Chapter 12 The Cat Remembers
Bai Qingchen was awakened by a series of tiny, somewhat dissatisfied squeaking sounds.
When I opened my eyes, what I saw was not the cold street, but an exquisite mauve gauze curtain above my head and a soft, thick velvet blanket beneath my body, which was warm.
"Chirp! Chirp, chirp!" The sound was getting closer, with a hint of the rustling sound of small claws scratching on fabric.
Bai Qingchen opened his eyes completely and tilted his head slightly.
There was a small furry thing standing next to the cushion, which was bigger than his cat's body.
It looks a bit like a squirrel, but its tail is fluffier, like a small ball of fur, and its body is warm chestnut brown.
The most eye-catching thing is its pair of big, round ears, which are fluttering like small fans at this moment, and its pair of big black eyes are looking at him vigilantly.
Looking around, the furnishings here seem to be a study.
"What are you looking at! You newcomer!" The little thing squeaked with a fierce tone.
"I'm warning you, this is my territory. I, Rongrong, am Yueyue's favorite little darling. Don't even think about competing with me for my affection!"
"Did you hear me? Don't think you're great just because you're white. Yueyue hugged me, kissed me, and gave me the most delicious nuts. You...don't even think about it!"
Bai Qingchen turned over lazily, too lazy to even meow, and just wanted to bury his head back in the warm blanket.
Seeing that this guy ignored her, Rongrong was so angry that she jumped up and down, wanting to jump directly onto the white cat, but was blocked by a force.
Rongrong was shocked. This white creature actually dared to tease him! He tried to break through the defense by scratching and biting, but it was just a futile effort.
Rongrong, exhausted, kicked his legs and collapsed to the side. "I recognize your strength. I will protect you from now on, but you are not allowed to snatch Yueyue from me!"
Bai Qingchen was speechless when he saw the little guy struggling.
I don't know where this place is. It's too bright outside to leave. I'll have to wait until late at night when everyone is asleep.
Bai Qingchen resigned himself to his fate and rested his head on his paws, closing his eyes and resting, completely ignoring the little guy next to him who was still chirping and launching a mental attack.
At this moment, the door was pushed open with a bang, with great force and the anger of its owner.
"I'm so angry! This is totally unreasonable!" Su Yue rushed in angrily, and the goose yellow skirt brought up a gust of wind.
Her face was puffed up like a bun, and as soon as she entered the room, she slammed the stack of talismans in her hand on the table. "Alchemy, alchemy, alchemy! There's nothing else to do except alchemy! It's so annoying!"
She saw the white cat with its eyes open on the cushion at a glance, and her eyes suddenly lit up, and her anger level seemed to drop a level.
"Ah! Xiaobai, you're awake!" She quickly walked over to Bai Qingchen and reached out to pick up the white cat and give it a kiss. "Great! I was worried you'd get sick from the rain. Let me hold you!"
Bai Qingchen's hair almost stood up. It's true that he is a cat now, but deep down he is a man who has lived for hundreds of years!
He almost instinctively stretched out his two front paws and firmly pressed them against Su Yue's face as she approached him. The pink pads of his flesh stopped her from getting closer.
"Ugh!" Su Yue was pressed down, her movements stopped, and she was a little dazed.
She blinked her big eyes and looked at the kitten in front of her, whose whole body was full of rejection.
"Pfft..." Su Yue was amused by its serious and resistant look. She wasn't angry, but just a little disappointed.
"Oh, if you don't want me to hold you, then don't." She withdrew her hand angrily, and instead picked up Rongrong, who was already impatient and wagging his tail wildly, and buried her face in its fluffy and warm fur and rubbed it hard a few times.
"Rongrong is still the best! Come, give me a kiss!" She kissed Rongrong on the forehead.
Rongrong immediately chirped proudly, glancing at the white cat with his little eyes full of triumph and showing off.
See, Yueyue likes me the most!
"Rongrong, tell me, are they really going too far?" Su Yue held the little fur ball in her arms, sat down on the embroidered cushion, and complained to it.
