What if I don't want to ascend to immortality?

Chapter 9 Dodder Ghost

The demon that opened the door for them wasn't some new-era mutated species; Han Jie recognized it at a glance—it was the little thing commonly known as the dodder demon.

However, the little devils he used to casually kill were nothing more than useless creatures that clung to the sides of grown men and women, absorbing meager life force through illusion magic.

The one before him was clearly far stronger than any he had ever seen before. Putting aside everything else, the human form it conjured was almost flawless. If his Heart Swords "Weeping Blood" and "Night Sorrow" hadn't activated simultaneously, he, whose divine sense was currently at its lowest point, might have been fooled for a moment.

He recognized the demon, and the demon sensed him.

Possessing nine swords of the heart, he broke through the heavens and crossed realms to slay the Demon Emperor. Even after more than 1,800 years, the ferocious aura emanating from his slightest murderous intent was enough to make even weak demons flee in panic.

So, almost instinctively, the little guy covered his head with his hands, whimpered, and huddled up in a ball inside the doorway.

Han Jie had to admit that during the long period of seclusion while he was repairing his body, the demons, on the contrary, relied on their close relationship with humans to keep up with the times.

The dodder demon's illusory form looked like a cute five or six-year-old girl, thin and small, fair-skinned, with long, slightly yellowish hair tied into small pigtails on both sides, even the details on the hair ties were... Hmm? He frowned and looked closely, only then noticing that apart from its main body being an illusion of spiritual energy, the demon in front of him had real clothes, accessories, and even the large slippers on its feet.

The moment he frowned, the little devil peeked through his fingers and turned pale with fright. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he was too scared to let them fall.

Meng Qingtong quickly squeezed between them, squatted down, and patted the little devil's head. "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. This older brother isn't a bad person; he won't hit you. Why is it Little Rabbit who's opening the door? Where's Mommy?"

"Mom?" Han Jie was utterly puzzled.

You just tried to convince me that demons are born from the human heart, and now you're acting out a dodder worm looking for its mother? This little devil can't even transform into an adult, and its true form is almost identical to a dodder vine. How can it possibly distinguish male from female and have a baby?

The little devil moved closer to Meng Qingtong's knees before whispering, feeling safe and protected by his older sister: "Mom is cooking. She said that my sister is coming to deliver something, something very important... something, and she wants my sister to eat something delicious."

Meng Qingtong hugged it and patted its head, then casually tugged at its two little braids and pulled them a few times. "Okay, okay, I told you not to be afraid, little rabbit. This big brother and sister are both good people. They won't hit you without asking questions."

Filled with doubt, Han Jie took a small step back, but his right arm was already taut, ready to summon a heart sword at any moment to obliterate the demon before him.

The little boy raised his head tremblingly, looked at Meng Qingtong, and whispered, "Sister, has Mom's... um... that... been found?"

Meng Qingtong smiled smugly and took out the photo that had been framed and mounted. "Here, take it. This kind of small request is a piece of cake for me."

Ha, who was it that traveled all the way to the deep mountains to set up traps and spirit arrays, then had to jump off cliffs and hide in tree branches, getting all covered in dirt and grime? Han Jie's lips twitched as he watched her chatting and laughing with the demon, lost in thought.

"Then, I'll take it to...Mom." A happy smile bloomed on the little girl's pale face. She shuffled inside in slippers that were at least one size too big for her feet, shouting, "Mom, Mom, I brought back Dad's picture!"

What? He has a father too?
Han Jie raised his hand and rubbed his temples.

He was quite certain that the two figures captured by the photograph were consistent in appearance, most likely ordinary young humans. Just how advanced had the so-called science and technology of this era become? How could two ordinary people give birth to a little demon?

"Don't overthink it. Demons aren't born from humans... well, not in the way you're thinking." Meng Qingtong got up and went inside, acting all familiar. She grabbed a pair of slippers from the doorway and put them on. "Oh dear, Sister Lin doesn't usually have many guests here. We don't have any slippers for you. Just come in like this."

