Only then did Dad Su recover from the joy of hearing the little one speak. Looking at the child’s slightly furrowed face, he wondered: did Baby like the wind or not?
Su Li paid no attention to Dad Su’s expression. All of his attention was fixed on the tribulation thunder gathering in the distant sky.
He could not sense any spiritual power, but he still recognized a spiritual-energy vortex when he saw one.
It was a demon’s tribulation lightning, specifically the lightning of an advancement tribulation. That meant a demon nearby was trying to break through to a higher level.
He frowned slightly, his thoughts already racing. There might be other demons or even human cultivators in this world… Spiritual power clearly existed. If he alone could not sense it, then the problem was very likely his current body.
This might still be a world where spiritual power flourished. The phoenix divine power remained inside him, and his divine soul was still his own, so why could he not perceive the spiritual power of the outside world? Had something gone wrong during his failed tribulation…?
He calmed his mind and tried to sense the spiritual energy around him. Even then, however, he could not feel any of the violent power raging outside. It was as though no matter how abundant the spiritual energy beyond him became, it had absolutely nothing to do with him.
What exactly was happening?
Su Li shifted his gaze slightly and determined the direction of the distant spiritual-energy vortex. It was still some distance from here… The mountain where he used to live had housed many lesser demons, so he had seen all kinds of tribulation lightning before. Judging from the scale of this storm, the demon undergoing the tribulation was not weak. Humans were living here as well. This demon was far too bold to undergo a tribulation so close to a human settlement.
“Are you cold? Should Dad close the window?” Dad Su stood by the window holding Su Li. Seeing the child’s frown deepen, he became cautious. It really did look as though Baby disliked this…
Su Li let his father hold him while he watched the strange phenomenon in the distant sky. The spiritual-energy vortex changed from one instant to the next. When a flash of red light appeared at its center, his eyes shifted slightly and he murmured, “Looks like he’s going to fail.”
Once the vortex dispersed, the spiritual power would disperse with it. Failure was inevitable.
“What did Baby say?” Dad Su had been so busy trying to decipher the little one’s feelings that he only noticed the faint voice after it sounded. Baby seemed to have spoken again just now!
Su Li came back to himself. He gave no response to Dad Su’s excited voice. His thoughts were in chaos, and he needed to reorganize his understanding of his current situation.
The tribulation lightning was only an outward manifestation. The phenomenon in the sky would disappear before long. What he had not expected was that a demon nearby would actually be undergoing a tribulation. He would need to find an opportunity to go out and investigate. Of course, he had to hide this from his current family. His father seemed completely oblivious to the strange phenomenon in the sky and only reacted to the wind and rain. It appeared he truly was just an ordinary human…
Dad Su did not hear the child respond again and assumed Su Li wanted a clearer look. “Baby, do you want to see? Then Dad will open the window a little wider.” He reached out to push the window farther open.
At that moment, a pale little hand caught his arm. Dad Su unexpectedly felt the tiny bit of strength in the child’s grip. He looked down at the silent little one with lowered eyes and realized Baby seemed to be stopping him from opening the window.
“Don’t want to see anymore.” The child’s soft, milky voice sounded.
Baby could actually grab his arm now!
“Dad isn’t afraid of the wind. If Baby likes watching it, we can leave it open.”
Dad Su felt both delighted and heartbroken. After receiving such a response from his child, he wanted to fulfill every request the little one could possibly make.
But the child only shook his head. Dad Su had no choice but to close the window regretfully, carry him away from it, and keep talking as he walked, apparently hoping to coax Baby into saying a few more words.
Tribulation lightning was somewhat dangerous, the wind was strong, and humans were physically weak. It would be bad if his father were caught by the aftereffects. Su Li rested one hand on Dad Su’s shoulder while glancing back at the changing lightning beyond the window. If he had an opportunity, he still needed to investigate the demon undergoing the tribulation.
As for everything else, Su Li turned his head and saw the joyful expression on his father’s face. He knew his body was in poor condition, but his father’s reaction seemed somewhat too exaggerated…
—
Late that night, Su Li kept his eyes closed and listened to the faint movements beside the children’s beds.
“Don’t rush. Finish filming before you come back.” Dad Su stood beside the window talking on the phone. “Baby can call me Dad now, but he might simply not like talking very much. I asked the doctor. He said this has to be treated slowly. We can’t be impatient.”
He spoke quietly to the person on the other end of the call and only left once he was sure the children were asleep.
His father’s voice gradually faded into the distance, and the room slowly fell silent. Only then did Su Li open his eyes. The orange light overhead was not glaring. The curtains had been drawn tightly, and the sound of the wind outside seemed completely shut away by them, leaving no movement at all.
The younger child’s purring snores broke the silence of the room beneath the gentle orange light.
