Yanshiling
—Fen'er, run!
Kou Fen'er suddenly opened her eyes, her whole body drenched in cold sweat. Memories flooded back. She vaguely recalled a winter when she was young, with heavy snow falling. She was attracted by the meowing of a cat by the roadside and took home a dying kitten. But it still didn't survive the winter. She cried bitterly and buried the kitten's body. From then on, she didn't like small animals much, thinking they were too fragile.
Later, at the Spirit Recognition Conference, she saw the little tabby cat for the first time. The feeling of déjà vu lured her to pick it up and step into the world of demon tamers.
After that, they spent every day together. She asked her master and senior brothers and sisters how to form a spirit contract and how to transform a demon beast into a human, and received various answers.
Her master said that one must connect with the spirit of a demon beast and treat it as half of oneself. All her knowledge and skills would be used to help the demon beast grow through forming a spiritual bond, eventually allowing it to transform into human form.
What did she do wrong?
Kou Fen'er asked herself a question, and then a voice suddenly echoed in her ears.
—Because you don't believe her.
You don't believe... her?
"It's so small, all soft and squishy. What can something so tiny do?"
"There's no difference between monsters and ordinary little beasts when they're young... When will you grow up?"
"You can use formations after forming a spirit contract, that's amazing, really amazing! But why hasn't Little Tabby changed at all?"
"What exactly do I need to do to make you transform into a demon? I've been trying, but you haven't changed at all."
Distraught, Kou Fen'er touched her cheek, realizing that tears were already streaming down her face.
But on that day, it was Little Fox Flower who saved her.
The door creaked open, and the faint candlelight went out instantly, then struggled to reignite a tiny spark, casting a long, slender shadow on the ground, twisted yet persistently pointing in one direction.
The little tabby cat lay quietly on the bed, its mouth slightly open, revealing its tongue, its eyes half-open, its abdomen rising and falling weakly, and its breath barely a whisper.
The pale fingertips tentatively touched the little tabby's warm fur, then recoiled as if electrocuted.
—Because you don't believe her.
"I believe you..."
Tears streamed down her face, but it was too late.
"I believe you...please don't die."
sorry.
Her lips trembled, and she couldn't utter a single word.
The tabby cat on the bed twitched slightly, Kou Fen'er's pupils contracted sharply, and she ran out.
"Come--"
"Fen'er," that voice echoed in his mind again, "Do you believe me?"
Kou Fen'er trembled and suddenly turned around.
"I believe you, please, please don't die."
"Could you take me somewhere?" A voice softly echoed in my mind.
Kou Fen'er collapsed onto the bedside, hastily wiping away her tears, and choked out, "Okay, where do you want to go?"
"Yanshi Ridge".
...
Early in the morning, Kou Feng returned from Banshanju looking disheveled. He hadn't even seen He Wenwen and had been labeled one of the ten most clueless people.
It's as if he wanted to do it. If there wasn't really no other way, who would want to fawn over him?
Kou Feng had just entered the courtyard in a huff when he saw Brother Huang looking at him with an unfriendly expression. Seeing him return, Brother Huang grabbed him and dragged him toward the woodshed.
"What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled.
Brother Huang succinctly replied, "If you can't explain it clearly, go see for yourself."
As they spoke, they pushed open the door to the woodshed, and a stench hit them. The rats they had caught yesterday were all locked in a specially made large iron cage, and now they were a pile of rotten flesh. It looked like they had torn each other apart and were all dead, and the smell was indescribably disgusting.
Kou Feng frowned, leaning closer for a better look. "They're all dead? These big black rats are so—"
A large black rat that wasn't quite dead suddenly pounced on him.
"Holy crap!" Kou Feng exclaimed in surprise, blinked, and leaned closer to look. "Wait, Brother Huang, come here. Do you think this one is different from the other big rats?"
As he spoke, he scooped up Brother Huang. The woman with sharp features followed his gaze, her expression gradually turning serious. "Your eyes are red?"
"Anything else?" Kou Feng looked at her expectantly. "Can you sense any other auras? Is this thing a demon?"
“Bullshit, don’t associate every random thing with demons. This is just a big black rat, but…” Brother Huang’s voice suddenly dropped, and he said uncertainly, “It’s disgusting, not in the literal sense, but in its very nature. It’s the kind of disgust that even demons don’t want to get close to. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
"Uncle-Master Kou—"
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside. Kou Feng and Brother Huang exchanged a glance. Brother Huang disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only Kou Feng. He ran out following the sound.
Tongming, who was running around like a headless fly, saw Kou Feng appear and blurted out, "Uncle-Master Kou, the cat is gone!"
"The cat is gone?" Kou Feng was stunned for a moment, then, as if he had realized something, he shouted, "Oh no!"
He rushed to where Kou Fen'er lived, pushed open the door, and found the house empty.
"That brat! Let's go find her!"
...
From the small woods east of Koujia Town, follow the path uphill, then climb a grassy slope to reach Yanshi Ridge.
It was just dawn, the east was turning white, and the lush green shadows of the trees stretched out in a continuous expanse. A cool breeze carried a hint of chill. On the rugged path, two teenagers and a young demon came to this place.
Wildflowers bloomed in vibrant colors across the mountains and fields, and the three of them wandered through the sea of flowers, their silvery laughter ringing out from time to time.
