LAVW – Chapter 3 Aotian

Using an earth escape technique, Shi Qian quickly descended the mountain and stopped.

First, he carefully rolled up the cloth, afraid that the wind might blow it around and wrap him up like a dumpling.

The cloth was about four times the size of Shi Qian, making it a dangerous item for him. However, for Mouse Mom, the cloth seemed a bit small. Who knows where she got it—it looked more like something belonging to a human cultivator.

After rolling it up, Shi Qian stretched out his tiny paws and tucked it into the fur between his chest and neck, where it slid into a storage necklace hidden beneath his fur.

Shi Qian’s storage necklace was tiny on the outside—half the size of a grain of rice. Mouse Mom had likely found it specifically for him. The fit was perfect, which Shi Qian thought was no small feat.

Due to its compact size, the internal space of the necklace wasn’t very large—one cubic meter in total. Inside were his travel essentials: some specialty nuts from Wuye Mountain, two plump pigeons prepared by his older mouse brother, and several bottles of pills that were exceptionally rare and precious for demon beasts.

The pills had been dug up by Mouse Mom this morning. Shi Qian suspected they were like the candies grandmas save during hard times—some of them might already be expired.

Meanwhile, back on Wuye Mountain.

Mouse Mom, with a fierce expression, was hammering her fists against a male mouse’s chest, making loud thudding sounds.

“Squeak, squeak!”

“Why were you in such a rush?!”

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

“We’re mice, you fool!”

“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”

“Forget it. Why am I even talking to you…”

The knowledgeable Giant Rat King decided not to argue with the younger mouse. Pinning the male mouse down, they started wrestling like demons.

Far away on another mountain.

Inside an unknown cave, Hei Mao, who had been knocked out and thrown out by his mother, slowly regained consciousness.

“Squeak? Squeak?”

“Brother? Mom? Are you there?”

“Squeak, squeak, squeak?!”

“Where am I?!”

The only response in the cave was the echo of his squeaks. The unfamiliar scents everywhere made Hei Mao uneasy—there was no trace of his brother or his mother. He felt utterly out of place.

Hei Mao rushed to the cave entrance and pushed aside the barrier. Staring at the completely unfamiliar surroundings outside, his eyes widened in shock.

This wasn’t his home, Wuye Mountain.

Standing on his hind legs, Hei Mao held his aching head and let out a pained howl:  “Squeak——!”

After venting, Hei Mao began to recall the events.

Last night, he’d been hit on the head twice. The first hit woke him up, and he thought he saw his mother. The second hit knocked him out completely.

But why would Mom knock him out and throw him out?

Now, Hei Mao finally pieced together the truth from the strange happenings of late—Mom had been planning to kick him and his brother out of the mountain all along!

No wonder his brother had been unusually kind to him yesterday…

Thinking about how his brother would also be cast out, Hei Mao couldn’t help but worry.

Heartbroken, he sought out a demon beast to fight and then devoured it.

He had to become stronger—so that when he found his brother, he could protect him!

Mom was unreliable.

Only Hei Mao could be the most steadfast support for his weak little brother.

Shi Qian had no idea that in his brother’s eyes, there were only two words to describe him—weak and small.

Ten days later, however, he deeply understood the meaning of those two words—at the cost of his own little life.

“Keh keh keh, my little sweetheart, what are you searching for? That treasure belongs to me. Be a good little helper and help me find it.”

A cold, withered hand brushed over the plump and adorable head of the chinchilla-like Shi Qian.

Curling his neck timidly, Shi Qian thought angrily to himself: To hell with your ‘sweetheart’ and ‘treasure’!

It was a truly unlucky day.

After running himself tired using his escape technique, Shi Qian decided to stop for some food to fill his empty stomach. He unexpectedly caught the scent of a treasure in the air.

Unable to resist the temptation and his curiosity, he followed the direction of the scent. But halfway there, he had the misfortune of falling into the clutches of a demonic cultivator.

In this world of cultivation, the ranking of cultivation levels was as follows: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, and Tribulation. Beyond that, those who survived lightning tribulations could ascend.

The demonic cultivator threatening Shi Qian was at least at the Core Formation stage, an entire realm higher than Shi Qian, who was only in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.

