As the monarch and his counselors in the Golden Throne Hall were discussing how to respond to the emergence of the Almighty Earth Immortal, Shen Yuan, the fake Almighty Earth Immortal, was sitting in front of his computer having a heated exchange of opinions with some netizens.
In the days since Shen Yuan entered the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, a Spirit Energy Tidal Surge had once again appeared, causing various videos of extraordinary creatures and spell phenomena to surface at an increasing rate along with the rise in Spirit Energy concentration.
Among these were many obviously fake special effect edits, and even some mosaic videos made using door locks. However, mixed within this chaotic trend were quite a few actual extraordinary creatures.
Like a fox petitioning humans for a title while wearing human clothes, a spiritual monkey in a scenic spot using banknotes to buy fruit from people, and a cat that can split a tree trunk with a swing of its tail...
Within the messy web of online news, the public opinion regarding the resurgence of Spirit Energy had already stirred up a storm. This led Shen Yuan, who had just returned to the online community, to think he had encountered a system update.
Although most of it was just people jumping on the online trend without fully believing these stories, Shen Yuan was still surprised at the high activity level they were generating.
Shen Yuan himself had anticipated the Spirit Energy Tidal Surge.
During his half year of cultivating the Cloud Mist Breathing Method, Shen Yuan could clearly feel the concentration of Spirit Energy constantly increasing. It hinted at a return to the era when spiritual cultivation thrived.
In this process, it was inevitable that some transcendent beings, awoken by the infusion of Spirit Energy and the revival of their demon blood, would emerge. The current situation was bound to occur sooner or later.
The only thing that surprised Shen Yuan was how quickly the public opinion had changed.
Also, the Great Xia's Imperial Court seemed to have made no effort to hide this matter and had assumed a default stance towards various opinions.
The fact that the Great Xia's Imperial Court exhibited such an attitude could only mean that the situation had exceeded their control.
Shen Yuan found this rather amusing and watched with interest.
That was until Shen Yuan commented "How silly" under a video of a stray cat stealing bread; a user with the ID "Mysterious Taoist" and a cute black cat avatar messaged him directly and demanded he delete the improper remark.
The Mysterious Taoist claimed that after the resurgence of Spirit Energy, the monster tribe would inevitably rise to obtain rights equal to humans, and Shen Yuan's comment was an attack on the cat's identity. If Shen Yuan didn't want to face repercussions, he would have to delete his comment.
At first, Shen Yuan thought it was a joke, but after exchanging a few words, he realized that the other party seemed to be quite serious, seemingly unaware of any issues with their stance.
Given the Mysterious Taoist's tone and slow typing speed, Shen Yuan was sure that the Mysterious Taoist was absolutely a middle-schooler suffering from "second-year sickness."
Shen Yuan was amused by the Mysterious Taoist's dialog and retorted, "Is this stupid cat yours?" He didn't expect this remark to get the Mysterious Taoist riled up and spark a long and heated exchange of opinions.
Mysterious Taoist: Please stop your attacks on the cat.
Mysterious Taoist: You know this is racial discrimination, right?
Mysterious Taoist: Don't think the monster tribe is weak now, but who knows what will happen after the resurgence of Spirit Energy.
Shen Yuan: You said so much. Could it be that you are very familiar with the resurgence of Spirit Energy?
Mysterious Taoist: Such matter of the resurgence of Spirit Energy, those who understand it do, and those who don't won't even if I explain. Don't ask, great interests are involved, and it won't benefit you to know. I can only say the implications are profound, and the information online has been deleted. So, I can only say those who understand it do, and there's nothing I can do for those who don't.
The Mysterious Taoist's message amused Shen Yuan as he began to see the other party as a naive kid.
However, Shen Yuan didn't have the time to continue the argument. He had already wasted a lot of his cultivation time that day. He swiftly blocked the Mysterious Taoist and got up to prepare dinner.
"Bang!"
In an underground garage in Wenn City, a cat angrily threw an old-fashioned phone onto the concrete floor.
"How dare he! How dare he!"
A childish voice echoed around the garage. The cat continually stepped on the phone screen in front of it. A huge red exclamation mark was evident in its message history.
"You have been blocked by the user and cannot send messages!"
The cat was small, about the size of a palm, and its body was as dark as night, except for its white paws that were glove-like and exceptionally cute.
Only now, the tiny, exquisite face of the kitten was filled with a human-like grievance, and its heterochromatic red and blue eyes were full of anger.
Next to the kitten, a Maine Coon cat, about half the height of a human, was lying down, looking at the cellphone under the kitten's feet with distressed eyes.
This cellphone was a precious item they had obtained in exchange for hundreds of transparent gemstones collected from a little girl, the only one in their entire cat tribe.
Only these intelligent cat demons had the privilege to use it. The ordinary cats didn't even have the right to touch it.
If other cat demons handled the cellphone like this, the Maine Coon would have taught them a lesson long ago. However, it was at a loss as to what to do with the kitten in front of it.
Because this kitten, not even the size of a palm, was actually the king of their entire tribe.
Thinking of this, the Maine Coon lowered its body cautiously, using its big head to rub against the kitten's body, and began to comfort it:
"Your Highness, there's no need for you, with your noble status, to be angry with a mere mortal.
We, the monster tribe, were born by the will of Heaven and Earth. We don't need the approval of humans who are just our food."
Upon hearing this, the kitten immediately turned to look at the Maine Coon and balled its white gloved paw into a fist, which then landed a forceful blow on the Maine Coon's face.
"Idiot! Idiot!"
"Right now, Spirit Energy has just started to return, and our cat tribe is still weak, while humans are the rulers of this world. What we can do is to develop in secret and strive for a voice.
The age now doesn't rely purely on power. They have their own civilization, and our cat tribe must integrate into it.
I've noticed on the human internet that many people have surreptitiously become slaves to our cat tribe. If our cat tribe wants to expand its influence, we must use these cat slaves. The purpose of me setting up an account and filming videos about our cat tribe is for this.
But this despicable human..."
At this point, the kitten's bright eyes shimmered with tears.
The Maine Coon had taken a beating from the kitten even though its attacks didn't cause any real harm. However, the Maine Coon's face was full of grievance.
"So, what are we supposed to do?"
"We must make this human apologize!" The kitten indignantly slapped its paw down as it spoke.
"But Your Highness, since you can't even send him a message, how can he apologize?"
At this, the kitten broke into a smirk of human-like satisfaction.
"Humph! After three days of learning, I have mastered the most lethal weapon possessed by humans. Once I use this lethal weapon, he will surely bow to me."
The Maine Coon's eyes widened, its gaze filled with anticipation: "What weapon are you referring to?"
"They seem to call it... a box weapon?"