Chapter 1: I Was a Human for Half My Life, You Know
A stone bed sat in the cave, neatly covered with a cotton quilt, seemingly prepared for sleep.
Oddly, however, no one was resting on it. Only a slight bulge was visible against one corner of the stone wall.
“Bai Shisan! It’s your turn to be on duty today, get up!” A voice, akin to that of a woodcutter, called out.
But it was only “akin.”
The voice was grating, the intonation erratic, as if a small child were clumsily imitating an adult’s speech.
Very strange.
Just then, the bulge on the bed stirred, rustling softly.
A pair of white, fluffy ears poked out, followed by…
A snow-white rabbit.
Yes, the one sleeping on the stone bed… was this rabbit.
Bai Xuci shook his rabbit head, still feeling very sleepy, but remembering his duty to deliver the meal, he reluctantly got up.
The rabbit on the stone bed slowly transformed into a handsome young man.
The young man’s hair was like snow, his eyes red, possessing a somewhat ghostly beauty.
“I know!” Bai Xuci shouted to the outside, finding Qu San quite noisy.
So early in the morning, couldn’t he let… a rabbit sleep?
He almost forgot, he was no longer human; he was a rabbit spirit.
It was absurd. Others who transmigrated into books at least became protagonists or something, but he became a non-human.
A minor spirit, completely unrelated to the main characters, living in a remote mountain village.
Bai Xuci looked at his palm, very fair, faintly showing some veins.
Well, it still looked quite human.
He stood up from the stone bed and simply tidied his bedding.
Although he was trying to adapt to the fact that he wasn’t human, he still felt that the yokai’s habit of sleeping on the ground wasn’t good.
So cold!
The quilt was obtained from villagers at the foot of the mountain, exchanged for chopping wood for the old man for more than ten days, along with a series of sweet words.
Not easy, really not easy.
Bai Xuci tidied his bed, stretched languidly, and narrowed his eyes.
He still had to prepare things for the Great Demon Lord!
The novel he had transmigrated into was a no-romance cultivation progression story, with a very righteous protagonist, the senior disciple of the largest sect in the cultivation world—the Qingyun Sect.
The protagonist had a miserable past life and this life was mainly about getting revenge.
He would overcome all obstacles, without any romance, ultimately defeating the demon lord and becoming sect leader.
Bringing peace to the cultivation world for hundreds of years.
And the demon lord here…
Was the one Bai Xuci had to deliver food to.
Actually, he didn’t quite understand how the yokai world interacted. At first, he was scared half to death.
Because the yokai here were diverse, encompassing various plants and animals.
Bull spirits, snake monsters, even mule monsters…
In short, it broadened Bai Xuci’s horizons, giving him a glimpse into the biosphere.
But—
He still didn’t know what species the demon lord he served was.
Oh well.
He had important business to attend to.
Bai Xuci glanced at the sky outside, lightly covering his eyes with his hands. His red eyes turned into ordinary black, and his hair also changed to a human-like appearance.
After taking care of this, he strode out.
The mountain had many branches, and the mountain path was narrow.
Bai Xuci originally walked in human form, but the branches kept poking his face, and halfway through, he was so annoyed that he transformed back into his original form.
A small rabbit.
The originally narrow mountain path suddenly became much wider.
Bai Xuci hopped onto a stone, carefully checking the marks he had left.
After confirming that the route was correct, he ran down the mountain.
He weaved left and right, finally reaching a house.
Bai Xuci transformed back into human form and checked himself again in a puddle nearby.
Hair, eyes… everything was perfect.
“Lin Da Niang, Shisan is here.” The handsome young man politely called out from outside the fence, waiting for someone to come out.
Almost immediately, a village woman came out of the wooden house. Seeing him, she beamed.
“Why are you only coming to Da Niang’s place now? The old man has already prepared everything for you, come in, come in quickly!” The woman beckoned him, opening the virtually defenseless wooden gate of the fence.
Bai Xuci smiled warmly at her, then happily entered the small wooden house.
Ready to get his “things.”
This place was actually discovered by accident. Initially, unable to accept that he wasn’t human, he often ran to the top of the mountain to look up at the sky.
That’s how he stumbled upon this place at the foot of the mountain.
In this world, the places where yokai existed and where humans lived were intertwined, yet strangely, they never encountered each other.
Bai Xuci seriously considered this, thinking it was what the author called a barrier.
From a scientific perspective, it was probably related to the magnetic field.
At that time, Lin Da Niang’s family was surrounded by bandits on the mountain road, the situation was very critical, especially since Da Niang was still holding a baby girl under one year old.
Bai Xuci, a rabbit spirit, was squatting on a nearby stone and saw everything.
If not now, when?
Therefore, the “righteous hero” Bai Xuci made a grand entrance.
And finally felt that his yokai identity was useful.
At least he could scare the bad guys!
Later, Da Niang directly treated Bai Xuci as her adopted son, repeatedly asking where he lived and if his parents were still alive.
Bai Xuci was also very casual at the time and directly said:
“My surname is Bai, and I am the thirteenth child in the family, you can call me Bai Shisan.”
“Shisan…” Da Niang was slightly surprised at the time.
In such a chaotic world, being able to have thirteen children was indeed a blessing.
Bai Xuci froze, realizing his words were problematic, but then he thought again.
His litter of rabbit pups, there were thirteen of them.
