Her eyes sparkled briefly, the flames around her tail snuffing out completely. Chen Ren let out a quiet sigh of relief, though he still watched her warily, curiosity bubbling beneath his calm exterior. Her words confirmed that she didn't consider him lying, or maybe she was simply choosing to let him be for now in order to keep him from panicking.
There was no way to know and hence, he focused on something else— Finding out how she and Chen Ren had been related. There was no recent memory of him talking to a cat that could speak the mortal language. If there had been one, it would have certainly stood out. But, as he looked deeper and deeper, something eventually caught his attention.
A vague memory of a cat lingered in Chen Ren's childhood. Could it be the one in front of him? But other than that, it seemed like the man didn't like cats at all— something that, in his opinion, should have been considered a crime.
He glanced back at the cat. "So, in return, can I ask you a few questions? I think it's only fair."
Yalan tilted her head slightly, her expression inscrutable. She licked at her paw once. "Sure, go on," she replied. "I'll allow it."
Chen Ren leaned forward, his curiosity driving him to ask the question that had been swirling in his mind the whole time. Despite giving himself time during their conversation to process everything, he couldn't ignore the fact that there were still things he didn't understand.
"Who... who are you exactly? And what's your relationship with Chen Ren?"
The cat straightened, her tail following the actions, and her eyes took on a deeper, more thoughtful glow. "My name is Yalan," she began, her voice layered with boredom.
"Okay. But I already know that. I want to know more than your name."
"I am bound by a pact made with Chen Ren's ancestors. For hundreds of years, I have been tasked with watching over their descendants, acting as a protector of sorts. This pact has seventy years left on it and by all means, I have expected Chen Ren to be the last one to have my otherwise costly services for free."
Chen Ren listened intently, the pieces slowly falling into place as she continued.
"I've been with Chen Ren since he was a child, looking over him from the shadows. But, as you already know, I wasn't exactly successful in protecting him." Her tail twitched, betraying a hint of frustration. "The boy was too stubborn, too full of pride. He ignored every bit of advice I offered him in his childhood and never liked me— wouldn't even acknowledge my presence most of the time. He was simply wallowing in despair over his parents' death. So, I simply followed him... silently, waiting for the day he'd come find me himself and listen."
Her voice softened as she sighed, her little face scrunched up in frustration. "But he died a meaningless death. His own idiocy sealed his fate. By the time he was brought to the Tang Clan Manor, he was almost lifeless. That was when I noticed your soul beginning to merge with his body."
Chen Ren blinked, absorbing her words. So he had been right in his early conjectures. His soul had started to enter the body at the exact moment Chen Ren was on the verge of death. And she had been there, powerless to intervene.
It also revealed that the cat was able to see souls, probably the reason she knew he wasn't the original Chen Ren.
He did the mental maths. If the pact between Yalan and Chen Ren's ancestors was truly that old, then the cat was far more powerful than he had initially imagined. And the original Chen Ren… He hadn't been a simple fool, but the worst kind of fool. Not only had he ignored a protector who could have helped him rise, but he'd squandered a chance to grow stronger under her guidance. Truly, an idiot.
It also explained something else. Now he understood how Chen Ren had made it to Cloud Mist City unscathed, even without guards. Yalan had been watching over him the entire time, silently keeping him alive.
He glanced at her again, curiosity gnawing at him. "So... does the pact extend to me too?"
As soon as the question left his lips, he was rewarded with silence. Just silence that stretched far longer than what he was comfortable with.
Yalan didn't respond, her fiery eyes narrowing in contemplation.
Maybe I asked something that I shouldn't have? She doesn't seem unreasonable, but you hardly know in this world, he held back a frown, but before he could retract the question, she shook her head.
"I have no idea." The voice came out so low that if Chen Ren hadn't been attentive, it would've run past his ears. "The pact should remain in effect as long as Chen Ren is alive. Since you carry remnants of his soul, he isn't technically dead… She paused, her tail flicking absently. "It's a very blurry line."
Chen Ren nodded slowly, unsure of what to make of her response. On one hand, the pact stood—barely—which likely meant she wouldn't or couldn't hurt him. But on the other hand, he doubted she harboured any real care toward him. After all, he was someone else. Their relationship was complicated, a tangled mess he had no desire to unravel right now. It hurt his mind just to think and unfortunately, he couldn't simply give her tuna to win her over.
Hence, he decided to stick to the reason he had come here.
Turning his gaze to the cat, he asked, "Do you mind if I cultivate for a bit?"
Yalan flicked her tail dismissively as if shrugging off the question, hopping onto the bench beside him. "Go on," she said casually, as though his request was of no real importance.
"Alright, then."
Chen Ren tried to ignore her presence and focused inward. His strange meeting with the cat bothered him, especially because she had been keeping a close watch on him. Having a spirit beast that could potentially kill you in one blow next to you while you try to cultivate wasn't exactly a great way to concentrate.
It took him half an hour before he dispelled some of his nervousness and focused on the faint surges of energy in his dantian.
The feeling was refreshing like a tender warmth filling him from the inside. He tried to probe the energy, to manipulate it, but his control was clumsy. Frustratingly so.
He shifted tactics, attempting to absorb the qi in the air around him. He could sense it faintly, like a whisper just out of reach, but no matter what he did, the energy refused to respond. Even when he chanted [Thunderstorm Sutra]— the Chen family's cultivation technique, it was like trying to catch smoke with his bare hands— nothing worked.
As he continued to struggle, the silence was finally broken by Yalan's voice. "What exactly are you doing?"
Chen Ren sighed, opening his eyes and glancing at her. "Cultivation," he said flatly.
Yalan's tail swished lazily. "You're in the body-forging realm," she remarked, her tone dismissive. "Cultivating like this won't get you far. At your stage, you can't sense qi properly, nor can you circulate it through your meridians. You need to focus on training your body, slowly pushing it to the peak of body forging before you even begin to sense qi—"
Chen Ren, mid-breath, interrupted her, his voice calm but firm.
"I can already feel qi."
Yalan froze. Her eyes narrowed, and the lazy swish of her tail stopped mid-air. "What did you just say?" she asked, her voice low, sharp with sudden intensity.
Chen Ren blinked, surprised at her reaction. "I can feel qi," he repeated, uncertain why it seemed to shock her so much. He knew it was unusual, but by her reaction, he might have massively underestimated such an ability in this realm.
The cat's gaze bore into him, her eyes narrowing further as though she were reassessing everything about him.