"Aunt Li was kind enough to take me in, but I killed her son. I can understand why she hit me."
Shu Yao walked dejectedly on the street. It was dead of night at this moment, and he seemed like a child without a home.
Well, he was just a little tree spirit who had cultivated to take on a human form and come to the mortal world. He was all alone with no one to care about him.
He had no home. Originally, he still had little Shu Yue, but now little Shu Yue was gone too. Shu Yao heaved a long sigh.
The world was so vast, but where was his home?
For a moment, Shu Yao couldn't make up his mind. He looked back, and the baby who insisted he was Shu Yue at Aunt Li's house was still following him.
When the baby saw Shu Yao looking back, he cheered and quickened his pace to catch up with Shu Yao. Shu Yao didn't resist him anymore, but his tone was full of helplessness.
"Alas, it doesn't matter who I raise. If you say you're Shu Yue, then so be it. Now tell me where we should go."
Seeing that Shu Yao had acknowledged him, Shu Yue was overjoyed and began to analyze things to Shu Yao in a confident manner.
"I think it's better for us to go into the mountains. We definitely can't stay here. If we do, Aunt Li will surely report us to the authorities and have us arrested. We'll lose our lives then. It's better to go into the mountains. The terrain there is complex, and they won't be able to catch us."
Shu Yao was a bit surprised. This baby knew quite a lot for his young age, and what he said made sense. Shu Yao nodded in agreement.
The terrain in the mountains was complex. Apart from some hunters, few people ever went up there. It would be a quiet place, and who knew, maybe it was a hidden paradise yet to be discovered.
Shu Yao had no luggage and walked eastward light - heartedly. They went up the mountain and found a cave to rest in.
The cave was very large, a natural wonder created by nature. The sound of Shu Yao's voice echoed in the cave for a long time.
Shu Yao looked at the sky outside. It was gradually turning pale. He couldn't believe so many things had happened in one night. "Shu Yue, aren't you going to sleep? It's getting late. You're just a child and should rest early. Sleep well so you'll have the energy to go out with me tomorrow."
With that, he kindly took off his coat and covered Shu Yue with it. Maybe because they had been on the run all night, Shu Yue quickly closed his eyes and fell silent. Shu Yao sat alone in the cave in a daze. It seemed like everything had come back to square one.
He was penniless again. Why did his body change like that? He thought he had it under control.
Could it be that the dirty Taoist priest's blood had triggered his demonic nature, and little Shu Yue had turned into a three - or four - year - old because of his demonic influence?
Shu Yao was extremely exhausted. As he thought about these things, he fell asleep too. When he woke up, Shu Yue was obediently lying beside him, staring at him blankly with a pair of big round eyes.
"Why are you staring at me?"
Shu Yue replied to Shu Yao's simple question in the most childish voice, "I think daddy is good - looking. Daddy is so pretty that it makes me happy just looking at you. But now I'm hungry."
Shu Yao, who was complimented by Shu Yue, smiled. But the harmonious atmosphere was broken by an embarrassing growl from his stomach.
Shu Yao looked at his unruly stomach, and a blush crept onto his face.
"Come with me to find some food. We'll also gather some wood to build a small wooden house. We can't keep living in this cave."
Shu Yue nodded obediently. The two of them, one in front and the other behind, one tall and the other short, walked into the forest. The forest was Shu Yao's territory. It should be easy for him to catch some beasts with his magic.
It was time to show his real skills. Shu Yao cast his spell with high spirits but had to withdraw it dejectedly.
His magic was acting up. It was just his bad luck that it didn't work this time. If he couldn't use magic, how could he get food?
Shu Yao stood there helplessly, at a loss. Shu Yue kindly noticed Shu Yao's embarrassment. "Daddy, can't you catch any food?"
"Um... well... maybe we can go and see if there are any chickens or rabbits."
With that, Shu Yao ran ahead. Fortune favored the brave. There was some movement in the grass not far ahead. Shu Yao happily pushed aside the grass and saw a rabbit.
Just as he was about to catch it, he was kicked hard in the face. Shu Yao covered his injured face. Seeing this, Shu Yue didn't care about anything else and ran after the rabbit.
Shu Yao cursed in his heart. Stupid kid, was he less important than a rabbit?
But then he thought that if this rabbit got away, they wouldn't have lunch. In a hurry, Shu Yao ignored the injury on his face and ran after the rabbit.
Finally, after a great deal of effort, Shu Yao managed to catch the rabbit. He couldn't help but sigh that this rabbit had boundless energy and ran so fast that it had led them around half of the forest before they finally caught it.
"Stupid rabbit, no matter how fast you run, you still ended up in my hands. Hehe. Keep running now. I'll roast you when we get back." Shu Yao held the rabbit by its ears, looking extremely proud.
He then noticed that Shu Yue was picking up twigs behind him. He couldn't help but be puzzled. "Shu Yue, what are you doing? What do you need these small pieces of wood for? You can't build a wooden house with such small wood."
As he said this, Shu Yao even laughed, thinking that kids were just naive.
But Shu Yue tilted his head cutely, his big round eyes rolling innocently. "No, daddy. Aren't you going to roast the rabbit? We need to start a fire to roast the rabbit. I picked up the wood so we can roast the rabbit when we get back."
After they got back and roasted the rabbit and had a hearty meal, they didn't know what to do next. Shu Yao's magic was unreliable. Without magic, how could he build a wooden house? He and Shu Yue had to stay in this small cave for the time being.
A sense of powerlessness welled up in him. It seemed that he knew very little without his magic. Seeing Shu Yao looking so gloomy, Shu Yue stepped forward and hugged his arm.
"Daddy, why are you unhappy? Is it because of building the house? I think it's nice to live here. As long as I'm with daddy, everything is fine." Shu Yue's little face showed a bright smile.
That smile was warm and sweet, melting Shu Yao's original worries. All that was left in his heart was a sweet feeling.
"That won't do. We still need to build a house. This is a cave. There's always a possibility of wild beasts appearing. It's too dangerous. What if one day you're carried away by a wild beast?"
Shu Yue nodded seriously, but still couldn't help comforting Shu Yao. "Okay, daddy will pick up big pieces of wood, and I'll pick up small ones."
Listening to the innocent words of the child, Shu Yao was glad that at least there was such a little one by his side to keep his days from being too boring.
He would try his magic again in a few days. If his magic returned, he could build a home for Shu Yue.