Chapter 252: The Arrival of the Little Kittens, A Fresh Start for the New Year

After chatting with Bai Yuanche for a while longer, Ning Fei finally hung up the phone.

Good lord. It wasn't until now that he realized his master was secretly a rich man.

He had over fifty million twenty years ago, and for twenty whole years, he hadn't spent a single penny of it.

If he had used that money earlier to buy property in Qincheng or even Jingdu, wouldn't he have made hundreds of millions by now?

However, he also knew the reason behind his master's ascetic cultivation. It was nothing more than an inability to sever his earthly ties and having made some mistakes.

Still, to be able to cultivate ascetically for twenty years, Ning Fei actually admired his master quite a bit.

Although he was very surprised by the news, it didn't affect his mood much.

While he had indeed been very poor as a child, his life had been equally fulfilling and happy.

At that moment, Ning Fei's mobile phone vibrated again. It was a text message from Bai Yuanche.

"Right, forgot to tell you. Back when I was wandering the world, I didn't have a place to stay, so I bought some real estate. I left you a courtyard house within the Second Ring Road of Jingdu City, and there's also a villa over in Hainan."

"I've sent you the addresses. Just come over to get the keys."

Seeing this message, dark lines appeared on Ning Fei's face.

Good lord, it turns out I'm a second-generation rich kid after all.

Ning Fei took a moment to calm himself down before continuing his live stream with the viewers.

He had chatted a lot with Bai Yuanche just now. With the Spring Festival approaching, Bai Yuanche had asked him to come find him in the Kunlun Mountains.

A disciple naturally had to visit their master for the New Year; it was the same principle as honoring one's elders.

It just so happened that Ning Fei had always wanted to visit the Kunlun Snowy Domain.

He spoke to the viewers, "In a few days, I might make a trip to the Kunlun Mountain Range. It's a good opportunity to experience the scenery of the snowy domain."

"The Ice Nether Flower I mentioned to everyone earlier—I might actually be able to find it in the Kunlun Snowy Domain."

A look of longing and fascination appeared on Ning Fei's face.

"Temple Master Ning is going to Kunlun?"

"My god, I've never even seen what a snowy domain looks like."

"I saw it in the movie The Climbers. Snow mountains are very dangerous."

"That's a movie, so of course it has to build a dangerous atmosphere. In reality, the snowy domains are beautiful."

"There must be beautiful scenery on the snow mountains that many people won't encounter in their entire lives."

"Definitely. Nature is far more magical than we can imagine."

Ning Fei stood up and walked into the Three Purities Hall. He first bowed to the statues of the Three Pure Ones, then went over to inspect a hidden compartment beneath the statues.

This hidden compartment was just a small drawer, but it was extremely well concealed. If one didn't know about it beforehand, it would be impossible to discover.

"Wow, this hidden compartment must have been here for years."

"I just wonder what the previous Temple Master hid inside it?"

Ning Fei opened the compartment. Inside lay a single bank card in total silence.

This bank card was brand new. It seemed it was one Bai Yuanche had specifically gone to open when Ning Fei returned after graduating from university.

"It would have been nice to know about this money a little earlier," Ning Fei chuckled helplessly.

"Could it be that Master wanted to test me, to see how I would make a living after solely inheriting a dilapidated Daoist temple? It's not like I could sell off those treasures."

In reality, Bai Yuanche had simply forgotten about the bank card when he left.

He believed in Ning Fei's abilities and figured the boy would do better than him no matter what.

It was only now, with the Spring Festival approaching, that he remembered he had saved some money for Ning Fei.

Ning Fei didn't feel much after getting the bank card, but he was quite happy to hear from his master.

That evening, the weather grew colder.

Ning Fei walked outside, glanced at the starry sky, and did a quick calculation in his head.

"It's going to snow."

It was already the end of November, and the weather was getting colder by the day.

Little Fox's nest had already been moved into the first-floor hall by Ning Fei.

The other little guys' pet houses were harder to move and relatively warm anyway, so they were left out in the courtyard.

That night, just as Ning Fei finished dinner and was cleaning up the kitchen, he suddenly heard Little falcon let out a rather sharp, piercing cry.

The sound carried a hint of warning.

"What's going on?"

Ning Fei quickly went out to check the situation.

The live stream hadn't been turned off yet, so many viewers were also paying close attention to the scene.

