A Scumbag's Self-Cultivation

Cats have thick pads on their limbs, allowing them to run silently on flat ground.

Even the most discerning person with keen senses would not be able to detect the movement of an orange cat running without listening carefully.

Of course, even if they heard it, no one would care about a stray cat.

Xu Qi'an spent half a day at the Chai residence, but only knew the general location of Chai Xing'er's place.

The orange cat wandered aimlessly through the inner courtyard, stopping and starting. Before long, it finally found Chai Xing'er's boudoir, a small courtyard house with flickering candlelight in the side room of the main house.

The orange cat walked slowly under the eaves, reached the door, and listened intently.

"Li Lang, tell me the truth, did you really return to Xiangzhou for my sake?"

In the brightly lit bedroom, Chai Xing'er's clear and melodious voice drifted from under the door.

"Certainly!"

Li Lingsu's deep and resonant voice said, "I've said it before: those who have someone to care about can't go far. Even if they're at the ends of the earth, they'll eventually return to their loved ones."

"Then swear you'll never leave me again."

"Xing'er, you know I'm a wanderer."

Li Lingsu's tone changed. "But if you're willing to come with me, I swear I'll never leave you in this lifetime."

Lie!

The orange cat thought to itself, "This scumbag, he knows perfectly well that the other person won't abandon the Chai family and run away with him at this critical juncture, that's why he said those things on purpose."

It couldn't see what was inside, and the cat wasn't tall enough to poke a hole in the window to peek. Besides, it was too strange to see a cat lying by the window peeking out.

Even a fool could see there was something wrong.

So the orange cat gracefully lay down by the door, ears perked up, continuing to eavesdrop.

Chai Xing'er sighed, "Li Lang, the Chai family has suffered such a terrible fate, how can I go with you?"

Li Lingsu's gentle voice rang out. "I can stay here and wait for you. Once the Chai family matter is settled, we'll roam the world together."

Silence fell over the room for a moment, then came Chai Xing'er's cool voice:

"Li Lang, Non-Self unwilling to wander the world with you, but in this world, if we could live in peace and happiness, why must we endure such hardship and displacement? Although the Chai family has suffered such a great calamity, it may also be a good opportunity for us."

"What do you mean?"

Li Lingsu's voice changed slightly.

"My eldest brother only had three sons. The eldest died young, the second son was mediocre and incompetent, and the youngest son was a spoiled brat who only knew how to enjoy life. Now, Chai Xian has committed such a heinous act and is utterly rebellious. From now on, the position of head of the Chai family can only be mine."

Chai Xing'er said softly, "Li Lang, my only shortcoming is that I have no children. Why don't you stay in Xiangzhou? In the future, our child will be the head of the Chai family."

Li Lingsu did not answer, remaining silent for a long time before slowly saying:

"Xing'er, tell me, is it really true that Chai Xian's matter has nothing to do with you?"

"You don't believe me?" Chai Xing'er's tone changed.

"I believe you, but this case is quite strange, and I wasn't there at the time."

Before Li Lingsu could finish speaking, Chai Xing'er interrupted her coldly, saying, "I'm tired."

Li Lingsu sighed and immediately said, "You rest well, I'll go back to my room first."

A few seconds later, the orange cat outside the door suddenly heard a "thump" sound, as if someone had fallen, followed by the shocked and bewildered voice of the Holy Son:

"Xing'er, you..."

Xu Qi'an, the orange cat, felt a chill run down his spine, realizing he had been poisoned.

Why did Chai Xing'er poison the Holy Son? My true form is at the inn and can't get there in time to save him. Oh right, I could go find a Buddhist School monk and use him to fight fire with fire.

In the blink of an eye, he heard Chai Xing'er sigh softly:

"Li Lang, you've changed. The old you would have held me tight and comforted me without hesitation. But now you only think about leaving. Have you forgotten our vows of eternal love? Have you forgotten how you risked your life to enter Thousand Desolation Valley to please me?"

What made you change your mind?

"No, girl, he hasn't changed his mind. He just has kidney deficiency, "Xu Qi'an answered Chai Xing'er's question in his mind, using a sarcastic tone.

What exactly do you want to do?

Li Lingsu calmed down, her tone was calm, but there was some helplessness in her voice.

Seeing that the Holy Son was not panicked, Xu Qi'an decided to observe for a while longer. After all, the consequences of attracting the monks from the Western Regions were enormous, as it would expose Li Lingsu's identity, and thus his own. The key point was that he was still unsure of Du Nan Jingang's whereabouts.

Chai Xing'er said softly, "Of course I want to have a child with you. Heaven sent you to me at this time, and everything was arranged perfectly. I am very happy."

"Then why did you use poison?"

