I woke up to Rosie licking my face. Apparently, all that was needed to gain her affection was a strip of jerky. Despite Rosie's intelligence, she was too naive. Or perhaps I was too cynical. A jaded 5-year-old, who would've thought? I felt a pang of guilt for killing her mom. And all for the sake of some stupid test. All I could do was hug Rosie tightly. Rosie, perhaps sensing my inner turmoil, endured the bear hug like a champ.
Wait was it really so simple as that? Rosie's mother attacked me without hesitation the moment she saw me. Humankind and demonic beasts were mortal enemies. I knew this from my studies. Even if I hadn't sought the beast out, it would've eventually sought out and killed humans. It may have done so already. Even if it didn't, it would become a part of a beast tide.
The only exceptions were trained demonic beasts. Something I would be doing with Rosie. A bond would be formed between a cultivator and a beast, and that bond would suppress the beast's demonic nature. As a pup, Rosie was fine, she wouldn't harm anyone. Once she matured, without a bond, even if she could avoid harming a couple of humans she loved, she would harm others.
I stilled my troubled heart. The death of Rosie's mother and siblings was necessary to protect my own family. I had no means to spare them, not with my current strength. I could only train hard to become stronger so the option to spare who I wanted became available in the future.
I felt some kind of kin with the demonic beasts. It was as if I was one of them and wasn't at the same time. Was this an effect of my physique? I already guessed that one of the forms of the Lunar 9 Forms was a beast form. Which could explain why I felt connected to demonic beasts.
I looked up at the sky. It was the cold, early predawn when Rosie woke me up. The sky was blue-black with a thin ring of light at the horizon in the East. The pair of moons, Elara and Ayla, hung high in the firmament. Elara glistened white, while the smaller Ayla gave off a blue glow. The fiery red Calypso was closer to the horizon. Calypso was a little over the half-moon waxing phase, while Elara and Ayla were full at his time. Altalune was nowhere to be seen, if memory served it was at quarter moon waning phase, but it must have set at this time.
My breath fogged and turned into ice crystals immediately. Nights were always cold in the mountains, but it was getting even more chilly with Autumn approaching. Rosie seemed grateful for my body heat, but that's not why she woke me up. Reminding of my cat in my previous life, it could only be food that caused her to disturb me. I had no more jerky, but thankfully foxes are omnivores. I could only hope that same logic applied to demonic foxes and fed her some of the mixed nuts from my pack. She accepted the nuts greedily. She is indeed an omnivore. I ate some nuts myself, then took a look at my HP.
HP 400/400
I recovered hit points equal to my constitution every hour assuming my wounds weren't fatal, conditions such as bleeding were taken care of, and I had sufficient energy (food) to recover. This didn't mean my wounds were healed. I could still feel a throbbing pain in my arm and abdomen. Lifting my tunic, I could see a spectacular purple bruise covering my entire mid-section. However, my fighting strength was no longer affected by the wounds. I guess I was lucky and there was no internal bleeding, or at least nothing severe enough to not stop on its own.
Rosie finished the mound of nuts I gave her and let out a mighty belch. Rosie was not a lady of manners, it seemed.
Rosie and I jumped down from the tree and headed home. With our early start, and no need to search for beasts, we arrived at the villa just before sunset. Li Kai was waiting there for me.
"I thought you might've died when I heard the fox howl, but it seems I still have a disciple."
I was astonished that an esteemed immortal elder couldn't distinguish the difference between a howl of sorrow and a howl of victory. What's more, it was me that howled, sort of. I guess immortals didn't pay that much attention to such details. If cultivators were so easily tricked, did that mean I could fashion some beast-call lures and catch me some cultivators instead?
"You know the task was to kill a beast, not to bring a young one home right?"
Li Kai stared with malicious intent at Rosie, who was sitting in my arms. Like a regal, furry princess, she had decided that walking was beneath her less than an hour into the journey.
Standing my ground and shielding Rosie with my arms, I replied, "I know, I killed one. This one is going to be my companion."
I pulled the demonic fox's beast core out of a pocket in my robes. I really liked these robes, they had pockets. I then tossed the core to Li Kai. He withdrew his killing intent.
"Very well, we'll perform the ritual to bond you tomorrow. I wasn't expecting you to return with vermin."
Li Kai and Rosie intensely glared at each other as an intense rivalry was born that day. Too bad for Li Kai, Rosie was already my favorite. She was cute and fluffy, while Li Kai was old and grouchy. She demanded only food and cuddles, Li Kai was a cruel taskmaster. There was no competition.
