Revisiting Black Water Marsh

Chapter 20: Revisiting the Black Water Marsh

Qian Renxue did not sleep immediately.

Neither did Meow Meow.

The Clear Radiance Pavilion was quiet for a long while. White Dew lay curled in Qian Renxue's arms, her tail hanging gently.

Meow Meow sat by the window, gazing at the night beyond the Crown Prince's Mansion.

After saying those words just now, his heart had only grown more restless.

A cat colony.

Inheritance.

Order.

All of it sounded grand.

But when it came down to it, what he most needed to verify right now was something very practical.

Could the resonance of the Sacred Flame Spirit Cat truly suppress those sinister soul powers?

If it could, then this path wasn't just about raising cats.

It could even become a special method for Martial Soul Hall to deal with evil soul masters, fallen soul masters, and even soothe mental trauma.

If it couldn't, then he'd have to keep looking for other ways.

"Qinghe."

"Mm?"

"You said before that there are traces near Heaven Dou similar to those at the Black Marsh."

Qian Renxue looked up at him.

"On the outer edge of the Sunset Forest, there's a Black Water Marsh."

"It used to be ordinary wetlands, but later some soul beasts grew violent, and people occasionally went missing from nearby villages."

"I sent someone to investigate once. They couldn't probe too deep, but the aura was indeed similar to that of the Black Marsh."

Meow Meow's ears twitched.

"Is it far from here?"

"Out of the city to the southwest, half a day's journey."

Qian Renxue finished speaking, her gaze sharpening.

"You want to go?"

"To take a look."

Meow Meow answered naturally.

"I can't just rely on guesses."

Qian Renxue frowned.

"You just arrived in Heaven Dou."

"And your cultivation is only three thousand years right now."

"The outer edge of the Sunset Forest isn't the most dangerous place, but if there really are ten-thousand-year soul beasts, or privately raised soul masters from Heaven Dou's nobility, you might not make it back unscathed."

Meow Meow listened, then slowly flicked his tail.

"Relax."

"This Cat isn't going to fight."

"If I can't win, I'll run. If I can't run, I'll hide. If I can't hide, I'll think of something else."

Qian Renxue: "..."

That sounded very unserious.

But thinking about it carefully, it was indeed this cat's style.

Meow Meow looked at White Dew again.

"White Dew stays here with you."

"While I'm gone, you keep pretending to be an ordinary cat."

"If anything unusual happens in the Crown Prince's Mansion, tell me through the Calming Bell."

White Dew nodded seriously.

Qian Renxue was silent for a moment.

"When will you be back?"

"At the earliest, one night."

Meow Meow thought for a moment.

"At most two or three days."

Qian Renxue's expression shifted.

Meow Meow quickly added a line.

"That's just the worst case."

"It usually won't take that long."

Qian Renxue didn't speak immediately.

As Xue Qinghe now, she couldn't leave the estate freely.

Having just returned to Heavenly Dou, she had to deal with the palace, the Crown Prince's Mansion, and Ning Fengzhi—none of which made it suitable to go with Meow Meow to the Black Water Marsh.

But letting him go alone left her uneasy.

This cat had plenty of tricks, but his age was still low.

And though he seemed steady, when real trouble hit, he wasn't entirely averse to taking risks.

"If you insist on going."

Qian Renxue took a small Golden Feather from her sleeve.

"Take this."

Meow Meow glanced at it.

This Golden Feather was much smaller than the previous one, but its soul power aura was very clean.

"Giving me another?"

"It's not a gift."

Qian Renxue said coolly.

"It's for saving your life."

"If you encounter mental erosion or oppressive yin-cursed soul power, it can block one strike."

Meow Meow didn't refuse.

Being polite at a time like this would just be foolish.

"Fine."

"This Meow owes you one."

Qian Renxue watched him tuck the Golden Feather into the Calming Bell before speaking.

"If you run into danger, come back immediately."

"Got it."

Meow Meow jumped down from the windowsill.

After taking two steps, he glanced back.

"You be careful of Prince Xue Xing and Ning Fengzhi too."

"Especially Ning Fengzhi."

"That guy's not easy to fool."

Qian Renxue's eyes flickered.

"You know him well."

Meow Meow paused, then flicked his tail.

"Heard of him."

"The master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the one in control of the world's number one auxiliary martial soul."

"If someone like that were easy to fool, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would've been gone long ago."

Qian Renxue didn't doubt it.

That reasoning was sound.

Meow Meow said nothing more. With Mimic Breath activated, his entire presence instantly suppressed.

The next moment, he leaped from the window, vanishing into the night like a streak of white shadow.