"The talismans I drew are clearly effective. Last time, that little Qingfeng Talisman blew away all the dust in Dad's study!"
Of course she didn't mention that the books in the study were also taken away.
"I just want to be a talisman cultivator, but my parents said that children of the Su family should go to Yaowang Valley to learn from a master. I really don't know anything about alchemy. It makes me so angry!"
Rongrong seemed to be used to this. Although she didn't understand what Yueyue was saying, she still licked the girl's hand with her little tongue as if to comfort her.
Bai Qingchen lay on the warm blanket, his ears twitching unconsciously as he listened to the girl's complaints full of grievance.
He closed his eyes, thinking about how to find an opportunity to slip away.
The result was that it was either caught or dragged down by Rongrong every time it tried to sneak away.
Unable to leave for the time being, Bai Qingchen could only settle down in Su Yue's courtyard as a cat.
Su Yue is a lively girl. Even though Bai Qingchen won't let her hold the kitten, it doesn't stop her from wanting to pounce on it every time she sees it. Bai Qingchen is exhausted just dealing with her.
However, Bai Qingchen discovered that every time after Su Yue finished playing with Rongrong, she would always sit quietly in front of the desk, spread out yellow paper, pick up a cinnabar pen, and start practicing drawing talismans.
The books she read were very diverse, ranging from the basic "Introduction to Talismans" to damaged ancient scrolls that were clearly beyond her current level.
She painted very seriously, her face was tense, and she sometimes muttered to herself, but her success rate... was really touching.
Bai Qingchen lay on the windowsill to bask in the sun, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the talisman paper written by Su Yue.
Looking at the crooked spiritual power circuit and the rune nodes that were obviously poorly connected, he felt his claws itching.
This drawing... needs more practice.
Su Yue was struggling with a talisman. The cinnabar pen fell, and spiritual power was injected. The patterns on the talisman paper lit up, and with a puff, a small puff of black smoke came out, and it was useless again.
"Ahhh! Failed again! What's wrong with this broken talisman?" Su Yue was so angry that she threw the pen away, scratched her hair, and looked frustrated.
Bai Qingchen was lying on a cushion not far from her hand.
He couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he slowly stood up and walked to the failed talisman paper.
He stretched out his claws, and the pink pad of his flesh pressed precisely on a spiritual power node in the middle of the talisman, where there was obviously a tiny missing turning point.
"Hey, Xiaobai, stop making trouble!" Su Yue thought the cat was playing and reached out to push its claws away.
Bai Qingchen ignored her, pressing his claws firmly on that spot. He looked up at her, then looked down at the talisman paper. His eyes seemed to say, "Look here."
Su Yue was stunned for a moment, looking at the cat, and then looking at the place where the cat's paw was pressing.
She picked up the pen as if possessed, and carefully filled in the missing turn according to the point where the white cat's paw had pressed.
Then, she tried to inject spiritual power again.
Buzz...
This time, the lines on the talisman paper lit up smoothly, emitting a faint green glow. It was a success!
“Wow——!!!” Su Yue’s eyes widened instantly, and her mouth opened so wide that an egg could fit in.
She looked at the successful talisman paper in her hand, then looked at the calm white cat next to her, and almost jumped up in surprise.
"Oh my God! Xiaobai is so amazing." She excitedly picked up the white cat, held it in front of her eyes, and stared into its beautiful blue eyes. "Oh my God, you are such a lucky star!"
Rongrong was staring at the scene on the shelf nearby, so stunned that she even forgot to say "jiujiu".
The nut in the little paw dropped to the ground with a clatter. This newcomer seemed to have...something? The sense of crisis instantly soared!
"See if that stinky old man dares to say that my talisman is not good. I will post this stinky talisman in his study!"
Bai Qingchen felt dizzy from her shaking and struggled to jump down, feeling a little regretful. Was the talisman drawn by this little girl for this purpose?
