Chapter 9: Spirit Taming Residual Seal and Chief Black Cat

Three o’clock in the morning.

Cheng Han woke up.

Ever since deducing the Cheng Breathing Method, he no longer slept like ordinary people. His daily sleep time had even shortened to just three hours.

That meant:

After returning home from school, he first entered his first session of deep sleep.

Then at five in the morning, he entered a second session of deep sleep.

These two sessions alone were enough to completely restore his Spirit Value.

Out of every twenty-four hours in a day, ordinary people only had sixteen usable hours after subtracting rest time.

But Cheng Han had twenty-one hours.

He felt that if he had possessed this ability in his previous life, not to mention becoming the top scorer in the college entrance exams, ranking within the top hundred in the entire province would probably not have been a problem.

However, because he had performed too many deductions yesterday and expended too much spiritual power, Cheng Han planned to undergo deep sleep three times today.

Then at five in the morning, he would sleep for the third time.

At this moment.

Feeling his fully replenished mental state, Cheng Han used the skill once.

“Deduce the progress of the Bloodhead Spider incident.”

A phantom scene slowly unfolded.

The enormous textile factory was shrouded in darkness, with only the security room near the entrance emitting faint light through the windows.

This was not strange.

The factory’s production pressure was not high, so there were no night shifts. At this hour, the factory was completely shut down.

A moment later, the vision dissipated.

His proficiency increased by 1 point, bringing the progress to 39/1000.

Cheng Han frowned.

“The Black Armor Army still hasn’t made a move. Otherwise, the factory would definitely have been sealed off. The disaster is happening tomorrow, so when exactly are the authorities planning to act?”

He shook his head.

“I’ve already done everything I can. Forget it.”

After getting dressed and walking out of the bedroom, Cheng Han immediately saw the black cat.

It lay motionless on the floor, sleeping like a dead pig.

No.

A dead cat.

To prevent the black cat from resisting, when preparing its dinner last night, he had mixed in more powdered dried Black Cauldron Mushroom.

Cheng Han first rubbed the cat’s head a few times before silently muttering,

“Deduce a method for taming beasts!”

A trace of coolness spread across his scalp.

His Spirit Value began dropping rapidly.

In an instant, Cheng Han sensed that some kind of invisible connection had formed between himself and the black cat.

Although the black cat was deeply asleep, it still reacted slightly. Its limbs twitched from time to time, and its tail swayed faintly.

Without a doubt, the deduction had succeeded!

One breath later, Cheng Han suddenly heard a cat’s cry.

“Meow~”

It was not heard through his ears.

Rather, it sounded directly inside his mind.

Immediately afterward, a vision appeared.

A phantom figure emerged from the black cat’s body. It looked exactly like the cat itself, except slightly blurry.

“Meow~”

Another illusory cat cry rang out.

The phantom suddenly leapt forward, smashing directly into Cheng Han’s chest before dispersing completely.

Within Cheng Han’s Sea of Spirit, a blue sphere of light suddenly appeared. A hazy halo surrounded it, while strange thread-like structures filled its core.

It looked extremely similar to the True Flame Residual Seal, except its structure was much simpler.

A line of information flashed through his mind:

“Analyzed ‘Spirit Taming Residual Seal.’ Proficiency +8. Current proficiency: 47/1000. Spirit Value: 4.8/13.4.”

Cheng Han was overjoyed.

Another residual seal!

His maximum Spirit Value had increased by another 0.1 points!

He focused his spirit upon the residual seal. A stream of knowledge poured forth, instantly allowing him to understand its purpose.

So-called “Spirit Taming” referred to controlling spiritual creatures.

This residual seal could not only be used for taming beasts—it also possessed several unexpected uses.

After observing the residual seal for a while, another piece of feedback appeared:

“Spirit Taming Residual Seal. Completion: 12.42%.”

Compared to the True Flame Residual Seal, its completion level was over ten times higher.

Yet Cheng Han did not think this was a good thing.

“It seems the development potential of the Spirit Taming Residual Seal is far inferior to the True Flame Residual Seal.”

Then he grinned.