The Crown Prince's Mansion was heavily guarded.

But for a cat, many of those defenses weren't all that useful.

Corners of walls.

Shadows of trees.

Eaves and beams.

Drainage ditches.

These were places people didn't go, but a cat could navigate them smoothly.

Meow Meow shot through the back courtyard, sliding down along the wall as he spotted two patrolling guards passing beneath the eaves.

One of them seemed to hear something and glanced back.

Meow Meow crouched in the shadows, perfectly still.

The guard stared for a long moment, found nothing, and dismissed it as wind rustling the leaves before turning away.

Only then did Meow Meow let out a soft breath.

"The Crown Prince's Mansion is more troublesome than the East Side Courtyard."

"If A Ju came here, he'd be caught stealing food within half an hour."

Once outside the Crown Prince's Mansion, Heavenly Dou City's night was still lively.

A big city was a big city.

Even after dark, voices lingered.

Taverns blazed with light, carriages rumbled through alleyways, and soul masters walked in pairs in the distance.

Meow Meow didn't take the main roads.

He moved along rooftops and wall shadows, heading southwest.

The city gates were already closed.

But that didn't stop him from leaving.

A cat had its own paths.

By a crumbling section of the city wall, there was a gap wild cats often squeezed through.

Meow Meow felt quite satisfied as he slipped out.

"The wild cats of Heavenly Dou City have some skill after all."

"I'll remember this route."

Once outside the city, he immediately activated Moon Shadow Dash.

Under the night sky, a white silhouette skimmed swiftly over the grass.

The terrain outside Heavenly Dou City was much gentler than around Martial Soul City.

The further southwest he went, the more trees there were.

By the latter half of the night, the edge of the Sunset Forest appeared in the distance.

Meow Meow didn't rush into the forest.

He first circled the perimeter, sweeping his spiritual power slowly over the ground and vegetation.

Soon, he found the Black Water Marsh Qian Renxue had mentioned.

It was a small wetland.

From the outside, it wasn't as intimidating as the Black Marsh.

The water surface wasn't large—just a few connected pools of black mud.

Low shrubs grew around it, and occasionally the aura of soul beasts stirred within.

But the moment Meow Meow got close, he frowned.

"The smell is wrong."

It wasn't ordinary rotting mud.

Nor was it the normal scent of soul beasts.

Mixed in was a faint trace of blood and a cold, eerie spiritual fluctuation.

It was similar to the residue at the Black Marsh.

Just much weaker.

Meow Meow crouched on a rock, staring at the Black Water Marsh for a long time.

"Something's definitely wrong."

He didn't go down first.

Instead, he gently shook the Calming Bell around his neck.

Ding.

The chime was very low.

Several low-ranked soul beasts in the Black Water Marsh immediately stopped moving.

A century-old mud frog leaped out from the water's edge, froze mid-jump, then shrank back as if startled.

Meow Meow's eyes flickered.

"The Calming Bell reacted."

"That means the soul beasts here aren't just agitated."

"Its spirit has been corrupted."

He drew out another wisp of Holy Flame.

The flame was very small.

It landed on a withered blade of grass by the water's edge.

The withered grass didn't catch fire; instead, a thin wisp of gray-black mist slowly seeped out.

The mist was quickly dispelled by the Holy Flame's touch.

Cat Cat now understood.

"The Holy Flame can suppress it."

"Just don't know how much it can handle."

He took two steps forward, then suddenly stopped.

A faint sound came from deep within the Black Water Marsh.

The next moment, a half-man-tall black Swamp Wolf crawled out from behind the bushes.

Its limbs were long, its claws sunk into the muddy water, and its body was covered in a sparse layer of black fur.

Its eyes were red.

Foamy blood still hung at the corners of its mouth.

Its cultivation wasn't high—roughly a thousand years.

But its aura was chaotic.

As if it had been teetering on the edge of rage the whole time.

Cat Cat looked at it.

The Swamp Wolf looked back at Cat Cat.

Silence hung between them for a moment.

Then, the Swamp Wolf lunged.

"So impatient?"

Cat Cat tapped the ground lightly, activating Moon Shadow Dash.

His form flickered, dodging cleanly.

The Swamp Wolf missed its target, turned, and tried to chase.

Cat Cat didn't keep evading. Instead, he raised a paw and pressed down.

Moon Mark Time Slow.

The Swamp Wolf's movement froze.

Just an instant, but it was enough.

The Calming Bell rang.

Ding.

Holy Flame descended.

A warm speck of firelight landed on the Swamp Wolf's brow.

