Another Choice?

While Shen Yuan was wrestling with the beginner guidance quest, a massive figure silently approached along the street outside the courtyard.

A Maine Coon with yellow-and-white fur, its enormous body resembling that of a fierce tiger, was slowly making its way through the alley.

The Maine Coon moved with utmost gentleness, its huge body making not the slightest sound.

Shen Yuan's little courtyard was tucked away in a remote spot, but people still passed through the alley that morning.

Yet no matter who it was, none of them seemed to notice the tiger-sized cat, as though it did not exist in their eyes at all.

A closer look would reveal wisps of black demon qi coiling around the Maine Coon, shielding it from ordinary people's sight.

In their eyes, the Maine Coon was merely an ordinary stray cat.

As it drew closer to Shen Yuan's courtyard, the Maine Coon was filled with unease.

That night, driven by a moment of greed, it had intervened in the battle between demons and monsters. It had believed that no matter how chaotic things became, its strength would be more than enough to protect its King.

But who could have expected that the human hidden within the courtyard was a Void Refinement True Lord? With a mere wave of his hand, he had wiped out dozens of demons and monsters.

Overwhelmed by instinctive terror, the Maine Coon had chosen to flee, racing hundreds of miles until it reached a desolate wilderness.

It had thought itself safe at last, only to turn around and discover that it had left its King behind.

It felt both regret and fear over this matter.

It knew full well that its King was merely a kitten less than a month old. Aside from its unusual innate gift, it possessed no combat strength whatsoever.

Even a large rat crawling out of a sewer could fight its King to a standstill.

Amid that chaotic situation, had its King escaped safely? Had it been injured by the fleeing demons and monsters? Or had it been captured by that powerful Void Refinement True Lord?

Those questions became a nightmare the Maine Coon could not bear to face.

It returned to the old district, gathering a large number of stray cats to search for its King's trail while investigating the demons and monsters who had survived that night.

After ruling out every possibility one by one, the Maine Coon received the second-worst outcome: its King had been captured by the human Void Refinement True Lord.

For a long time afterward, the Maine Coon agonized over whether it should rescue its King.

One had to know that this was a Void Refinement True Lord capable of shattering the void. Even the fragmented scraps of inherited memories constantly warned it that this was a power it could never contend with.

Even during the Demon Race's most glorious age, only a handful of Demon Emperors could rival Void Refinement True Lords. This was power that had already transcended mortal limits.

The moment it came even slightly close to that person's courtyard, it would be detected, let alone bringing its King back.

That person needed only a single thought to crush it to death with ease.

More than once, the Maine Coon had considered abandoning the old district and fleeing far from this region, finding some desolate wilderness where it could claim a mountain and rule as king.

With its talent, so long as it survived, it had an excellent chance of becoming a great Demon King ruling one side in the future. Why throw away its life over something nearly impossible to accomplish?

Besides, its King was extraordinarily gifted. Perhaps that Void Refinement True Lord would raise its King properly.

Such thoughts spread wildly through the Maine Coon's mind until, one night, it dreamed of the first time it had met its King.

Back then, while fighting over food, it had been beaten black and blue by wild dogs, nearly losing its life.

As it lay beside a trash can waiting to die, someone casually tossed a cardboard box beside the trash can in the alley. Faint movements could still be heard from within.

Not long afterward, a kitten only a few days old slowly crawled out of the box, walked over to it, and gently licked the blood from its body.

Under the weak kitten's licking, its fatal wounds miraculously began to heal. Even the Maine Coon's mind gained many inherited memories that did not belong to it.

From that day onward, it had regarded that frail little black kitten as its King. Even as its strength grew by leaps and bounds, it still maintained its respect for the kitten.

It was not only because of that noble bloodline, but also because of the salvation of that night.

The Maine Coon jolted awake from its dream. It completely discarded the thought of fleeing. Even at the risk of death, it would rescue the King that had brought it salvation from human hands.

Before this, the Maine Coon had even attended a Demon Race trade fair, where it successfully broke through into the Qi Transformation Realm and became a true member of the Demon Race.

Yet sadly, in the eyes of a Void Refinement True Lord, demons and monsters of the Essence Refinement Realm and the Qi Transformation Realm seemed to be no different.

The Maine Coon lowered its body and crept toward the cramped courtyard.

A trace of confusion arose in the Maine Coon's heart.

"Even a Demon King can occupy a mountain range spanning hundreds of miles. Why would a dignified human Void Refinement True Lord remain in such a cramped courtyard so lacking in spiritual qi?"

The question flashed through its mind and vanished. It did its utmost to suppress its aura and climbed the courtyard wall step by step.

It summoned nearly all the courage it had ever possessed to raise its head and look into the courtyard, trying to find its King and confirm whether its King had been imprisoned here by those hateful humans.

But the sight before it left it frozen on the spot.

In the corner of the courtyard, a palm-sized black-and-white kitten was sticking its little butt up as it lay on the lawn. While its snow-white paws diligently dug a hole, it tossed several empty snack wrappers beside it into the pit and buried them.

It was plainly a kitten trying to bury the wrappers after secretly eating snacks, hoping to destroy the evidence.

Maine Coon:???

In the cultivation chamber, Shen Yuan, after pondering for a long time, finally made a decision that lifted his spirits.

Abandon the quest!

The Falling Cloud Sect's sect spiritual pool had already dried up over these ten thousand years. There was no point hoping for it.

As for creating a sect spiritual pool himself, that was sheer fantasy. Even if he ransacked the present-day Profound Yellow Realm, he might not be able to gather enough precious spiritual materials to construct one.

The beginner guidance quest's reward was only a cave abode token. If the Falling Cloud Sect still existed, he could hand it to the sect in exchange for permission to establish a cave abode. But ten thousand years later, it was completely useless.

"Anyway, the final step of this beginner guidance quest isn't some task that absolutely has to be completed. Even without a sect spiritual pool, I can still break through. A living man can't let himself be suffocated by urine, can he?"

Though he said that, Shen Yuan knew that abandoning the quest was entirely a last resort.

Once the beginner guidance quest got stuck, he would be unable to unlock the subsequent main quests and side quests.

Perhaps the consequences would not be apparent right now, but they might give rise to unforeseen changes in the future. That was precisely what troubled Shen Yuan most.

"Who would have thought that after completing two precious hidden achievements, I'd end up stuck on a beginner guidance quest as simple as having hands at the sect spiritual pool.

Last time, I stumbled into becoming the sect master and bypassed the bug that required joining a sect. But this sect spiritual pool really leaves me with no solution."

Having chosen to give up, Shen Yuan relaxed for the moment and casually mocked himself.

"If a sect spiritual pool can't be built, don't tell me I'm supposed to go seize a natural spiritual pool?

That's the lifeblood of the aquatic Dragon Lords, something even the Falling Cloud Sect had no right to fight over. How could it possibly fall to me?"

It had merely been a casual complaint to ease his mood, but the moment the words left his mouth, Shen Yuan froze.

"Wait. Are there still Dragon Lords in the Age of Dharma Decline?"