Su Yue held Rongrong in her arms, and Bai Qingchen followed behind. The man and two spirit beasts sneaked to the outside of Su Zhengyang's study like thieves. The servants passing by were no longer surprised.
Su Yue rolled her eyes and gave a sly smile.
"Hehe, dad scolded me again today!" She took out the crookedly drawn talisman, tiptoed into the study, her eyes rolling around as she thought about where to put the talisman.
Bai Qingchen had no interest in this kind of childish prank and followed behind lazily.
Walk into the study.
The study is decorated in an antique style, with jade slips and porcelain placed on the antique shelves, and several landscape paintings hanging on the walls.
Just as he was about to find a corner to lie down and wait for Su Yue, his steps suddenly stopped.
As if drawn by an invisible force, his eyes were fixed on a portrait hanging in the most conspicuous position in the study.
The paper was an old yellow, but the brushstrokes were vigorous and powerful, with a sense of solemnity and loneliness.
The background is a battlefield filled with smoke. Above the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a man dressed in black stands sideways with a long sword in his hand.
The most captivating thing in the whole painting is the eyes.
Even though it was only a profile seen through the scroll, those deep eyes seemed to penetrate time and space, carrying with them a coldness that looked down upon the world, as well as a loneliness and sadness that was engraved into the bones.
Bai Qingchen was as if under a spell of immobilization, frozen in place, and the blood in his body seemed to solidify at this moment.
His blue cat eyes stared at the painting without blinking, and his small body did not move.
Su Yue finally chose a good place (his father's desk). He had just quietly stuffed the odor talisman into the spread-out letter and was about to leave when he turned around and found the little white cat standing in the middle of the study, staring at the painting on the wall in a daze.
"Huh? Xiaobai, are you interested in this painting?" Su Yue came over curiously and looked up at the painting.
"This is our family's treasure. I heard that it was painted four hundred years ago by an ancestor of ours who was proficient in painting. He witnessed the great battle between immortals and demons on the battlefield and drew it."
"The painting depicts the Xuanji Sword Master, Mo Zhiyuan, who defeated the demon cultivator with a single frosty sword strike and saved the world. It's said that he..."
Su Yue was still chattering about the rumors about the legendary sword master, but Bai Qingchen could no longer hear anything.
Mo Zhiyuan!
This name was like thunder, exploding deep in his soul.
The stern profile of the person in the painting, the lonely eyes, and the familiar ancient blue sword were like a key that fiercely poked open the fog-covered door deep in memory, and the heavy fog that shrouded the Taoist couple's face was blown away.
He remembered it all!
It is not a vague outline, nor an incomplete fragment, but a real and vivid person.
His fellow Taoist, the person he risked his life to protect and the one he missed deeply, was Mo Zhiyuan.
It was the aloof and cold Xuan Ji Sword Master from Ling Xiao Sect, who was feared by the entire world of immortal cultivation.
Bai Qingchen's small body trembled violently. He stared at the painting intently, his blue cat eyes filled with unspeakable sadness and longing.
"Xiaobai? Xiaobai, what's wrong with you?" Su Yue finally noticed the abnormality of the white cat. Its whole body was stiff, and its small body was shaking like a fallen leaf in the wind.
Su Yue was frightened by him and quickly squatted down and tried to pick him up.
But the moment she reached out her hand, Bai Qingchen suddenly took a step back and avoided her touch.
He took one last deep, almost greedy look at Mo Zhiyuan in the painting, then turned around. The small white figure seemed to have made up its mind, and without looking back, it rushed out of the study and disappeared into the shadow of the corridor.
Su Yue was left holding Rongrong, standing at the door of the study, looking at the disappearing white dot, then looking at the stern portrait of the Sword Master on the wall, with a look of confusion and worry on her face: "What...what on earth is going on?"
She always felt that the way the kitten looked at the painting was not like looking at a painting, but rather like looking at an old friend who had been lost for a long time.
This thought seemed absurd to her, but she couldn't get rid of it.
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