Cat Immortal

During his assault on the Innate Realm, Lin Chan sparred daily with the guards in the Lin family compound.

As Lin Chan had instructed, the guards rained down punches, kicks, and strikes with staves upon him.

Lin Chan moved his body, easily deflecting them, weaving among the group as agilely as a white ape, and defeated the guards one by one.

As for Lin Chan himself, he bore only a few minor bruises.

"Before the young master, we're as weak as ants," Xiao Can remarked, having been defeated with just two casual palm strikes.

"How could we ever compare to the young master? Even among all the talented youths in Yulin City, who can match him?" Xiao Si said.

"That's right! With the young master at the helm, our Lin family is sure to reach new heights of glory," Xiao Can agreed with pride.

Thinking of the Lin family's ten thousand acres of fertile fields, several profitable trade routes, and over a dozen thriving shops, they puffed out their chests as servants of the Lin household.

They too basked in reflected glory.

Lin Chan, however, paid no mind to any of this. After wolfing down a hearty meal, he hugged Little Li and fell into a deep sleep.

The once-lazy fat tabby cat then opened its eyes, slipped out of the Lin residence through the cat flap.

"After a sleep, thanks to [Deep Sleep], my injuries will heal and my strength will grow. I just don't know when I'll be able to transform blood and qi into Inner Qi and step into the Innate Realm."

Treading with a cat's grace, elegantly weaving through the Lin estate, Lin Chan pondered these things.

The reason Lin Chan had been able to advance so swiftly over the years was, first, relying on the [Spirit Gathering Physique] to absorb the meager spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nourishing his physical body.

Second, it was [Deep Sleep]—efficient rest and rapid growth.

In truth, even if Lin Chan never actively trained, merely relying on the passive growth from [Deep Sleep], he could still reach the acquired third level of organ tempering.

Martial arts training was all about eating well and sleeping well.

This innate skill was truly a rare and valuable talent for any martial artist.

Little Li hadn't even left the house when a chubby little hand reached out to grab him. Fortunately, Lin Chan had been a cat for nearly five years and was nimble enough to easily dodge and slip away.

"Young Master Hu, that's Young Master Chan's pet—you mustn't be rude!" Lin Hu's wet nurse called out from behind, chasing after him.

Lin Hu wasn't as precocious as Lin Chan, who had long outgrown needing a wet nurse.

So now, at five years old, he still had his wet nurse running after him.

The Lin family had no shortage of wealth, and Lin Hu had grown even plumper than Lin Chan had been as a child.

In truth, after Lin Chan awakened his first talent, nourished by spiritual energy, he gradually slimmed down and never suffered from over-nutrition.

"I want to play with the big cat!" Lin Hu said, a bit annoyed, as his wet nurse blocked him and he watched Little Li—Lin Chan in disguise—run off into the distance.

"Young Master Hu, tomorrow I'll have the mistress catch you a cat too," Lin Hu's wet nurse quickly soothed him.

Leaving the house, Lin Chan scrambled up the courtyard wall in a few moves and darted across the rooftops.

Every few streets he passed, Lin Chan let out a few soft, measured meows.

Finally, Lin Chan stopped at a dilapidated Land God Temple.

No sooner had he landed and licked his paws than cats of all shapes and sizes gathered around him.

"Boss!" the cats purred in unison.

"One at a time. Tell me what news you've gathered recently," Lin Chan said in cat language.

After being a cat for five years, knowing a bit of cat talk was only natural.

Though these cats had the intelligence of a four- or five-year-old human child, they were perfect for acting as repeaters and gathering information.

"Boss! Boss!" A Cow Cat bounded over with all four legs pushing off the ground in a bizarre gait, bumping into many other cats along the way.

"What's wrong?" Lin Chan looked at the Cow Cat with displeasure, annoyed by its fuss.

"Boss, boss, I found an immortal! No, the immortal found me—no, I found the Cat Immortal..." The Cow Cat meowed twice, then shook its head as if it had glitched.

"Start from the beginning." Lin Chan's words hit the Cow Cat's head like a solid punch, snapping it back to normal.

"Yesterday morning, my owner fed me..."

"Skip ahead!"

"Ow ow ow! Oh right, I caught two mice yesterday, hahaha, scared my little master half to death!"

"Get to the point!"

Lin Chan finally lost it and gave the dead cat a hard slap across the face.

Slapped by Lin Chan, the Cow Cat didn't get mad and just kept recalling.

"Right, right, right, I remember now. When I was catching mice yesterday, I ran into a Big Orange Cat carrying a lump of wood on its back. It said it was the Moon Messenger, and in two days, on the night of the full moon, it would enlighten us. It told us to gather at the West City Clearing before the moon rose to its highest point."

The Cow Cat finally hit the key point.

Every time Lin Chan needed crucial intel, he had to grill these dumb cats like this, making them replay everything. It was inefficient, but the info he got was solid.

You could say Lin Chan was now the all-knowing gossip of Yulin City—whatever happened on any street or alley, if he wanted to know, he could find out this way.

"I met it too. That cat said it could open our minds and teach us to cultivate. I asked if there'd be dried fish to eat. It said no. Then why bother going?"

A Leopard Cat chimed in, remembering his own encounter.

At that, the other cats started meowing up a storm.

Three or four of them had run into that Orange Cat.

"Quiet!"

These cats were a handful, forcing Lin Chan to act like a teacher wrangling a class of elementary schoolers, constantly reminding them of classroom order.

Once the cats settled down, Lin Chan questioned the ones who'd spoken up—the cats who'd seen the Orange Cat.

He wanted to pin down the Orange Cat's exact location, but the cats went back and forth without ever making it clear.

Night deepened. Lin Chan led the cats from spot to spot, searching one by one, but never found any trace of the Orange Cat with the wooden lump on its back.

Then the sky started to brighten. Lin Chan and all the cats were exhausted and had to head home to rest. The group scattered back into their respective households.

Lin Chan could only wait two days, then bring the cats to the West City Clearing to assemble.

On the autumn grass, an Orange Cat with a Peachwood Sword strapped to its back gazed at the full moon reflected in the center of a small pond, waiting for the other cats to arrive.

It hadn't expected that, with the moon about to reach its peak, not a single cat would show up.

Even in the worst-off cities, at least three or four cats would come to hear its lecture.

All those visits it had made over the past few days—wasted effort.

The main cat force watched the Orange Cat from a distance. Lin Chan finally got a clear look at what was on its back—a small Peachwood Sword.

This must be what the cats meant by "a lump of wood."

"Hey! Cat Immortal, our boss is here. Hurry up and serve the dried fish to our boss!"

With that, the ever-bouncy Cow Cat hopped over, planning to sneakily throw a couple of punches at the Orange Cat Immortal.