Chapter 279: Catching the Cat

Spells and enchanted artifacts gleamed as they streaked and bombarded from all directions. The battle was fierce, and the remaining cultivators of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge wore expressions of grim resolve.

This pursuit had already lasted two days. During that time, the two sides had engaged four times, with each encounter ending in a rout for the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge forces.

In the first two skirmishes, the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge still possessed some ability to fight back. However, as their numbers dwindled, they completely lost the capacity to contend with the Vast Sky Alliance; the numerical disparity was simply too great.

By this point, fewer than thirty cultivators from the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge remained.

Even Qi Ming from Zhaori Mountain had been killed by the Vast Sky Alliance in a prior engagement. Now, these thirty individuals, led by Chu Qing of the Fenghua Courtyard, were struggling against overwhelming odds.

Everyone knew, however, that continuing this way meant certain death.

Their only hope for survival was to break through the encirclement!

They quickly acted on this. After identifying a weak point in the Vast Sky Alliance's encirclement, Chu Qing led the thirty cultivators in a desperate charge towards that direction.

Such a breakthrough proved impossible for the Vast Sky Alliance to prevent. With just over a hundred members, their encirclement was not sufficiently tight.

A short while later, the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators successfully broke through. Only twenty of the original thirty remained alive, all gasping for breath as they ran for their lives.

The absence of pursuers behind them brought a measure of relief to the survivors, but they dared not stop. Under Chu Qing's lead, they continued to flee, desperate to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the Vast Sky Alliance.

On the chaotic battlefield, Ji Yan approached Lu Ye and said with a smiling face, "I'm glad I didn't fail the mission."

Did the Vast Sky Alliance lack the residual strength for a pursuit? Of course not. However, the effectiveness of such a chase was uncertain. The enemy wasn't going to simply stand still and be killed; the most probable outcome would have been a grueling pursuit and escape, exhausting everyone involved.

Moreover, allowing Chu Qing's group to escape had been Lu Ye's deliberate decision.

"I'll have people keep an eye on their movements," Ji Yan added.

"Thank you," Lu Ye nodded. "And that white cat will still require your considerable attention, Brother Ji."

"It's nothing," Ji Yan chuckled heartily, clearly in excellent spirits.

After a brief rest, Lu Ye and Ju Jia departed.

Finding the cat would be a significant challenge for them.

To date, Lu Ye had only encountered the white cat once. Despite both he and Ju Jia attempting to catch it, they failed; the creature was simply too fast.

Lu Ye already had a strategy for catching the cat, though its effectiveness remained to be seen. The immediate difficulty was locating it.

Fortunately, the Vast Sky Alliance still had a considerable number of members. Lu Ye had already asked Ji Yan to instruct them to search in different directions. As for the scattered remnants of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, they could be ignored for now; it was unlikely they would dare to show themselves.

Once the white cat was found and returned to the woman in red, allowing her to lift her own binding, Lu Ye would be free to deal with Chu Qing and her companions.

If the cat proved impossible to find, then the Vast Sky Alliance would simply have to continue their siege. Regardless, the cultivators of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge would not leave Xian Yuan City alive.

As they traveled, the spirit-familiars lost in the recent battles were replenished. However, there was still no sign of the white cat.

It wasn't until a day later that Ji Yan sent an urgent message, reporting that someone had spotted the white cat.

Lu Ye's spirits immediately lifted, and he swiftly led Ju Jia towards the reported location.

Over half an hour later, Lu Ye rendezvoused with a ghost cultivator. Guided by the ghost, they advanced cautiously. Upon reaching a corner, the ghost cultivator paused, peered around, then retracted his head and whispered, "It's right over there."

Lu Ye followed his gaze and, sure enough, saw the white cat. It was curled up on a rooftop, peacefully sleeping.

"Thank you for your trouble."

"Do you need my assistance?" the ghost cultivator inquired.

"No, I can handle the rest."

The ghost cultivator nodded, then quietly vanished from sight.

Lu Ye observed the white cat once more, ensuring it remained undisturbed before he began to set up his plan.

Moments later, a five-member team of Immortal Essence Guards passed beneath the rooftop where the white cat rested. The cat's tail twitched, but it remained unfazed.

Soon after, another team of Immortal Essence Guards, this one with six members, walked by.

The white cat raised its head, its feline eyes showing a faint hint of confusion, but nothing more.

As the third team of Immortal Essence Guards passed nearby, the white cat finally sensed something was amiss. It swiftly rose, glancing warily from side to side, then took light, agile steps, preparing to leave the area.

The Immortal Essence Guards who had just passed beneath it suddenly turned in unison, unleashing spiritual binding chains towards the cat.

"Meow!" The white cat cried out, its body darting with extreme agility, dodging the binding chains and sprinting forward on all fours.

However, it hadn't run far when whimpering cries emanated from ahead. The Pipa Girl had appeared there, accompanied by the Scholar. As the pipa music began, the Scholar brandished his brush in mid-air, unleashing large characters that hurtled towards the white cat.

From all sides, figures continued to materialize, completely encircling the cat, leaving no escape.

To capture the white cat, Lu Ye had deployed every available spirit-familiar, and even joined the fray himself. With the Wind-Walking Spirit Mark enhancing his speed, he moved with remarkable swiftness.

