Zeng Shen was a little surprised.
The cats had all frozen at the sight of the divine palace, so why had Xiao Bai actually approached the statue at its entrance on his own?
Could he be related to this statue?
Zeng Shen was puzzled, but he did not dwell on it. Time would give him the answers he did not need to know yet.
Xiao Bai passed through the divine realm gate and walked up to the canine statue, rubbing against its feet over and over and giving a bark or two that sounded like a greeting.
Zeng Shen went in as well. With a thought, he closed the divine realm gate, then turned and entered the divine palace, where he sat for a while on the throne at its center.
Only after taking in the palace's grandeur did Zeng Shen come back out and head toward the edge of the forest.
"Woof, woof."
When the little white dog saw him leaving the divine palace, he immediately hurried after him, sticking close to his side.
"Haha, I thought you were going to spend hours rubbing against that statue."
Laughing, Zeng Shen scooped Xiao Bai into his arms and quickened his pace toward the forest's edge.
Time in the divine realm was synchronized with Blue Star. It was evening here too, with the light growing dim.
Of course, even if it had been nighttime,
the divine realm looked no different from broad daylight to Zeng Shen.
The cats he had just brought in were now prowling and lurking near the forest's edge. None had plunged deep into the woods or run around wildly.
As Zeng Shen approached the edge of the forest,
a faint, familiar meow came from the thick grass.
A little black cat darted out, a few withered leaves and twigs caught in his fluffy black fur, and ran over to rub against his feet.
When Xiao Bai spotted Xiao Hei from Zeng Shen's arms, he immediately jumped down and circled him, giving a couple of cheerful yips like he had just reunited with a long-lost friend.
Zeng Shen crouched down to pick the dead twigs out of Xiao Hei's fur, and several kitten meows of varying volume reached his ears.
Xiao Bai, who was still circling Xiao Hei, heard those meows.
His fur suddenly bristled. He looked toward the sound and put on a "ferocious" expression as he barked at the five kittens appearing beside a nearby tree, as though warning them not to come closer.
Zeng Shen frowned slightly, feeling a headache coming on.
Xiao Bai barked at these kittens every time he saw them. How were they supposed to get along in the future?
Suddenly,
from behind a large tree,
a sharp, scolding "Meow!" rang out.
Big Black Cat slowly emerged beside the tree. Moving like a tiger descending a mountain, he led a few kittens toward Zeng Shen, his eyes fixed on Xiao Bai.
The moment Xiao Bai saw Big Black Cat, his bravado faltered. But when he noticed his owner beside him, he seemed to draw courage from having someone to back him up, recovered a little confidence, and barked again.
"Woof, woof."
"Meow."
Big Black Cat's golden eyes shifted, radiating danger as he stared straight at Xiao Bai and let out a piercing meow that carried a powerful note of reprimand.
It was as if he were saying,
Try barking again, pup.
"Woof..."
Xiao Bai's bark weakened again, but he still kept barking.
Yet when Big Black Cat reached him,
he looked at that "enormous" figure, looming like a tiger descending a mountain, those sharp eyes, and the huge cat paw raised slightly in the air.
In that instant, all his bravado vanished. His legs trembled, and he involuntarily backed up a step, lowering his head and avoiding eye contact as though admitting defeat.
"Ahahaha."
Watching from the side, Zeng Shen could not help laughing at his misfortune. He had thought Xiao Bai would foolishly pick a fight with Big Black Cat and only back down after getting beaten into submission. Instead, he had lost his nerve before the fight even began.
Still, it made sense. Cats were a dog's natural nemesis, an instinct encoded in their genes.
No matter how much courage Xiao Bai borrowed from his owner's presence, once Big Black Cat looked ready to attack him, the instinct etched into his genes still made him afraid.
Of course, Zeng Shen also had to admit one thing.
Xiao Bai had kept barking under Big Black Cat's stare and only backed down when he raised a paw to strike. That made him far braver than most puppies.
But even though Xiao Bai had backed down, Big Black Cat had no intention of letting him off.
With a "Meow," Big Black Cat abruptly swatted Xiao Bai on the head while Zeng Shen was still laughing.
The pain made Xiao Bai yelp at once.
"Awoo!"
"Meow."
Big Black Cat let out another scolding meow, as though telling him to shut up, and raised his paw again, his claws glinting coldly.
Frightened, Xiao Bai clamped his mouth shut, not daring to bark.
But his body's instinctive trembling only grew more obvious.
Zeng Shen wanted to step in and pick Xiao Bai up. After all, Xiao Bai was going to be his mount someday.
If Big Black Cat struck him again,
he would not stand for it.
However,
just as Zeng Shen was about to step forward, a small black shadow darted to Xiao Bai's side faster than he could move.
That shadow was Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei stood in front of Xiao Bai, opened his mouth, and gave Big Black Cat a faint, gentle meow. Then he nestled against Big Black Cat's chest, making sweet little meows over and over, like a child wheedling in his father's arms.
With each little meow, Big Black Cat's sharp gaze gradually softened, and he slowly lowered his raised paw and retracted his claws.
In the end, he even lay down right there, looking utterly lazy.
Realizing Xiao Hei had come to his rescue, Xiao Bai gave a soft whimper that sounded like thanks.
At the sight, Zeng Shen felt an inexplicable flicker of amusement. He crouched down and picked Xiao Bai up, stroked his fur to soothe him, then turned and carried him toward the left side of the forest's edge.
When he had surveyed the divine realm from above earlier, he had seen a small stream on that side of the forest.
Upstream was a pool beneath a waterfall. Water cascaded down from the mountains into the pool below, then flowed toward the forest's edge to form this little stream.
Zeng Shen planned to deploy the Plankton Card in that stream and leave the plankton to multiply for a few days before introducing freshwater prawns and freshwater carp, in that order.
Soon, after walking roughly a hundred meters,
Zeng Shen spotted the little stream.
The stream was quite wide,
about four or five meters across.
Its depth varied, with the deepest part appearing to be around half a meter. The water was clear enough to see the bottom, where stones of all sizes lay scattered across the streambed.
Green trees shaded both banks, their crowns swaying overhead. Walking between them felt like stepping through a painting.
A gentle breeze rustled the leaves and carried a fresh scent that swept away all of Zeng Shen's fatigue.
"What a lovely place. From now on, this stream will be called Riverbend Bay. As for the pool and waterfall upstream, I'll call them Riverbend Pool and Riverbend Falls."
After naming the place, Zeng Shen took out the Plankton Card and focused his mind slightly.
The white card in his hand instantly dissolved into countless faint points of starlight that flew toward the stream.
[The host deployed 1 Plankton Card in the aquatic zone of his divine realm, obtaining ten colonies of plankton. Divine rank experience +1.]
Zeng Shen's eyes lit up when he heard the system notification.
Throughout his explorations over the past few days,
he had been trying to figure out how to obtain divine rank experience and raise his divine rank.
He had never expected that simply using cards in his divine realm would allow him to raise his divine rank.
He immediately took out several white resource cards, transformed into a consciousness form, and flew into the sky above his divine realm...