The latest weather bulletin appeared on the liquid-crystal television. A warning for torrential rain and lightning risk advised citizens to reduce unnecessary travel.
Su Li listened to his father and older brother talking while thinking through his current circumstances.
Leaving aside all these unfamiliar “furnishings and electrical appliances,” he still had no way to determine whether spiritual power existed in this world at all.
This world was obviously different from his original one. With his phoenix divine soul and naturally spiritual body, he could cultivate on his own, yet he could not sense any spiritual power in the outside world. It was as though a thick barrier separated him from everything beyond himself. He could not perceive the outside world, and in the same way, the outside world would not notice him.
As he thought this, he suddenly detected a subtle change in the weather outside. He focused on the pitch-black view beyond the window. A dim light seemed to hang along the horizon, accompanied by a strange, oppressive heaviness.
Too strange… This did not seem like an ordinary rainstorm.
He steadied himself and looked a few more times. A sharp pain suddenly struck his mind, and a deep, hoarse voice sounded from the depths of his spiritual consciousness, urging him again and again as though guiding him to go outside.
Su Li lost control for an instant. His little hand clutched Dad Su’s shirt, and he pushed with his legs as though trying to stand.
“Baby, are you afraid of the wind?” Dad Su paid especially close attention to every change in Su Li’s emotions. He knew some young children could become frightened of thunder, rain, and wind because of childhood trauma, which could be very harmful to their psychological development.
He held the little one more tightly. “Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared.”
“Looks like the mountain across from us is causing trouble again.” Su Yu wore a sour expression. “I knew something was wrong. It was unbearably hot during the day, and now there’s a torrential-rain warning at night.” Amid the rustling chaos in the woods, Su Yu saw quite a few lesser demons crowding beneath the protection of the formation outside their home. Evidently they had come seeking shelter.
Demonic winds raged outside. Every few decades, the same disturbance occurred. The wind demon on the opposite mountain was trying to undergo another tribulation.
“Su Yu, close the window. The wind is too strong,” Dad Su said.
As though shutting a window could possibly stop demonic wind.
Su Yu silently formed a demon-art gesture with one hand and walked to the window, where he saw a vortex gathering thunder in the sky outside.
Good grief. Thunder rolled in the distance, and tribulation lightning was about to descend. That was obviously a tribulation storm!
“Dad, take Baby farther inside. There might be thunder in a moment.”
Was the wind demon really undergoing a tribulation? Dad Su’s heart tightened, and he picked up Su Li, intending to carry him deeper into the house.
Su Li wanted to move closer and see what was happening, but after twisting around, he discovered he could not break free at all.
Counting even the time when he had been unconscious, he had already been in this world for a long while. This was the first time he had felt such a subtle guiding sensation, and it was very likely connected to his inability to sense changes in the outside world.
Given the present situation, however, it was not convenient for him to use the innate phoenix divine power inside his body. For one thing, he did not understand the outside world. For another, because he could not sense his surroundings, it was difficult to judge how much spiritual power to use. A moment of carelessness could expose him in front of his human father, and they might even take him for some kind of monster.
No. He had to find a way to get to the window and see what was happening.
“Baby, don’t be scared.” Dad Su felt the little one struggling in his arms and assumed the demonic wind had genuinely frightened him, so he unconsciously quickened his pace.
Su Li watched the window grow farther and farther away and became anxious.
An opportunity like this was extremely rare. If he missed it, there was no telling how long he would have to wait for another. Unwilling to give up, he clutched Dad Su’s clothes and, in his urgency, blurted out, “Wait.”
Dad Su froze at the sound and stopped in disbelief. Had Baby just spoken?!
It had been many years since Su Li had last spoken in front of anyone, so even he was momentarily startled by his own childish voice. He raised his head slightly and noticed Dad Su’s shocked expression. Before, his divine power had been in chaos and his consciousness unclear. After waking, he had been occupied with sorting through information about this world. Time had simply slipped by… It seemed he had never made a sound in front of this family.
This was bad.
He instantly remembered the tone and manner his twin younger brother Su Ming used when acting spoiled with their parents. Slowly, he lifted a hand and tugged at Dad Su’s clothes, attempting to imitate him. “D-Daddy?”
Su Li paused after speaking and raised one soft little hand to touch his own throat. Why did his voice sound somewhat strange?
He remembered Su Ming pronouncing it this way. Why did it sound different when he said it himself?
The wind continued howling outside the window. Dad Su held his breath and stared at the child in his arms, not daring to speak at all. He watched him cautiously, frightened and expectant at the same time.
Su Li had no choice but to continue with the mistake. He tentatively pointed outside the window and stated his request. “Want… see.”
He remembered that whenever Su Ming acted spoiled like this, his requests were almost always granted.
Dad Su could no longer hold back his emotions. He hugged the child tightly, then stiffly turned toward his eldest son standing by the window. Seeing the same stunned expression on Su Yu’s face, he asked, “Did you hear your brother speak?”
Su Yu nodded, still visibly shocked.
His younger brother, who had not uttered a single word in two years, had spoken! And it had not been the indistinct babbling of an infant. He had actually said real words!
Su Li noticed the emotional change in the father and son. They stood frozen in place, motionless. After a while, Dad Su finally carried him toward the window. Su Li had thought his behavior might have been wrong and aroused suspicion in his father and brother, but judging from this reaction… they seemed to be accepting the development quite well?
“He talked!” Su Yu came over and stared at Su Li, pinching his cheeks and patting his head. “Who am I?”
Su Li: “…?”
He did not answer.
Dad Su, meanwhile, had been so overwhelmed with joy at hearing the child speak that he genuinely carried him to the window to look outside.
But once they reached it, Dad Su immediately became worried again. “The wind is too strong. What if he catches a cold?”
Su Yu was still mired in disappointment that his brother had not called him anything. “Would he?”
Since when did demons catch colds?? Wasn’t that a human problem?
Dad Su said, “Can your brother be compared with you? Go get a scarf from the room.”
Su Yu could not understand him at all. “A scarf in weather this hot, just so he can stand in the wind??”
“Why do you have so much to say?” Dad Su replied. “Before you get the scarf, go check the courtyard.”
Su Yu had long concluded that there was no reasoning with his father once the topic involved raising children. Still, before going inside to find a scarf, he obediently went into the courtyard and reinforced the protective formation. The wind demon had failed every tribulation for so many years, but what if he succeeded this time? It really would not be good if the noise frightened the little one.
After sending his eldest son off to work, Dad Su finally turned his attention back to Su Li. The little one in his arms was unusually quiet, and his delicate, adorable face was currently drawn into a small frown.
Dad Su immediately changed his tone and asked gently, “Baby, do you like watching the wind?”
He received no answer.
The wind demon had disturbed the neighborhood more than once over the years. Every time he attempted to advance through a tribulation, he created a tremendous commotion, and whenever wind and thunder rose, the lesser demons living nearby came to the Su family for shelter. The Su family and the wind demon had always minded their own business and had never interacted in all these years. Seeing Baby apparently interested in the demonic wind, Dad Su had originally considered visiting the wind demon with a gift the next day and asking him to stir up some wind to amuse the child. Now he was no longer sure.