The next day, Yu Wei went out to do chores with Ning Suyi as usual.
Outer Disciples all had daily menial duties. The others wished they could work on their own peak so that they could begin cultivating and studying as soon as they finished, yet Ning Suyi deliberately took Yu Wei to do remote tasks that required going into the mountains every day.
Naturally, this was for Yu Wei’s sake. Whether she lived as a human or a demon, she could shift between the two at will, but by instinct, being a cat was her true nature.
Maintaining a human form every day was not difficult, yet it was like a person sleeping fully clothed all the time, wearing the same outfit outside and never changing even at home when resting. After a while, it became mentally exhausting and physically uncomfortable.
Ning Suyi specifically chose these mountain tasks so that Yu Wei would have opportunities to transform back into a cat and take a breather.
However, the decennial sect ceremony of the First Immortal Sect was about to be held. It was one of the most important events in the sect, and the instructors had begun enforcing the rules more strictly than ever.
Ning Suyi was cautious by nature. Yu Wei’s identity was so unusual that if the girl happened to be in her cat form when encountered by a patrolling instructor, they could easily make an issue of it, which would become troublesome.
She explained this to Yu Wei, though the girl had no idea why the ceremony was important. She only knew that the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and yet she was forbidden from turning back into a cat to nap lazily.
Usually, Yu Wei was quite talkative. The books she read and the food she ate were all given by Ning Suyi, yet she still liked to share her daily feelings about what she read and ate.
Though these were trivial matters, Ning Suyi enjoyed listening.
Having seen too many deceitful and hypocritical humans, she treasured the little cat demon’s clean sincerity. Listening to her chatter about the smallest details seemed to quiet her own heart.
By rights, the single evening they had spent apart yesterday should have given Yu Wei plenty to talk about today. Yet perhaps because Ning Suyi had forbidden her from transforming, the girl seemed utterly dispirited.
Lying across Ning Suyi’s lap, Yu Wei was quiet and obedient, her dark hair cascading down her back to reveal a stretch of cool, snow-white neck.
Her entire demeanor was listless. She neither ate nor spoke. Ning Suyi could only see her long, thick eyelashes trembling faintly, lacking the lively curiosity she usually showed when observing everything around her.
Seeing her in such a state of feline despair, Ning Suyi felt both amused and helpless, and ultimately a bit sympathetic.
She wondered how this little demon had grown up to be so delicate. It was only the first time she had been forbidden from returning to her original form, yet she had immediately become so dejected and aggrieved.
She truly could not endure even the slightest hardship.
Softly, Ning Suyi said, “A quarter of an hour, all right?”
A quarter of an hour was enough.
Yu Wei’s eyes lit up at once. In the next instant, a fluffy little white cat appeared on Ning Suyi’s lap.
It lifted its head and mewed softly, rubbing its forehead against Ning Suyi’s fingers until it rolled over from the effort.
Ning Suyi gathered it into her arms and stroked its fur. The little cat narrowed its eyes in bliss, kneading her arm gently with its paws, its entire body radiating happiness.
As she petted it, Ning Suyi’s thoughts drifted elsewhere.
She remembered that kneading was an instinct cats used to beg their mothers for milk, yet Yu Wei clearly seemed to have no parents.
Ning Suyi had once asked about her past. The girl did not know where she came from and only remembered the past few years wandering the human borderlands in the form of a cat.
It was certain that Yu Wei had never been properly taught. As a member of the demon clan, she could not even speak when transformed into a cat. This was not difficult to learn, and had she possessed elders of her kind, she would not still be unable to do so.
It seemed that everything, whether transforming between cat and human or fishing with her tail, had been discovered by her own trial and error.
She really was a complete little stray.
Stroking the cat’s back, Ning Suyi let out a silent sigh.
A quarter of an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Ning Suyi waited a little longer before asking the cat to transform back into a human.
The little white cat simply played dead, burying its head in the crook of her arm and refusing to move, its tail sweeping lazily across her.
Ning Suyi glanced at the sky and said gently, “The weather is quite nice today. Perhaps we should give you a bath.”
The moment the words fell, the little cat in her arms instantly turned back into a girl.
Yu Wei quickly retreated, only to meet the woman’s smiling gaze when she looked up.
“Ah Ning is so mean,” she muttered.
Yu Wei disliked water, though if she had to choose, getting wet in human form was more comfortable and easier to manage.
When she bathed as a human, she could dry off quickly and feel comfortable again, but if she got wet as a cat, she would spend two hours licking her fur, and the sticky feeling of dampness would linger for an entire day.
Determined to prove that she could hold a grudge, Yu Wei decided to ignore Ah Ning.
Yet the woman promptly produced a box of pastries. In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea, Yu Wei was leaning against Ning Suyi again, eating sweets while recounting what she had seen the previous day.
Yu Wei’s thoughts wandered freely and she spoke as she pleased. Often, she would begin one story, remember something else midway, and jump to another topic. Despite this disjointed narrative, Ning Suyi listened without missing a single word.
When she heard about Tang Qianxin and Tao Wenwen from yesterday, Ning Suyi thought for a moment before saying, “The girls in our dormitory are all quite nice. If you like them, spending more time with them would be a good thing. Just remain cautious of others once you leave the dorm.”
Ning Suyi was not worried that the other female Disciples would bully Yu Wei. She was more concerned about male cultivators. Yu Wei’s mind was so simple that, in her eyes, there was likely little difference between men and women.
If she grew close to the female Disciples and began to believe that anyone who treated her well was a good person, then upon leaving the dormitory, she might encounter a male cultivator with ill intentions who appeared kind on the surface. If Yu Wei trusted such a person with the same openness she showed the women, it would truly spell disaster.
It had taken Ning Suyi a year to guide Yu Wei to where she was now. To eliminate risk in the simplest way, she had previously forbidden Yu Wei from growing close to anyone but herself.
Now, however, her thoughts were gradually changing.
Compared to demon cultivation, cultivating immortality was the orthodox path. Moreover, in this era, the demon and devil clans lived extremely difficult lives.
Ning Suyi hoped Yu Wei could develop a sense of belonging toward the sect and the cultivation world, ideally gaining some strength so she could put down roots here. At the very least, the title of Disciple of the First Immortal Sect was a useful one.
The demonic nature within Yu Wei was too strong. She was like a passing breeze that had paused briefly within the sect, and Ning Suyi did not know when she might leave. This had always troubled her.
Perhaps making other friends here would be the first step toward keeping the little cat.
Yu Wei knew nothing of Ning Suyi’s worries. As she ate her pastry, she mumbled, “I can tell who’s truly good to me. I’m smart.”
Ning Suyi laughed softly at her words. “An animal’s intuition?”
The girl pointed to her nose.
“Of course I can smell it. My nose is very good.”
Before Ning Suyi could ask more, Yu Wei had already stuffed the last pastry into her mouth. Stretching, she slumped back onto Ning Suyi’s lap, dispirited once more.
Such wonderful sunlight, yet she could not turn back into a cat to bask in it.
“I hate the sect ceremony,” she complained, tilting her head upward. “If I can’t turn back into a cat, I can’t sleep at all.”
After a while, Ning Suyi looked down again to find the girl already fast asleep with her head resting on her thigh.