Chapter 639: Time to Visit an Old Friend

Mountains and lakes stretched far and wide; another autumn had arrived.

The Daoist stood halfway up Mount Ye, beside a pear tree. The mountainside grass was like silk, mostly green with only a few patches turning yellow. The wind made his robes flutter continuously.

Below the mountain, the wild grass swayed as a cat dashed in wildly.

A calico cat, not yet taller than the wild grass, ran while pushing the grass aside. The long green blades, once all bent by the wind in the same direction, were now parted by her, creating a path.

Her figure appeared and disappeared as she ran.

When the calico cat realized that each time she leapt up, she could see the Daoist on the mountain, she began to jump higher and higher while running, bouncing with each leap. Every time she jumped, she gave the Daoist a serious look, and then landed to repeat the process.

She gradually drew closer to the Daoist.

Following her cat habits, she slowed from wild running to a trot, then to joyful little steps. By the time she reached the Daoist Master, she was walking slowly in small steps, finally stopping and sitting down in the grass three feet in front of him. She raised a paw to lick it, all the while glancing sideways at him, and said, “Daoist priest, you came out?”

Her voice was soft and clear, without much change.

The Daoist lowered his head to look at her. She was still the same size, with no obvious changes.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m doing very well!”

“I heard you’ve become stronger, is that true?” the Daoist asked.

“Hmm? Who told you that?”

“Master Yidu said so.”

“A little bit!”

“A little bit?” Song You smiled and looked at her.

Just this “little bit” already counted as great growth. He was not referring to magical cultivation, but to her learning humility.

“A little bit...” The calico cat raised her head, blinking not once. Staring straight at him, she asked, “I sent you so much food, why haven’t you eaten any?”

“I was in primordial state and could control myself.”

“Could control yourself!”

“But after opening my eyes, I saw the braised chicken and century egg and lean pork congee you brought and tasted a little.”

“That was brought to you three months ago! You opened your eyes three months ago?”

“I just opened them.”

“Then why weren’t they eaten by bugs? Oh, there were no bugs inside... So why just eat now? Won’t it have gone sour or smell bad and make your stomach hurt?”

“I tasted it, it’s fresh, just that it’s cold.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s something strange about it.”

“Is it tasty,

meow

?”

“It is tasty...” As Song You spoke, he studied the calico cat’s expression, seeming to read something from her feline face and those cat eyes. Then he smiled slightly and said, “Just not as tasty as what you make.”

“That’s right!” The cat nodded without hesitation, still glancing sideways at him, then continued asking, “So, guess where I got the braised chicken and congee I brought you?”

The Daoist kept observing the calico cat’s expression. He studied her while thinking.

“I guess...” Song You pondered a bit, then seemed to have an idea. “Could it be bought from Changjing?”

“...!” The cat’s expression suddenly tightened, her face growing a bit serious. Staring straight at him, she asked, “How did you guess that?”

“I’m just guessing.”

“Then guess, how did I get chicken and congee from Changjing?” The calico cat asked, adding, “Changjing is so far from here!”

“Changjing is indeed several thousand li away. If riding a horse at full speed, it wouldn’t take many days. But three months ago was midsummer; anything brought back would have spoiled.” Song You spoke his reasoning as he thought, “Other than that, whoever can make a quick round trip, no matter how, is definitely using great supernatural power...”

The calico cat listened seriously. The more she heard, the happier she became.

She thought,

No wonder he’s a Daoist priest, after three years he’s still so impressive.

Somehow, just a few words from him could make a cat happy.

“Could it be that you’ve mastered a great divine flight technique?” Song You asked.

“I tamed a white crane!”

“Tamed a white crane?”

“Yes!”

“...” Song You glanced at the calico cat, and she glanced back at him. Her expression was proud, yet with a hint of expectation.

From just that look, the Daoist knew he hadn’t said enough.

“But aren’t white cranes naturally proud?”

“Yes!”

“And highly cultivated and strong in battle, their beaks can even pierce gold and stone giants.”

“Yes!”

“So how did you tame it?”

“Of course, by practicing every day diligently, training in magic, and beating it in a fight. Then, I used some clever tricks. The swallow said I was brainwashing it. And finally, little by little, it became obedient.” The calico cat hid her pride well, keeping a serious face, but still added, “That white crane isn’t very smart.”

“Lady Calico, you’re the smart one then...”

“Yes!” said the calico cat. “From now on, when going far away, you can ride on my white crane’s back, it’ll get you there in no time!”

“Yeah...” Song You turned his head and asked, “Where’s the swallow?”