He couldn’t fight back, and he couldn’t run away.

Luckily, treasure-seeking mice were considered rare spirit beasts in the cultivation world. They were incredibly helpful to cultivators in the early stages of their journey. That was the only reason Shi Qian became a tool instead of becoming a meal.

When faced with the demon’s “killer” move—a very literal head-pat—Shi Qian squeaked in submission. He raised his tiny pink paw and pointed in the direction where he had sensed the treasure.

The demonic cultivator, who called himself Blood Sea, followed the direction indicated by the treasure-seeking mouse. In a voice as unpleasant as a screeching crow, he issued another threat.

“Sweetheart, are you sure it’s this direction? You’d better not be wrong.”

As he spoke, his cold hand once again stroked roughly over Shi Qian’s almost nonexistent neck.

Shi Qian nodded frantically: “Squeak!”

Only then did Blood Sea withdraw his hand. Using his spiritual energy, he performed a ground-shrinking technique, quickly approaching a mountain ridge surrounded by faint spiritual energy.

When they arrived at the base of the mountain, the cultivator’s sixth sense vaguely detected an air of mystery hidden within the terrain.

Blood Sea was delighted and stepped into the mountain.

However, after walking barely a dozen steps in the direction where Shi Qian had detected the treasure’s scent, a rain of poisoned needles came flying like a celestial maiden scattering flowers.

“Who dares to ambush me, Blood Sea!” he roared, summoning his magical artifact to shield himself. His heart swelled with certainty—there must indeed be a treasure in the mountain. Why else would powerful foes emerge to fight over it?

But before the triumphant smile fully settled on his face, an unnoticed hidden weapon from another angle struck him squarely in the temple. Blood Sea’s soul was shattered instantly.

Shi Qian raised his little head to see Blood Sea, a faint remnant of his smile still lingering on his face, as blood trickled endlessly from his temple. Slowly, the demonic cultivator collapsed.

It was Shi Qian’s first time witnessing such a brutal scene. His instincts kicked in, and he curled into a ball, motionless, nestled in the dead demonic cultivator’s hand.

Sensing another powerful presence approaching, Shi Qian silently prayed: You can’t see me, you can’t see me…

But the newcomer didn’t miss a thing. After looting Blood Sea’s storage pouch, the figure deftly picked up Shi Qian by his fluffy tail.

From behind him came a chilling female voice: “Little creature, what are you hiding for? Hurry up and show me where the treasure is.”

Little… little… little?

If my Mouse Mom or Mouse Bro were here, would you dare touch me like this?

Shi Qian desperately wanted to puff up into a giant chinchilla and pummel these demonic cultivators with a flurry of fists. But he couldn’t. Instead, he decided to play along and act sensibly.

His ears twitched, and then, with an impressive acrobatic move, the round little chinchilla did a hanging leg raise to lift his head.

Shi Qian found himself staring at a face that seemed to harbor countless venomous beasts beneath its skin.

First observation: this was a man.

Even with the distortion, it was faintly evident that this strange man had once been quite handsome. But no matter how fine his features had been, they were now utterly ruined by the writhing, clawing venomous creatures under his skin. The grotesque sight stirred nothing but fear.

To make matters worse, this terrifying man spoke with an eerie, high-pitched woman’s voice.

Let’s underline another key point—this was clearly another demonic cultivator.

Faced with yet another demonic cultivator at least at the Golden Core stage, Shi Qian had no chance of winning or escaping.

He simply closed his eyes, and without waiting for instructions, wrinkled his nose and got to work.

However, this time, the scent of the treasure came from the complete opposite direction, and it seemed to be quite far away.

Shi Qian sniffed carefully three times, somewhat bewildered, before pointing toward the opposite direction leading out of the mountain.

The demonic cultivator with the man’s face and woman’s voice furrowed his brows, his expression growing darker.

He found it odd—before ambushing Blood Sea, he had clearly overheard that the treasure was within this mountain. How could the direction have changed?

His worsening mood was mirrored by the venomous creatures writhing beneath his skin, making him look even more eerie and menacing.

Shi Qian felt a bad omen, quickly raised his front paw, and angrily pointed at the fallen Blood Sea. “Squeak squeak squeak!”

