Chapter 60 - 22: Without Seeking Dao, One Cannot Know the Value of Merit [2nd Update]

After finally clearing up the misunderstanding with Geng Peng, Wang Qi hurried to the dining hall. Because of the delay at Geng Peng's, there were far fewer people in the dining hall. Wang Qi looked around and in the corner, he spotted the familiar orange hair. He got himself a dinner and carried his meal box over to Mao Zimiao. Mao Zimiao was sitting with another girl, who had long silver-grey hair and beast ears, and the two were playing a game of poking and prodding each other. To Wang Qi, it looked like... a waste of good beauty. Acting on the principle that nothing should go to waste, Wang Qi sat down opposite the two girls, "Yo! Ladies, can I join your game?" Mao Zimiao defensively covered her ears and hugged her little partner's head, "No way, meow! Can't let you touch!" The other girl struggled out of Mao Zimiao's embrace, "Are you Ahmiao's friend Wang Qi, fur real?" Half-demons, due to their nature, always have various speech quirks; Wang Qi was used to this and simply nodded, "Yep, I'm Wang Qi." "OMG, fur real! To meet you in the flesh!" Wang Qi was startled by the reaction, "Am I that famous?" The girl nodded, "It's rare to find a genius who could break through to the Heavenly Communication stage before even starting school! Even now, not everyone has reached the Qi Cultivation Stage, fur real! Ahmiao is already pretty amazing!" The beast-eared girl appeared to still be at the Heavenly Communication stage. "Oh right, I haven't asked your name yet." "Wang Zhenqi, fur real!" The girl seemed very happy, "According to Ahmiao, we're friends now, fur real!" This girl's getting a bit too familiar, isn't she? Wang Qi looked at Mao Zimiao in confusion. Mao Zimiao explained, "Qiqi's bloodline nature is like this." Hearing this, Wang Qi couldn't help but glance at Wang Zhenqi's ears. Mao Zimiao hurried to protect her friend's ears. Wang Zhenqi, with a sly glint in her eye, bypassed Mao Zimiao and leaned her head close to Wang Qi, "I heard you really like our ears, fur real?" There weren't many people in the dining hall, and it was relatively quiet. Wang Zhenqi's shout drew the eyes of many new disciples. Wang Qi felt their stares like needles on his back. Shit, what's with this "enemy of mankind" kind of glare? Wang Zhenqi continued, "My ears aren't as sensitive as Ahmiao's, fur real! How about I let you touch them as much as you want, fur real?" "Qiqi!" Mao Zimiao shrieked, glaring daggers at Wang Qi, as if she'd turn on him the moment he agreed. And the onlookers' stares intensified into a "Holy moly, there's a pervert here" kind of look. Wang Qi admitted he was slightly tempted at first. However, Mao Zimiao and the rest of the crowd's gaze made his sense of shame prick him. He coughed and quickly explained, "Cough, cough, I was just wondering what kind of half-demon you are, Zhenqi..." Wang Zhenqi looked somewhat disappointed, "Eh? No good, fur real? Does it have to be cat ears to be okay, fur real? Even though you did that with Ahmiao when you first met..." Dammit, explain yourself clearly, hey! I saw a few enforcers from the Discipline Office looking this way, hey! "That's why! I was just curious if you have dog ears or wolf ears, that's all!" "Dog ears, meow! Qiqi's ancestor was a Beiming Snow Dog King, who sided with the Modern Immortal Path during the Nine-Demon Chaos a thousand years ago, meow." Beiming Snow Dogs... why do I keep thinking of a certain adorable creature from Earth that looks fierce but survives by being cute... Wang Zhenqi was still oddly downcast, "I just wanted to thank you on behalf of Ahmiao, fur real... Ahmiao's too shy, so she can't do such things, fur real..." Mao Zimiao quickly covered Wang Zhenqi's mouth, "Qiqi!" Wang Qi found it unexpectedly, that cat-people and dog-people could actually get along so well! At that moment, Mao Zimiao glanced at Wang Qi and then turned her gaze elsewhere, "It's not what I meant, meow! This is all Qiqi's own speculation, meow!" Ha! You're actually a closet tsundere! After saying that, Mao Zimiao finally let go of... urgh, let go of Wang Zhenqi. The canine-eared girl said, "Really, I'm truly thankful for what you did at noon! If Amiao had rashly acted on impulse, not only would we half-demon disciples be in an awkward position, but Amiao's own dream of entering Spirit Beast Mountain at Tianling Ridge would have suffered a setback!" Wang Qi chuckled, "It's nothing. But speaking of which, I really do have something I want to ask you guys." Mao Zimiao pouted, "Xiao Qi would absolutely never think of us friends unless he needed something, meow!" Wang Qi said, "So, how exactly does one earn Immortal Alliance Points? Is there a way for me to quickly get a large sum of points?" Mao Zimiao and Wang Zhenqi looked at each other and exclaimed in unison, "Has your brain gone bad, meow?" "If there was such a good method, would we be doing a month of sweeping and miscellaneous work, huh?" Wang Qi sighed, "All right, all right... Do you have any points on hand? Could you lend me some?" Mao Zimiao hesitated for a moment, "How many do you need?" "Around a thousand." "Have you lost your mind, meow?" "Are you joking, huh?" The half-demon girl slammed the table and stood up, "Together, the two of us only have five points." Wang Qi sighed and explained, "Here's the thing, while I was meditating last night, a senior suddenly popped out of the void..." Both girls had "Are you freaking kidding me" written all over their faces. "Why doesn't anyone believe the truth these days... Anyway, a Carefree senior advised me to exchange for the books listed on this book list." Wang Zhenqi glanced at the book list and cried out, holding her forehead, "Oh my! I feel dizzy!" Wang Qi was astonished: Could it be that Senior Xi left magic on the paper that only I am meant to see? Mao Zimiao looked helplessly at Wang Zhenqi, "Qiqi, you really need to brush up on your math, you can't get dizzy every time you see a math book, meow." "We're both hopeless with numbers." Since the start of school, the two girls had been busy with their studies and hadn't paid much attention to this matter; they only knew from their elders' teachings that "Merit is very important." However, Wang Qi did get some information he wanted to know. To earn merit points, one had first to go to the office at the Immortal Alliance Main Temple or its branches and imprint one's breath into the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror Sub-Device. This breath would form a mark in the "Merit Records" of the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm. Once this procedure was done, any merits earned would be recorded by the Illusion Realm. So, you need to register to get points, huh! Wang Qi mocked. The two girls didn't know more details. So, he decided to ask some other more advanced cultivators after the evening class! Among the cultivators Wang Qi was on good terms with, the highest in cultivation were Xiang Qi and Su Junyu at the Foundation Establishment Stage. Su Junyu came from an influential family, and Xiang Qi always called him a filthy rich guy, so he probably never had to worry about such things. Therefore, it would be better to go ask Xiang Qi in the Artifact Refining Room later. —————————————————————————————————————— Here's the second update, your humble author continues to sell cuteness and rolls around begging for recommendations! For collections! For rewards!