Qiao Zhi rose onto his hind legs, stretched his front paws forward and said, “Hold me.”

“What?” Chu Qiguang asked, puzzled.

“Just do as I say,” Qiao Zhi urged.

Chu Qiguang crouched down, picked Qiao Zhi up, and held him in his arms like a child.

“Pet me,” Qiao Zhi instructed.

Chu Qiguang was confused, but did as he was told.

Qiao Zhi let out a blissful purr as Chu Qiguang stroked him from head to tail, then stretched out his body before curling up into a ball.

The smooth sensation of Qiao Zhi’s fur and the sound of his soft purring slowly soothed Chu Qiguang’s emotions, and the agitation from his repeated attempts at cultivation slowly faded away.

“Do you understand now? We cats have what’s known as soothing fur,” Qiao Zhi explained. “We can calm ourselves just by grooming, which allows us to cultivate several times longer each day than others.

“For you humans, the same effect can be achieved by petting cats. If you use this to supplement your cultivation, you’ll be able to cultivate for much longer than others in a day. However, only cat lovers are able to do this. That's why loving cats is a huge advantage in cultivation, so make sure your feelings toward cats never change.”

Chu Qiguang was speechless.

Even though his emotions had indeed calmed down, he couldn’t help feeling like Qiao Zhi had made that up to fool him.

Qiao Zhi seemed to have sensed Chu Qiguang skepticism, and an indignant look appeared on his face as he insisted, “You don’t believe me? I’ll have you know that we cats were the first race in history to unite and rule the entire world!

“Back when we were building railroads and creating a universal language, you humans were still playing with sticks and mud. The key to our rise was our ability to constantly remain calm through self-grooming!”

Chu Qiguang felt even less convinced after hearing this. No matter how he thought about it, he simply couldn’t imagine a world united and ruled by cats.

Seeing Chu Qiguang turn his head away, Qiao Zhi became even more frustrated. He harrumphed and said, “It would be even more effective if you were also willing to groom cats.”

“Oh?”

Qiao Zhi was rather taken aback by the look of intrigue in Chu Qiguang’s eyes.

“Then please excuse me, Master Qiao.”

Chu Qiguang opened his mouth and, with a loud slurp, left a long trail of saliva across Qiao Zhi’s head. He smacked his lips in surprise as he mused, “That really did seem to have worked!”

“You... You actually groomed me!” Qiao Zhi exclaimed.

“If it can enhance my cultivation progress, then why not?” Chu Qiguang replied.

Qiao Zhi stared at him in shock for a moment, then grinned as he said, “You know, it works even better if you groom my backside.”

Chu Qiguang resisted the urge to slap Qiao Zhi as he set him back down.

He didn’t believe that assertion at all. Over his past few hours of interaction with Qiao Zhi, he had come to realize that even though the cat fiend appeared like some profound immortal, he was actually not very reliable. In particular, his ego was very quick to over-inflate with praise, and he often began bragging and talking about far-fetched things, so not everything that he said was to be trusted.

With his agitation now gone, Chu Qiguang closed his eyes, and this time, he instantly entered the state of Concentration.

Not only that, he could still feel the wind against his skin, hear the beating of his heart, and feel the itching of his skin, but he was able to ignore these external factors and remain in the state of Concentration.

Even after fifteen minutes had passed, he was still in the state of Concentration, and Qiao Zhi’s surprise grew with each passing second.

After another fifteen minutes, Chu Qiguang was still in the state of Concentration, constantly surpassing his previous records. Qiao Zhi could no longer keep silent and exclaimed, “What the fuck! You’ve already reached the second state!”

Hearing this, Chu Qiguang opened his eyes. He felt like he had recovered much of the energy that he had spent getting here and from his multiple sessions of meditation. Even though his body was still quite tired, his mind felt as refreshed as if he had just woken from a full night's sleep.

“You’re saying I’ve reached the second state?” Chu Qiguang asked.

