Di Yunyu was silent for a moment, then extended his slender hand toward the small thing that had just “nyah~ed” at him from the pile of leaves.
The barrier he had set up could cut off all connections between the Demon Capital and the outside world. A Nascent Soul inside the barrier, without the protection of its true body, would suffer great damage. Shen Liuxiang’s primordial spirit, like his soul, was extremely fragile and couldn’t withstand such actions.
He didn’t know when Shen Liuxiang had left it behind, or how long it had been secretly following him.
If he hadn’t discovered it early, after some time, this Nascent Soul would certainly have been lying limp on the ground, barely breathing.
Di Yunyu intended to throw it out of the barrier, back to its true body, coldly saying: “I make the rules. Nascent Souls may not be living things, but they’re still not allowed.”
Shen Liuxiang, who was controlling the Nascent Soul’s actions, was stunned. Through the black eyes, he stared at the approaching hand, grinding his teeth.
Unreasonable… stone-hearted…
If the Nascent Soul was thrown out, he would be outside the barrier with no way to know what was happening inside. When the demonic beast emerged and the tribulation descended, regardless of what Di Yunyu did or what troubles he encountered, he would only be able to watch helplessly from outside the barrier, with no way to help.
Xu Xingchen, who was standing nearby, saw him frown and became anxious: “What’s happening? Is Father Emperor going to throw you out? Control your Nascent Soul and run! No, that won’t work, you can’t outrun Father Emperor… you, you should cry for him to see!”
Shen Liuxiang did have the acting skills to shed a tear in a second, but facing Di Yunyu’s light eyes that seemed to see through everything, he had no doubt that if he were to cry sorrowfully, Di Yunyu would just laugh at being amused.
With no other option, Shen Liuxiang stared at the jade-white hand before him, gritted his teeth, and controlled the Nascent Soul to grab onto it, pleading: “Don’t send me away! Don’t send me away!”
Di Yunyu was firm: “No discussion.”
Having said that, he was about to pick up the Nascent Soul.
At this moment, a slight sensation suddenly transmitted to his palm—delicate and soft, with a hint of cool silk.
Di Yunyu looked down to see the Nascent Soul’s fair, delicate little face nuzzling against his palm. Its bright black eyes blinked, moist as if with crystalline tears, the corners of its mouth turned down pitifully as it stared at him.
“…”
Di Yunyu remained silent, and that snow-white little face continued to nuzzle his palm, like a gentle feather brushing against his heart—though the movement was light, it was impossible to ignore.
After a long silence, Di Yunyu withdrew his hand. Just as the small Nascent Soul lowered its eyes, unable to contain its sadness and disappointment, he pinched its collar, lifted it into the air, and asked: “You really must follow?”
Seeing this unexpected turn, the miniature version of Shen Liuxiang nervously clasped its soft white hands together and nodded vigorously.
Di Yunyu stared at its reddened cheeks: “Following me inside will damage your primordial spirit. Have you thought it through?”
The Nascent Soul nodded again. Di Yunyu said no more, placed it in his hand, and carried it away.
Far at the city’s outskirts, a hundred miles away, Shen Liuxiang’s forehead beaded with sweat as he opened his eyes. Xu Xingchen hurriedly asked: “How is it? Did Father Emperor let you stay?”
Seeing him nod, Xu Xingchen breathed a sigh of relief.
But soon, thinking that Shen Liuxiang’s primordial spirit could spend so much time alone with Father Emperor, Xu Xingchen couldn’t help but feel bubbles of jealousy rising within him. “Father Emperor moves so quickly, how did you think of leaving your Nascent Soul behind… If I had known, I would have left one too!”
Shen Liuxiang smiled without answering.
In fact, he barely had the strength to speak. With the Nascent Soul so far away, after controlling it for a while, he was too mentally exhausted to keep his eyes open.
