at her; the moment Ming Xi smiled, Ji Wu looked.

The Master loves her kitty! Heh!

“Grandmother, help!” The corpse-driver’s screams had turned into tearful cries for help.

More corpses were breaking free from her control and jumping around. She tried throwing out more of those fluorescent threads, but with little effect; she only managed to pull back two.

The bamboo forest was dense, and the corpses wandered aimlessly. A few looked like they were about to cross the bridge into Zhaoli County.

“Don’t!” The corpse-driver was at her wit’s end. She turned toward the watching Ji Wu. “Fellow Daoist, do you have a way to help?”

She had tried every method to restrain the frenzied corpses, but all was in vain. This place was too sinister; the repeated gusts of yin wind weren’t just because of the surrounding wild graves.

The resentment contained within was heavy and seemed selective, directed specifically at the corpse-driver.

Ji Wu didn’t speak, only shook her head.

She didn’t know how to drive corpses.

If she were to act, these corpses would only become piles of meat. The corpse-driver had clearly gone to great lengths to transport them, so she must need them intact.

Ji Wu pulled her hand out from the fluffy fur and slightly raised her sword, indicating what form her “help” would take and leaving the choice to the other party.

“That won’t do!” the driver rejected, throwing another talisman and retrieving a half-damaged corpse. “These were bought for a huge price! I have to get them back whole, otherwise—aaaaah!”

Another malicious gust of wind blew, this time completely stripping away the driver’s hood.

The face that had been half-hidden was finally revealed clearly to Ming Xi. It was a face so pale it had a greenish tint.

It didn’t have much more vitality than the corpses she held.

The woman was still full of panic, yet she still hadn’t given up on recovering the bodies. “No, no… you all are more expensive than my life.”

As she spoke, she glanced up at the moon. Then, steadying herself slightly, she pulled out a glittering sea shell and blew into it.

The sound of rising and falling tides echoed in their ears. Ming Xi turned back to Ji Wu. “Eh? Wuwu, what kind of magic is this?”

“It’s the Tide,” Ji Wu answered, also looking up at the moon. “The tide is connected to the lunar phases. The Jiaolong clan can use the tides and the moon for divination, and they can also extract ‘Xihua’ from it.”

Xihua was also known as the power of prayer. Like the spiritual energy of the Spirit Mountain, it could be used by many living beings for cultivation, growth, and healing.

“It’s a pity. The moon and the Southern Ling are still here, but the Jiaolongs are gone.” Ji Wu sighed. She was quite surprised that this little demon they encountered in the bamboo forest could summon Xihua.

“What does it matter? The Spirit Mountain is still there, but didn’t that big bad Spirit Mountain Lord vanish into ash anyway?” Ming Xi clearly wasn’t very interested in mysterious powers. She was born with an abundance of dream-source; everything on Spirit Mountain supplied her without limit. She had no reason to envy others.

Even if she didn’t remember how wealthy she was, she was quite adept at putting on airs. Ming Xi let out a lazy yawn. “That Xihua… Wuwu, can you use it?”

She suddenly thought of something, her eyes sparkling.

Ji Wu felt a stir in her heart. This rebellious beast had forgotten her own prowess, yet she was always mindful of Ji Wu’s affairs.

Unwilling to let her emotions show, Ji Wu frowned instead. “Don’t go looking for trouble. Don’t act recklessly.”

But the little cat was actually right. Ji Wu’s spiritual palace had been destroyed by the dream fire, and the Southern Ling Xihua was indeed just the thing to soothe that damage.

It was just that the amount summoned by the corpse-driver was minuscule, hardly worth mentioning.

“Then I know—it must be useful.” Ming Xi braced her front paws on Ji Wu’s shoulder and straightened up. “I won’t be reckless. I’ll trade with her, okay?”

“Nonsense. That stuff counters you; how dare you touch it,” Ji Wu warned. “My problem isn’t something this bit of Xihua can solve. If you’ve seen enough of this farce, let’s go.”

“I haven’t! Her spell is actually quite pretty—prettier than human tricks.” Ming Xi stared at the driver’s movements, nodding her little head in approval.

The woman’s juggling-like method of corpse-driving was extremely amateurish. Ji Wu couldn’t even bear to look at it directly, yet Ming Xi enjoyed the other’s exaggeration and helplessness, watching with great interest.

The corpse-driver’s hood had long since fallen aside, revealing not only her pale, greenish face but also a pair of green ears with fish-like fins.

Her eyes were also green, the same color as the “drawings” on her neck.

There were two streaks of paint on her cheekbones extending to the tips of her ears; they didn’t look natural but hand-painted, and the color wasn’t green, but a rather clashing deep red.

The Xihua summoned by the sea shell was clearly working. This time, the fluorescent threads she threw out successfully pulled back three corpses. However, two others had run too far and had already reached the stone bridge.

The corpse-driver wiped away a splash of rotting corpse fluid from her cheek and casually tucked a strand of hair stuck to her jaw.

The gill marks behind her ears flickered in and out of view, and along with the Jiao scales on the back of her neck, they glowed faintly. Ming Xi found the sight quite stunning.

She liked shiny things.

“Pretty. The creatures of the Southern Ling are much better looking than those from the Spirit Mountain.”

In her heart, she hated the Spirit Mountain Lord. Now that villains were using the Lord’s old relics to summon nightmare demons and plot against Ji Wu, every single thing made Ming Xi loathe Spirit Mountain, naturally making her lean toward the Southern Ling.

She didn’t even consider that the waters of the Southern Ling had just injured her once before.

“Pretty?” Ji Wu watched coldly. “Then stay here and watch your fill. I’m going into the county to rest.”

“No, no! Wuwu can’t go anywhere without Ming Xi.” Ming Xi wrapped her tail around Ji Wu’s wrist and hooked her paws into Ji Wu’s clothes, gently unsheathing her claws.

An ear-piercing roar suddenly exploded in their ears, and the wind grew even more violent.

The two corpses the driver hadn’t retrieved stopped right at the edge of the bridge. Their already clouded pupils bled into a pitch-black color, terrifying to behold.

The rotting corpses stretched out their hands. Their joints suddenly let out the crisp sound of bamboo husks cracking, as if they were being assimilated by the bamboo forest, mimicking the rigid, straight movements of bamboo stalks.

Their mouths hung wide open, but it wasn’t a sound from their throats; rather, there was a surge of uncontrollable vibration within their chests, craving an exit and release.

At the same time, the bamboo forest itself seemed to be coming alive.