Chapter 192: Lifeline
Jin LiJuan clung to the wolf pup in her arms like she was drowning and it was a lifeline. Which, in a way, it was. All her dreams of being a powerful cultivator were within her reach as long as she kept her bond with the beast.
Golden Core. She had no real idea what that meant, but the way Master said it made it sound powerful. And he expected her to reach that level before any of the other sect members.
She looked around her. Senior Brother was staring at her, as was Senior Sister. They were the two strongest cultivators in the sect, save for Master of course. And Sister Kang Lin, a fellow disciple though she was from a different sect. All three were in the Foundation Establishment realm and could do things that seemed absolutely extraordinary to Jin LiJuan, running almost faster than she could follow with her eyes, jumping over walls, hitting each other with blows that would have torn her body to pieces and laughing about it.
Even Zou Tian, who was only at a late stage of Qi Gathering, was amazing. He could practically turn invisible if a shadow was nearby.
She was so much weaker than any of them. According to Master, though, she’d soon be stronger than them, stronger than all of them.
Jin LiJuan could hardly believe it.
But her future wasn’t assured yet. There was a very major condition involved. The bond she’d formed accidentally with the wolf pup had to become a bond in truth.
She honestly didn’t know if she could partner with a beast. Sure, she’d managed to keep from killing it, but it was just a baby. Even for her, it was difficult to kill a baby. After the initial temptation had passed, anyway.
Even if beasts hadn’t killed her family, she didn’t think she would have been a person that particularly liked animals. Growing up poor hadn’t left much room in her heart for anything but the essentials.
She and her parents had worked hard. If they were lucky, they were able to eat enough to avoid hunger pains most of the time. There had been nothing left over for anything that served no purpose such as toys or … pets.
There had been animals around the farm, of course, but Father had made it clear that they were tools, a source of food, not pets. Never a pet.
Then, she’d gone to the orphanage. Mistress Zhong had barely been able to feed herself and the children. There certainly had been no resources left over for pets.