Ning Fei looked toward the top of the wall and saw Little falcon standing on it, looking down outside Qingfeng Temple and striking an aggressive posture.

Little falcon was the number one guard of Qingfeng Temple. For it to act this way meant it had naturally discovered something.

"What is Little falcon doing?"

"Is there something outside the Daoist temple?"

"In the middle of the night. What could it be?"

Everyone asked as they sent bullet comments.

Ning Fei walked out the front gates of Qingfeng Temple, rounded the courtyard wall, and looked in the direction Little falcon was facing.

Sure enough, on the ground was a robust black feral cat, its body pressed low in a similarly offensive stance, staring right back at Little falcon.

Clearly, the black cat felt a heavy threat from Little falcon.

"Sheriff?"

The viewers were endlessly surprised when they saw the black cat.

Across the entirety of Qinshan Village, the only feral cat that looked fiercer than a tiger or leopard was the Black Cat Sheriff.

Little falcon and the black cat had once gotten into a fight. However, Little falcon had been very young back then. Now that it had grown a bit, its imposing aura thoroughly crushed the black cat's.

Even though this black cat possessed a notorious reputation among the feral felines, it still wasn't enough to face a bird of prey like Little falcon.

Upon seeing Ning Fei appear, the black cat turned its head and let out a cry toward him.

"Meow!"

This meow didn't carry the slightest hint of aggression; instead, it sounded somewhat pleading and ingratiating.

Hearing the cry, Ning Fei was also quite confused.

"Sheriff has always been fierce and domineering. Why would she suddenly act so submissive toward me?"

"Could it be that she has something to ask of me?"

This black cat was also highly intelligent, or rather, its intelligence mostly manifested in its ferocity.

With Little falcon at Qingfeng Temple, the black cat had never dared to act too presumptuously.

For it to suddenly swagger right up to the front doors of Qingfeng Temple meant there had to be a reason behind this abnormal behavior.

Then, to Ning Fei's surprise, three little black kittens timidly ran out from the corner of Qingfeng Temple's wall.

The three kittens looked smaller than a teacup, and two of them stumbled and fell twice just walking that short distance.

A look of bewilderment washed over Ning Fei's face as he muttered, "Again?"

The viewers were also dumbfounded. What was the deal with these little black kittens?

"Black Cat Sheriff gave birth?"

"Sheriff was actually a female cat? And so fierce?"

"How can you tell if it's male or female?"

"I live in a mountain village, so I know. Cats aren't monogamous. Tomcats run off as soon as the deed is done, and a mother cat might not even know which tomcat she's pregnant by. Therefore, it's always the mother cat who raises the kittens."

"It's always the female cats that bring up the young."

"What does this black cat want to do? Imitate Da Huang and have Temple Master Ning raise its kids for it?"

"The animals on this mountain are way too smart. Could Temple Master Ning really be an immortal, and staying by his side lets them achieve immortality too?"

Ning Fei hadn't expected this situation either.

He could accept Da Huang entrusting Little Dog to him, because he had practically been half-raising Da Huang as a free-roaming pet anyway. But the black cat was different.

"Feral cats in mountain villages have an extremely high mortality rate during the winter,"

Looking at the black cat, Ning Fei explained to the viewers.

"Because the weather is quite cold and there's no source of food, it's very easy for feral cats to freeze or starve to death in the forest."

"And for newborn kittens like these, it's basically impossible to survive this kind of winter."

Ning Fei looked at the black cat.

For the first time, he realized this black cat was far smarter than he had imagined.

It was about to snow, and Qinshan was about to freeze over completely. Yet, it knew to come find him before that happened.

Those kittens were indeed adorable, and Ning Fei's compassion was stirred.

Right then, hearing the kittens' meows, Little Fox ran out.

When she saw the three little black kittens, her eyes immediately lit up. She stood by Ning Fei's feet and let out a series of soft yips.

Ning Fei could hear that Little Fox was begging him to take the three kittens in.

Little Fox's favorite toy was the Luo Xiaohei Plush Toy.

Those three teacup-sized kittens really did look a bit like the little black kittens that transformed from Luo Xiaohei's tail.

"This..."

Ning Fei smiled helplessly.

"Little Dog has recently started taking in lackeys."

"And now Little Fox has her own pets."

"It really is a fresh start for the new year."