As a discipline inspector, Ranxue couldn't take part in gambling and merely looked on.
He was the first to notice Wu Youren appear and greeted him warmly. "Awake?"
When you were no longer weak, there truly weren't so many fault-finders around you.
"I haven't slept well these past few days," Wu Youren said, yawning as he came downstairs. "Raining again. We've had a lot of rain lately."
"It's going to keep raining for the next few days," the female archer said, being one of the gamblers. "Have you fed Xiao Ha today?"
"Fed him," the middle-aged knight chimed in—today was his investment, after all. "Ate plenty, too."
"Does this little fellow only eat and never defecate?" Namuzha asked.
This guy's questions always gave off a sense of malice.
Before Wu Youren could reply, Xiao Ha on his shoulder shuddered, craned its neck, and coughed up a long, messy wad of debris.
The chick's bulging crop visibly deflated, and its eyes grew slightly clearer.
Fortunately, the boy was nimble enough to step back half a pace, letting the hefty lump of refuse plop onto the ground.
"Why are you so fixated on that?" Daiqisi glared at Namuzha, annoyed. "Hoping someone will eat it?"
Hearing that, Wu Youren couldn't help but shudder. He truly had scrolled through plenty of videos like that in his past life.
That visual... was simply too sickening to imagine!
"I was just asking," Namuzha said with a dry laugh, his gaze sweeping over the lump on the ground. "A chick coughing up a pellet is quite rare!"
"Why don't you poke it open and see?" Daiqisi said bluntly. "Maybe there's a Guizu relic inside!"
She had no grudge against Namuzha, but lately, for some reason, she felt he was unfriendly toward the boy.
A woman's sixth sense wasn't just imagination; it was very real.
In any case, he was merely an assistant instructor while she was a full instructor, so speaking sharply to him didn't matter.
"Snow harriers regurgitating pellets is normal," the middle-aged knight said fairly. "Though for a chick, it is indeed uncommon."
"Let me take a look." Manna was truly fierce; picking up a twig, she stepped forward and poked through it several times.
In the end, she announced, "Just a pile of junk... You haven't been sleeping well lately?"
The last question was directed at the boy, followed by a glance at Rossi.
"I really don't snore!" Rossi protested anxiously. "I still remember that kick you gave me!"
"It has nothing to do with Lord Rossi," Wu Youren said, shaking his head. "I just miss Red Pine a bit."
The others fell silent. Most of their friends and family were back in Red Pine, and they had been away for quite a while this time.
"I've been in contact with the Martial Academy," Instructor Hong's raspy voice called out from her room, though she did not show herself. "You need not ask."
Since she had spoken, no one could say anything further, and they dispersed.
Wu Youren remained standing in the courtyard, feeling the increasingly chilly autumn rain.
He enjoyed the feeling while quietly absorbing the heat circulating within him.
The fine drizzle helped screen him from prying eyes to some extent.
By now, the people from Red Pine were used to the boy's habit of standing in the rain; none of them found it strange.
Namuzha, however, was squatting off to the side, still quietly poking through the pellet the snow harrier had regurgitated.
Wu Youren paid him no heed, though there was no need to anyway.
The man's malice was already plain as day; what Wu Youren needed to consider was an opportune moment.
The rain continued to fall, the mood somewhat tense.
Standing in the rain, Wu Youren slowly absorbed experience points. The sensation was so intoxicating that he lost track of time.
By the time he came back to his senses, no one was around, and late night had settled in.
He didn't want to return to his room just yet, so he sat down at the stone table in the courtyard.
This was where everyone had been gambling earlier—uncovered, with only a few stone stools around it, but sturdy.
A few gazes that had occasionally lingered on him withdrew one by one.
They had gradually accepted that the boy had such an unusual hobby.
As long as he stayed in the courtyard and didn't wander off, they let him be.
Wu Youren could sense their attention. Confirming everyone had turned in, he gave a wry inward smile.
Did this count as... a peculiar kind of imprisonment?
Great. So on this journey of mine, am I welded to a cage wherever I go?
The only consolation was that their watchful eyes held little malice; compared to before, he could count his blessings.
He let his thoughts drift, slowly absorbing experience points, genuinely enjoying himself.
Suddenly, some indistinct sensation stirred within him, and his eyes slowly refocused.
Then, seven or eight meters away at the foot of the wall, a black cat appeared without a sound.
The black cat wasn't large—less than half a meter including its tail—and didn't even look fully grown.
Yet its green eyes were fixed intently upon him, their glow piercing right through the fine drizzle.
Not corrupted by Guizu! Wu Youren judged. He raised a hand, and with a flash of faint light, the black cat was pinned to the wall.
A few senses swept over one after another. Finding that the boy had merely killed a stray cat with a throwing dagger, they showed no further reaction.
A bird chick attracting potential predators—wasn't that perfectly normal?
