"Meeeaaooowwwrrr!" The cat howled and writhed in agony on the grass at the mountain's foot, in front of the transparent white barrier.
"You've made a big mistake! How dare you treat Lady Yunsu this way!" Lan Baixing, who was inside the barrier, shouted at the group of otherworldly cultivators on the other side.
One of the Ninth Gates True Body Realm cultivators sneered. "So this little thing really is important to your 'Big Brother' after all."
Lan Baixing gritted his teeth. If anything happened to Big Brother Hengsheng's beloved pet—even if it wasn't their doing—they would surely be affected.
Baixing whispered to the one standing next to him. The guy nodded as he listened to Baixing's words, then quickly set off to climb the mountain peak and report this to Big Brother.
"I hope you won't regret it when my big brother shows up!" Baixing tries to intimidate the otherworldly cultivators.
Gu Hai could not help but wonder why these young cultivators had such confidence in this so-called 'Big Brother.'
Did they even understand their situation?
Gu Hai sent a signal, telling Old Ma to stop stimulating the poison. Old Ma nodded and stopped his technique; the green poisonous Qi aura on Old Ma's hand faded.
However, the cat didn't seem to stop writhing in pain.
"Mrrreeeoooww!" the cat howled.
"Old Ma! We need it to be alive. Stop that now!" Gu Hai shouted, seeing the cat still writhing in agony, blaming Old Ma.
Gu Hai could not help but express his dislike. These poison cultivators were no different from demonic cultivators—they were both psychopaths who enjoyed tormenting others for their own amusement, often ignored the plan, making it difficult to work with them.
"I already did!" Old Ma replied, confused. He was certain he had already stopped his technique. He extended his hand to examine the cat to see what was wrong.
Before he could do anything, the cat stopped howling and writhing, then collapsed on the ground. Old Ma's heart sank, thinking the cat had died, but when he examined it, he was relieved to find it was still breathing.
On the other side, Yunsu—the cat, realizing she had overacted, stopped writhing and lay on the ground, pretending to be exhausted.
Old Ma scratched his head, thought for a second, and said, "Maybe this creature is weak against poison, which makes the effects last longer than normal."
"Be careful, then. We need it alive until the ownership of this mountain artifact is transferred to me," Gu Hai said.
Old Ma nodded as he accepted the words, but he was quite dissatisfied with this Gu Hai ordering him around as if he were his servant, which he was not!
He promised himself that after getting out of here, he would poison Gu Hai's son.
"Kikiki." Old Ma laughed creepily, causing the others to feel uncomfortable.
"Quick! Get your so-called 'Big Brother' here if he doesn't want his pet to be killed!" Gu Hai shouted to the group of young cultivators behind the barrier.
Baixing and the others only stared at the otherworldly cultivators silently, no longer daring to insult them, afraid they would become enraged and recklessly kill their Big Brother's cat.
"Hm," Gu Hai muttered as he noticed a human figure floating down from the top of the mountain.
Since he could not extend his Divine Sense into the mountain due to the barrier, he could only focus his eyesight to get a clear look at the approaching 'Big Brother'.
This so-called 'Big Brother' was as young as the others before him, which made Gu Hai feel uneasy, because these young cultivators might have come from a higher realm—their age was far too low for their cultivation realm.
In the Nine Heaven Realm, it would take at least 200 years for someone to go from the first step of cultivation to the Spiritual Foundation Realm. A genius might achieve it in under 100 years, but reaching the True Body Realm from the Spiritual Foundation Realm would take at least another 500 years!
If these young cultivators really came from a higher realm, then they might have a powerful cultivator backing them, and Gu Hai had already offended them...
Gu Hai shoved this thought out of his head. There was no turning back since things had already come to this point. All he needed to do now was survive and get out of this secret realm. Everything else could be left for his future self to deal with.
…
Hengsheng floated in the sky as he moved toward the edge of the Origin Energy barrier to meet the otherworldly cultivators.
This was the first time he had taken flight after becoming a True Body cultivator. The sensation of flying is now different from when he was in the spiritual foundation realm.