"So many, so many balsam flowers, brother, please pick some more for me." The girl said, then looked at the demon youth with some hesitation, "Um... Cun She, could you pick some for me too? I'm just killing time anyway, and you won't be shortchanged on money, don't worry."
Cun She was dark-skinned, tall and thin. Looking at the girl's tender face, he sighed silently in his heart. Just as he was about to help, his expression suddenly changed.
On their way up the mountain, another figure staggered toward them.
That is...
Cun She subconsciously suppressed his demonic aura, almost instinctively sensing the danger approaching him.
"Quick, hide!" he shouted urgently.
The boy, unaware of what had happened, hurriedly pressed the girl down and immediately hid behind her.
"W-What happened?"
"Brother, I'm scared. Is it a big tiger? Or a big bear?"
"Quiet!" Cun She warned in a low voice, looking through the dense sea of flowers at the light green figure approaching from afar.
Kou Fen'er walked with difficulty, and apart from the little fox's voice that occasionally echoed in her mind, she could hear nothing else.
"We're almost there, Fen'er, we're almost there."
Kou Fen'er held the little tabby cat tightly, feeling the body in her arms growing colder and colder, and her heart slowly sinking into an ice cellar.
There are examples of demon servants dying. If a demon tamer is lucky, they can raise another demon servant once they lose one. But if a demon beast like her dies without being demonized, she will be deemed unsuitable to be a demon tamer and will have to leave Wenzhangmao.
In the Yang Palace Demon Tamer lineage, intelligent demon beasts are far more precious than demon tamers themselves.
leave……
Kou Fen'er trembled all over. She had finally stepped into the world of demon taming, finally possessed a demon beast, and finally become one of the people that others envied. Once she left, she would have nothing left, no, she would fall into an abyss.
She cannot leave.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Kou Fen'er burst into tears, tightly holding the little tabby cat in her arms, which was gradually growing cold.
Not far away, Cun She frowned deeply. At this moment, even the two little ones could see who had come.
"Is she crying?" the girl asked quietly.
The boy turned to Cun She, "That's a demon master, isn't he? They all wear those green clothes."
Cun She nodded silently.
The boy and girl exchanged a glance and suddenly understood why Cun She was so afraid of her.
"But she's crying!" the girl repeated. "Can't you see she's holding something in her arms?"
"It looks like a cat..." the boy murmured.
It was the same demon beast that had chased him into the formation. Cun She recognized it at a glance, but it seemed that her demon beast was... dead?
Wait a minute, where is she going?
All three of them unconsciously widened their eyes, but Kou Fen'er did not notice them. Instead, she walked towards the old locust tree that had been uprooted on the ridge.
Past events flashed through my mind like a fleeting glimpse, finally settling on that one day.
A skinny little girl picked up an equally thin kitten.
Time is out of control, and the past flows back rapidly.
Meow~
Kou Fen'er trembled. Suddenly, the cold little tabby cat jumped down from her arms and transformed into a little girl in black, waving and smiling at her, "Come down quickly, Fen'er!"
"Little, little..." Kou Fen'er's eyes lit up instantly, and she trembled with excitement. Without thinking, she jumped down.
"She jumped!" The girl exclaimed, looking at the boy in shock. "Brother, she...she jumped!"
"Shall we go take a look?" the boy asked Cun She for help.
Cun She's eyes narrowed into slits, his nerves suddenly tightened, and his back felt like it was standing on end. He suddenly roared for no apparent reason, "Go! Get out of here!"
The two were startled. They heard a loud crash from the large locust tree not far away, and their feet trembled. Cun She threw the two men away. "Run!"
As soon as the words were spoken, the impatiens flowers covering the mountains and fields withered and died at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then quickly grew new white flower buds.
The boy and girl were so frightened that they forgot to run. Cun She had only taken two steps when he felt a pain in his ankle. Looking down, he realized that he was entangled by something. He hurriedly tried to tear it off, but the thing burrowed into his flesh as soon as it touched him. The boy and girl were instantly swallowed by a pale sea of flowers. In his last glance, he only saw a white flower bud as tall as a person growing next to the big locust tree. And in the instant he fell, the white flowers bloomed all over the mountainside, and in the stamens of the flowers were black rat heads, swaying in the wind and squeaking.
"Squeak squeak squeak... squeak squeak squeak..."
The white rat-headed flowers began to spread rapidly down the hillside, and wherever they went, all the flowers, grass and trees withered and were instantly replaced by the white rat-headed flowers. The squeaking of rats echoed throughout the mountains and fields.
"What is that? It's all white?"
"It seems they're still heading this way?"
"It looks like a flower..."
The group of people who had just come down from the mountain subconsciously looked up at the hillside, and when they got closer, their eyes widened in surprise.
"Squeak squeak squeak... squeak squeak squeak..."
Kou Feng, who was frantically searching for someone in Wenzhangmao, was about to go to the Monster Garden when Kou Fen'er, in her desperation, might come here.
Before he even reached the destination, a disciple, covered in sweat, caught up with him. "Master, Uncle-Master, the disciples on patrol just now reported that the formation in the direction of Yanshi Ridge is unstable and they request reinforcements!"
"What?" Kou Feng was shocked. A gust of wind swept past his ear, and Huang Ge's cold voice drifted over, "I'll go check it out!"
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