“Then, Shisan, your older brothers—”
Bai Xuci was lost in thought about his family lineage when he was suddenly asked this.
His mind went blank again.
“Oh, they’re dead.”
Silence filled the air…
Later, Bai Xuci wanted to explain; they were apparently all eaten by snakes.
Why was he left behind? It seemed because he was the last born, and his leg was crippled.
Plus, the snake was full, so he was spared.
He heard this from Qu San, who had repeatedly expressed admiration for the Great Demon Lord.
Because it seemed that because the Great Demon Lord awoke, the spiritual energy in the mountains flourished, allowing this group of yokai who couldn’t transform into human form to achieve a qualitative leap.
When Bai Xuci heard this, he had only one thought.
Wasn’t this just like the top students in the class, raising the average score by themselves?
He understood; he was one of those little yokai blessed by this.
“The old man will be back soon, Shisan, do you want to see your little sister?” Lin Da Niang’s gentle voice sounded.
Bai Xuci finally snapped out of it and went to the bed to look at the baby girl who was once in swaddling clothes.
The child was now over two years old, could babble, and happily stretched out her chubby arms to touch him when she saw him approach.
Bai Xuci readily offered his finger to the baby, feeling a little better.
Human babies were indeed the cutest in the world.
However,
He was also a little worried. If the child found out that a rabbit spirit was playing with her,
Would she have psychological trauma?
He started to worry about the future…
“By the way, Shisan, are you doing well at home? Are you being bullied?” Lin Da Niang asked worriedly.
Bai Xuci stiffened slightly, remembering his character setting.
Because of the story about being the thirteenth child, Lin Da Niang firmly believed Bai Xuci was the child of a wealthy family in town, but because twelve of his thirteen siblings had died,
She was certain his parents were terrible people.
Bai Xuci wanted to explain, but it was difficult to directly say it.
After much thought, he compromised.
He fabricated a tragic story of a family’s decline, lost glory, and the death of his father and brothers.
Lin Da Niang and the old man believed him completely.
“I’m fine, nothing much. I just have to serve that landlord.” Bai Xuci saw that the baby had fallen asleep, quietly withdrawing his finger.
He tucked the small quilt around her.
Bai Xuci thought his words were appropriate; he was indeed “serving a landlord.”
The other party was a Great Demon Lord, who could afford to offend them?
These minor yokai, their existence was to serve the local demon lord, to stabilize their own spiritual cultivation environment.
Simply put, it was like paying protection money.
At this moment, there was a sound outside the wood door; the old man was back.
Bai Xuci looked at the sky outside through the window of the wooden house and counted on his fingers.
Hmm, there was still time.
Behind the wooden house—
“Here, this is pork I personally picked for you, the quality and color are top-notch, your landlord won’t fault you,” the burly woodcutter wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking very confident.
Little Shisan was very skilled in martial arts, but his fate was really bad.
He should have been the son of a wealthy family, but why did his family suddenly fall, and… he didn’t even have a single sibling left.
“Thank you, Uncle Lin!” Bai Xuci squatted on the ground and poked the meat on the bamboo mat with his finger.
It should be enough, right?
Uncle Lin looked at Bai Xuci, who was still wearing old clothes, and felt a pang of sympathy.
Besides saving their family, the other party kept sending things to their house.
Fruits, fish—he always brought things over.
When asked why, he simply said blankly, “丫丫 is so young, and Da Niang is so tired, she needs to eat something.”
His gaze was very honest.
He wasn’t entirely without suspicion, because Shisan was too handsome.
So handsome that… it didn’t seem human.
And he couldn’t remember the details of the bandit incident that day.
He had also checked in town and there was indeed a Bai family, and the situation was exactly as Shisan had said.
Perhaps he was being overly suspicious.
“Then, Uncle Lin, I’ll take it then!” Bai Xuci felt that the time was almost up, so he rolled up the pork on the ground and carried it on his back.
Lin Da Niang came out of the house and seeing him ready to leave, quickly said:
“Be careful on the road, don’t trip on the rocks!”
…
His physique didn’t seem particularly strong, yet he effortlessly carried a pile of meat away.
In a short time, his figure disappeared.
The two people in front of the wooden house watched Bai Xuci leave, not finding anything strange.
Shisan was always like this.
In the dense forest, a snow-white rabbit hopped and skipped.
Finally, it leaped over a marked stone, and the ordinary rabbit instantly changed its appearance.
Its red eyes were very agile, and its loose white hair passed through the leaves…
Exceedingly ghostly.
“Hey, you kid finally came back!” A “normal person” stood in front of the cave and said.
Although the tone of speech was still not quite normal.
Bai Xuci glanced at Qu San, finding the scorpion spirit to be incredibly idle.
“You changed your face again?” A questioning gaze.
Hearing this, Qu San immediately became smug. He hadn’t controlled his human form well, and his scorpion tail popped out with a “bang.”
“Isn’t it great!”
Bai Xuci: “…”
What the heck?
Qu San looked back to see Bai Xuci turning to leave and only then noticed that his tail had popped out.
He looked at the sky speechlessly.
“Bai Shisan, you’re a yokai for the first time, why is it so easy for you to transform into a human form?”
It wasn’t just transformation, even the basic human language was better than his.
They were all minor yokai, why was he so outstanding!!
Bai Xuci carried the meat, waved his hand behind him, and said lazily:
“This is called talent.”
I was a human for half my life, you know!