"As for your reward." Li Kai tossed me a pill, at first I thought it was a recovery pill, but it looked a little different. "This is a purification pill. It will pull out the impurities that have accumulated in your body since your conception. This will help you overcome mortal limits even before stepping onto the immortal path. Oh, and it seems you were wounded." He tossed me another pill, this was the familiar recovery pill. He continued, "Take it orally this time and do so before using the purification pill which you will also take orally. You'll want to step into an empty bath after taking the pill, and since you have the luxury, have servants standing by with lots of bath water. They'll know when to use the water."
Li Kai then left the villa. No further congratulations or celebration. I knew he was helping me greatly, but he was just so stingy with compliments and praise that it nearly infuriated me to death. That stinky, old man, how could he not praise the great and adorable me?
Rosie and I entered the villa proper. The first thing we did was feast. I was only gone for 3 days, but I was tired of trail food. It was too late to join my family for dinner, so I had the cook prepare several dishes just for me and Rosie. Soon there were several empty greasy plates in front of me. My stomach was bloated. Rosie had a bulge too, she looked like an inflated balloon that was about to pop. The smile on her face said she was very contented.
Then I set about consuming the pills as Li Kai had instructed. I took the recovery pill and unwrapped the bandage on my arm. Soon I watched my flesh knitting itself back together, not even a scar was left behind. I lifted my tunic and saw the bruise disappear in blotches as well. This was good stuff. To think, Li Kai had been giving this to me simply to treat muscle-overexertion.
I waited until I no longer felt the effects of the recovery pill, then gazed at the purification pill. I had a foreboding feeling about this pill. If I recalled from the novels in my previous life, the next hour or so would be rough. Impurities did not come out easily or pleasantly. I closed my eyes firmly and stuffed the pill in my mouth and quickly swallowed before I could change my mind. Whelp what was done was done.
I removed my robes and slid into the tub. The servants had prepared 3 times the normal amount of bathwater and were standing by. Several minutes passed without occurrence. Just as I started to relax, intense nausea gripped my stomach. The nausea spread, while pain was added to the nausea in my stomach. Soon my entire abdomen was giving the feeling of nausea, as if I had caught a bad stomach flu. But it didn't stop there, the feeling spread to my muscles, and they began to feel as if they had been clenched too long, but they were still relaxed. Somehow the pain of a clenched muscle while in a relaxed state was even worse than if I was actively clenching the muscles. Nausea began to reach my mind as well, and the room swam, while an itchy hum began to fill my thoughts.
Just when I thought I couldn't take the nausea anymore, I began vomiting a sticky, black, tar-like substance into the tub. The taste was foul and horrible. The smell was wretched. I puked even more. A few of the maidservants with weaker constitutions directly fainted when the smell hit them. The others weren't much better off, many of them were coughing and dry-heaving.
Before anyone could act, the substance was coming out the other end as well. I was in quite a miserable state. I even noticed the sweat that was now running down my skin in rivers was the same foul substance. I was puking, defecating, and sweating a tremendous amount of the black tar at the same time, quickly fouling the tub. This was like the worst stomach bug ever. It was torture. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemies. Li Kai!!! How dare you do this to me!
Several miles away, Li Kai sneezed. He hurried away even faster, like a thief fleeing the scene of a crime.
One of the maidservants found the constitution to grab a basin of water and douse me in it. The air became slightly less putrid and soon the maidservants who hadn't fainted took turns dumping water on my head. The basins they had weren't enough and soon they were drenching me in freezing water without mercy. Fortunately, the torrent soon ended, and the icy water washed the last of the nasty substance down the drain. I shivered in the bath while the maidservants ran to prepare more warm water and another servant checked the few that had fallen to ensure they hadn't injured themselves.
After receiving a proper warm bath to recover my now frozen soul, I hopped out of the bath and moved about experimentally, trying a few strikes and acrobatics. I could immediately feel that my movements were less restrained. It was as though invisible bindings had been removed from my entire body. Each breath felt fuller and deeper than before. I jumped in front of my wardrobe mirror. My skin seemed to glow. Finally, I checked my stats.
HP: 440/440
QI: 1/1
STR: 22 (44)
AGI: 22 (44)
CON: 22 (44)
CHA: 30 (60)
LUK: 38 (76)
Everything except luck had increased by 2. My stagnant stats were increasing again. Just as Li Kai had said, I was now transcending mortal limits. I still felt wronged by him though. That was a horrible experience to go through.
I threw on a soft set of pajamas, picked up Rosie, and dove deep under the blankets of my bed. I hugged Rosie tightly. I was still cold, Rosie's job was to warm me up. She happily complied.