Fortunately, Di Yunyu had agreed to keep the Nascent Soul. From now on, he would be able to sense Di Yunyu’s situation through his connection with the Nascent Soul.
On the empty streets of the Demon Capital, the wind blew strongly, causing the leaves on the roadside to rustle down.
The Nascent Soul, no longer controlled by Shen Liuxiang and left with only a four-year-old’s intelligence, sat bewilderedly in Di Yunyu’s hand. The sudden strong wind made it difficult for it to keep its eyes open, its fine black hair flying wildly, the golden crown on its head blown askew.
With the sound of howling wind in its ears, it looked around, not knowing where to hide except to curl itself into a ball.
Until a sleeve draped down, blocking the fierce wind outside, the Nascent Soul finally steadied itself, breathed a sigh of relief, and slowly turned around. Raising its soft voice, it obediently called out “Father Emperor.”
Di Yunyu raised his handsome eyebrow slightly. It had grown a bit bigger and was indeed more well-behaved than when it was three years old… If so, why had it regressed now?
The wind howled in the street with no sign of abating. Di Yunyu lowered the sleeve that was blocking the wind, lightly tapped his fingertip on the Nascent Soul’s head, and a barrier emanating golden light enveloped it.
The Nascent Soul raised its hand to touch the barrier, felt the warm aura, and smiled with curved eyes, clearly liking this enclosed space.
Staying within it, its eyes constantly surveyed the surroundings as Di Yunyu walked. But after looking around for a while, due to the excessive quietness, it felt drowsy and couldn’t help but give a small yawn before lying flat in Di Yunyu’s hand and closing its eyes.
Di Yunyu noticed this, his gaze falling on the Nascent Soul that had fallen asleep in an instant.
For a moment, he felt as if a sticky rice ball had adhered to his hand.
The sleeping posture, learned from who knows where, had the Nascent Soul curled up entirely, dressed in snow-white clothes.
Combined with the fair, delicate skin exposed, it was identical to a rice dumpling. With its fine, soft black hair, it looked like a sesame rice ball that had revealed a bit of its filling.
It looked soft and fluffy.
Di Yunyu extended his hand, his well-defined fingers flicking the small head. “Following me just to sleep?”
The Nascent Soul winced in pain and opened its eyes drowsily.
If it had been three-year-old Shen or Shen Liuxiang, they would certainly have been furious at someone who abruptly interrupted their dreams. But this stage of the primordial spirit was different—having just lost its mother, it was docile at all times. After blinking with confused innocence, it caught the slender finger that had flicked it and tried to pull it into its embrace, holding it with both hands.
“No more hitting, okay?”
Di Yunyu had expected the Nascent Soul to vigorously resist. Unexpectedly, it hugged the offending finger, gently admonished him once, and then continued sleeping.
Di Yunyu was speechless.
…This glutinous rice ball was quite clingy.
After the Nascent Soul fell asleep, Shen Liuxiang could only sense that it was hugging something, presumably lying in Di Yunyu’s hand. Though that slender hand was moving gently with his steps, curled up inside it felt quite enjoyable.
Like lying in a rocking cradle, it was exceptionally comfortable to sleep in.
So this sleep lasted for two hours. When the Nascent Soul opened its eyes again, the surroundings had changed—no longer on the main street, but in a deep mountain forest.
The surrounding woods were lush, with ancient trees so old they blocked clouds and sunlight. Below, vines spread chaotically, weaving through the shrubs. Not far away, the sounds of flowing water and insects intertwined, becoming the rare sounds in the stillness.
Before midnight, Di Yunyu had no urgent matters. Finding it boring to stay in the Demon Capital, he had directly sought out a quiet forest. Although it was far different from Shenqi Mountain, it gave him some sense of familiarity.
Shen Liuxiang’s Nascent Soul had slept too long. Upon waking, its snow-white cheeks were flushed. It sat up, remained dazed for a while, then lightly raised its dark eyelashes: “…Thirsty.”