On the children’s bed nearest the window, the exquisitely pretty little child sat cross-legged. His eyes were half closed, and his hands formed a strange seal. Nothing else around him appeared to change, but the bright yellow light overhead seemed completely separated from the place where he sat, as though an invisible barrier covered his entire body.
If Dad Su had returned to the children’s room at that moment, he would certainly have seen the little child sitting upright on the bed. His supposedly “congenitally disabled” second son was performing body-tempering cultivation in an exceptionally standard posture.
It was both strange and marvelous.
Circulating spiritual power did not take long. Su Li confirmed that there were no other hidden problems in his body.
Since this was his first time circulating spiritual power in the new body, he cautiously released a tiny thread of energy toward the window. Under his control, the curtains silently slid aside by a small distance, revealing the pitch-black sky outside.
There was a blocked, obstructed feeling whenever spiritual power circulated through his body. Su Li frowned slightly, gathered power at his fingertip, and controlled it for a while longer, repeatedly testing how precisely he could regulate the amount. At that moment, a faint noise suddenly came from behind him. Before he could withdraw his spiritual power, the sound startled him, and the energy slipped from his control and shot straight out the window.
“…”
Su Li was startled. Turning his head, he saw his sleeping younger brother roll over while making another strange purring noise. Secretly circulating spiritual power behind everyone’s backs was rather uncomfortable. It would be troublesome if his unusual behavior aroused his family’s suspicions.
He glanced at his sleeping younger brother and suddenly thought the child made far too much noise while asleep. Did normal human children really sleep this loudly?
Once he confirmed his brother was still sound asleep, Su Li once again examined the condition inside his body and began circulating spiritual power with extreme caution. The demonic power he had accidentally released earlier appeared to have disappeared into the thick darkness outside.
Without anyone noticing, the wind outside gradually grew fierce. Dad Su, who was on the phone in the living room, looked toward the window in surprise. At that exact moment, Su Yu returned after arranging the formation outside, so Dad Su asked, “There’s nothing wrong with the formation, is there?”
“Nothing. I even went outside to take a look. I thought that wind demon might finally have succeeded, but it looks like he failed again.” Su Yu stretched. “How many times has he failed by now? Why hasn’t he given up?”
For as long as Su Yu could remember, he had heard the nearby lesser demons complaining about the wind demon’s tribulations. He had never expected the man to keep trying after so many failures.
“You’re too young to understand. Opportunities for wind demons to undergo tribulations are extraordinarily difficult to come by. The fact that he has been able to attempt so many is unusual in itself. Perhaps he has some special opportunity of his own.” Dad Su pulled a stack of homework from his bag. He had not yet marked his students’ work for the day. “Keep your voice down when you study late at night. Don’t wake your brothers.”
“I know.” Su Yu glanced toward the children’s room and casually cast a sound-blocking spell over his own bedroom door.
—
Inside the room, Su Li continued practicing. He used spiritual power to push the window open, and cold night air flowed inside.
The time required to complete one full circulation cycle was enough for him to sort out his situation.
Spiritual power existed in this world, but his physical condition was extraordinarily poor.
He could not reach or sense the spiritual power outside his body, nor could he cultivate by sensing and drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It was a problem with his constitution. The disadvantage was that he could not perceive the outside world in order to cultivate, but for him it was not entirely a bad thing. His divine soul was unusual, and he could still increase his cultivation through internal practice, although it would be slower than drawing external spiritual energy into his body.
He stared at the window, which had been pushed partially open by his spiritual power, and suddenly thought of something. If he could not sense the spiritual power outside, then with sufficient control, perhaps the outside world could not sense him using spiritual power either…
No. More accurately, perhaps the outside world already could not notice him at all when he used spiritual power.
It was as though he existed in complete isolation, entirely separated from all spiritual beings and energies outside himself.
Was this truly a problem with his constitution? Or had something gone wrong when he reincarnated?
Suddenly, a violent gust swept through the room. Su Li could not control his small body and was blown against the rail of the children’s bed, striking his arm hard enough to leave a dull ache.
He jerked his head up and saw a dark figure vault through the window and stop in front of him.
The man wore fitted black clothing. His features were resolute and his expression cold. Pointed ears, utterly unlike those of humans, showed beneath his black hair. Wings formed from the spirit of wind dispersed behind him as the gust faded. He stood there in rigid silence, his gaze as cold as sharpened wind, like a hunter moving unseen through the night.
Su Li instantly withdrew the spiritual power gathered at his fingertips and watched the intruder warily.
The wind demon steadied himself slightly. The fragment in his hand remained burning hot and drew him forward several steps. Following the direction of its divine power, he looked ahead and saw only a pale, adorable little demon child sitting on a children’s bed nearby.
The wind demon paused in surprise and suspiciously examined the shard in his hand. The red light on its surface had completely vanished.
…? A child?
Had he come to the wrong place?