His indignant expression drained every ounce of acting talent he possessed.

The demonic cultivator eyed Shi Qian’s exaggerated performance, glanced into the depths of the forest, and retrieved a compass-like glowing artifact. Inserting a mid-grade spirit stone, he activated it.

The compass’s needle spun rapidly before settling—its direction matched the one Shi Qian had pointed out.

Seeing this, the demonic cultivator flashed Shi Qian a sinister smile that sent chills down his spine. “Little thing, so you know how to lie, huh? One look at you, and it’s obvious you’re not a good creature.”

Too exhausted to maintain his dramatic pose, Shi Qian flopped back down after completing his navigation task, ignoring the demonic cultivator entirely.

The cultivator carried the treasure-hunting mouse, carefully concealing their presence as they stealthily left, taking more precautions than Blood Sea had.

As they departed, Shi Qian’s gaze happened to land on Blood Sea’s lifeless body.

Who would’ve thought that the demonic cultivator lying there had been so elated moments ago, believing he was about to find the treasure?

As a simple worker in his past life, Shi Qian had never understood why people in the cultivation world were so obsessed with fighting, striving, and ascending. Why couldn’t they just enjoy life like a happy, laid-back salted fish? Living long should already feel like winning, no matter how you look at it.

But now he understood. Perhaps what cultivators in this world truly pursued wasn’t just ascension or power but a deeper sense of freedom and peace.

Here, killing is legal.

Shi Qian’s brief moment of reflection quickly faded—after all, the one who had just died was no good person to begin with.

Covered in a sinister aura and calling himself “Blood Sea,” it was clear at a glance he was far from decent.

Now with his new demonic cultivator captor, Shi Qian turned his attention to something serious: the compass-like artifact the cultivator carried, which seemed capable of locating treasures.

Thankfully, the compass pointed in the same direction as the scent Shi Qian detected. Otherwise, things could have gone badly.

But one thing still puzzled him: why had the treasure’s location changed?

Even if a new treasure had appeared, the original one should have remained. How could the treasure in the mountain suddenly lose its scent?

Could it be that someone else had taken the old treasure and concealed its aura just as the new one emerged?

Shi Qian couldn’t figure it out, but something about it felt off.

He had no freedom to investigate, though. He was just a pitiful little chinchilla being dragged along.

In the cultivation world, people traveled using spells.

Shi Qian felt they crossed a small town along the way—he faintly heard bustling voices and street vendors shouting. Shortly after, they encountered a woodcutter who, startled by the demonic cultivator’s wind-like speed, mistook him for a ghost.

By dusk, they reached the area where Shi Qian had detected the new treasure’s scent.

The mountains before them were ordinary, with barely any surrounding spiritual energy. Yet their peaks were towering and majestic, piercing into the clouds.

As they entered the mountain pass, Shi Qian faintly heard the sound of thunder.

Upon traveling further, they discovered the sound came from a magnificent, roaring waterfall.

The water curtain cascaded from the mountaintop, so high it seemed to touch the sky, like a celestial river flowing down from the heavens. The water split the jagged peaks, plunging downward with thunderous force.

Standing in the demonic cultivator’s hand, Shi Qian tilted his head back to take in the breathtaking sight of this “thousand-foot waterfall.”

Even more astonishing was that the center of the waterfall was slowly splitting apart, revealing a steady stream of spiritual energy gushing from within. The surrounding environment grew vibrant and lush, filled with life.

The dense spiritual energy formed mist, obscuring the waterfall’s central fissure, adding a layer of mystery.

Shi Qian relaxed—this phenomenon clearly indicated the presence of a treasure.

His treasure-hunting abilities were functioning perfectly after all.

As a treasure-seeking mouse, failing to locate treasures would be absurd. The earlier mishap must have been an anomaly.

It wasn’t paranoia driving Shi Qian’s caution—it was the ruthless rules of the cultivation world. Many spirit beasts were treated as enemies of human cultivators. Useful ones like him were exploited; the useless ones were eaten or turned into medicine to aid cultivation.

Until his strength grew, his treasure-hunting ability was his lifeline.