"Meow—" The black cat wailed, kicking its legs, still trying to squirm free despite being pinned to the wall by the dagger.
Yet with the boy's current cultivation, how could a tiny cat break loose?
Wu Youren had no interest in paying it close attention, only glancing over occasionally: Could cats in this world be hard to kill too?
The black cat's struggles gradually subsided when suddenly, a faint, wispy murmur came from its mouth: "Sigh... that's the second one."
What? Wu Youren shuddered, the hot current he was circulating and absorbing instantly grinding to a halt.
Immediately after, a faint ache flared in his lower abdomen where the internal breath had broken off...
Fortunately, he was currently in a state of "random absorption," so this minor backlash was nothing serious.
The problem was... Wu Youren slowly turned his head to stare at the black cat, the hair all over his body standing on end: Did this thing just talk?
A spirit? Didn't seem like it. It had appeared silently, but weren't all cats like that?
More importantly, when facing a spirit, he would sense anomalies, and killing one usually yielded experience points.
Though heat was churning inside him, it wouldn't prevent him from noticing a new influx of experience points.
Unless it was extraordinarily minuscule, perhaps he might be slightly less perceptive, but... surely not!
A companion beast controlled by an ability master? He couldn't help guessing.
In the materials on ability masters Instructor Hong had lent him, the support branch indeed included a "companion beast" category.
Such ability masters were exceptionally rare. Great Liang might have some, but definitely very few.
It wasn't simple beast-taming and didn't focus on mere manipulation; rather, they chose powerful spirits to fight in their stead in a bonded, companion relationship.
These ability masters were usually ordinary in personal combat power, mainly boosting the spirits' strength and numbers to enhance their battle effectiveness.
Boosting strength was one thing, but increasing their numbers was both difficult and fraught with peril.
Most of all, because of that "companion" bond, if a spirit died, the master would suffer a commensurate backlash.
Wu Youren didn't believe such a rare support-branch ability master would choose a stray cat with the combat power of a speck of dust as a companion beast.
The precious slots for companion beasts were not meant to be squandered like that!
Furthermore, if it truly were a companion beast, inflicting harm on the ability master should have granted him experience points.
Unless... this ability master was from Jin!
The boy remained seated without moving a muscle. No one could have imagined the storm churning inside his mind.
Regardless of the case, he wouldn't go check on it immediately.
About half an hour later, he finally got up, walked over to the wall, and crouched down to examine it carefully.
Unsurprisingly, a few sensory sweeps brushed past again, devoid of malice and fueled purely by curiosity.
The black cat was completely dead. Under the cold drizzle, its limbs had already stiffened somewhat.
Xiao Ha on his shoulder, however, flapped its wings and opened its beak wide, as if saying: Hungry, hungry!
Wu Youren pulled out his dagger and slit the black cat open, but found no Guizu relic or anything similar.
He picked up the cat's carcass and tossed it into the courtyard's refuse heap—rubbish was cleared out from here at scheduled times every day.
Then he shook his head and headed toward the stairs... time to rest.
When he got up the next morning, Wu Youren was still a bit dazed and listless.
Xiao Ha chirped incessantly. Having regurgitated that big pellet, it was full of energy and began begging for food.
Wu Youren casually handed it a strip of dried meat—he periodically tried to see if it could be fed without using Guizu relics as a catalyst.
To his surprise, the little fellow craned its neck twice and gulped down the meat strip directly, never regurgitating it even after a long wait.
Everything around him... why was it all starting to change? Wu Youren found it hard to understand.
Around midday, the bearded man returned. "Last night, following the clues, the bureau busted a gang of fallen ability masters!"
The City Guard Bureau had even deployed ability masters in the fight; after all, only an ability master could counter an ability master.
They captured an apprentice fallen ability master, killed one, and netted a whole bunch of smaller fry.
Regrettably, they hadn't caught the big fish behind the scenes.
Still, this was already satisfying enough; genuine fallen ability masters were few and far between, and each was cunning to the extreme.
The bearded man declared that he was definitely treating them to lunch today.
In any case, he hailed from Red Pine as well, making this place practically a second home.
Wu Youren had a sudden realization: So that steady influx of experience points yesterday came from the City Guard Bureau?
Having confirmed the information, a slight pang of regret actually rose in his heart: Has the proposal not even begun yet?
People could be so contradictory at times, and he was no exception.
The noon feast was of high quality. The bearded man even brought two jars of Heavenly Dew, the five-jin variety.
This stuff was even pricier than Jade Dew and had a higher alcohol content; even knights might not get to drink it twice a year.
Wu Youren refrained from drinking as usual, but with wine this good, no one forced him.
In the afternoon, more visitors arrived at the door, and this time, they were truly troublesome characters: the Hall of Esoteric Masters!
A total of four people had come: an ability master, an apprentice, along with a grand knight and a knight.
Chapter 157