The Swamp Wolf shuddered all over.

The red in its eyes dimmed noticeably.

It let out two struggling low growls, then slowly crouched down.

Cat Cat watched it, relieved inside.

"Not bad."

"At the thousand-year level, I can suppress it."

"But if it were ten thousand years or more, it probably wouldn't be this easy."

He didn't kill this Swamp Wolf.

The creature was clearly corrupted, not inherently evil.

And killing it wouldn't have meant anything.

Cat Cat only used the Holy Flame to temporarily suppress its rage, then left a very faint soothing imprint in its spirit with the Calming Bell.

The Swamp Wolf lay on the ground, its breathing gradually steadying.

After a moment, it even slowly retreated back into the bushes on its own.

Cat Cat watched it leave, feeling a little strange inside.

"Looks like the Holy Flame Cat Cat Sect might be able to offer soul-beast psychological counseling services in the future."

"The only problem is how to handle the fees."

Having dealt with the swamp wolf, he continued deeper into the Black Water Marsh.

The further in he went, the darker the water became.

There were several obvious traces of human activity on the ground.

Broken wood.

Stone spikes.

Charred strips of cloth.

And some strange red powder.

Meow Meow sniffed it, then immediately took half a step back.

"Blood Powder?"

"No, there's also the smell of Soul Bone Powder?"

His expression darkened a few shades.

This wasn't something an ordinary fallen soul master could casually produce.

At the very least, someone behind them was supplying the materials.

The nobles and soul master factions in Heavenly Dou City were definitely problematic, as expected.

He continued his investigation and soon discovered a broken copper buckle beside a mud pit.

A very small emblem was engraved on the buckle.

It wasn't the swan of the Heavenly Dou royal family.

Nor was it the tower of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Instead, it was a black eagle spreading its wings.

Meow Meow didn't recognize this emblem, but he could take it back for Qian Renxue to investigate.

"I've got evidence."

"This trip wasn't a waste."

Just as he was about to leave, a very faint ripple of energy suddenly came from the deepest part of the Black Water Marsh.

Meow Meow stopped in his tracks.

That ripple didn't feel like a spirit beast.

It was more like some kind of lingering soul power.

He hesitated for a moment, then still went over to take a look.

In the center of the marsh, there was a stone slab half-sunken into the mud.

Several dark red lines were carved into the stone slab.

They looked very similar to the lines at the Black Swamp Stronghold.

Only here, they were cruder.

Meow Meow stared at the stone slab for a moment, then suddenly noticed a faint remnant of a spiritual imprint in the middle of the lines.

He gently tapped it with the Calming Bell.

Ding.

The remnant surfaced.

It was a blurry scene.

Several black-robed figures stood by the water's edge.

A cage was carried over.

Inside the cage were several spirit beasts.

One of them was exactly the same type of swamp wolf as before.

The black-robed figures poured some kind of blood-red liquid into the spirit beast's mouth.

The spirit beast began to struggle.

Then its eyes turned red.

The scene quickly faded.

Meow Meow's expression grew even uglier.

"Man-Made Polluted Spirit Beasts."

"This wasn't an accident."

He had originally thought that the evil energy from the Black Swamp had spread here.

Now it seemed that wasn't the case.

Someone had deliberately been conducting experiments here.

Using soul beasts for experiments.

No wonder Qian Renxue had found out someone in Heavenly Dou City was collecting special soul beast blood.

"This work is filthy."

Meow Meow withdrew the residual spiritual fluctuations from the stone slab, preparing to head back.

But just then, footsteps suddenly sounded from afar.

Very light.

Not a soul beast.

A person.

Meow Meow immediately suppressed his aura and hid behind a nearby bush.

Before long, three black-clad soul masters walked in.

One carried a lantern, while the other two carried a small wooden box.

The leader said in a low voice:

"Someone moved the old stronghold last night."

"Black Marsh is already useless. Move the stuff here for now."

Another frowned.

"This place isn't safe either, is it?"

"Can't worry about that."

The leader sneered.

"The Crown Prince has returned to the city. There are too many eyes in Heavenly Dou City lately."

"Let's lay low until this blows over."

When Meow Meow heard the words "Crown Prince has returned to the city," his gaze turned cold.

So it was indeed related to what was happening inside Heavenly Dou City.

And they already knew Xue Qinghe was back.

This wasn't some ordinary small force.

Meow Meow didn't act immediately.

The three opponents were not weak.

One Soul King, two Soul Ancestors.

With his current three-thousand-year cultivation, he might not necessarily lose in a fight, but there was no need to force it.

If he could gather intel, he would listen first.