For instance, if the demonic cultivator discovered Shi Qian was useless, he might not even know how he died.

Shi Qian had no intention of experiencing what it felt like to be eaten.

To the demonic cultivator, this discovery was a huge surprise.

Such a remote place contained a treasure trove—just the leaking spiritual energy alone was proof of its extraordinary nature!

The demonic cultivator quickly prepared, testing the fissure in the waterfall before flying inside.

Shi Qian was stuffed into the cultivator’s clothing. Spirit beasts like him couldn’t be stored in ordinary spatial artifacts. Without a special, expensive beast storage bag, he could only be carried like a trinket.

Peeking out stubbornly, Shi Qian gained a perfect view of the treasure.

Behind the waterfall was a spacious stone cavern.

The ceiling of the cave was adorned with stalactites formed from condensed spiritual energy, glowing in various colors and illuminating the space with resplendent light.

Ahead stretched a dim stone path, leading into the dark unknown.

The demonic cultivator first sealed the opening leaking spiritual energy to keep others from discovering the hidden treasure. Then, releasing two puppets for safety, he grabbed Shi Qian by the neck and lifted him up.

“The treasure is in there? Is it dangerous?”

Once inside the cave, Shi Qian sniffed—everything was fragrant. The strongest scent undoubtedly led deeper along the stone path.

But whether there was danger, Shi Qian had no way of knowing.

He stretched out his tiny paw, pointed at the pitch-black road ahead, then retracted his limbs and made a motion as if he was going to burrow back into the demonic cultivator’s clothes.

Who cares if there’s danger? He’d hide first, then figure it out.

“Cowardly as a mouse,” the demonic cultivator sneered in disdain.

Shi Qian: ?

“Squeak.”

Exactly as cowardly as a mouse.

Hearing the squeak, the venomous beasts and wandering spirits around the demonic cultivator hesitated for a moment.

Although cowardly, this little thing was a mouse, after all.

The demonic cultivator, possibly annoyed, shoved the treasure-hunting mouse back into his robes, then grabbed two small animals attracted by the spiritual energy to test the path ahead with living creatures.

Shi Qian no longer focused on the treasure hunting happening on-site.

As they continued forward, he felt increasingly uneasy. That face from the blood sea, frozen in eternal torment, kept flashing through his mind. How tragic.

Then Shi Qian mentally went over everything that had happened so far and discovered an absurd pattern.

Out of curiosity, he led himself to the hands of the blood sea.

Then, by leading the blood sea to treasure, he got the blood sea killed.

And now, this demonic cultivator was also venturing into treasure hunting.

If this demonic cultivator also ends up dead, would he still be considered a normal treasure-hunting mouse? Wouldn’t he just be… a death-seeking mouse?

Shi Qian was feeling numb. His mouse life seemed utterly hopeless.

But 1958 was already dormant, and contacting them was useless. Shi Qian had long known how imaginative the Animal Division could be, and the bureau’s thorough notifications had made it clear that certain quirks of the new division were beyond control.

Then a thought struck him: while his treasure-hunting power might not be useful for others, it could work for himself!

If the demonic cultivator didn’t die, how could he escape?

If his guess was correct, he only needed to stay far away before the demonic cultivator died.

If, on the other hand, his guess was wrong and there was nothing wrong with his treasure-hunting power, and the demonic cultivator wouldn’t die, then he’d just cling to his cowardly little mouse identity and keep surviving.

As The Great Learning says, “Renew yourself daily. Renew, and renew again.” If he kept surviving, he’d surely live to see every tomorrow.

Having made up his mind, Shi Qian kept paying close attention to the fragrance he could smell.

These details, later on, could serve as valuable experience.

For example, how fragrant something was could indicate what kind of treasure had been found—or perhaps, how big of a disaster it was courting.

When the fragrance became so thick that it felt almost “tangible” to Shi Qian, his fur stood on end.

Shi Qian had no doubt his instincts were screaming at him: continuing further would mean certain death!

Previously, when he caught a whiff of the fragrance, he couldn’t quite distinguish the danger, as it tempted him. But when he got dangerously close to his limit, his innate talent directly signaled him, demonstrating the extraordinary abilities of a beast.

