The little cat, unwilling to jump over, made one last effort and shot out a quick fireball. The fireball caught up with the human and hit him before he entered the water. However, to the little cat’s surprise, the human was completely unharmed, and it sensed that the human had absorbed the fireball.

Now, as the little cat watched Brian Carter sitting there meditating, it felt even more annoyed and swore to itself that it would catch this human and burn him to ashes. The little cat paced around the clearing by the waterfall for a while. Seeing that Brian Carter didn’t move at all, it also lay down on the ground, its eyes fixed on Brian Carter. The two of them remained motionless like this.

Time passed bit by bit. The Ao Dragon Technique inside Brian Carter’s body was running faster and faster, and Brian Carter felt that he was about to break through. After circulating his energy for several cycles, the Ao Dragon Technique broke through the second level and entered the third. Brian Carter quickly calmed his mind and stabilized his qi, and finally, the breakthrough was complete. Brian Carter stood up and let out a long howl toward the sky.

“So refreshing.” It seems that, just like those martial arts novels say, when you’ve exhausted your strength, you shouldn’t rest but instead cultivate your qi—this is very helpful for training. I didn’t expect the Ao Dragon Technique to break through to the third level; this is a huge gain.

If I keep cultivating every moment, excluding cooldown time, I estimate that in just three years I can reach the seventh level. Throughout history, except for the founding ancestor of the Long family, no one has ever achieved this. Even the family’s current elder, Long Jianxin, is only at the seventh level, and he’s been training for so many years.

After Brian Carter finished feeling pleased with himself, he saw that the little cat was still staring at him. The little cat had been awakened by his long howl; it had actually fallen asleep in the sunlight, and as long as Brian Carter didn’t come out, it would have kept sleeping.

Brian Carter cursed the cat in his heart, wondering what its problem was. It seemed determined to burn him. Brian Carter had no choice but to sit down helplessly and consider how to escape this predicament.

Chapter 6: Standoff with the Cat

Brian Carter hadn’t eaten anything for three days. These past few days, he could only drink water. He wanted to go look for food, but the circumstances didn’t allow it. The little cat was still guarding the waterfall. It wasn’t that Brian Carter didn’t want to sneak out while the cat wasn’t paying attention to find something to eat, but to get out, he would have to pass through the waterfall. The water would slow him down, and with the cat’s speed, he would be caught before he even left the clearing and reached the forest. Even though the third level of the Ao Dragon Technique could increase his speed, it was still far from enough.

Now, Brian Carter could only hope that the little cat would need to eat and that he could escape while it was out hunting. Otherwise, if this dragged on, his strength would only get worse.

Brian Carter stared at the little cat, which lay motionless on the ground. Maybe it had fallen asleep; the cat easily dozed off in the sunlight.

Brian Carter moved cautiously, slipped into the water, and swam under the waterfall, continuing downstream. He used the sound of the waterfall to cover his movements—in fact, he was just letting the current carry him.

When he got past the little cat and thought he had succeeded, he kept holding his breath underwater. When he finally had to surface for air, a fireball shot toward him. Brian Carter immediately dove back under, but some of his hair was still singed. Luckily, he reacted quickly, or he would have been disfigured.

Brian Carter had no choice but to swim back to the cave, but this time he did gain something: while underwater, he discovered there were fish in the river, and he managed to catch one. At least his food problem was solved; now it was just a matter of outlasting the little cat.

Time passed as they continued their standoff. In the cave, Brian Carter did nothing but cultivate his qi—there was nothing else to do. During this time, Brian Carter confirmed one thing: this cat could survive without eating, directly absorbing fire elements from the air. No wonder it liked sunlight so much; it was actually enjoying the fire elements emitted by the sun. It seemed that last time, he had interrupted its “meal.”

Brian Carter had been in this cave for three months. A few days ago, his Ao Dragon Technique broke through again, and after some calculations, he figured he had a 50% chance of escaping. So today, Brian Carter decided to give it a try.

The little cat guarding the waterfall suddenly saw an object fly out from the waterfall and immediately chased after it. Just as it did, another object shot out from the waterfall in the opposite direction. That object was Brian Carter; the first was a “piece of trash” from his spatial pouch.

The little cat quickly realized it had been tricked and immediately turned to chase Brian Carter. Brian Carter’s speed was much higher than before, but the little cat had gotten smarter. When it was only five meters away from Brian Carter, it shot a fireball at him. Brian Carter had to dodge, which caused his movement to pause for a moment, and the little cat quickly took the opportunity to catch up.

Brian Carter had no choice but to draw his greatsword and slash at the little cat. The little cat easily dodged and attacked Brian Carter with its claws. Although Brian Carter couldn’t match its speed, he calculated the cat’s attack route and force points, narrowly avoiding its attacks.

Brian Carter swung his greatsword at the little cat again, but the result was the same—he didn’t even touch a single hair. The little cat’s attacks were also dodged by Brian Carter, but this time he was scratched a little by its claws. And so the battle continued: the little cat’s speed rendered Brian Carter’s attacks useless, while the little cat managed to injure Brian Carter from time to time.