Dream Cat

After eating half a deer leg, Yuan Ming took the remaining cooked meat back to the treehouse. He found Hagon still unconscious. After a moment's thought, he took out a yellow bamboo tube, about the thickness of his thumb, from his embrace.

He pulled out the wooden stopper and immediately held it under Hagon's nose.

A cool, stimulating scent rushed straight into Hagon's nasal cavity. His nose twitched violently, and with a soft groan, he gradually regained consciousness.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming immediately moved the bamboo tube away and resealed it.

After Hagon woke up, he gasped, his injuries causing him to grimace in pain. It took him a while to recover, and then he saw Yuan Ming watching over him.

"Brother Yuan, you saved me again," Hagon said, a look of gratitude flashing in his eyes.

With that, he struggled to sit up, but Yuan Ming pressed his shoulder and pushed him back down.

"The wound on your stomach is serious and won't heal anytime soon, so don't rush to move. Tell me, what happened? Those two from the Hyena Hall shouldn't have been able to injure you."

Listening to Yuan Ming's question, Hagon didn't answer immediately. Instead, he slightly raised his head to look at his abdomen. Seeing that it had already been bandaged, he lay back down.

"If I hadn't been injured, they wouldn't have been able to hurt me. I ran into a monster," Hagon said, a hint of lingering fear on his face.

"A monster? Not a fierce beast?" Yuan Ming's interest was piqued by this statement.

"I... I'm not sure. But that thing is definitely different from the fierce beasts I usually see. I don't think it's a fierce beast," Hagon said after a slight hesitation.

"What did it look like? Tell me about it," Yuan Ming said.

He had the "Illustrated Guide to Common Fierce Beasts" given to him by Zhao Tong. He was confident that he could identify any common fierce beasts in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, even if he hadn't seen them before.

Yuan Ming was curious to see what this "monster" Hagon mentioned was.

Hagon took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes, as if carefully recalling his previous experience or calming his mind.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again and looked at Yuan Ming.

"The thing that injured me was no more than eight feet tall, covered in long white fur, with black claws. It walked upright like a human, but when it ran, it used both its hands and feet, like a wild man or a beast. Most importantly, its roar sounded like human wailing and crying, sending a chill down your spine just hearing it," Hagon described slowly.

"Is that all?" Yuan Ming asked, seeing that he had stopped.

"These are just its strange external features. When I fought it, I found that not only was its physique as tough as iron, but it also seemed to have no sense of pain at all. It didn't defend itself during the fight, acting recklessly, almost like a suicide attack. My long saber had already cut into its neck, but it didn't dodge, just took the blow and injured me with a claw. If I hadn't fallen under a waterfall and been washed away by the water, I would have definitely died there," Hagon said, shaking his head with lingering fear.

After listening, Yuan Ming stroked his chin with one hand, lost in thought.

If what Hagon said is true, it really is a monster. He carefully compared it in his mind and was disappointed to find that the "Illustrated Guide to Common Fierce Beasts" didn't have any matching fierce beasts.

"Do you have any leads?" Hagon asked, looking at Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming shook his head and then said, "I was just planning to go to Toad Valley. I'll ask Zhao Tong about this strange creature of yours; he might know."

"That would be good," Hagon nodded.

"This is one of my temporary hideouts. It's not very hidden, but no one usually comes here. You should rest here tonight, and I'll keep watch," Yuan Ming instructed.

"Brother Yuan, I can't thank you enough. I will repay you handsomely in the future," Hagon said sincerely, cupping his fists.

"Let's not talk about that now. Have something to eat," Yuan Ming said with a smile, waving his hand and offering the half deer leg he was holding.

Late at night, the hazy light of the crescent moon filtered through the gaps in the treehouse.

Yuan Ming leaned against the wall of the treehouse and eventually succumbed to sleep from exhaustion. The moonlight draped over him like a light veil, and his soft snores echoed in the treehouse.

Suddenly, a cat's meow seemed to sound.

Yuan Ming jolted awake, his eyes snapping open. As he instinctively tried to get up, he found himself completely unable to move. For a moment, it felt as if his soul had left his body, and he couldn't tell if he was dreaming or awake.

In a daze, a faint, ethereal female voice sounded intermittently, sometimes like someone whispering in his ear, sometimes like someone confiding through a door, sometimes near, sometimes far, and elusive.

"Strange..."

"Soul... what is it..."

"Interesting..."

There was an indescribable sense of enchantment in the voice. As Yuan Ming listened, his head grew heavy, his eyelids drooped, and he gradually felt himself falling asleep.

But just before he lost consciousness completely, a small, silvery-white shadow flashed past the gap in the treehouse door.

It seemed to be a cat with silver-white fur?