Shi Qian gathered all his spiritual energy and, in an instant, burst away from the demonic cultivator, bolting madly back along the path they’d come.

The demonic cultivator, lost in ecstatic delight, was stunned. Before him was an opportunity that any cultivator would go mad over—the entrance to a secret inheritance realm.

The thick spiritual energy wafting from it was just a sliver of what the secret realm contained. Who knew how many treasures lay within?

Moreover, this secret realm was unheard of—how long had it existed, isolated from the world?

Hundreds of years? Thousands? Tens of thousands? If it had been around for ages, even the spiritual herbs growing inside would make anyone salivate, not to mention the other treasures it might hold.

The demonic cultivator’s eyes glowed red, completely abandoning his initial caution.

The cowardly treasure-hunting mouse had fled? It must have been trying to escape on purpose.

“Perfect timing,” the demonic cultivator muttered, unwilling to leave the secret realm for even a second.

Though he’d sealed the spiritual energy’s exit, he hadn’t done a thorough job. What if someone else arrived after him?

Instead, it was better to enter the secret realm immediately and find a way to control it. Then the secret realm would be his alone.

Such tales were common in the cultivation world. Many secret realms were originally created to train disciples or provide cultivation resources.

Simply put, the sooner you discover it, the sooner you get rich.

The demonic cultivator glanced back at the dark, unlit path they’d come from, but ahead lay a heavenly opportunity, like divine light descending to bathe him in brilliance.

Unable to resist any longer, he cautiously tested the entrance before eagerly stepping into the secret realm.

Not long after, a thunderous boom resounded. The earth and sky seemed to tremble as the entire majestic mountain shook violently.

Shi Qian, still fleeing, felt as if the mountain was about to collapse. In such a short time, there was no way the demonic cultivator could have done anything elaborate. Besides, someone as cautious as him wouldn’t want to cause such a commotion.

A commotion of this scale likely meant the demonic cultivator had also been sent packing by his treasure-hunting guidance.

Shi Qian didn’t have time to dwell on it; he fled with all his might.

Just as he reached the stone cave and was about to leap through the waterfall, a heavy object struck him in a gust of wind.

Thankfully, his quick thinking saved him. In an instant, his paws clawed downward, burrowing into the ground to narrowly avoid being flattened into a pancake.

The earth continued to tremble as Shi Qian emerged from the ground using his earth-burrowing technique.

Just as he prepared to resume his escape, he saw the heavy object that had hit him. It was none other than the now-dead demonic cultivator.

The man lay on his back, his face and body bloodied beyond recognition. Only one hand remained intact, gripping a token tightly. Poisonous beasts crawled out of his corpse.

With one paw, Shi Qian snatched the token. With the other, he grabbed the demonic cultivator’s storage bag and stuffed it into the tiny bead on his storage necklace. Then, he leapt through the nearby waterfall.

Behind him, half the mountain had collapsed, sending countless boulders tumbling down in an avalanche.

Shi Qian was swallowed by the rushing water.

His immediate thought: This waterfall is intense!

Using his water-burrowing technique, Shi Qian dove deep into the lake beneath the waterfall, his little head still buzzing.

Moments after he hid his aura in the lake, waves of golden core cultivator auras began to appear.

With such a massive commotion—the collapse of half a magnificent mountain and the revelation of a radiant secret realm—it was impossible not to attract attention.

While others were busy surrounding the secret realm and plotting their treasure hunts, Shi Qian—having recognized himself as a fake treasure-hunting mouse—bit onto the tail of an old turtle. Riding the current of a river connected to the lake, he successfully made his escape.

Even when the old turtle farted midway, Shi Qian endured it—after all, he was the one who bit its tail first.

“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey—”

Shi Qian released the turtle’s tail, crawled out of the water, and spat out the water in his mouth.

Once again, he was hit with the feeling of full-body soreness and discomfort, just like the day he first transmigrated.

This was the price of his desperate escape, but it was worth it.

Still, it hurt.

Shi Qian scanned his surroundings and found a large tree with a hollow trunk. He “purchased” someone’s home for zero dollars and flopped down inside, exhausted.

After his near-death experience, despite his physical discomfort, Shi Qian didn’t feel particularly sleepy. Instead, he was oddly energized, his mind replaying today’s series of dangerous events.

