Qingshan

Chapter 14 : Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Revenge

The cat spoke…

The cat actually spoke?!

This was probably the strangest thing I had encountered since arriving in this world.

In the clinic’s main hall, the lamplight flickered, casting shifting shadows on the black cat’s face. My expression mirrored the uncertainty.

I cautiously circled the clinic, checking the back courtyard for people and the dark street outside, then returned to the little black cat perched on the counter: “Just now, I mean, just now—were you talking?”

The cat stared motionlessly, silent.

But I was certain—it was this little black cat that spoke!

Could the cat-hiring ritual have triggered some mystical effect?

“Why aren’t you talking now?” I eyed the cat curiously. “Can you say something else? I need to confirm what’s going on.”

The cat, neck stiff, looked serious and made no sound.

I thought for a moment: “Say something, and I’ll save up to buy you buns.”

The cat: “…”

I tried: “I’ll buy dried fish.”

The cat: “…”

I took a deep breath: “Today, Consort Yun’s white cat must’ve beaten you pretty badly, huh?”

The cat stiffened its neck: “It didn’t get off easy either!”

I gave a half-smile. The cat shrank back instinctively.

I asked: “Why didn’t you speak earlier?”

The cat paused: “I didn’t expect I could suddenly talk.”

I laughed and groaned.

So, the cat had answered me in its mind, accidentally speaking aloud. All this time, it had been responding to me—I just couldn’t hear it.

I said: “In the hiring contract, I named you ‘Dark Cloud.’ Did you know?”

Dark Cloud scoffed: “Sounds awful!”

I changed the subject: “When did you gain sentience?”

I liked cats and knew about them. Most cats weren’t smart—often quite silly.

But Dark Cloud, even before speaking, clearly had sentience. It understood human speech and could respond—something many humans couldn’t manage.

Dark Cloud answered: “When did I gain sentience? I’ve always been like this.”

“Since birth?”

“Since birth.”

I pondered: “Can you open your mouth so I can see inside?”

Dark Cloud stepped back, its sharp claws extending slightly: “Why?”

I sighed: “Don’t be so stubborn. Let’s trust each other a bit!”

Dark Cloud thought: “…Fine.”

“Come to the lamp. Open your mouth… ah.”

Dark Cloud reluctantly opened its mouth: “Ah…”

I peered inside, muttering: “One, two, three, four… ten ridges?”

An ancient cat enthusiast’s guide once noted: When hiring a cat, check its mouth. The upper palate has shallow ridges. Two ridges mean a silly cat, eating and sleeping dumbly; nine ridges are ideal, human-like, adept at catching rats and guarding homes.

Nine ridges made the best cat, but Dark Cloud had ten.

By the oil-slag lamp, Dark Cloud, mouth open, growled: “Done yet?”

“All done,” I mused. Could ten ridges be what made Dark Cloud special?

“Tired,” Dark Cloud said, lying down naturally, its head resting warmly in my palm.

But it quickly reconsidered—how could noble me lie in someone’s hand?

Get up?

Nah, I’ll stay a bit longer.

“Wait, don’t sleep yet,” I said. “I haven’t given you the bead. Let’s see if it’ll repel you again. Get up and try.”

Dark Cloud sprang up, sleepiness gone: “I almost forgot I came for the bead… Give it to me, quick, quick, quick!”

I handed over the crystal bead. This time, it didn’t resist Dark Cloud.

The jet-black cat slurped it down and darted out through the door crack, leaving me stunned.

Just like that?!

Then, I felt a warm current from the direction Dark Cloud fled.

It was like magma from deep within the earth’s veins, hot and scalding, or an August downpour, vast and powerful.

It entered my body through my forehead, soothing my limbs and bones, settling slowly in my chest.

I stood, dazed. This was a power I’d never felt.

Unlike the icy current’s wild ferocity, this molten flow moved slowly.

And while I couldn’t control the icy current, this molten flow stirred slightly at my will.

When I guided it from my dantian through my blood, the areas it passed felt soothed, like soaking in a hot spring during the depths of winter.

In Qingshan Mental Hospital’s midnight, I’d thought my life held no more regrets.

I stopped planning, stopped dreaming of the future. Food’s taste, clothes’ look—none of it mattered much.

Now, I truly felt this mysterious new world, immersed in it.

And I was no longer alone—I had a cat.

…

…

In the night, Luocheng slept.

