A Little Courtyard to Stay In

So Lin Xiao had no choice but to get up with his sleepy eyes open and steam some dry rations.

By sunrise, the four people who had prepared had already gathered at the village entrance.

Because Sun Yigao had previously told Landlord Sun about their current level of cultivation at home, Landlord Sun did not prepare an oxcart.

After all, the oxcart couldn't even travel as fast as they did.

Furthermore, Landlord Sun had no intention of accompanying them.

Auntie Sun wanted to go, but Sun Yigao persuaded her not to.

It must be said that Sun Yigao's voice in front of his mother is no longer as insignificant as it used to be.

Landlord Sun simply handed the address and rental agreement to Sun Yigao, smiled and said goodbye to the four boys, and then took the reluctant Auntie Sun home.

The four boys, without any elders present, looked at each other, suddenly burst into laughter, and then ran out of the village, galloping towards the county town.

The county examination will be held in two days.

The county seat is quite far from Xiushui Village.

For an average person, it would take at least two or three days to barely reach the destination.

Sun Yigao and his three companions traveled at a brisk pace, and because they had to consider the speed and stamina of Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan, they rushed to the county town before sunset.

The four men entered the city before the gates closed.

Then, following the address, they asked around and finally found a place to stay.

They were greeted by a kind, elderly man.

Upon entering the courtyard, they discovered that although it was not large, it was very clean and quiet.

It's obvious that it's cleaned regularly.

A quiet environment is perfect for exam preparation.

Because no one has lived there for a long time, the courtyard, although tidy, still lacks a sense of liveliness.

Now that the energetic young people have entered, the whole courtyard seems to have become more lively.

The owner of the small courtyard was the elderly man who received them. This courtyard was where he and his wife lived when they first got married. Later, he made money, they had children, and moved to a larger place.

Unfortunately, his wife passed away early, so he never sold the small courtyard, keeping it as a memento.

The old man was an old acquaintance of Sun Yigao's grandfather. So when he heard that the Landlord Sun wanted to rent a suitable house for his son to prepare for the exam, he thought that the long-vacant house should be filled with people, so he rented it to the Landlord Sun.

Seeing the clear-headed young men, the old man gave them a few words of advice and felt very relieved. He handed them a key and then left with his hands behind his back.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the old man left, the four closed the courtyard gate and were about to go inside to unpack their belongings when they were attacked!

Suddenly, Lin Xiao felt a cold light flash towards them from the right courtyard wall. He swiftly drew his peach wood sword and swung it horizontally to the right, barely managing to block the sudden flash of light!

"Meow--!"

Upon closer inspection, everyone realized that the creature scratching Lin Xiao with one paw was a small, thin orange cat!

Seeing that its attack had failed, the orange cat immediately used the momentum to leap to the side and avoid the sharp edge of the peach wood sword. As soon as it landed, it used its hind legs to propel itself high into the air and raised its small paw to scratch Lin Xiao again!

Lin Xiao immediately parried again, gently sending the orange cat flying.

At this point, the group, who had been cultivators for over two months, realized that this was probably a demon with cultivation, just like Xiaoluan.

Even after being knocked away, the cat demon was still unwilling to give up and charged towards the group as if preparing to attack again!

Lin Xiao immediately used the "Hundred Beasts Spirit Speech" to speak:

"We have no grudge against you, why did you attack us?"

With Lin Xiao's current perfect mastery of the Swordsmanship in the Clouds, he could basically cut off the cat demon's claws with a single sword strike.

But perhaps because he had spent a lot of time with Xiaoluan, Lin Xiao felt that although demons were always portrayed negatively in folk tales, they were actually capable of communicating with each other.

So he decided to try communicating with it first.

The cat demon clearly hadn't expected that it could understand what the human was saying, and its momentum for a charged attack instantly diminished.

Are you here to buy this house?

Upon hearing this, the clever group immediately realized that the little cat demon was after this courtyard.

So, the four boys in the courtyard who had also studied "The Hundred Beasts Spirit Speech" immediately shook their heads vigorously.

Liu Yunan answered very quickly:

"Absolutely not! We just rented this house from that old man for a few days, really, we're only staying for a few days! We'll leave after a few days!"

The other three immediately nodded in agreement.

The little cat demon standing opposite the four looked thoughtful.

Lin Xiao noticed this and thought: It even knows about renting houses for humans, so it must be a cat demon that has lived in human society for quite a long time.

This little cat demon wasn't like Xiaoluan, who had only recently Spirit Opening and seemed completely clueless.

The little cat demon hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively:

Are you sure you don't want to buy this house?

At this moment, Sun Yigao stepped forward, bowed to the little cat demon, and said:

"I am here to prepare for the county examination in two days. Once the results are out, I will either go to the prefectural city to continue my studies or return home. In any case, I will not stay in the county town for long, so I will not buy this place."

The little cat demon felt a bit embarrassed when the tall, handsome young man politely bowed and explained to it. It quickly retracted its still-shining, sharp cat claws.

"Then, you can stay here, but you mustn't damage the house. I'll come to check on it often!"

With that, it lightly leaped onto the courtyard wall, and then disappeared over the top of the wall in a single bound.

Looking in the direction where the little cat demon disappeared, everyone in the courtyard exchanged bewildered glances. Jiang Youfu patted his belly, then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to ask Lin Xiao:

"Brother Xiao, do you know what level that kitten's cultivation was? I couldn't tell at all."

Hearing his question, Liu Yunan nodded and said:

"Yeah, yeah, that kitten was pretty fast, I could barely keep up."

Sun Yigao suppressed a laugh, pretending not to hear, and took out his Storage Bag to walk into the house.

"I'll go in and tidy up first."

Lin Xiao, after scrutinizing them for a moment with a deep expression, patted them both on the shoulder and said:

"Actually, I wasn't planning to tell you if you hadn't asked, but I didn't expect you to ask on your own initiative... That kitten, well, its cultivation level is probably around the Spirit Awakening Seventh Layer stage, which is equivalent to the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer in humans."

You guys need to work harder; even a little cat's cultivation level is higher than yours now.

Upon hearing this, the two encouraged individuals widened their eyes in disbelief!

"What?! That kitten was actually at the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer Refining?!"

Jiang Youfu pulled a roasted bean from his waistband, popped it into his mouth, and swallowed it with a loud crunch. Then he took out the Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation that Lin Xiao had prepared for him and Tuzi the other day and ran into the house.

"Don't stop me! I want to cultivate!"