The three men set the wooden box down by the stone slab.

The box opened.

Inside was a row of small black bottles.

In each bottle, a bit of reddish-black liquid swayed.

When Meow Meow caught the scent, his stomach churned.

"More stuff to corrupt soul beasts?"

The leader glanced around.

"Reinforce the formation."

"Someone will come to pick it up tomorrow."

"Who?"

"Don't ask."

The Soul Ancestor wanted to say something more, but the leading Soul King shot him a cold look.

"Know too much, die fast."

Meow Meow narrowed his eyes.

That line wasn't new.

But it was useful.

It meant there was someone higher up behind them.

This time, he didn't move closer.

Instead, he quietly used the Calming Bell to record the three men's auras.

After they finished setting up the formation and left, Meow Meow stepped out from behind the bush.

He stared at the box of black bottles, his mind racing.

Destroy it outright?

That would alert whoever's behind this.

Take it back?

Too dangerous.

Leave it here?

Even worse.

"Troublesome."

"Times like this, I really need a helper who can secure a capture."

He suddenly found himself missing Qian Renxue.

If Qian Renxue were here, things would be much simpler.

But right now, she had to hold down the Crown Prince's Mansion.

"Forget it."

"Keep the evidence first."

Meow Meow used the Calming Bell to absorb a trace of the liquid's scent from the bottle, then carefully stowed away the Black Eagle Copper Button.

After that, he left an extremely faint Holy Fire Mark on the bottom of the wooden box.

This mark wouldn't activate immediately.

It was simply attached to the box.

If someone took it away, Meow Meow might still be able to track its general direction later through the Holy Fire's aura.

With that done, he turned and left the Black Water Marsh.

On the way back, the sky was already nearing dawn.

Meow Meow moved swiftly, but his mind kept replaying the conversation he'd overheard.

The Crown Prince returns to the city.

Too many eyes.

Someone will come to pick it up tomorrow.

"Heavenly Dou City is more chaotic than I imagined."

"Before even running into Tang San and his group, I've stumbled into a pile of dirty work."

He sighed.

He'd originally thought he could enjoy a couple of peaceful days eating at the Crown Prince's Mansion.

Now it seemed he'd been overthinking it.

By the time he returned to the Clear Radiance Pavilion, Qian Renxue hadn't rested yet.

She sat at the table, clearly waiting for him.

White Dew was curled up on her lap, lifting her head the moment Meow Meow entered.

Qian Renxue's gaze followed.

"You're back."

"Mm."

Meow Meow jumped onto the table and placed the copper button and the sealed trace of aura in front of her.

"A lead."

Qian Renxue glanced down at the copper button, and her expression shifted instantly.

"The Black Eagle Crest?"

"You recognize it?"

Qian Renxue nodded, her voice dropping slightly.

"The emblem of a minor noble family in the western district of Heavenly Dou City."

"The family itself isn't significant."

"But behind them, there are some dealings with Imperial Uncle Xue Xing."

Meow Meow: "..."

Good.

That lined up.

He'd known that a character like Prince Xue Xing was bound to cough up something sooner or later.

Qian Renxue looked at him.

"What did you find?"

Meow Meow briefly explained the situation at Black Water Marsh.

Man-Made Polluted Spirit Beasts.

Black-Robed Soul Masters.

A wooden box.

Someone coming to pick it up tomorrow.

The Crown Prince returning to the city.

Once these words were spoken, Qian Renxue's face had already turned completely cold.

"It seems they know I'm back."

"But they don't know that you know they're back."

Meow Meow flicked his tail.

"That's the advantage of a cat."

"No one guards against a stray white cat on the roadside."

Qian Renxue glanced at him.

"What's next, then?"

Meow Meow thought for a moment.

"Tomorrow, we watch the box."

"Don't act in a hurry just yet."

"Let's see who comes to pick it up."

Qian Renxue nodded.

"I'll arrange some people."

"No."

Meow Meow shook his head.

"Your people are too conspicuous."

"Have White Dew stay in the mansion and watch you."

"I'll do the surveillance."

Qian Renxue frowned.

"You alone?"

Meow Meow looked up at her.

"I'm not alone."

"I have cats."

As he spoke, the Calming Bell chimed softly.

From a corner of the Clear Radiance Pavilion, a faint flame flickered into view.

White Dew immediately raised her head.

Far away at the Qian Family Villa, Ink Shadow also sent back a trace of resonance through their connection.

Meow Meow flicked his tail.

"Starting tonight, Heavenly Dou is going to have its own Cat Net."

"And it begins with tailing people."