In one go, he’d managed to get two powerful demonic cultivators killed—both of whom were far more advanced in cultivation than him. And then there was that half-collapsed mountain. The sight had profoundly shocked his modern soul.

The cultivation world was truly a tough place to survive.

As he lay there, shaped like a squashed, round, white fluffball, Shi Qian suddenly remembered his mission target: Long Aotian.

Given his current useless state in this perilous cultivation world, how was he supposed to find a poop-scooper, let alone a high-quality one by Long Aotian’s side?

Without a poop-scooper, how was he supposed to muddle through life—or complete his mission?!

“Squeak—”

“This is so hard for me!”

Shi Qian sighed softly, only to suddenly hear the faint sounds of human voices nearby.

This time, Shi Qian didn’t rely on other methods to sense auras. Instead, he cleverly twitched his nose.

Good. No alluring fragrance.

He wouldn’t die.

Shi Qian lay back down, preparing to pull up the map in his consciousness to check how far he was from his mission target after today’s harrowing ordeal.

No matter how hard it was, a mission was still a mission.

At the very least, he needed to meet Aotian and do his part for this soon-to-be-doomed world. Truly, he was worthy of being a ten-lifetimes-over good guy.

At that moment, a group of teenage boys dressed in simple short clothes was approaching the tree where Shi Qian was hiding.

They chatted as they walked, occasionally glancing in the direction of the waterfall.

“I just saw a dazzling beam of light shoot up from Nine Heavens Peak’s waterfall! Several patriarchs immediately flew over from the city!”

“I saw it too! I wanted to go over, but someone stopped me. Even if treasures appeared, they’d just get divided among the patriarchs who got there first.”

“This river is connected to the waterfall. Heh, do you think we can get there through the river?”

“Don’t go looking for death! With such intense tremors, us lowly Qi Refining cultivators would be marching straight to our graves.”

The boys seemed to be around sixteen or seventeen years old, each carrying a medicine basket on their backs. Judging by their simple attire, they came from modest families and were here to gather herbs.

Among them, a lean, tall boy trailing at the back of the group hadn’t spoken a word.

His frequent glances toward Nine Heavens Peak betrayed the same longing that burned in the others’ hearts, though he kept quiet.

This boy, Long Ye, was rational.

Having lost his mother as a child and his father three years ago, coupled with his naturally poor aptitude for cultivation, his life had been an unending series of hardships, compounding one upon another. These experiences had made him far more mature than his peers.

Even though he wondered whether Nine Heavens Peak might hold treasures capable of improving his cultivation talent, Long Ye made no rash moves.

Yet, without realizing it, his constant glances back had caused him to fall behind the group.

As the teenagers passed under the tree, Shi Qian, nestled inside the hollow, noticed that the protagonist Aotian was now practically overlapping with his own position on the map. His little brain buzzed.

What had originally been at least a five-day journey—was it already over just like that?

[The demonic cultivator gave me a ride?]

[And Aotian is right here by my side?]

Shi Qian glanced at the map again, then poked his fluffy, handsome ears out of the tree hollow, followed by his adorably round face.

Perfect. He immediately recognized which one was the protagonist.

The slender, black-haired boy with a clean-cut look, trailing behind a group of chatty teenagers.

As everyone knows, besides showing off and slapping faces, Long Aotian has another characteristic: Heaven-defying luck.

Like elementary schoolers causing trouble wherever they go, Long Aotian attracts treasures wherever he steps.

Shi Qian’s clever little brain suddenly hatched a dangerous idea.

[Why not… leech off Aotian directly?]

Once he decided, he acted. Shi Qian used a wood-escape technique to perfectly conceal his aura within the tree, crouching on a low-hanging branch near the protagonist’s path.

When Aotian passed by, he jumped down, clawed at his clothes to pull them open, and deftly slipped inside.

Don’t ask why he was so skilled at this—ask the demonic cultivators instead.

Once inside, Shi Qian obediently stayed put.

When Aotian touched him through the fabric, Shi Qian cooperated silently, feeling like half of his mission as a “dragon cat” was already complete.

[Brother, your luck is now mine!]