"Because before that, I will ask you three questions. If you lie or do not answer, I will cut off your manhood."

As they spoke, Xu Qi'an heard the sound of scissors opening and closing, and Li Lingsu's trembling voice. "What's the problem?"

"This is a yandere!" Xu Qi'an, the orange cat, bared his teeth, instinctively bringing his legs together, only to discover that the cat leaning down was a small female cat.

He suddenly became looking forward to what would happen next.

"Did you ever love me?" Chai Xing'er asked softly.

"Of course, my heart is as clear as heaven and earth. If there is even the slightest falsehood in it, may I be condemned to eternal damnation," Li Lingsu declared loudly.

"Although I am deeply in love with Xing'er, how do you know I am telling the truth?" Li Lingsu said with a wry smile.

"Li Lang, you don't need to test me. I'll tell you the truth. I put a love potion in the wine you just drank. You left without saying goodbye that day, and I was heartbroken. I went to the Southern Frontier myself and asked the Love Potion Tribe for a love potion."

"If you truly love me, the love potion will not backfire; otherwise, you will suffer unbearable pain. Furthermore, the mother potion is inside me, so you cannot lie to any of the questions I ask."

"Am I just incompatible with love potions in this life?" Li Lingsu asked, her face pale.

Chai Xing'er said calmly, "My second question is, have you ever loved other women?"

Wuhu! The Holy Son's penis couldn't be saved. Xu Qi'an's cat-like face couldn't hide his smile.

Anyway, as long as the Holy Son isn't in mortal danger, other problems aren't a big deal. For a scumbag like him, losing everything is the best punishment.

Li Lingsu did not answer her.

Chai Xing'er squinted, squatted down beside him, and said softly, "Why won't you answer me, Li Lang?"

Li Lingsu sighed:

"I just feel sad. When we first met, the moment I saw you, I secretly vowed in my heart that you would be the woman I would protect and cherish in the future. I followed the will of my heart without questioning why."

"Now I realize that what you lacked was a sense of security, and that's why I wanted to protect you at all costs back then. I imagine my leaving without saying goodbye must have been a huge blow to you. Alas, it's all my fault. Besides you, I've been with other women, like my mother."

"Xing'er, I'm so glad I came back at this time to face the storms of the Chai family with you."

Aside from your mother, you need to explain yourself clearly. Good grief, a bunch of sweet nothings mixed with a half-truthful answer—did you think you could fool everyone like that? Orange Cat An was furious.

Clang!

The scissors fell to the ground, followed by Chai Xing'er's joyful sobs. "Li Lang, Li Lang!"

Orange Cat An waited outside the door for fifteen minutes. Hearing the woman's panting and the rocking of the bed, he knew that the Holy Son had been forced to start operating, and only then did he leave.

Yandere women are a no-go, otherwise, what happened to Cheng Ge today will happen to you tomorrow. Chai Xing'er is indeed highly suspicious; judging from the motive, she is the biggest beneficiary.

While searching for Buddhist School monks' residence, he soon found the courtyard where the monks were.

The monks followed a regular schedule; in the courtyard, only the room on the west side had its lights on, the rest of the rooms were dark.

The orange cat, An, entered the yard silently and smelled a rich aroma of meat.

The door to the west wing was ajar, and several burly monks sat by a stove with a large pot on it, steaming and wafting out the aroma of meat.

Warrior monks are different from Zen masters. Warrior monks do not need to abide by strict rules and regulations. They can eat and drink meat, but keep the Buddha in their hearts.

In addition, like martial artists, monks follow the path of refining essence into qi, and have an enormous appetite.

Xu Qi'an peeked through the crack in the door and, seeing neither the fourth-rank martial monk Jingyuan nor any Zen master in the room, felt somewhat relieved.

Do you know why Master Du Nan left halfway through?

One of the martial monks, his mouth greasy from eating, glanced at his fellow disciples.

"I don't know!"

The other monks shook their heads.

The Vajra of Salvation is not here? The orange cat was overjoyed, but then instinctively thought: What could be more important than retrieving the Floating Pagoda? After all, the severed arm of the Divine Being is imprisoned inside.

"Actually, I think Uncle Jingxin is too nosy. The sooner we get to Yongzhou, the sooner we can gather intelligence and ambush that person. Going at the exact time means we've lost the initiative."

The monk who had spoken earlier shook his head.

"It's alright, it's alright. That person doesn't know that we already know his true identity. Besides, this time, in addition to Ancestor Du Nan, there are also Arhat Du Qing and Vajra Du Fan leading a group of fellow disciples to help us. Even if that person grows wings, he won't be able to escape."

A martial monk sipped his meat soup and chuckled.