“The swallow’s over there, practicing thunder magic far away. A ghost just went to find him.” The calico cat looked toward the distance. “There’s no thunder now, he should be back soon.”

“Alright...”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a swallow flew in from the horizon.

Above the hillside, the sky was blue with white clouds. The swallow didn’t even need to flap his wings. He just spread them wide, and he caught the wind and glided in. He landed on a pear tree branch, causing the branch to sway.

“Congratulations, sir, on successfully coming out of seclusion.”

“It’s been three years. Have you all been well outside?”

“Thanks to Lady Calico’s care, everything’s good,” the swallow bowed his head. “The horse is doing well too.”

“I heard you all have made great progress?”

“Not as much as Lady Calico.”

From nearby came the cat’s voice immediately, “Not as much as the swallow.”

“Lady Calico is flattering me.”

“The swallow’s flattering mw.”

“...”

They were like two childish kids.

Song You shook his head, said no more. He took out two stones, saying to them, “Go talk down below. These two stones are taken from the stone mountain where I sat in the underworld. Holding them, you can freely travel between the living world and the underworld without being rejected by the underworld’s boundary.”

“Got it.”

“Got it.”

Both little demons transformed into human forms and took the stones. Then, both tilted their heads, staring at him.

“Ready?” The Daoist smiled slightly at them.

Before they could answer—

Whoosh!

Suddenly, everything in front of them darkened, as if in an instant, yet also as if they had traveled a great distance. When the two little demons opened their eyes, they were already inside the underworld’s domain.

Before them was dim and shadowy, with no sun or moon visible, yet there was a faint glow. The ground was covered with yin energy vegetation, swaying gently in the breeze. Nearest to them stood a gigantic, nearly perfect mountain, like a sharp spire piercing through the earth and reaching toward the sky. The land stretched so vast that its boundaries could not be seen, and the Ghost City was divided into several parts.

The two little demons stood beside Song You, both surveying their surroundings.

One frowned, showing deep thought; the other wore a cautious expression, sniffing the unfamiliar air and instinctively stepping closer to their Daoist master.

“Where is this?”

“The underworld’s domain.”

“Why does it look different?”

“You used to enter the Ghost City of Mount Ye, but now this is the fully formed underworld realm, so it naturally looks different.”

“We’re still in the mountains?”

“No, that’s wrong. We just entered from outside the mountain, but what we entered isn’t necessarily inside the mountain.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Lady Calico, you’ve grown a lot taller.”

Song You looked at the girl beside him and realized she had indeed grown taller.

Not by a lot, but in these three years, her growth was noticeably greater than in the previous three years, even more than the five or six years before that.

“I took the swallow, rode on the white crane, went to Changjing, and even returned to our old house, went to the wall and measured...”

With Lady Calico’s cautious nature, it was normally hard to distract her when arriving somewhere new, but this topic was so strong, so extraordinary, that it immediately caught her full attention. She couldn’t wait and used her hands to demonstrate a distance to the Daoist. “I’ve grown this much!”

While gesturing, she glanced downward, perhaps feeling the description wasn’t accurate or maybe with some mischief, quietly spreading her hands even wider.

“I guess in these three years, you must have worried a bit more.”

“Worried about what,

meow

?”

“I just mean you’ve grown a lot, not just in Dao cultivation and magical skill.”

“I learned many things.” The girl beside him said, “I went outside to the riverbank where people catch fish, without rods or nets or spears. I just weave something and put it in the water, and the fish go in by themselves. The next day I just pick it up. So convenient.”

“How did you learn that?”

“I turned into a cat and quietly watched. Ah, no, I looked openly, no one chased me away.”

“Lady Calico, you’re smart.”

“I also planted sugarcane down the mountain. People in the south of Fengzhou grow sugarcane. I bought some with money, cut them into segments, and buried them in the soil. They grew again.”

“How did you know how to do that?”

“I asked the people who grow sugarcane.”

“I see...”

“Why is there a mountain here?”

“This is the tall platform I used to sit on before. I don’t know why, but after the underworld realm fully formed, it became this tall.”

“How did it change?”

“The mysteries of heaven and earth are accidental and hard to explain.”

“Huh...”

Song You chose a direction and stepped forward, and the two little demons followed behind him.

Because they held the two stones, which were essentially a special pass, they were allowed entry here. The underworld realm did not reject them. With their level of cultivation, the strong yin and ghostly energy here wouldn’t cause any major problems in the short term.

The girl told the Daoist about her growth, and he shared with them the changes in the underworld realm.

They headed northwest, as there were old friends there, and they had stayed at this place for a long time. The Daoist should first go visit them.