Han Jie made a hand seal and waved his hand, sending two gusts of spiritual wind sweeping across the soles of his feet, carrying away all the dust, before stepping inside. At the same time, he felt a slight sense of relief—it seemed that his spiritual techniques were not yet so limited that he had to struggle as much as the cultivators of this world.

Noticing his subtle movements, Meng Qingtong raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, but immediately acted as if nothing had happened and entered the living room, calling out loudly, "Sister Lin, how is it? Is the item correct?"

The sound of the gas stove being turned off came from the kitchen, and then a slender, petite woman came out.

She had no spiritual power whatsoever; she was an ordinary person through and through. Han Jie sensed her and found that she was only in her thirties, but she looked haggard, weak, and old; it wouldn't be surprising if she were someone from Meng Qingtong's mother's generation.

Judging from her eyebrows and eyes, she should be the woman in the photo, but compared to the photo, not only has her former gentle and beautiful appearance been lost, but even the light in her eyes has been completely dimmed. It's as if all the beauty of her youth has burned away in that photo, leaving only a handful of ashes covering her skin for the cruel and cold reality.

She clutched the photo tightly to her chest, as if holding her soul that wanted to escape.

Tears streamed down her face, making it difficult for her to utter a complete sentence; all that could be heard was a hoarse "thank you."

Meng Qingtong pulled her to sit on the sofa, hugged her, gently patted her shoulder, and said softly, "Alright, alright, I said I would definitely get it back for you. If any blind thief steals this again, I'll provide after-sales service and grind it to dust for free."

Han Jie did not approach, but remained warily watching the parasitic ghost.

The little boy didn't dare look at him. He just squatted down at the feet of the weeping Mrs. Lin, hugged her legs, rested his little face on her knees, and whispered, "Mommy, don't cry, don't cry..."

Han Jie could sense that it would take some time for the pent-up emotions to be fully released, so he turned his gaze to a potted plant on the bay window sill in the living room.

The plant itself is nothing special; it's just a common small shrub found along the street.

But on this potted plant, a thin vine climbs, and the spiritual energy flows along the vine, emanating from the small yellow flower at the top and spreading into the room.

Han Jie became increasingly surprised as he looked, and couldn't help but take a few steps toward that direction.

The parasitic ghost squatting at Ms. Lin's feet was startled and quickly tugged at Meng Qingtong's trouser leg, pointing with a mournful face at Han Jie by the bay window.

Han Jie glanced at it, too lazy to say anything, and reached out to touch the leaves of the small vine.

To his surprise, the true form of the dodder ghost was actually displayed so openly and conspicuously.

What surprised him even more was that this dodder ghost was tirelessly mobilizing the sparse spiritual energy between heaven and earth, transferring it bit by bit to his home, and transforming it into spiritual energy that would be of slight benefit to ordinary people.

The little brat shuddered, mustered his courage, looked at him, and whispered, "Brother, that...that...is very delicate, could you...not touch it?"

Han Jie withdrew his hand, released a wisp of divine sense, and let it travel around the still sobbing Ms. Lin's body a few times to examine her briefly.

Her body was indeed very weak, but there was no sign that her spirit and essence had been stolen. Instead, she was suffering from both physical pain and mental illness.

So it seems that this little devil... is actually helping her prolong her life?

After waiting a few minutes, Ms. Lin calmed down. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Han Jie through Meng Qingtong's introduction, she returned to the kitchen to cook. The little devil, not daring to stay in the living room, also hurried over to help out.

Once everyone else was gone, Han Jie finally spoke up and asked, "What happened?" Meng Qingtong spread her hands. "As you can see. Surely a senior with such great abilities like you can tell what happened?"

Han Jie frowned and said, "What you see is only the surface. I can sense that the woman is still being misled by the little devil. Based on this alone, she should be executed."

Then, thinking of Meng Qingtong's lofty goal, he added, "The dodder demon only has one illusion technique; subduing it is a piece of cake. If you want to gather intelligence, I'll help you."

Meng Qingtong shook her head. "Little Rabbit already took care of it for me. The true name of this demon is Tu Ba. Would you like to see its origin?"