The white cat cried out louder, clearly sensing the danger, but its movements were incredibly agile. Even with over twenty Immortal Essence Guards launching a barrage of binding chains, they couldn't ensnare it.

It darted left and right, unable to break free. The encirclement formed by the spirit-familiars continuously tightened, making it seem as though the white cat had nowhere left to run.

Suddenly, however, it turned its body, targeting Ju Jia's position. The tiny cat transformed into a white streak, instantly appearing before him.

Ju Jia's large hand swiped at it, but grasped only air.

The white cat, just as before, leaped onto Ju Jia's head and perched there, turning to gaze at Lu Ye with a look of mischievous amusement in its eyes.

Enraged, Ju Jia slapped his own head. The white cat, however, had already leaped away, landing a short distance behind him, then strutted forward with slow, triumphant steps, leaving Ju Jia with a tilted head from his self-inflicted blow.

As it walked, it even looked back to glance at Lu Ye's grim expression.

Just as it reveled in its triumph, a sudden sense of danger arose. The white cat's fur bristled, it let out a sharp "meow," and then vanished. At the spot where it disappeared, the air distorted slightly, and a glimpse of a chaotic stone forest flickered into existence before fading away.

Lu Ye and Yi Yi simultaneously darted forward.

Yi Yi raised her hand, retrieving the Nine Realms Diagram that had been placed there beforehand. She channeled power into it and unfurled it towards Lu Ye. Lu Ye then motioned for Amber to recall the spirit-familiars before he and Amber plunged into the diagram.

The Nine Realms Diagram served as their final failsafe, and also a deliberate vulnerability Lu Ye had created. He had intentionally positioned Ju Jia there because a previous encounter suggested the white cat possessed high intelligence, making it likely to attempt a breakthrough in Ju Jia's direction if cornered.

What he hadn't anticipated, however, was that this safeguard would actually be needed.

He had initially believed that with so many spirit-familiars at his disposal, capturing the white cat would pose little difficulty.

Ju Jia walked over to Yi Yi's side but did not enter the diagram. He needed to remain outside to protect Yi Yi, as she couldn't afford to be distracted while maintaining the Nine Realms Diagram; any sudden danger might prove too much for her to handle alone.

Peering into the diagram, he saw numerous figures now moving within the chaotic stone forest landscape depicted on the Nine Realms Diagram. These figures constantly intersected and shifted within the miniature world, with patterns resembling spiritual binding chains occasionally appearing.

It was almost half an hour before Yi Yi finally shook the Nine Realms Diagram, and Lu Ye reappeared. His expression was grim, and several fresh scratch marks marred his face.

The white cat was clutched by its neck in his hand, motionless, its eyes wide and watery, as if it had endured immense suffering.

"Let's go," Lu Ye said, leading the way towards the woman in red's location.

It wasn't that the white cat didn't wish to escape; rather, each time it made a move, Lu Ye would send a surge of spiritual energy towards it. The sensation of being permeated by that scorching power was unbearable, and after several attempts, the white cat resigned itself to its fate.

Shortly after, they arrived at the small courtyard where the woman in red resided.

Lu Ye pushed open the door and immediately saw the figure in red gently swaying on a swing.

As Lu Ye stopped behind the woman in red, the white cat, which had been feigning lifelessness the entire journey, suddenly sprang to life, meowing incessantly and sounding incredibly aggrieved.

Lu Ye frowned. The white cat clearly held significant importance for the woman in red, and his recent treatment of it had been far from gentle. If she were to take offense at his actions, the situation could become precarious.

He tightened his grip slightly on the white cat, and its meowing instantly ceased.

"Did you find Tangyuan?" the woman in red asked.

Lu Ye presented the white cat he was holding.

"You can put it down now," the woman in red instructed.

Lu Ye complied. The white cat, instantly freed from his grasp, transformed into a white streak and darted outwards, clearly eager to escape again. However, a red silk ribbon shot out with lightning speed, instantly binding it.

Amidst the white cat's desperate struggles and frantic meows, it was reeled back directly to the woman in red.

Lu Ye watched with a private smirk, thinking, "Serves you right, little one!"

Once the white cat was retrieved, the woman in red placed it on her lap and gently stroked it. The cat, as if resigned to its fate, settled down and ceased its struggles.

The imagined scenario of the cat complaining to the woman in red and Lu Ye facing retaliation did not materialize.

"You both did very well," the woman in red stated again.

As her words faded, Lu Ye subtly felt an invisible restraint lift from him. He glanced at Ju Jia, who gave a slight nod, evidently having experienced the same sensation.

He wondered if Chu Qing and her group had also been freed from the woman in red's binding. If they hadn't, things were about to get interesting.

"If there's nothing further, we'll take our leave now."

After speaking, Lu Ye exchanged a knowing glance with Ju Jia, and the two turned swiftly to depart, moving with perfect understanding.

The woman in red, a powerful and unique spirit entity, could not be converted into a spirit-familiar. Moreover, having already caused a minor incident with her, Lu Ye dared not linger. He had no idea if she would task him with finding more "dumplings" or similar items, so it was best to leave quickly.