Chapter 133

Chapter 133: The Sad Little Hamster

With nothing else to handle, Cheng Bu Fan yawned and went back to sleep.

Rong Shu held Little Hamster, entered the empty room, and shut the doors and windows.

She moved by habit to set Little Hamster on the bed, but he jumped down to the floor a step ahead of her and went still.

“Yan Yan? Come up,” Rong Shu patted the bedframe by the edge, beckoning him over.

But Little Hamster made no move and gave no response.

Right now, Little Hamster’s heart was tangled and helpless.

He could not understand why, after doing exactly what Shu Shu said and warming the bed for her, Shu Shu did not like it.

[Does Shu Shu dislike his human form? Then from now on, he cannot become human in front of Shu Shu.]

[If Rong Shu discovers he can turn into a person, she will definitely drive him away.]

At the thought that Rong Shu might drive him away, Little Hamster made a silent decision.

[He must never let Rong Shu find out he is human.]

[Also, his human form is scary. He is afraid it will frighten Rong Shu. If he scares her, she might not pay attention to him anymore.]

Rong Shu set Little Hamster’s nest on the bed. Seeing that he still did not move, she could not help feeling puzzled.

Normally, although this little fellow liked sleeping in his nest, he preferred rolling around in the big bed even more.

The space was bigger and it was comfortable to roll.

But now, Little Hamster seemed much more restrained.

Rong Shu reached out and picked him up.

Just as she was about to place him on the bed, Little Hamster began to struggle violently.

He leaped onto the back of Rong Shu’s hand, clearly refusing to stay on the mattress.

“Yan Yan, what is it?” Rong Shu asked, baffled.

Unable to explain, Little Hamster could only let out two dry little coos and look up at Rong Shu, nervous and uneasy.

“Then can I put you in your nest?”

At that, Little Hamster nodded.

Rong Shu returned him to his nest. This time, he did not struggle. Once back inside, he obediently curled into a ball and showed no intention of climbing out.

His eyes peered past the rim of the nest at the outside world, where Rong Shu’s bed lay.

Little Hamster did not dare to touch it now.

Seeing this out-of-the-ordinary reaction, Rong Shu formed a quiet guess.

Could the mysterious intruder who broke into her room have frightened Little Hamster?

With that in mind, Rong Shu reached in to rub Little Hamster’s little head and comforted him softly: “Don’t be afraid. There is no danger here.”

“I will take Yan Yan with me from now on.”

If Little Hamster preferred sleeping in his nest, then at worst she would carry the whole nest out with her.

In fact… she could even put nest and hamster together into the Han Chuan Cosmos Pearl.

But Rong Shu remembered that this pearl had been given to her by Little White Tiger’s elder.

At present, Little White Tiger was still inside, and Rong Shu had no way to communicate with it.

Little Hamster was a living creature, not an object. If she were to put him inside, Rong Shu felt she ought to get Little White Tiger’s consent first.

At daybreak, Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan headed for the sparring grounds.

As soon as they arrived, Rong Shu sensed that the atmosphere was a little off.

Before, the arena had felt lively and cheerful.

After all, disciples of the various sects were exchanging pointers amiably, with no scenes of life-and-death struggle.

Today was different.

The faces of several disciples coming and going no longer wore their usual ease.

Over these days, the disciples Rong Shu managed to save were, in the end, only a small number.

In places she could not reach, one disciple after another had fallen prey to demonic cultivators.

So many disciples suddenly going “missing” would naturally put the sects on alert.

By now, many in the sects had likely sensed that something was wrong.

In that case, Rong Shu’s goal was halfway achieved.

Though the undercurrent was far from peaceful, the grand sect tournament was too important to suspend lightly.

Thus, the tournament continued as normal.

The individual elimination rounds had already entered the mid-to-late stages.

Today Cheng Bu Fan had two matches. If he could win both, he could make the top sixty.

If he lost both, he would finish outside the top eighty.

His opponents were a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Barring surprises, Cheng Bu Fan could at most defeat the mid-stage opponent and scrape into the top eighty.

The result was exactly as Rong Shu had predicted.

After a grueling few hundred exchanges against the mid-stage Foundation Establishment competitor, Cheng Bu Fan won by a narrow margin.

In the next match against the late-stage opponent, with a two-realm gap, it was virtually impossible for Cheng Bu Fan to win.

So when the bout began, he simply conceded.

As Cheng Bu Fan stepped down from the platform, Rong Shu walked over to him and said with a smile: “Congratulations on making the top eighty-something. Among early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators who reach the top hundred, you can count them on two hands.”

Cheng Bu Fan rubbed his nose and said: “Not bad. At least the result isn’t shabby.”

“By the way, try not to go out these days,” he reminded.

Rong Shu put on a puzzled face and asked: “Did something happen?”

“In the last few days, there have been intermittent disappearances and deaths among sect disciples. It’s suspected to be the work of demonic cultivators.”

Rong Shu nodded, feigning fright: “Oh, then I’ll try not to go out.”

“Aren’t you switching to a new residence? Go now.”

“Mm, okay.”

As Rong Shu was about to leave the sparring grounds, she passed by a platform.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught the two people fighting on it.

One of them was Yu Ruan Ruan.

Rong Shu paused.

Seeing Yu Ruan Ruan was no surprise; what surprised her was that Yu Ruan Ruan’s cultivation had already advanced to mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

A short while ago, Yu Ruan Ruan had only just broken through to early-stage Foundation Establishment, and now she was mid-stage?

To give credit where it was due, Yu Ruan Ruan’s talent was indeed excellent.

Her opponent in this match was also a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In an individual elimination, the further it went, the stronger one’s opponents became.

By now, among the disciples who had yet to be eliminated, almost all were late-stage Foundation Establishment; only a handful of mid-stage cultivators were still hanging on.

Yu Ruan Ruan’s luck bordered on outrageous.

Every draw placed her against relatively weaker mid-stage or even early-stage Foundation Establishment opponents.

Then she defeated them, one after another, and rose to prominence.

With that in mind, Rong Shu could not help being curious.

Besides Yu Ruan Ruan, two other Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, Huo Yi Han and Qin Yuan, had also not been eliminated.

Huo Yi Han was late-stage Foundation Establishment.

Qin Yuan was only mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

However, Qin Yuan had an advantage: he was a beast tamer with three spirit beasts, one of which was comparable to a Golden Core Stage cultivator.

In duels among Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, virtually no one could threaten Qin Yuan.

Perhaps the only ones who could were disciples of Giant Spirit Sect who were beast tamers as well.

Silently, Rong Shu estimated their final placements. The top twenty should be secure for both.

As for climbing higher, that was harder to say. After all, other sects had their own prodigies.