Chapter 141: 141
Just as Jun Xiaomo was searching for her little packrat, her little packrat was also searching for Jun Xiaomo at the same time .
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Amidst the billowing, white fog, a small, white ball of fluff leapt about in the tall grass . Its small figure would disappear from sight from time to time .
Its body was simply too small . Its was only the size of a normal person’s fist . The vibrant wildflowers and tall grass greatly obstructed its short strides and its vision, and the poor little packrat had to spend threefold its usual time and effort just to cover the same distance .
Squeak squeak… It paused in its steps and glanced anxiously at its surroundings as it took whiffs from the surrounding flowers and grass .
Achoo! The small furball sneezed . Apart from inhaling a bunch of pollen and thick fragrance from the flowers around, its keen nose could not pick up anything else .
Squeak squeak… The little furball licked its own paws with chagrin, curled itself into a ball, and stopped moving entirely .
Where in the world is Xiaomo? The little packrat thought to itself in despair . They had only been separated for an hour, but it had already begun to miss Jun Xiaomo’s warm and fragrant embrace .
That’s right . The little packrat had always referred to Jun Xiaomo as “Xiaomo” in its heart . This is because it was not a little pet to begin with .
He had only ended up in this form because he had mistakenly ingested a plant that caused him to turn into his present form . The most tragic thing was that even he was uncertain what exactly he had ingested that caused him to become like this . As a result, there was simply no way he could go about looking for the cure . There was no place to start from .
When he had aroused from his slumber then, the first thing that he realized was that he had transformed from a human to a small spirit beast with tiny limbs . He almost fell apart there and then .
He had originally been the young master of a hidden sect, and he was one year older than Jun Xiaomo . He had run away from his sect in mischief . Then after spending all of his money, he discovered that he had no means of returning home .
Naturally, the young man possessed several life-saving treasures within his Interspatial Ring . He even possessed a huge stack of Transmittance Talismans which he could use to communicate with his clan members . There was no doubt that his clan members would immediately come looking for him if he had just reached out to them .
However, the rebellious young man simply refused to resort to these Transmittance Talismans . He simply found it too embarrassing and shameful!
When he had first slipped out of his sect, his sole intention was to prove to his parents that he was all grown up and capable . He had personally felt that he was sufficiently mature, and he possessed the ability to travel out of the sect and hold his own . Yet his overprotective parents had never been able to let go of him .
Therefore, he decided to sneak out .
Sometime later, after he had finished squandering all of the money he had, he found himself caught in a predicament – he was almost dazed from his stomach-wrenching hunger . In order to sustain his physical body, he picked out and consumed a harmless-looking red fruit . He had often seen this wild, red fruit being sold in the markets . They were sweet to the taste, and they could reasonably fill his tummy .
Unfortunately, he failed to consider the fact that there were several fruits in the world that looked similar to that harmless-looking red fruit . With his dumb luck, he had inadvertently consumed the Shapeshifting Fruit .
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If a spirit beast had consumed the Shapeshifting Fruit, their physical bodies would transform into the likeness of a human body . But if humans mistakenly consumed the Shapeshifting fruit… Then, just like this unlucky man, they would awaken from their slumber only to find that they had transformed into a spirit beast .
He…no, the correct term of reference was now “it” .
After it woke up to its new body, it puffed up the fur on its body as it anxiously darted about the woods . The relatively tall shrubs in the woods seemed even taller to the little packrat given its height . In fact, given the little packrat’s height, each shrub could even be described as a patch of tall woods to it right now .
An abject fear engulfed the little packrat .
He had initially thought that the effects of what he had consumed would wear off within a few days, and he would revert to his human form in no time . Yet one day passed, two days passed…On the third day, his body was still covered in fine fur and his limbs were still equally tiny . Those tiny paws of his did not even possess the strength to lift a large pebble .
He was at his wit’s end . There was no other choice but to reach out to his sect for help . His only hope was that his parents would not smack his butt when he returned home .
Unfortunately, his luck took a turn for the worse – after he had become a tiny little packrat, the demonic energy in its body seemed to have condensed and shrunk into a tiny corner . No matter how hard he tried, he had no way of extracting or moving even a shred of his demonic energy .
Without the ability to operate his demonic energy, there was simply no way of retrieving the items stored within his Interspatial Ring . In turn, this meant that there was no longer any avenue through which he could reach out to his sect .
In other words, he could no longer return home .