After the turmoil at Consort Jing’s Evening Star Courtyard, Prince Jing’s Mansion had returned to calm. The Prince had been absent for over ten days, reportedly due to escalating tensions with the Jing Dynasty. Their northern cavalry had reached Shanhai Pass, threatening the city.

Stationed in Luocheng, the hub of the southern Grand Canal, Prince Jing was procuring vast military supplies to send north via the canal.

Under moonlight, a small black cat moved silently along the eaves, its steps light. Surging power coursed through it. After swallowing the crystal bead, Dark Cloud’s muscles rapidly restructured and grew, gaining a full cat’s worth of strength!

As it leapt onto Jing’an Hall’s eaves, anyone looking up might’ve seen it overlap with the crescent moon, as if standing on its hook.

A mansion guard sensed something, turning sharply, his armor clinking. His hawk-like gaze scanned Jing’an Hall’s glazed roof, but nothing was there.

He hesitated, then climbed the eaves, gripping his halberd upside down, chasing the suspected direction.

The next moment, he leapt down, a massive shadow like a night owl, imposing.

He patrolled, then crouched, checking the ground for fresh prints by moonlight, finding nothing.

“Strange, am I imagining things?” The guard left slowly.

Long after, Dark Cloud, curled in a shadow-blended ball at the wall’s base, unfurled and continued deeper into the mansion.

It passed Mingzheng Hall, Evening Star Courtyard, evading patrolling guards and night watchmen, crossing mountains and thorns, arriving at Consort Yun’s Flying Cloud Courtyard.

Dark Cloud hooked its claws into a wooden pillar, climbing determinedly to the second-floor cloister. The window was open. It stealthily peered inside from the sill.

Inside, the white cat opened its eyes, staring straight at Dark Cloud!

Dark Cloud: “Pfft!”

It turned and fled.

The white lion cat leapt out the window, chasing Dark Cloud to the back garden. It was puzzled—this defeated foe… so cowardly yet so bold?

The white cat pursued through a rocky garden and a grassy patch, finally losing Dark Cloud’s trail at the mansion’s famous Flying White Pond.

The Flying White Pond, named for its calligraphic resemblance, had rocky outcrops in shallow water, with intermittent streams like dry brushstrokes, evoking a transcendent aesthetic.

The pond, Thunder-Listening Pavilion, and National Garden were beloved by Luocheng’s literati.

The white cat sniffed the air, stunned to find the scent came from behind!

In an instant, its fur bristled. Before it could turn, a black cat pounced, knocking it over.

The white cat couldn’t fathom how, in mere hours, this underdog had turned the tables, its small body now stronger than its own.

As they clashed, Dark Cloud seized an opening, pinning the white cat and pummeling its head with fisted paws, a ferocious barrage!

I didn’t know Dark Cloud’s pride was backed by skill. Its combat instincts surpassed its peers, with sharper battle intuition.

Even with equal strength, the white cat could only take the beating.

It whimpered for mercy, but Dark Cloud ignored it. How many beatings had it endured? Every time Consort Yun visited Evening Star Courtyard, it got thrashed.

Revenge was now!

Dark Cloud flipped the white cat, baring a claw and striking its groin with a fierce flick!

It let out a long breath, one paw on its old rival, gazing at the moon, brimming with triumph.

But it still wasn’t satisfied…

It sneaked back to Flying Cloud Courtyard, licking every pastry in the servants’ side room before leaving, content.

In the clinic’s main hall, I was reading when Dark Cloud strutted back elegantly. I asked curiously: “Where’d you go?”

Dark Cloud raised its head: “Triumphant return!”

I: “…”

Pretty proud, huh.

I closed the book: “Went to beat up that white cat?”

“Knows me well—gave it a fierce thrashing!” Dark Cloud’s head rose higher.

“Anyone spot you?”

“Nope.”

“Did you kill it?”

Dark Cloud hesitated: “…No.”

I looked disappointed.

Dark Cloud added quickly: “But I licked all the pastries in Flying Cloud Courtyard!”

I nodded: “That’s decent.”

“Heh heh heh.”

“Heh heh heh.”

As we spoke, rustling came from the back courtyard. I turned to see Liu Quxing, in a padded jacket, peeking into the hall: “Chen Ji, I heard you talking. Who’re you talking to?”

I paused: “Just talking to myself. What else did you hear, Brother Liu?”

Liu Quxing frowned: “Cat meows. Seems like a stray got into our courtyard. Did you see it?”

By then, Dark Cloud’s shadow was gone from the counter.