Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 9 - Chapter 9 – Little White Tiger’s Gratitude

Early morning.

Chen Ming woke up from a deep sleep, feeling pain all over his body—his throat, the back of his neck, chest, waist, back, and groin—waves of pain radiating from every part. Struggling to get out of bed, his face was full of fear.

“Am I dead?”

The last memory in Chen Ming’s mind was that his spiritual power was completely drained, and the female ghost from the well had possessed his body. After that, he lost control over himself.

In a daze, he seemed to see his long-deceased imperial grandmother coming to take him away.

Although he missed his grandmother dearly, he didn’t want her to take him now.

He was only twenty years old, hadn’t yet established his foundation, nor ascended the throne, and still had a promising life ahead of him. Just as his grandmother took his hand and they walked farther away, a man suddenly appeared.

Li Yu!

Chen Ming used to dislike this elegant, handsome face, but at that moment, Li Yu’s face was like a shining light to him!

The sky had already brightened when Mr. Ren tentatively pushed open the courtyard gate and cautiously asked, “Are the immortals still here?”

But what he saw was Chen Ming’s face, filled with fury.

Chen Ming originally thought this was a simple mission, but didn’t expect to nearly lose his life here. Of course, Chen Ming wouldn’t let it go easily. Enduring the severe pain in his body, he summoned officials from Fengzhou.

He suspected this was a conspiracy targeting them.

If he had known there was a female ghost here comparable to a peak Qi Refining stage practitioner, he definitely wouldn’t have accepted the mission. Chen Ming was a prince of the Chen Dynasty, and the Fengzhou officials naturally cooperated fully.

However, after interrogation, the Ren family knew nothing about the matter.

Li Yu was not surprised by this. The Ren family didn’t have the guts to plot against the immortals; this was all the female ghost’s scheme.

She manipulated restless spirits and wandering ghosts to harass the Ren family, creating an illusion of a haunting. That was just a cover—her real target was the souls of cultivators.

For ghosts, the souls of cultivators are a great source of nourishment, able to rapidly boost their cultivation levels. She didn’t expect that a simple ghost-exorcising mission would involve four Qi Refining stage disciples from Baiyun Temple, who utterly destroyed her, causing her soul to scatter and die again—completely dissipating from this world.

Li Yu had only been in this world a few days but already personally experienced the dangers of the cultivation path.

Even a seemingly insignificant task could result in death and obliteration.

Returning to Baiyun Temple, the four of them went to Elder Sun to report their mission.

Elder Sun was a little old man, with graying hair and a face full of wrinkles, appearing to be in his sixties or seventies. But Li Yu knew he was far older—more than two hundred years old, a bona fide ancient creature who had lived for two centuries.

Elder Sun’s cultivation was in the late Foundation Establishment stage, but it was unlikely he would ever reach the Golden Core stage in this lifetime. So, he came to Baiyun Temple to manage affairs, contribute what he could to the sect, train reserves, and patiently wait for his time to come.

Li Yu had never seen him practice cultivation; Elder Sun’s most common activity was lying in a rocking chair in the sun all day, motionless. If someone didn’t know better, they might think he had already passed away in meditation.

“A female ghost at the peak of Qi Refining first stage?”

Elder Sun lay in his rocking chair, listening to Li Yu and the others recount the mission. His eyes, which had been closed, opened slightly as he said calmly, “For a ghost to have reached that level, she must have been cultivating for decades. Fortunately, she was just a wild ghost who only knew how to possess and didn’t understand ghost arts. Otherwise, at least two of you four would have died there…”

The emotionless tone from Elder Sun sent another shiver of fear through the group.

He glanced at them again and said, “Consider yourselves lucky this time. The cultivation world is full of dangers. A bunch of immature kids like you should always be on guard when you go out. Don’t die without even knowing how you died. Every year, hundreds of disciples from major sects perish on missions—usually around eight to nine hundred, if not over a thousand.”

After delivering this stern warning, Elder Sun clasped his hands behind his back and walked into the grand hall. A short while later, he shuffled back out and handed a few coin-like items to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming hesitated for a moment, then handed all ten coins to Zhou Zixuan, saying, “Junior Sister Zhou, I won’t take any reward for this mission. You all can split these spirit coins.”

Then he looked at Li Yu and Jiang Li, bowing his head, “I was wrong before. I apologize here and hope you won’t mind.”

Chen Ming’s attitude toward Li Yu and Jiang Li had changed completely at this moment.

The path of cultivation is about longevity after all.

If it weren’t for Li Yu, his life would probably have ended yesterday. Forget about the path of longevity—compared to the immense debt he owed now, the previous petty grudges didn’t matter at all.

Jiang Li generously waved his hand, saying, “Forget it, forget it…”

After all, during these two years of butting heads with Chen Ming, neither he nor Li Yu had actually suffered any real losses.

Zhou Zixuan took the coins but didn’t hesitate long before handing them all over to Li Yu. “Junior Brother Li, these are for you. I didn’t help much on this mission…”

Li Yu wanted to decline, but Zhou Zixuan was insistent, so he could only accept them.

