In a distant and very dramatic mountain fortress, surrounded by black flames and ominous statues, the leaders of the Black Vow Demon Sect were foaming at the mouth.
Literally. One had just choked on a cursed mushroom.
"—AND I TELL YOU, it's a spirit beast!" bellowed Sect Master Xuan Hei, pounding the table. "It's no ordinary cat—it killed a Core Formation demon with a purr!"
Several demonic elders stared at him blankly. One, a gaunt woman with purple flames for hair, arched a brow.
"With a what, now?"
"A purr," repeated the master. "A single purr. Boom. Gone. Nothing left but fur vapor."
The room fell silent.
One masked elder stood. "So… you want to attack the Azure Cloud Sect because… a cat lives there?"
"No!" Xuan Hei shouted. "Because they've acquired a Divine Beast Cub—descendant of Bai Hu! If we capture it, its blood alone can fuel ten generations of demonic breakthroughs! We'll have Nascent Souls by the week!"
Another elder raised a hand. "Didn't your nephew try that last month?"
There was a long pause.
"…He's still missing."
Meanwhile, back at the Azure Cloud Sect...
Whiskers was asleep.
Again.
He had found a rare moss mat inside the herb greenhouse, perfectly warmed by spiritual lamps, and curled up atop a pile of withered lotus blossoms.
He was snoring softly, twitching a paw every now and then.
The first sign of invasion came when the protective barrier flickered red.
Elder Mei squinted at the sky. "That's odd. It usually turns purple when it rains. Red is… hm. Fire?"
Moments later, a giant flaming serpent head crashed through the eastern wall.
"Demon sect!" screamed a disciple.
"No way!" screamed another. "I thought this was just a training day!"
The ground shook as dozens of robed intruders burst through the outer gates, cackling and flying on black spirit swords.
The sky darkened. The air reeked of sulfur and overconfidence.
"Where's the beast?!" Xuan Hei roared, hovering above the main hall on a demonic flying lion.
"I want the cat!"
Disciples panicked. Swords clashed. Spells flew. One elder set her own robes on fire by accident.
It was chaos.
Then, from somewhere deep inside the sect...
Mrrrowwww.
A single, tired, annoyed meow echoed across the mountains.
Everyone froze.
Even the demon lion.
"…Was that him?" whispered an elder.
Xuan Hei narrowed his eyes. "Good. He's awake. Come, beast! Face me!"
Inside the greenhouse, Whiskers twitched again.
A flower wilted from the pressure of his paw fluff. His ears flicked. A spiritual wind blew through the window.
He sneezed.
BOOM.
An entire cliff collapsed on the invaders.
On the battlefield, several demon cultivators screamed as spirit vines erupted from the ground, tangled around their legs, and dragged them into glowing trenches of earth.
"HE'S USING THE ENVIRONMENT!" someone shouted.
"No, he's sleeping! I saw him—he hasn't moved!"
The more they fought, the more strange things happened:
Fireballs turned into bubbles mid-air.
A flying blade shattered when it got too close to the greenhouse.
A demon cultivator's staff burst into sunflowers.
At one point, a fierce, seven-armed demon general charged the main gate screaming a blood chant of slaughter… and was promptly flung twenty meters into the koi pond by an unseen force.
He emerged soaked, covered in lotus petals, and softly muttering, "He judges with dreams. He judges with dreams."
Up in the clouds, a legendary Nascent Soul demon known only as Granny Bonejaw prepared her final attack: the Thousand Curses of Withering Night.
It took her twelve full minutes to recite.
Halfway through, Whiskers rolled over.
Golden qi rippled from the greenhouse like a gentle wave of sunlight.
Granny Bonejaw vanished.
Not exploded. Not crushed. Just… softly erased from existence.
A faint smell of peppermint lingered in the air.
By nightfall, the Black Vow Demon Sect had lost over a third of their forces.
The rest fled screaming into the forest, tripping over rabbits, vines, and a mysteriously enchanted wheelbarrow.
Later, as the sect elders gathered to assess the damage, they stood in awkward silence in front of the still-intact greenhouse.
Whiskers was now on his back, snoring, all four paws in the air.
A single butterfly landed on his nose.
"He slept through the entire invasion," murmured Sect Master Wu, voice reverent.
"And still repelled it," added Elder Mei. "Without casting a single technique."
A younger disciple stepped forward. "What… what is he?"
Wu didn't respond at first. He simply looked at the sleeping cat, the peaceful gardens, the restored walls, the blooming herbs.
Then he bowed.
"All hail… the Sovereign of Sleep."
Far, far away, back in the shattered mountain fortress of the Black Vow Sect…
Sect Master Xuan Hei sat in silence. Charred. Shaking. Wrapped in a single tattered robe.
"…We attacked a nap god," he whispered.