“Brother Baiyun, why are you trying to stop everyone from cultivating immortality?”
The girl’s voice held a trace of childishness, her bright, watery eyes blinking as she looked at Jiu Baiyun.
Hearing this, Jiu Baiyun couldn’t help but smile.
His wide sleeves stirred a gentle breeze as he half-bent down and patted the girl’s head.
“Little Mu, do you often hear the grown-ups say that this world is full of evil spirits and strange things, and that only cultivating immortality can guarantee safety?”
“Mhmm!”
Little Mu nodded obediently, her eyes filled with expectation.
“But does Little Mu know why ‘immortals’ aren’t just called ‘immortals,’ but are called ‘immortal people’?”
Hearing this question from Jiu Baiyun, Little Mu’s mind couldn’t quite grasp it for a moment.
A look of confusion appeared on her face, and she shook her head.
“Why?”
Jiu Baiyun gave another soft chuckle, then sighed faintly and shook his head.
“Because immortal people… just like evil spirits and strange things… also eat people…”
Perhaps feeling the topic was a bit heavy, or perhaps thinking this wasn’t something a child should know, Jiu Baiyun immediately changed his tone, playfully opening his hand wide towards Little Mu.
“Just like this… rawr… gobble up a little kid like you!”
Jiu Baiyun’s exaggerated “rawr” and suddenly opened hand were like a big tiger pouncing over, instantly scattering the heavy atmosphere from before.
“Pfft—”
Little Mu was stunned for a second, then couldn’t hold back a giggle.
Her clear laughter, like silver bells, echoed in the small courtyard.
She subconsciously shrank her neck, covering her mouth with her small hands, her big eyes slightly crinkling.
The earlier confusion about “immortal people eating people” was instantly driven away by this sudden playfulness, disappearing without a trace.
“Brother Baiyun, you’re lying! You wouldn’t eat me!”
Little Mu laughed, her voice carrying the joy of being teased and a hint of coquettishness.
Jiu Baiyun also withdrew his hand, standing up straight.
A gentle smile remained on his face as he watched Little Mu’s innocent, happy appearance.
The sigh from earlier seemed as if it had never existed.
Little Mu looked at Jiu Baiyun, still wanting to ask something, but before her words could leave her mouth, they were interrupted by a stern, rough, and angry shout full of rage.
“LITTLE MU!!!”
The smile on Little Mu’s face instantly froze, her body trembling noticeably.
Her eyes, which had just been filled with laughter, were immediately flooded with panic and fear.
She shot a quick glance at Jiu Baiyun, her small face written with helplessness.
“B-Brother Baiyun… I… I have to go…”
She whispered this, not even having time to say a proper goodbye, before turning around in a fluster.
She broke into a run on her little legs, heading towards the courtyard gate at her fastest speed.
Soon, from outside the courtyard wall, the clear sound of Little Mu’s father’s extremely dissatisfied scolding could be heard.
“You brat! Are you deaf or have your wings hardened?! How many times have I told you, you’re not allowed to come here! You’re not allowed to look for that guy surnamed Jiu!”
“That guy has a screw loose! How many times have I told you not to come here, are my words just wind past your ears?! Are you treating my words like farts?! If I see you running over here again, I’ll break your legs!”
The voice gradually faded into the distance.
Inside the courtyard, only Jiu Baiyun remained.
The gentle smile had long since faded from his face.
He stood quietly in place, listening to the angry scolding from outside the wall.
His wide sleeves fluttered gently in the breeze.
He gazed towards the courtyard gate where Little Mu had disappeared, his eyes deep, carrying a trace of helplessness and a measure of quiet acceptance that had long since become familiar.
“Sigh… No matter what, they just won’t believe that cultivating immortality is an elaborately woven lie…”
Jiu Baiyun sighed softly, his voice echoing in the courtyard, sounding exceptionally clear.
“Who says it isn’t? Back then, who was it who would rather drag me to death with them than believe that the immortal people were the root of the trouble?”
Not long after Jiu Baiyun’s sigh, another ethereal voice sounded.
The moment that voice rang out, Jiu Baiyun’s eyebrows inevitably furrowed, followed by a bitter smile.
“Alright, alright, I know I was wrong… Haven’t I already provided you with a space to nourish your soul…”
“Who cares about the space you provide! If I hadn’t held back, do you really think you’d still be alive? Now both of us have lost all our cultivation. How much longer we can last is up to you to figure out!”
That voice didn’t seem appreciative.
After saying this with a slightly indignant tone, it fell silent and didn’t speak again.
Jiu Baiyun rubbed the back of his head, feeling a headache coming on, and didn’t intend to argue.
In the end, it really was his own fault.
As a noble transmigrator, a natural-born holy body for cultivating immortality, having been in this world for so long, he stubbornly hadn’t discovered the strangeness of this world.
Who the hell would have known that this absurd world had already been corrupted by the strange and eerie?!
And to think he had foolishly listened to the words of his sect elders, thinking that by killing the Yao Fox Demon Venerable, he could bring a period of peace to the world, and the evil spirits and strange things would no longer run rampant.
The result…
Especially when Jiu Baiyun saw that those who cultivated immortality used human flesh to refine pills…
Jiu Baiyun immediately started retching, nearly vomiting his guts out.
Even now, whenever Jiu Baiyun thinks of those scenes, his stomach churns violently.
Tearing off five claws, refining corpse gu, human flesh pills…
The methods of cultivating immortality in this world are even more heinous than the evil cultivators in the cultivation novels he read in his previous life…
Although Jiu Baiyun isn’t sure if this world’s Heavenly Dao is still normal either…
Forget it.
He’s already lost all his cultivation.
Being able to take care of himself is already a stroke of luck.
Shaking his head, Jiu Baiyun quickly calmed his complicated emotions.
From initially trying to convince the villagers not to believe in cultivating immortality, to now being alienated by the entire village, Jiu Baiyun had already come to terms with reality.
This world is sick too deeply.
He simply doesn’t have the power to change anything.
But will the next transmigrator really appear here?
Although Jiu Baiyun has his doubts about this, right now, there’s no other choice.
After thinking for a while longer, Jiu Baiyun finally walked towards the main gate, closing the courtyard door and sliding the bolt into place.
The soft sound of wood rubbing against wood was especially clear in the quiet courtyard.
“If you ask me, you’d be better off saving what little power you have left. What’s the point of protecting these mortals who don’t believe you at all?”
After a period of silence, that ethereal voice sounded again, its tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.
After all, she and Jiu Baiyun were now bound by fate.
Jiu Baiyun didn’t respond immediately.
Instead, he slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over this simple little courtyard that he temporarily called “home.”
The last rays of the setting sun smeared the top of the wall, casting long shadows.
The weeds leaned slightly, adding to the courtyard’s desolate feel.
Jiu Baiyun slowly walked towards the house, pushing open the creaking wooden door.
The interior layout was immediately revealed—extremely simple furnishings, just one table, one chair, and one bed.
Jiu Baiyun walked to the table, picking up a chipped water bowl.
His fingertips unconsciously rubbed against the rough surface of the bowl.
After a long while, he let out another heavy sigh.
“At least now I have the ability to let them live a little better. Or perhaps, it’s an attempt to kindle a glimmer of hope.”