At this moment, a wave of despair washed over the little furball .
First things first, he knew that he had to eat something in order to sustain his body . But with its current appearances, how was he going to catch prey for food? It would already be a miracle if he could escape from the clutches from other large spirit beasts .
In fact, he did encounter a large spirit beast sometime later . But that spirit beast only glanced indifferently at the little furball before walking away .
It was as though that spirit beast resented the fact that the little furball was too small to fill its stomach, and the little packrat had so much hair that consuming it would simply be too troublesome . He might even end up hacking and coughing up a hairball afterwards .
The little packrat: ……
At that moment, the little packrat could no longer tell whether it was his fortune or his misfortune that he had turned into a little furball .
After darting about the woods for half a day, its efforts to locate other sources of food were in vain . Therefore, it slunk back to its original location and began to consume that small red fruit again .
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It was this dastardly red fruit that had caused him to turn into a furball to begin with .
On the third day, he finally encountered a passing traveler . He thought that there was finally hope for him to be saved . Therefore, he pranced forward and began to squeak at the traveler .
The traveler looked curiously at the little packrat, and then he picked it up .
Unfortunately, the little packrat’s misery continued . Its hope to return home was completely dashed when this traveler immediately brought him to a market to be sold to a pet shop .
“Just one look and you’ll know that this little packrat is incredibly spiritually aware . Sir, I hope you can give me a good price for it . ” The traveler boasted to the shop owner .
When the little packrat heard the contents of their conversation, its fur instantly ruffled up in anger . It leapt down from the table and tried to escape from the shop . Unfortunately, the shop owner’s quick reflexes meant that its attempt at escape were immediately foiled, as the owner immediately grabbed onto its tail .
“Does it understand what we’re talking about? It seems to be pretty smart . I’ll give you twenty mid-grade spirit stones for it . What do you say?” The shop owner offered .
“Twenty spirit stones are too few . I know the prevailing market rates . Even a normal packrat can fetch a price of fifteen to eighteen mid-grade spirit stones…”
The traveler had not had a good meal for a long time . His clothes were torn and tattered, and his only hope was to obtain a good price for this little packrat so that he could satiate his appetite .
Just as the traveler and the shop owner were negotiating for the right price, the little packrat could only continue to squeak incessantly . Yet its struggle in the shop owner’s arms was completely futile .
No matter how it resisted, it still got sold to the shop owner in the end . In the days to come, its fate could simply be described as an endless repetition of “sold-escaped-captured-sold-escaped-captured” .
On one occasion, the little packrat had even thought about writing words with its paws so that its present owners would bring him back home . Unfortunately, the only result of that was that its “value” had increased even more .
No one would ever believe that a normal looking packrat like it was in fact a young master of a hidden sect to begin with .
The discouraged little packrat: ……
The last person that had purchased the little packrat was Ke Xinwen . He had wanted to woo Yu Wanrou by giving her this cute, little furball as a birthday gift .
When the little furball was presented to Yu Wanrou, it was already extremely downcast . It had almost resigned to its fate of never returning home ever again .
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Yu Wanrou was pretty fond of the little packrat at the beginning . After all, how many young ladies were there who would be able to resist the charms of such an adorable little pet? But no matter how much she tried to tease and cajole the little packrat, it simply ignored her .
Thus, the malevolence within Yu Wanrou’s heart was triggered .
She brandished her long and sharp nails as she stabbed them straight into the little packrat’s back! The little packrat squeaked in pain and leapt to its feet as it attempted to scuttle away . Yet Yu Wanrou’s actions were quicker than its own, and she instantly stamped down onto the little packrat’s tail, preventing it from escaping .
Squeak, squeak, squeak… Fear struck the little packrat’s heart when it noticed the manic sadism flash across Yu Wanrou’s eyes .
That’s right . Not only had the little packrat’s squeal of pain failed to attract Yu Wanrou’s sympathy and affection, it had instead even incited the dark, sadistic intent buried deep within Yu Wanrou’s heart .
This was not the first time that the little packrat had been abused by its owner . Back then, the sadistic owner had prick it with a long needle and doused it in freezing cold water just to punish it for its “misbehavior” .
Over all the years since the packrat had been born to the time that he had left the hidden sect, all of his clan members had constantly pampered and showered the young master with their praise, love and affection . Yet within the last half a year, the little packrat had thoroughly experienced the cold, cruel human nature from the rest of the world .