“But whatever. As long as it’s useful, that’s enough.”

Cheng Han stroked the black cat’s back and used his spirit to activate the Spirit Taming Residual Seal. The sphere of light immediately expanded and absorbed a small amount of Spirit Value.

Several breaths later, the black cat opened its eyes.

One of the many uses of the Spirit Taming Residual Seal was stimulating the deep potential of tamed beasts, helping them resist various negative states.

Normally, after consuming so much drugged food, the black cat should not have awakened before ten o’clock.

Yet under the influence of the residual seal, it miraculously suppressed the drug’s effects.

The black cat looked dazed for a moment before raising its little head and staring directly into Cheng Han’s eyes.

Previously, whenever Cheng Han approached, it would immediately flee.

But now, it neither dodged nor avoided him, behaving extremely obediently.

Cheng Han issued his first command.

“Roll over.”

The black cat froze briefly, seemingly surprised, before lying down and rolling once.

Cheng Han continued.

“Shake your tail three times.”

The black cat obediently swished its tail three times.

For the next several minutes, Cheng Han thoroughly indulged himself in the pleasure of taming a cat.

The black cat obeyed every single command.

If an ordinary person witnessed this scene, they would definitely think this was an exceptionally intelligent cat that had undergone long-term training.

No one would believe that only moments ago, it had still been a wild and untamable stray cat.

Cheng Han felt extremely smug.

“Little thing, the first time I saw you, you were sitting on the wall acting all aloof and cold. And now? Aren’t you completely obedient?”

Within the black cat’s eyes, however, there was a trace of helplessness, as though silently protesting:

Sir, are you done playing yet?

After thinking for a moment, Cheng Han said,

“I should give you a name first.”

Recalling a certain cartoon from his previous life, he smiled.

“From now on, I’ll call you Chief.”

A black cat named Chief—perfect match!

“Meow~”

The black cat cried out once, seemingly approving of the name “Chief.”

Three hours later.

After finishing his third sleep session, Cheng Han walked out of the bedroom.

The black cat immediately approached him and rubbed its head against his pant leg.

Cheng Han rubbed the cat’s head.

“Starting today, you can roam freely outside during the daytime, but you must come home before dark. Understood?”

“Meow~”

The black cat’s cry became noticeably more spirited, sounding rather happy.

It eagerly walked over to the door and pressed one paw against it.

This clearly meant—

I want to go out.

Cheng Han did not make things difficult for it and directly opened the door.

Whoosh!

The black cat instantly darted outside.

Judging from its behavior, it had clearly been driven stir-crazy from being cooped up.

As usual, at 7:40 in the morning, Cheng Han entered the classroom of Class Two, Third Year on time.

The moment he sat down, Qian Qingqing quietly complained,

“Yesterday I brought you breakfast, but you skipped school and didn’t come. That made me eat an extra half portion myself, and I almost got stuffed.”

Cheng Han glanced at the little flat board beside him and replied with a smile,

“Eating a little more is a good thing.”

As the saying went, a flat chest fears no strong winds.

The little girl was quite clever and instantly understood the hidden meaning behind his words. A blush immediately spread across her fair and delicate face.

She fiercely glared at her deskmate.

“You dog mouth can’t spit out ivory!”

The next second, however, she automatically ignored the matter.

Qian Qingqing took out a paper bag and stuffed it into Cheng Han’s hands while reminding him,

“Hurry and eat! There’s honey pastry inside. It won’t taste good once it gets cold.”

Then she handed him a fist-sized green fruit.

“My mom recently bought a batch of Qinglin Fruits. I tried one yesterday—they’re sweeter than the last batch.”

Cheng Han grabbed a metal straw, forcefully pierced through the skin of the Qinglin Fruit, and took a large sip.

“Really good.”

Qinglin Fruit was somewhat similar to coconuts from his previous world, though the taste was completely different. The juice was sweet and tangy, reminding him of a drink called Nutri-Express.

In one sentence—

Delicious!

Qian Qingqing smiled brightly.

“Tomorrow I’ll pick an even sweeter one for you.”

(End of Chapter)