He slept through the night in a daze. It wasn't until the morning light of the next day shone on Yuan Ming's face through the gaps in the wooden planks of the treehouse that he slowly opened his eyes and woke up.

He rubbed his temples and sat up, recalling the dream from last night, feeling a sense of absurdity.

But beyond the absurdity, the strange sense of reality, especially the loss of control as if his soul had left his body, didn't feel like a dream upon closer reflection, leaving him unable to shake it off for a long time.

He shook his head and got up to check on Hagon's injuries. He found that Hagon had recovered quite a bit. Seeing that he was still asleep, he had no choice but to wake him up.

"I need to go out. You'll have to be extra careful here alone," Yuan Ming instructed.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful. You be careful too; the Green Wolf Gang and the Hyena Hall will probably target you next," Hagon said, nodding.

Yuan Ming nodded, opened the treehouse door, and walked out.

But the moment he bent down to exit the door, Yuan Ming froze.

"Is this... that silver cat?" An uninvited guest appeared before him.

On a branch extending from the treehouse, a silver cat, about half a foot tall with bright fur, was squatting a few steps away from him. It stared at him with a pair of golden-amber eyes.

The round head, not much larger than Yuan Ming's fist, tilted up high before gradually lowering, as if scrutinizing Yuan Ming from top to bottom, which greatly surprised him.

Thinking back to the dream from the previous night, a strange feeling stirred within Yuan Ming.

"You were the one talking to me last night, weren't you?" Yuan Ming asked.

The Silver Cat looked at him for a moment, then tilted its head slightly to the side, as if it didn't understand what Yuan Ming was saying, or perhaps looking at him like he was an idiot.

"I can't believe... I can believe a dream?" Yuan Ming was speechless and chuckled self-deprecatingly.

As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and his body suddenly pounced like a leopard, lunging towards the Silver Cat.

Just as his hands were about to make contact, the Silver Cat leaped with graceful agility, dodging Yuan Ming's outstretched hands with barely any room to spare. It then landed on his arm and, like a dragonfly skimming water, leaped again, jumping onto another branch.

Yuan Ming missed, clutching the horizontal branch, and turned to look.

He saw the Silver Cat strutting proudly on the branch, casting a disdainful gaze his way.

The Silver Cat's way of walking was peculiar; unlike other cats that held their tails high or curled them, its long tail hung down, dragging on the ground and completely covering its hindquarters.

"I'm being looked down upon by a cat?" Yuan Ming's brow immediately shot up.

"Brother Yuan, what's wrong?" Hagon's voice came from the treehouse.

"Nothing," Yuan Ming replied.

When he looked back again, the Silver Cat had completely vanished from sight.

"Come to think of it, this cat looks a bit familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before," Yuan Ming muttered, scratching the back of his head.

In Toad Valley, in front of the stone house.

Yuan Ming handed over the supplies he had recently accumulated to Zhao Tong.

"How is it, did you get any sword techniques?" Yuan Ming asked with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Zhao Tong looked up at him, pouted, and shook his head.

"Our Jade Luo Cave isn't a sect focused on swordsmanship, so these kinds of techniques are rare and not easy to trade for. I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, some of the cultivation methods and secret arts sold in the valley are actually released by the elders of the sect to exchange for their own resources. We disciples just earn a running errands fee, how would we dare to privately pass on cultivation methods? So, what you can buy depends entirely on luck, and it depends on what the elders are willing to sell." Under Yuan Ming's questioning gaze, Zhao Tong explained helplessly.

"Then have there been any good items recently?" Yuan Ming asked, having resigned himself to the situation.

"There actually is..." Zhao Tong said, stroking his chin as he thought, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

As he spoke, he rummaged through a box behind him and pulled out a blue booklet, placing it in front of Yuan Ming.

"You're quite lucky, kid. This 'Shadowless Step' was just given to me by Elder Lu recently, and the resources you've accumulated with me are just enough to exchange for it," Zhao Tong said with a smile.

"What's the use of this cultivation method?" Yuan Ming asked, frowning.

"This isn't an offensive technique; it's a movement technique, and it will definitely be useful to you," Zhao Tong said, lowering his voice, sounding rather mysterious.

"I'd be glad to hear more," Yuan Ming said noncommittally.

"It's a cultivation method that can greatly enhance your body's agility. It can't increase your magical power or directly boost your combat strength, but it can give you more means to survive when fighting in close quarters," Zhao Tong explained.

Yuan Ming fell into thought upon hearing this.

After learning about the backlash from the Furring Technique, he was eager to obtain a sword technique to improve his combat strength, hoping to be able to kill Fierce Beasts without using the Furring Technique.

It seemed difficult to find a sword technique now, so learning this movement secret art would be a good alternative.

"Then how effective is the Shadowless Step when used?" Yuan Ming asked again as he pondered.