The little packrat had even tried changing his approach . He attempted to show Yu Wanrou that it knew how to be obedient as well, so that he would not get punished any longer . But obviously Yu Wanrou had not punished him because of his disobedience . She had only done so in order to derive a sick and disgusting sense of pleasure .
In the end, the more obsequious the little packrat was, the harsher his punishment .
One day, the little packrat finally had enough . It erupted in fury and took a vicious swipe at Yu Wanrou before escaping from her clutches .
Ke Xinwen was completely kept in the dark from the fact that Yu Wanrou had been tormenting the little packrat . When Yu Wanrou came complaining to him in tears about how the little packrat had taken a swipe at her and run away, he had thought that the little packrat was simply being unruly and misbehaving . More importantly, he felt that the little packrat had disgraced his efforts to please Yu Wanrou . Therefore, Ke Xinwen set out to capture the little packrat again and teach it a harsh lesson before forcing it to apologize to Yu Wanrou .
It was at this time that the little packrat had finally encountered Jun Xiaomo .
The little packrat’s clan was a clan of demonic cultivators to begin with . Yet the little packrat had been so sheltered while he was growing up that even he was completely unaware how demonic cultivators were treated by the world out there .
Had he known all of this, he would have been much more cautious .
The little packrat did not know how exactly Jun Xiaomo was different from the rest, but it somehow felt that the aura emanating from Jun Xiaomo’s body made it feel a lot more comfortable . It was different from anyone else it had encountered thus far who had made his fur ruffle up just by drawing close to the little packrat .
Thus, the little packrat clutched so tightly onto Jun Xiaomo’s clothes when it first shot into Jun Xiaomo’s bosom . It was as though it were clutching to its lifeline .
Jun Xiaomo certainly did not disappoint it . When Ke Xinwen came rushing out of the woods furiously at Jun Xiaomo, she simply pointed him to a different direction, misdirecting him and thwarting his efforts to locate the little packrat .
Jun Xiaomo’s protection of the little packrat made it feel at ease . At the same time, the little packrat had grown sick and tired of running all the time . Therefore, it decided to stick by Jun Xiaomo’s side .
At the start, it was immensely displeased that Jun Xiaomo had treated it as her own little pet . It felt as though this were an affront to its personal pride . But as time went by, it gradually came to accept that it had become…a “pet” to this lady younger than itself .
It had slowly grown to enjoy how Jun Xiaomo would interact with it in a sweet and beautiful manner . It also loved her warm and gentle disposition . Every time Jun Xiaomo gently stroked its back, she would send a shuddering sensation straight into his heart .
It was thoroughly fond of Jun Xiaomo . As to exactly how fond it was – even the little packrat was unsure about this .
After observing Jun Xiaomo for a period of time, the little packrat had concluded that Jun Xiaomo was an extremely reasonable and compassionate person . It was almost certain that if it revealed the truth of its background to Jun Xiaomo, she might attempt to find a cure to turn him back into a human, or even attempt to reach out to its family on its behalf and help him return home safely .
Yet, despite being faced with an excellent opportunity with reasonable prospects of success, it found itself hesitating .
Suddenly, it realized that it was reluctant to leave its new “owner” .
And it was not simply reluctant . It was incredibly averse to the prospects of losing her . Otherwise, it would not have hesitated time and again, and continue to remain by Jun Xiaomo’s side as no more than her little “pet” .
Day after day went by like this, until the little packrat finally made its resolve . It had decided that once Jun Xiaomo had returned back to her sect from her present travels, it would finally bid Jun Xiaomo goodbye .
After all, it had already left its sect for far too long now, and its family members would certainly be incredibly worried for him .
But as fate would have it, its plans were thwarted by exigencies . Just when it was sound asleep in Jun Xiaomo’s bosom, it suddenly fell out of Jun Xiaomo’s clothes and onto the ground . Jun Xiaomo was gone, leaving only her little packrat and its bag behind .
Fortunately, it possessed thick fur, and the fields were lush . As such, it managed to recover from the fall unscathed .
The little packrat squirmed out from its bag with a full body of disheveled fur . It squeaked twice at the top of its voice, hoping to catch Jun Xiaomo’s attention . But in the next moment, when it finally managed to take in its surroundings, it was completely dumbfounded –
Its surroundings were completely white . Apart from the base of the wildflowers and grass, it could hardly spot anything else in its surroundings .
Where’s Xiaomo?
The little packrat grew exasperated .