Each of these coins was worth ten standard spirit coins, making a total of one hundred. Li Yu tried to give half to Jiang Li, but Jiang Li firmly declined: “I don’t need them. Spirit coins are useless to me. Just keep them.”

Li Yu understood Jiang Li well—this guy had no real interest in cultivation, and once he said no, he definitely meant no.

Suddenly possessing one hundred spirit coins, Li Yu wasn’t sure how to spend them right away. One hundred spirit coins could buy several low-grade talismans for protection or some energy-replenishing pills from Elder Sun.

Such things were very useful for Qi Refining stage practitioners. If Chen Ming had a pill to restore energy last night, he might not have been possessed by the ghost.

However, Elder Sun said that if they became formal disciples of the Kunlun Sect after three months, the sect would provide these items. Buying them now would be a waste. He suggested Li Yu save the coins for later since they would be very useful once he officially joined the sect. If he didn’t make it in, he could still exchange them for these items afterward.

Li Yu thought Elder Sun’s advice was sensible. For now, the selection three months from now was more important.

The selection criteria for joining the sect were not fixed and largely depended on the preferences of the selecting elder. But reaching Qi Refining stage was a strict requirement. Those at Qi Refining second stage or above could enter directly, while those at first stage faced much uncertainty, depending on how many acupoints they had opened.

Although Li Yu had just reached Qi Refining first stage, there was no guarantee he’d be chosen. There were still others in the temple who’d reached Qi Refining first stage last time and failed to get in.

He had to make good use of these last three months to improve his cultivation further.

At dawn, with the sky just beginning to brighten, Li Yu got up to wash and left Baiyun Temple.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the environment affected cultivation speed to some degree. With over a hundred people gathered at Baiyun Temple on one mountain peak, competing for resources, cultivation results were not ideal.

There was another reason too—he wanted to go rua that little tiger.

He had to admit, it felt incredibly good to pet.

Before long, Li Yu arrived at the stream where he’d gathered spiritual energy last time.

This place was located in a valley, not only beautiful but also rich in spiritual energy, and no one was competing with him here. Facing the rising morning sun, Li Yu sat cross-legged on a large rock by the stream, guiding the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to begin stimulating the second acupoint on his right hand.

This acupoint was called “Shao Fu,” the second of the seventy-two acupoints in the Fire Spiritual Meridian.

Li Yu’s “Shao Chong” acupoint on his right hand was already filled with spiritual energy. He directed the energy inside his body along the meridians, launching an assault on the Shao Fu point. But every surge of spiritual energy felt like it had hit an unbreakable wall.

Cultivation was just this tedious. Li Yu had lost count of how many times he had tried, but the wall showed no sign of crumbling—not even a slight tremble.

The sun had already risen overhead when Li Yu planned to return to the temple for a meal, when suddenly a cheerful roar sounded in his ears.

Li Yu recognized the roar immediately. Opening his eyes, he saw the little white tiger running toward him from afar. With a gentle leap, it landed on the rock and rubbed its small head against Li Yu.

Li Yu hugged it in his arms, unable to resist petting it again. After his undercover days ended, he had once raised a cat named Xiao Bai as a comfort. This little white tiger was bigger, but its fur felt even better.

Comfortably rolling in Li Yu’s arms, the little white tiger jumped down from the rock and ran in a certain direction, turning its head to beckon Li Yu.

Li Yu was surprised by such a human-like gesture. He blinked, uncertain: “You want me to follow you?”

Ignoring whether Li Yu understood, the little white tiger dashed into the bushes ahead. After running a dozen steps, it looked back and nodded again, signaling him to keep up.

Curious, Li Yu followed. Soon, the two arrived at a cliff.

Li Yu was a bit puzzled, murmuring, “Why did you bring me here?”

Standing on the cliff, Li Yu noticed something strange. The area within ten zhang beneath his feet was completely bare, but beyond that, the grass and trees grew lush and vibrant.

At that moment, he saw the little white tiger standing at the cliff edge, nodding its head downwards at him.

There seemed to be something below the cliff.

Li Yu walked to the edge and looked down. There, on a protruding rock below the cliff, grew a plant with bright red leaves, like a small tree, with a fiery red fruit about the size of a fist at the top.

At the sight of the fruit, Li Yu was momentarily stunned, then exclaimed happily, “Zhu Guo!”

Li Yu had been an herbal apprentice for ten years and was very familiar with various plants. He immediately recognized this cliffside plant as “Zhu Guo,” a rare spiritual herb that was extremely hard to find. Not only did mortal herbal shops pay high prices for it, but even Kunlun Sect had demand for it.

For ordinary mortals, consuming Zhu Guo could extend one’s lifespan; when refined into a pill, it enhanced a cultivator’s power. A century-old Zhu Guo fetched a price of 500 spirit coins at Baiyun Temple.

“Roar, roar…”

The little white tiger kept low growling. Li Yu looked into its eyes and read a message that startled him.

“Is this… for me?”

In the large tiger eyes shimmered a lively intelligence. Li Yu was shocked—this little tiger was so smart, he had never seen an animal with such a gaze before. Could it be that the Qi Gathering Pill he gave it last time had awakened its spirit? Was it repaying him for his kindness?