Chapter 305

Extra: Xuanyu's Cloud Tour (1)

Extra: Xuanyu's Cloud Tour (1)

There is a small temple on the mountain in the north, and there is an old woman living alone inside. Xuanyu's first home was in this temple.

That old woman liked to lecture on scriptures very much, and every time Xuanyu heard the sound of the scriptures, it would feel drowsy.

In its dreams, it could always dream of a figure wearing a black python robe with its back to it, placing skulls on the peak of a mountain piled up with white bones.

The peak of that bone mountain was very sharp, and every time the last skull was placed on it, it would roll down the bone mountain and then fall into a blood-colored little river that was about to dry up.

The skull would float up and down along the little river, not knowing where it was drifting.

And at this time, the man in the black robe on the mountain would silently take out a skull again and continue to place it on the mountain peak.

Repeating over and over, as if not knowing fatigue.

Until a certain moment, the man in the black robe suddenly turned his head, and under the hood that looked like a bottomless black abyss, a pair of scarlet eyes seemed to be able to see through the past and future.

"Where did this wild cat come from! Get out, get out, if you are a step late, watch out for taking your cat head to offset the count!"

Every time this happened, Xuanyu would hear the old woman's scripture chanting in the temple suddenly become louder, and then like a great bell, dragging it out of the dream.

Xuanyu tried hard to see when it was about to wake up, only to see the mountain of corpses and sea of blood collapsing and surging, and skeletons filling the sky in the bubbling river water, rolling straight toward the black-robed figure standing on the mountain peak!

The scripture chanting sound turned from loud to small, Xuanyu opened its eyes, and the old woman in the temple seemed as if nothing had happened, continuing to chant the scriptures she would never get tired of chanting.

That calm and unhurried appearance seemed as if she had seen all the big storms and waves, and nothing could touch her heart.

In the small temple, the small scripture chanting sound was clearly audible:

"Falling high and spreading, bright qi spreading in four directions.

Brahma walks in all heavens, circling the ten directions.

Immeasurable great gods, all come from my body.

I have the cave chapter, ten thousand times to become an immortal..."

Xuanyu listened in a daze, but felt its mind becoming clearer and clearer. Sometimes it even had the illusion of being able to understand human language.

Until one day, the old woman said that there was an epidemic disaster at the foot of the mountain, and she wanted to go to the market to buy a big pot, cook some oil tea that could satisfy hunger and relieve disaster, and give it to those people with bitter lives.

Hearing this, Xuanyu didn't take it seriously at first, until the old woman really appeared before it carrying a big pot, it came back to its senses.

It could understand human language? It could actually understand human language!

The old woman said she wanted to buy a pot, and now she really carried a pot back!

Xuanyu circled around the old woman, wanting to share its joy.

And the old woman frowned and said: "Meow meow meow, what are you blindly calling for? If you have nothing to do, you should go out and walk more. Staying here with me, even if you stay until you're old, you can only eat cold rice!"

Xuanyu was so scared it didn't dare to make a sound. No wonder the woodcutter who chopped wood always said that an old woman without a man is the hardest to figure out.

At that time, after the woodcutter finished saying this, he fell several times, which showed that even behind her back, one couldn't speak ill of this woman.

Xuanyu was afraid that it would also fall, so it closed its mouth and quietly watched the old woman cook oil tea.

Perilla leaves, centella asiatica, pearl vegetable, mint, mugwort, bitter thorn core...

Fried rice, peanuts, sesame, vegetable leaves, salt...

The old woman held a book in her hand, muttering content that Xuanyu found hard to understand.

"This tea soup for commoners to fill their stomachs is too troublesome, not as good as other tea to boil. I still have to be careful not to make the medicine too strong, it's really troublesome!"

After speaking, it was another burst of nagging and scolding. Xuanyu didn't know who the old woman was scolding, only hearing a pile of words like monarch, prefecture, king, immortal, minister, which sounded like the old woman's former enemies.

Otherwise, how could she scold so ugly?

After the old woman finished boiling the tea, she turned to Xuanyu, who was watching the fun, and said: "I am going down the mountain to give alms. You cat cannot be too lazy, you also need to go out and walk, don't always rely on me here."

After speaking, the old woman, who knew how to boil the tea soup, took the pot and went down the mountain.

Xuanyu wanted to follow, but could never catch up with the woman carrying the pot.

The other party seemed to be in a hurry to shake it off.

Going up the mountain is easy, going down the mountain is hard.

Because Xuanyu ran in a hurry, it fell several times, and finally, in its line of sight was the old woman's disappearing back.

That day, there was a big wind and a big rain in the temple.

By the next day, the perfectly fine little temple had inexplicably become dilapidated.

Xuanyu guarded the broken temple, catching insects when hungry, and drinking the spring water in front of the door when thirsty.

After three years like this, Xuanyu finally understood one thing—

The old woman might not come back.

That day, Xuanyu packed its luggage—actually, it was just a coarse cloth package the size of a palm, containing only one thing: the small broken bowl the old woman often used when feeding it.

Besides that bowl, there was nothing else in the temple.

Carrying the broken bowl, Xuanyu began its first cloud tour.

The old woman said to let Xuanyu go out and walk, but didn't say the world was so big, so big that when Xuanyu went down the mountain, it didn't know which direction to walk.

Fortunately, as a cat often raised by the old woman, its wild survival ability was not bad.

All the way west, then all the way north, the black cat that was "cloud touring" everywhere finally met the first human who was willing to talk to it.

That human was carrying a book basket, sitting in the shade of a tree, holding a book in his hand, reading while shaking his head.

When he saw Xuanyu holding the worn-out package in its mouth, looking at him vigilantly, the reading human put down the book and smiled:

"That cat, the weather is hot, why don't you go under the tree to avoid the heat? Are you afraid of strangers?"

Xuanyu watched the human beckon, thought about it, and carried the package to within three steps of the other party.

However, when it sat down to rest, it seemed to feel it wasn't safe enough, so it moved further away.

The scholar smiled: "You cat are quite alert."

Midway, the scholar took out dry food from the package to satisfy his hunger. When he caught a glimpse of Xuanyu staring at him, the scholar laughed and broke off a piece of oil-crisp cake and threw it over.

"Eat, this is the oil-crisp cake made by my wife. I'm going to the capital for the exam, ordinary people wouldn't be willing to give it."

Xuanyu stared at the crisp cake on the ground, then used its mouth to untie the package, then carried the crisp cake on the ground into the small broken bowl, and only then began to eat in small bites.

The scholar was slightly stunned when he saw this, then laughed and said: "You cat are quite intelligent, perhaps you were raised by someone, otherwise you wouldn't have the habit of eating with a bowl."

"It's a pity my home is not here, otherwise I would definitely hire you back and bring you to my wife. I think she would be very happy."

Seeing Xuanyu finished the crisp cake, the scholar hesitated for a moment, then hardened his heart and broke off half a crisp cake and threw it over.

At the time of parting, the scholar smiled: "I hope I can pass the exam, and I hope you can find a good home, so you don't have to wander everywhere."

Watching the scholar leave, Xuanyu said to itself after a long time: "I am out on a cloud tour, not wandering."

After saying that, Xuanyu looked at the distant village and town with shining eyes.

"The scholar said, cats are raised by people, I should find a good home to stay."

(End of this chapter)