Chapter 298.1: All Trash, Throw It Away
After uploading the video, Zero-One stepped out and seated itself upright on the sofa in the hall. Then, it entered sleep mode.
Not far away, Xie Xinsu stole a glance at it, her mind easing slightly.
Before a robot, she made no effort to conceal her peculiarities, such as sitting cross-legged to cultivate. The foolish robots wouldn't understand anyway. Even if they saw it, what were they going to do? Record it?
The spiritual qi here is so dense, there must be an ancient treasure nearby!
Her pink nose twitched as she tried to trace the source of the spiritual qi.
Once they fall asleep, I must search for it. Such an unclaimed treasure has to be a heaven-sent opportunity!
Xie Xinsu was thrilled. Did she finally transform misfortune into fortune? After enduring so much hardship, it was only right that some good luck came her way.
She resumed her meditation. Yet despite the richness of the spiritual qi, her progress was painfully slow. She soon realized the problem.
A cat body just isn't suited for the cultivation technique I practiced before...
Her technique was of the Grand Path meant for human cultivators. She had never mastered any technique designed for beasts. Now, cultivating feels awkward.
Doesn't matter. I'll just keep going. As long as nothing goes wrong, I'll continue!
All cultivation techniques ultimately led to the Great Dao. Minor issues could be ignored.
***
By nighttime, the entire Junan Residential Complex was lit only by a few dim orange street lamps. It appeared unusally quiet and subdued. From outer space, Arch Star resembled a vast sphere shrouded in mist. Within that mist, two contrasting currents of fog intertwined, threatening to devour one another.
Zero-One, who had been feigning sleep, suddenly opened its eyes. It couldn't truly rest after uploading the video. From time to time, it checked for new comments. Opening the video again, it noticed the red notification dot and tapped in.
A cat cooking and even meditating, such interesting content would easily go viral. As expected, within a few hours, there were already hundreds of comments.
└Can I come over and watch the cat cook?
└I sent this video to my goddess and invited her to watch it with me.
└It's 4 a.m. and I've got work in three hours.
└Can some expert confirm whether this video real or edited? How can a cat cook? And what's with the meditation?
└Everyone knows videos can't be phoetoshopped, so it must be real.
└Cats are smart, sometimes smarter than humans. So it's normal for them to know how to cook!
└???
The comments varied wildly, but most were about the cat's cuteness and intelligence. Some, of course, insisted the video was fake. After all, the idea of a cat cooking was simply too absurd. Cats were still cats. It was already impressive if they could understand human commands, let alone cook.
As Zero-One read through the comments, a faint ripple stirred within its otherwise calm electronic heart. It left a pinned comment.
└Zero-One: This video is genuine. No editing has been done.
Watching its follower count rise by the hundreds, the robot felt a strange sense of satisfaction. It glanced at Xie Xinsu, who had already fallen asleep, and began pondering what to film tomorrow.
A few days later, Xie Xinsu lay sprawled weakly on the sofa, feeling deeply wronged.
This robot is no human! It has been tormenting me for days.
Cooking demonstrations were still tolerable, but then the robot made her perform with nunchucks! With her frail little figure, she couldn't even grip them properly, resulting in clumsy and embarrassing performances.
The robot never gets tired of this. I feel like a circus animal...
Especially when Zero-One flaunted the video's view count in front of her, she had the urge to comment, "Conflict of interest. Oppose animal performances!" Unfortunately, she didn't even have a phone.
Lying there, she felt her life was bleak and miserable. Still, when she thought about cultivation, she forced herself to pull it together.
Once I succeed in my cultivation, I swear I'll film that robot cooking, playing nunchaku, and taking baths!
With that thought, she steeled herself and resumed cultivation.
Mm... The spiritual qi is even denser now. That ancient treasure smells so good.
She appeared utterly dazed and entranced, like a white cat nibbling sweet corn.
Originally, she had planned to sneak in and steal the treasure while Qi Yuan was away, but she never got the chance. That damned robot kept watching her, forcing her to film videos. She hadn't even stepped into Qi Yuan's room once.
***
At that moment, inside the room, Qi Yuan opened his eyes with a faint smile. "Finally, I am at the Foundation Establishment realm. I don't have to fear flying anymore."
After more than a month in this world, he had finally stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm. It was far more simple than his Heavenly Dao class. All he had to do was instruct Kuang Huan to gather mutated sea monsters, then refine them into spirit items to complete the breakthrough.
With this advancement, his strength surged. Even if something went wrong mid-flight, he could now fall from the sky without fear of death.
"What a pity. This curse is still too powerful. Even at this realm, I've only gained a few extra years of lifespan. It is not enough to break the curse."
The curse was simply too terrifying. He had a premonition that unless he reached the Yin Spirit realm, it would remain unsolved. That was absurdly harsh!
His mind involuntarily recalled the image of that featherless bird. It had to be very highly ranked. Otherwise, how could a single glimpse of it curse a mere mortal to die within a year?
Qi Yuan mused to himself. "But now, if I enter the Martial Arts Tournament, I should be able to sweep through it effortlessly."
The curse had long suppressed his strength. But now, as a solid Foundation Establishment cultivator, his Martial Dao had advanced at an astonishing speed. Not only had he reached the tenth stage of the Mingwu Resonance Fist, he was also confident he could reach the twelfth before the tournament and break through to the martial peak.
He looked forward to what lay beyond the martial peak.
