He Mu originally hadn’t wanted to bring Wenren Sheng into contact with the heavenly spiritual root so hastily.
He was still young, and many things needed to be taken slowly.
But as Yi Jinxiang had said, Wenren Sheng’s current situation was very dangerous.
If the heavenly spiritual root remained exposed outside the Violet Palace without control, recklessly absorbing natural qi, it would sooner or later be noticed by the Heavenly Court.
The Heavenly Court had always been wary of demons. Over these years, the number of immortals who had ascended while bearing demon bodies could be counted on one hand. If they discovered that a heavenly spiritual root had descended upon a demon, who knew what dirty tricks they might use against Wenren Sheng.
He Mu didn’t want Wenren Sheng to encounter any mishaps.
“Train with Wenqu Star for two more days,” He Mu said as he rubbed Wenren Sheng’s shoulders. “After your birthday passes, I’ll seal this place up and let you seclude yourself quietly.”
Wenren Sheng’s expression showed a bit of disappointment. He couldn’t help leaning his head against He Mu’s and whispered, “Do I really have to seclude myself for five years?”
He Mu curved his eyes. “Does that feel like a long time to you?”
Wenren Sheng nodded.
For immortals who had lived hundreds or thousands of years, five years was probably just a flick of the fingers, nothing to take seriously.
But Wenren Sheng was different. He hadn’t entered the dao yet and didn’t have an endless lifespan. Time would leave its mark on him, drawing him bit by bit from his own soil to sprout and grow.
After five years passed, he would reach an age where he no longer needed He Mu to carry him across cliffs.
He Mu pulled Wenren Sheng even tighter into his arms. He pinched Wenren Sheng’s ears and murmured lowly, “The children in the mortal world are all eager to grow up. How come you’re not?”
Wenren Sheng didn’t reply.
It wasn’t that he was reluctant to grow up.
Some people eagerly awaited growing up because they were dissatisfied with their current childish selves, believing adulthood would bring greater freedom and leisure.
But Wenren Sheng felt he was already in the happiest phase of his life.
He saw himself as a little blind child who couldn’t see clearly, luckily standing in some oasis in the vast desert.
Was the road ahead sweet springs or flowing sands?
He couldn’t see anything. Only the silent heaven and earth knew the answer.
Wenren Sheng gazed at the icy cold pool not far away and mumbled, “Then after I come out, will I still be able to see you?”
He Mu reached out and pinched Wenren Sheng’s cheek, pretending to be troubled. “Ah, what to do? Maybe I’ll have been summoned back to the Heavenly Court by then.”
“Then you’ll have to sleep alone, eat alone, attend Wenqu Star’s lessons alone. She might even trick you into going to Cang Province. That place is especially, especially cold—ten thousand times colder than here…”
What?!
Ten thousand times!
Wenren Sheng thought ten times would already be a lot. Ten thousand times—how cold would that be? Would he turn straight into a snowman?
By this point, Wenren Sheng’s nose was already sour and he wanted to cry. Just imagining living such a bleak life five years from now made him wilt like a limp cabbage, all flattened out.
“Then I don’t want the heavenly spiritual root!” Wenren Sheng cried. “I’ll rely on my own efforts to become a great hero! Then, then I’ll go back to the Heavenly Court with you…”
Seeing him cry, He Mu finally smiled.
He laughed as he hurriedly pulled Wenren Sheng into his arms and cooed, “Hey, I was just teasing. How are you so silly…”
He wiped away Wenren Sheng’s tears and rubbed his face against him, saying softly, “Alright, don’t cry, Shengsheng. I’ll wait right here the whole time, to be the first one to see what you’ve grown into, okay?”
With such an answer, the disappointment on Wenren Sheng’s face finally melted away. He muttered as he wiped his tears and hugged He Mu back tightly.
The Mountain God was really so mean.
But deep down, he still thought that during his seclusion, he needed to work extra hard, convince the heavenly spiritual root sooner, and come out earlier.
That way, the Mountain God might have a chance to see his small self for a few more years.
After viewing the heavenly spiritual root, He Mu took Wenren Sheng and left the back mountain.
Wenren Sheng said he wanted to see more of Fragrant Ze Mountain in autumn, so He Mu picked him up and placed him on his shoulders, letting him see even more clearly.
He Mu was very tall. With Wenren Sheng sitting on his shoulders, his view opened up wide. He lightly grabbed He Mu’s hair and looked around excitedly.
Fragrant Ze Mountain had been washed into a completely different hue by autumn. In the past, this would have been Wenren Sheng’s favorite time to eat berries. The fruits of this season weren’t sour or bitter at all—they were crisp and sweet, bursting with cool juice between the teeth.
Several short chirps from mountain sparrows sounded in his ears. Wenren Sheng could even tell that it was the little sparrow He Mu had teased at the mountain gate that day.
“Is it nice?” He Mu pinched Wenren Sheng’s soft little leg. “I haven’t managed this mountain in many years.”
“Especially nice,” Wenren Sheng said with a smile. “I want to stay on Fragrant Ze Mountain forever, never leave.”
Of course, with the Mountain God.
He Mu nodded thoughtfully and asked again, “Do you still remember how you came to this mountain?”
On this topic, Wenren Sheng tilted his head and thought seriously for a moment.
How had he come to Fragrant Ze Mountain?
It was something from when he was little. Wenren Sheng’s memories were covered in a thin fog, blurry and indistinct.
From what he recalled, it seemed his mother had brought him to Fragrant Ze Mountain.
But from there, the memories were like a snapped qin string, impossible to connect. He couldn’t even remember what his mother looked like.
The next thing he knew, he was living in the Rabbit Burrow, grazing with the rabbit clan.
