Chapter 106: Collecting the Mystic Cat

Are we trying to have the fish die and the net break?!

"Xiao Jiu, look at me!"

Liu Junyan suddenly called out to me, and I immediately looked in his direction.

He leaned against the wall, raised his left hand, extended his middle finger, and bit the fingertip.

I followed suit.

Fresh blood kept flowing down from the fingertip.

With my right hand forming a sword finger, I pressed upward from the base of the middle finger all the way to the tip, then thrust the sword finger forward, pointing at the skull prayer beads that whooshed toward the mystic cat.

Accompanying my sword finger's thrust was the water ripple that Liu Mu had given me.

As the water ripple shot out, Liu Junyan cast again: "Water come!"

This time I saw clearly—it wasn't a real wave, but a large expanse of pale blue vapor.

The vapor met the water ripple head-on; the dragon-shaped water ripple rolled within the vapor, condensing all the vapor, and the tiny dragon-shaped ripple instantly grew as thick as a baby's arm and two to three meters long.

It let out a roar, shaking the earth and mountains.

The skull prayer beads that had been spinning at high speed were suddenly shattered into powder in midair.

"What the hell is this!" The evil monk's cheek muscles twitched as he stared in disbelief at the suddenly enlarged dragon-shaped water ripple that emitted a heaven-shaking dragon roar.

His legs trembled, and he panicked.

Meanwhile, I wasn't idle; I shouted loudly: "Feng Wu, come out!"

In the next moment, the longbow was firmly grasped in my hand.

I pulled the bow to full draw, aimed at the human-skin drum in the evil monk's hand, and released!

A crimson flame shot out with a whoosh, and the evil monk's eyes widened instantly.

Before he could react, the flame precisely struck the center of the human-skin drum.

The human-skin drum emitted a dull thud.

The evil monk instinctively lowered his gaze, and in the next moment his eyes widened even more.

Boom!

Another bang!

The human-skin drum exploded right in the evil monk's hand.

The flame burst into the drum's interior, burning fiercely and expanding, nearly blowing off half of the evil monk's hand.

The evil monk clutched his wounded hand in agony, collapsing to the ground and rolling while wailing.

Flames still burned on his hand.

Li Qingying grabbed her long whip and ran out, the loud whip cracks echoing throughout Wufu Town.

She lashed while shouting: "Stop putting on airs! Stop being a tiger's lackey! I thought you were formidable, but you're just a monk who chants sutras! Watch me not beat you to death today!"

These past days, this great monk has been a shadow in Li Qingying's heart.

He is indeed formidable, able to control the incomplete mystic cat—missing a cat bone—with sutra spells.

If Liu Junyan hadn't seized control of the mystic cat with his first move, we wouldn't have escaped tonight's disaster.

Fortunately, it's all over now.

I put away Feng Wu and strode over to Liu Junyan.

Just as I was about to crouch to check his injury, he grabbed my arm, his amber vertical pupils narrowing sharply: "What is this?"

Then I realized that during the fight, at some point my sleeve had been torn, revealing a burn mark on the inner side of my arm.

The burn mark grew larger, its center split open and bloody, looking somewhat ferocious.

I had originally planned to tell him about this when he came out this time.

But he is now injured, weak, and urgently needs to return to the Black Coffin to enter seclusion.

At a time like this, I can't let him worry anymore.

I covered the burn mark, forced out a faint smile, and said: "Did it just get torn? It's nothing, don't worry."

Liu Junyan frowned tightly; he had seen the burn marks on the children of Tafengcun, so how could he not recognize it?

But he didn't press me for answers; instead he said: "Xiao Jiu, take up the Six-corner Palace Lamp and go outside to collect your pet."

Pet?

Only now did I dare believe that Liu Junyan truly wanted me to collect the mystic cat as a pet!

He said he would give me a gift, and he did!

I didn't dare delay; I picked up the Six-corner Palace Lamp and went out.

The water ripple had already returned to the base of my left middle finger; the mystic cat had broken free of the evil monk's control, and its pair of green, glossy cat eyes had regained clarity.

As I approached, Liu Junyan had already withdrawn the seal.

I placed the Six-corner Palace Lamp before the mystic cat and watched it.

Its cat eyes kept fixed on the small black dot inside the Six-corner Palace Lamp.

And that small black dot hovered motionless within the lamp's chamber, as if it too were gazing at the mystic cat.

I reached out tentatively to touch the mystic cat's little head; it immediately arched its back, as if startled, began to bare its teeth, and hissed at me.

I was startled, but I did not retreat.

I gently stroked its ruffled fur bit by bit from front to back; in truth, there was little tangible sensation under my hand—it was a spirit form.

Yet it possessed a substantial spirit form, indicating its cultivation level is high.

If it weren't missing a piece of cat bone that stores sutras, it wouldn't have been so easily controlled by the evil monk.

At first, the mystic cat kept hissing at me, baring its black, sharp teeth.

Yes, the mystic cat is entirely black, even its teeth and tongue are black—probably unique in the world.

But it looked fierce, yet it never lunged at me.

My heart then settled a little.

Waiting for its back to soften bit by bit, sinking little by little into the pit, it enjoyed narrowing its eyes, while I squeezed open the wound on the tip of my left middle finger, letting blood drip onto its forehead.

Then I reflexively pressed the bloody finger against the lamp chamber.

Before, it was Liu Junyan who taught me to draw the cat spirit from that segment of cat bone that Jin Wuya had brought in, into the hexagonal palace lamp.

This time, I followed the same method.

The mystic cat twitched a few times, then lifted its head and meowed at me a few times.

Its voice lost its previous sharpness, everywhere exuding aggression, yet not soft.

Afterward, its form flickered and it entered the hexagonal palace lamp.

The tiny black dot inside the lamp chamber suddenly expanded, surrounded by a layer of golden light, pressing close to Fu Wan's firefly.

That scene inexplicably felt warm.

I put away the hexagonal palace lamp and rehung it under the west corridor.

Li Qingying ran over and said: "Xiao Jiu, that evil monk was crippled, lost an arm, lame a leg, covered in scale wounds, all his evil artifacts I smashed, he'll hardly be able to cause trouble again; unfortunately, he was dragged away by the Bai family."

I nodded: "He's a thug hired by the Bai family; even if dead, the Bai family should properly bury him, let him go."

Li Qingying nodded, then stretched a big yawn, looking toward the horizon: "It's almost dawn; we won a complete victory this night, so satisfying!"

"Xiao Jiu, come here."

Liu Junyan's voice suddenly sounded, and I and Li Qingying hurriedly ran over.

But as I just stepped over the threshold, I noticed that beneath Liu Junyan's robe a section of a flood-dragon tail was exposed.

On the white flood-dragon tail, the scales were already incomplete.

Yet he gritted his teeth and forcibly tore off a piece, holding it in his hand, blood still dripping continuously.

I felt heartbroken, walked over, about to scold him a few words, but he grabbed my arm, pulled open my torn sleeve, and pressed that scale piece onto the burn……