Who was "that person"? Duqing Luohan and Dufan Jingang led Buddhist School monks out together. Xu Qi'an's heart sank. After a moment's thought, he had a guess— the Buddhist School was after me.

Recalling the clues that had been exposed in Leizhou, the Buddhist School's deduction of his identity was both surprising and reasonable.

"They dispatched an Arhat and two Vajras. Wow, the Buddhist School really values me. Fortunately, the old supervisor defeated the Lapis Lazuli Bodhisattva; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to escape at all."

"This female bodhisattva who controls the Dharma form of the pilgrim can be called the fastest in the world." Orange Cat An felt both fortunate and heavy-hearted.

Another monk said, "I think Uncle Jingxin has his own considerations. Don't forget, if he hadn't intervened in a bandit incident that was causing trouble in the village a few days ago, we wouldn't have met that bandit leader who had obtained the dragon's aura."

"Hey, now that he's laid down his weapons, turned over a new leaf, and converted to Buddhist School, who's there?"

The monk suddenly shouted.

At the same time, the door, which had been slightly ajar, was opened wide, and the orange glow illuminated the orange cat by the threshold.

Meow~

The orange cat meowed softly, its amber eyes fixed intently on the iron pot.

It turns out the cat was attracted by the scent!

The monk who found it softened his expression and picked up a piece of fatty meat, tossing it to the threshold.

"Damn, can I have a piece of lean meat?" The orange cat reluctantly picked up the fatty piece and fled as the monks chased it away.

After leaving the yard, it hadn't gone far when it suddenly saw a figure walking out of the darkness—a burly man with a blank expression.

The orange cat, An, initially thought the person was from the Chai family and didn't pay much attention. But as it got closer, the cat suddenly stiffened. The person's face looked normal, but there was no heartbeat or breathing; he was like a walking corpse.

This is a corpse!

Although the Chai family is famous for controlling corpses, it's unlikely that anyone in the family would have the habit of manipulating corpses to move around randomly late at night.

As the thought flashed through its mind, it saw the corpse brush past it, bypass the courtyard where the monks lived, and head towards the inner courtyard.

"Let's follow them and see." The orange cat, An, followed lightly behind. About fifteen minutes later, the corpse stopped in a secluded corner of the inner courtyard.

He paused for a moment outside the courtyard, then sprang up, leaping over the more than two-meter-high wall and landing in the inner courtyard.

Who goes there?!

A shout came from inside the courtyard.

The next moment, a series of thuds followed, accompanied by muffled groans and the sound of someone falling to the ground, and then everything was calm again.

The orange cat An waited outside for a few minutes, then suddenly darted out, gliding effortlessly over the wall as if walking on flat ground, and entered the yard.

This is entirely the orange cat's own ability; the Heart Gu can only control creatures with low intelligence and cannot grant them abilities.

Luckily, I was controlling a cat. If it had been a dog, it might already be in the stomachs of those monks. He thought to himself, his amber eyes sweeping across the courtyard.

Two bodies lay unconscious in the yard.

The main house door was wide open, pitch black, eerie and terrifying.

Orange cat Ann quickly darted past the two unconscious people and into the dark room. The room was simply furnished, and there was a black hole near the window that stretched deep into the ground.

The stone slab was propped up high, indicating that the opening had just been created.

Without any hesitation, the orange cat darted into the hole.

A staircase led down into the ground from the cave entrance, and a faint light rose from the ground—the glow of an oil lamp.

Following the faint glow, the orange cat silently walked up the steps, reaching the top a few minutes later.

A stale smell wafted over, accompanied by a pungent odor.

The orange cat, Ann, nearly fainted; a cat's sense of smell is dozens of times stronger than a human's.

The smell was so strong that the orange cat, An, staggered and took a while to recover.

It smells like a corpse!

The cellar reeked of corpses.

He discovered that the cellar was very large and interconnected, more like a miniature underground labyrinth.

After walking quietly for a while, a passageway appeared before him.

On both sides of the passageway, corpses stood silently, some male, some female, some old, some young, some dressed in funeral clothes, some in long skirts, and some in scholar's robes.

Their eyes were closed, their faces pale, yet they looked as if they might wake up at any moment.

In addition, the ground was covered with hoods, which suggests that these hoods were originally placed on the heads of the corpses, but have now been torn off.

In the inn, Mu Nanzhi finished reading a book, stretched, and prepared to crawl into bed and go to sleep.

But suddenly she heard a rapid breathing sound. On the small couch next door, Xu Qi'an was lying on his side with his eyes closed, breathing heavily.

"What's wrong?"

Mu Nanzhi was taken aback, but she still cared about him.

Xu Qi'an didn't open his eyes, replying as if in a dream, "Humans, paradise on earth."