In fact, the Nascent Soul neither thirsts nor hungers; this was just an instinctive behavior mimicking its true body. Di Yunyu knew this full well, but his divine sense still swept through the forest: “There’s a large fruit grove. Would you like an orange?”
The Nascent Soul’s eyes brightened, and it lightly nodded its chin.
Di Yunyu brought it to an orange tree, raised his hand, and those branches laden with oranges seemed to have minds of their own, actively bending toward him, lowering their boughs for him to pick.
Shen Liuxiang’s Nascent Soul was placed on the ground, looking up eagerly. Seeing Di Yunyu pick a round, golden sweet orange and turn back to give it to him, it immediately smiled with curved eyes and raised both hands.
Seeing this, Di Yunyu paused, as if something had occurred to him.
He seemed thoughtful, then picked up a dry branch from the ground, wrapped it with fine thread, and surprisingly formed a simple fishing rod. But instead of bait, the other end of the line was tied to an orange.
Soon, Di Yunyu sat cross-legged on the ground, holding a dry branch, his fingers lightly flicking so that the orange dangled above the small Nascent Soul’s head, swaying back and forth.
“Can you catch it?”
The Nascent Soul blinked in confusion, raised both hands high above its head, and tried hard to reach. Its fingertips barely brushed the orange peel, just able to touch it.
If it stood on tiptoe, there might be a chance.
Shen Liuxiang’s Nascent Soul’s eyes flashed slightly. It suddenly stood on tiptoe and with lightning speed tried to grab the orange above its head. Just as it seemed about to succeed, Di Yunyu’s finger lightly lifted, raising the orange higher, and the two small hands grasped at empty air.
The Nascent Soul lost its balance and staggered slightly, nearly falling.
It looked up at the swaying orange in confusion, then at Di Yunyu.
The latter rested his chin on his hand, his light eyes falling on the Nascent Soul, the corners of his lips curved in an ambiguous smile: “You could try jumping.”
Following his suggestion, under the orange tree, the palm-sized figure aimed at the orange hanging from the fine thread and began to jump, looking just like a bouncing glutinous rice ball.
After jumping twice, the Nascent Soul was tired and let out a long breath.
Just as it was about to give up, the orange floated back leisurely, swaying before its face. The Nascent Soul couldn’t resist reaching for it, first with one hand, then with both, standing on tiptoe, jumping up a bit.
The Nascent Soul was panting. During its rest, the orange again swayed its enticing form to tempt it, and so the cycle continued.
Far outside the barrier, Shen Liuxiang: “…”
He couldn’t believe it. The dignified Emperor… bullying a four-year-old Nascent Soul, was this something a person should do? If this got out, would the Emperor still have any face left!
Oh, but there was only the two of them inside the barrier, so it didn’t matter—
Di Yunyu saw that the Nascent Soul neither cried nor got annoyed, but persisted. He found this strange; this character and patience made him almost unable to recognize it as Shen Liuxiang, which led him to tease it a bit more.
The Nascent Soul had reached for the orange for a long time, only to find it could never grasp it, a significant blow. Its eyes lowered, and although it didn’t cry or make a fuss, its expression was listless as it pouted.
Seeing this, Di Yunyu stopped teasing and took down the round orange to give to it. Unexpectedly, the Nascent Soul hid both small hands behind its back, refusing to accept, shaking its head.
Di Yunyu was puzzled and held it to its mouth.
The Nascent Soul immediately turned its head away, tightly pressing its lips, its bright black eyes filled with tears. It sniffled, feeling extremely wronged, yet held back from crying.
Di Yunyu saw its entire body in rejection: “Don’t want to eat anymore?”
This question was like opening a floodgate. The small creature before him let out a “wuwah” and began to cry, tears pouring down, instantly wetting its cheeks.
He lost face long ago XD
Thank You for the new chapter ❤_(:3 」∠)_