He did not spend as much Spiritual Qi as before to lift himself off the ground—in fact, he didn't think he needed to use any energy at all. His will alone was enough.
It felt like he was no longer bound by gravity; if he desired, he could simply float into the sky. The Spiritual Qi he now used only served to enhance his movement through the sky.
'This must be one of the perks of being a True Body Realm cultivator,' Hengsheng thought.
Hengsheng smoothly landed on the ground before many eyes.
"Big Brother Hengsheng, that old ass caught your cat as a hostage!" Baixing said while pointing his finger outside the barrier.
Hengsheng nodded. He had already seen everything that happened here since he was on the peak; Blue had already reported it to him.
He did not take things seriously, since everything was under control from the start.
He grazed at the cat who lay on the ground with hollow eyes, this cat acting as if she were exhausted. He could not help but sigh—who would have thought this cat would grow up to be a scam?
"You are the Mountain Lord?" the middle-aged man with a mustache said.
Hengsheng observed the surroundings. He also secretly activated the Inspection Eye to see the middle-aged man's information.
[Gu Hai]
[Age: 2,405 years]
[Cultivation Realm: The True Body Realm / The Ninth Gates]
[Background: The seventh prince of the Gu dynasty…]
…
'This guy is old!' Hengsheng thought. His age almost approached the True Body Realm lifespan limit of 3,000 years.
"If you mean I am the owner of this mountain? Then yes, I am…" Hengsheng replied.
"Good! I heard you value your pet very much… You know what I mean. If you want it to be alive, let us inside the mountain. I promise we will not do anything threatening to you and your people. We only need a safe place…" Gu Hai said.
Hengsheng sneered when he heard this bullshit.
"I don't care," Hengsheng said.
"Meow?" The cat's head rose when she heard her human didn't care about her! This is unacceptable!
Gu Hai's expression turned dark. He turned and sent the gesture to Old Ma to stimulate the poison within the cat's body. He wanted to see if there was any reaction from the Mountain Lord when his cat writhed in pain.
Old Ma nodded, then made a few gestures to activate his technique. The green poison qi emitted from his hand…
Silent.
Old Ma was confused, why the cat had not started howling in pain yet.
Suddenly, the mountain lord spoke.
"No more playing, Yunsu. We will leave soon," Hengsheng said, his words sending waves of confusion to both allies and enemies.
Gu Hai finally noticed something was off. He became alert, but someone had already acted!
Yunsu, no longer playing the helpless cat, swiftly moved her body toward the white-haired woman, who could only react when it was too late.
She attempted to use her technique—instantly, a veil of crimson blood appeared before her, but it was shattered immediately by the cat's power.
"KYAAAAA!" The white-haired woman screamed before her vision filled with countless claw shadows.
Shing!!!! Shing!!! Shing!! ….
Yunsu's sharp claws, filled with the Dao's power, tore this woman's body into thousands of pieces.
Thwack!!!
Gu Hai and the other Ninth Gates True Body cultivators' faces turned pale—one in the same cultivation realm as them had just died that easily!
They immediately activated their True Bodies and formed a battle formation with their own group.
"Why! W-Why did it not work?!" Old Ma screamed as he tried to use his technique on the vicious cat, slowly moving toward him.
Yunsu noticed the poison pill inside her stomach was releasing poison qi nonstop, which annoyed her. Then she decided not to keep it anymore—she devoured it!
"ARGH!" Old Ma could sense his poison pill being destroyed, causing a backlash from the technique's failure.
Gu Hai and the other 6 Ninth Gates Realm cultivators appeared together, surrounding the cat at the center, and then quickly used their attack techniques, aiming to kill the cat.
They now knew the cat was dangerous!
Yunsu, seeing multiple qi constructs from multiple attack techniques moving toward her, did not panic, since all these attacks were useless against her!
She smirked and utilized her magic qi.
The multicolored omni-elemental magic circle appeared beneath her paws!
Then—
A blinding multi-color light originated from the cat, sweeping outward and instantly destroying all qi constructs. It then crossed over all the people standing outside the white barrier, rendering them all unconscious.