Wenren Sheng didn’t even understand why he was a wolf demon.
He shook his head and answered, “I can’t remember clearly either, but I had lots of family when I was little. All the ones in that Rabbit Burrow were my family. They just all moved away later.”
“Oh… the Rabbit Burrow,” He Mu drawled. After thinking for a moment, he asked, “Do you still remember where that burrow was?”
Wenren Sheng nodded. “Yeah, I remember it super clearly.”
It was the first home he had since he could remember, of course he wouldn’t forget.
Even though now…
Before Wenren Sheng could finish thinking, He Mu interrupted his train of thought.
“Want to go take a look today?” He Mu said. “You must really like those rabbits, right? Were they demons?”
Wenren Sheng shook his head. “Only the clan leader was a demon. She was a very, very old Rabbit Spirit. The others were all ordinary rabbits.”
He paused, buried his face in He Mu’s hair, and a faint blush rose on his cheeks.
“I don’t really want to see them…” he mumbled softly.
He Mu stopped walking. He couldn’t see Wenren Sheng’s expression at the moment, but from his words, he could tell he wasn’t willing to go to that old burrow.
“No matter,” He Mu smiled and comforted him. “If you don’t want to go, we’ll just head home.”
Hearing the words “head home,” Wenren Sheng’s eyes flickered again.
His mood was a bit conflicted. If he really had to say whether he wanted to go or not, he did want to. He wanted to see if his old family was still living there, how they were doing, if they’d been bullied by someone like Chen Lian.
But he really didn’t dare to go.
When Wenren Sheng was still small, the clan leader had taken him in, given him his name, treated him like kin, and cared for him deeply.
It had been a very happy time.
But one day, Wenren Sheng woke up to find all the rabbits around him gone overnight.
The entire Rabbit Cave showed no signs of life at all. The life after being adopted by the clan leader felt like an empty dream no one remembered, now turned to bubbles.
Wenren Sheng refused to believe it. He ran all over the mountains several times and finally found a row of small four-toed footprints at the base of the mountain.
The footprints stretched all the way in the direction leaving Fragrant Ze Mountain, finally vanishing into the overgrown weeds.
It wasn’t a dream. They had left.
And now, after being separated for so long, Wenren Sheng increasingly felt that it was because he hadn’t been obedient enough, because they’d grown to dislike him, that they had moved away.
By now, he didn’t dare search for his clansmen’s traces anymore.
Wenren Sheng hesitated for a long time.
He felt like all the thoughts in his head had tangled into a knotted ball of yarn, with him trapped in the middle, unable to break free.
Finally, he gave up with an “Ah!”
“Then… then let’s go take a look!”
“Really?” He Mu asked half-doubtingly. “You’re not forcing yourself?”
Wenren Sheng slowly lifted his head and denied it. “No forcing. Because I’ll be gone for five years soon. If I can see it once, I won’t forget it.”
So he was a nostalgic kid.
He Mu nodded thoughtfully and said, “Alright, you lead the way.”
Relying on his memories, Wenren Sheng quickly helped He Mu find the location of that Rabbit Burrow.
As soon as they landed, Wenren Sheng—who had been all conflicted and sulky moments ago—changed his demeanor. He glanced around, then headed purposefully toward a small low slope.
“It’s right here,” Wenren Sheng pointed at a slope overgrown with weeds. “This is where I used to live.”
He Mu frowned and squatted down to look.
The Rabbit Cave was hidden pretty deep. He used Color Kill to slice away some dead grass, barely revealing the entrance.
“So small?” he said hesitantly. “How tiny were you as a kid to squeeze into this?”
Wenren Sheng stammered, “Ah, but everyone is… very small when they’re little…”
“Is that so?” He Mu casually remarked. “From what I remember, only demons are that tiny when young.”
Wenren Sheng immediately bristled all over like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
He denied it vehemently. “No way! There are definitely people who are super super small too!”
He Mu made an expression of sudden realization. “Oh, you’re right. Since you lived here as a kid, what you say must be true. Could it be you’re actually a little demon trying to trick me? Absolutely impossible.”
Wenren Sheng took it at face value and nodded frantically. “Exactly, exactly! Absolutely impossible!”
He Mu smiled without responding. He flipped his wrist and let a thread of spiritual power flow from his fingertips into the Rabbit Cave.
The space inside wasn’t big either—just a place to sleep. He Mu scanned around roughly; there was no sign of life.
He withdrew his spiritual power and sighed. “Looks like they’re not here.”
Wenren Sheng didn’t show any disappointment. He’d long known the clan leader had taken the rabbits away, and they wouldn’t come back for no reason.
Wenren Sheng tugged at his clothes and gazed lingeringly at the Rabbit Cave entrance.
“Feels like I won’t see them again.” he said.
“You miss them so much, so why did you separate?” He Mu asked. “Was it because of that Sword Cultivator too?”
Wenren Sheng pursed his lips and shook his head.
“Um… separating from them wasn’t because of Chen Lian.”
He opened his mouth, hesitating whether to tell He Mu about being disliked, when a flash of white shadow caught the corner of his eye.
Wenren Sheng immediately turned to look. Under a pine tree not far away stood a little old man with white hair and beard, craning his neck to peer over at them.
Wenren Sheng vaguely felt the man looked familiar. He squinted to make sure.
“This is…”
The moment he clearly saw the face, Wenren Sheng’s pupils contracted slightly, shock appearing on his face.
“…Clan leader?”
That figure noticed Wenren Sheng’s gaze and startled. Then, like a rabbit fleeing in panic, it vanished from Wenren Sheng’s sight in a flash.