Qiao Zhi asked him about what he had just felt, and after hearing his answer, the orange cat was silent for a moment before sighing, “The second state of cultivation is the ability to enter the state of Concentration anytime and anywhere, and to be able to use meditation as a replacement for sleep.

“From now on, all you have to do is lay down to meditate for four hours a day, and you won’t need to sleep anymore. Over time, not only will you have more energy, your mental fortitude and learning ability will also be enhanced. Even if you started off as someone completely ordinary, you’ll eventually become a genius!

“I can’t believe you made two breakthroughs on your first day of cultivation! Is this the cultivation aptitude of a heavenly immortal? This is simply unbelievable! At this rate, you’ll reach the Dao Comprehension state in just two or three years!”

Qiao Zhi was astonished by Chu Qiguang’s cultivation aptitude, but he didn’t dare let him continue cultivating, seeing as he had already made two breakthroughs in quick succession.

“Cultivation is not something to be rushed, and sometimes, excessively rapid progress is not a good thing,” Qiao Zhi explained, worried that Chu Qiguang would think that he was trying to hold him back. “Many prodigies have perished from being led astray in their cultivation after making progress that’s too fast for them to handle.

“There are external demons in the world, and if your mental state cannot match your cultivation base, then you’ll be vulnerable to demonic infiltration. Since you’ve made two breakthroughs in one day, I suggest that you refrain from cultivating Dao arts for a day, just to be safe.”

Chu Qiguang was still a complete novice when it came to cultivation, so he was naturally happy to follow whatever arrangement Qiao Zhi made for him.

After that, Qiao Zhi laid out some general precautions related to cultivation, then suddenly asked, “You still don’t know how to read or write, do you?”

“Please teach me, Master Qiao,” Chu Qiguang implored.

Literacy was a basic ability that he had to possess if he wanted to climb up the ranks in a feudal empire, and unsurprisingly, Ergou was completely illiterate.

Instead of answering right away, Qiao Zhi stared intently at Chu Qiguang as he asked, “Why do you want to learn to read and write?”

Chu Qiguang could tell that this seemed to be a very important question to Qiao Zhi, so he immediately made himself appear even more innocent and honest as he replied in earnest, “I no longer want to be a farmer. I want to make something of myself and not worry about being bullied anymore.”

“Good,” Qiao Zhi praised with a nod of approval. “In that case, I’ll start teaching you to read and write.”

From that point on, Qiao Zhi began his literacy lessons. Having already reached the second state of cultivation, Chu Qiguang’s mental abilities had been significantly enhanced. As a result, he was a fast learner, learning over two hundred characters in just a single night.

During the lesson, Qiao Zhi disclosed some information about the state of the Wang Clan and the county, and Chu Qiguang asked a few questions to learn more.

According to Qiao Zhi, he had been staying in Azure Sun County for over a decade, and during that time, he had gained countless animal and fiend followers. This gave him access to countless information sources, so he had an extensive knowledge of everything happening in Azure Sun County.

Through Qiao Zhi, Chu Qiguang gained a clearer understanding of the relationships between the county’s current officials, retired officials, and wealthy clans.

It seems like the Wang Clan is also struggling. There are no officials in the clan, so they have no connections in the officialdom. If what Qiao Zhi says is true, and a retired county official is really trying to extort them out of a plot of prime land, then perhaps that’s something I can use to my advantage.

After speaking about Azure Sun County, Qiao Zhi spoke about the current state of the Great Han Empire, lamenting, “The Great Han Empire has been around for two hundred years, and it’s no longer as strong as it once was. The imperial court is heavily corrupt, and there’s trouble brewing everywhere.

“The northern fiends are preparing for war, and the dragons of the East Sea are also raring to go, yet the officials care only about internal conflict and pleasing the emperor. All they think about is gaining more wealth and collecting more concubines.

“The Great Han Empire will most likely fall in forty-eight years. When that time comes, the entire world will be thrown into chaos. No one will be safe.”

“Why forty-eight years?” Chu Qiguang asked, curious about why Qiao Zhi had given such a specific number.