She extended her slender index finger, and a tiny fluorescent light slowly emanated from the tip. "I guess this is a demon you've never seen before."

Han Jie had certainly seen the dodder demon before, and had even killed countless of them. However, he understood Meng Qingtong's meaning.

She was right.

Han Jie had never seen such a demon before.

Or rather, never in his entire life had he stood here chatting, ignoring the demon just a wall away. He was absolutely certain that the little devil would never do anything to harm the "mother" it spoke of.

He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and with a wave of his hand, he put the tiny glowing light into the space between his eyebrows.

Compared to the cunning ox, the dodder provides far fewer fragments, but the information it contains is clearer and easier to understand. Even someone as naive as Han Jie could sense the intense longing and obsession for children in those flashback scenes.

He carefully sorted through the remaining fragments of memory several times, discovered something puzzling, and asked, "Why can't I see anyone else in here?"

Meng Qingtong said in a low voice, "I guess it's because the rabbit's origin is only one person—Sister Lin."

"So that's why it called that woman 'Mom'?" Han Jie frowned even more deeply. "Can a demon be created simply from one person's emotions...?"

"This is the main reason why I plan to spend some time helping Sister Lin." She brought up the draft interface of the Encyclopedia of Demons. "If the generation of demons is greatly influenced by the inner world of the source, I think that in the future, everyone will have more than one way to solve their problems."

"Don't you find it troublesome?" Han Jie glanced at the dense speculative annotations under the entry for the word "Tu Ba" and said slowly, "It's clearly a small matter that can be easily resolved."

Meng Qingtong raised her head and said very seriously, "There are never any trivial matters when it comes to people's hearts."

In that instant, Han Jie suddenly felt an impulse. If he were to pass on his unique Heart Sword technique from Sanxing Guayue Mountain to the girl before him, what kind of Heart Sword would be forged?
A moment later, the little rabbit came out of the kitchen, spread its arms, grabbed the folding dining table against the wall, and struggled to drag it to the open space in the middle.

Meng Qingtong poked Han Jie with her fingertip, "Hey, go lend a hand. Look at her, she's such a little girl, she's not even as tall as a table leg."

Han Jie was taken aback. He walked over, lifted the table with one hand, moved it to a new position, observed how to open it, and then bent down to set it up.

He had been a guest in the past, but the families who hosted him all revered him as a savior of suffering, wishing they could put him on the altar and offer him incense. They would never let him set the table himself.

After setting the table down, he noticed that the little rabbit was still in the same position as before he pulled the table away, with its arms outstretched. It was stiff all over and didn't dare to move. It was just blinking and staring at him, with fine beads of sweat on its fair forehead.

He hesitated for a moment, then softened his tone as much as possible and said, "There's no need to be so afraid of me, at least not right now."

Despite saying that, he still couldn't truly treat the little devil like Meng Qingtong did, like a little girl. Even after he stood back by the bay window, his right arm remained poised to draw his sword at any moment.

Not giving evil any opportunity had long become his habit.

"Little Rabbit, go help Mom serve the dishes."

"Okay!" Hearing Meng Qingtong's words, the little devil seemed to have been saved and wobbled into the kitchen.

Although he had only recently returned to this world, Han Jie's eyesight was still sharp. Just by comparing him with the other families he had seen today, he could tell that this unusual mother and daughter were living in dire poverty. For example, the little girl's short-sleeved shirt and pants were not only much older than those worn by the other children playing in the yard, but also had the patchwork details that were no longer commonly seen.

The thread in the loving mother's hand... Looking at the fine stitches, some old memories welled up in his mind, finally softening Han Jie's heart a little.

Walking up to Han Jie, Meng Qingtong whispered, "Aren't you curious about why Little Rabbit is so different from other demons?"

"Curiosity always brings trouble," Han Jie replied calmly. "I don't like trouble."

"Solving problems is precisely the responsibility of us spiritualists."

“I’m only good at doing things in the least troublesome way.” He paused, then continued, “But I admit, this parasitic worm is better handled in a more complicated way.”

Meng Qingtong laughed, her rosy lips curving into a lovely arc in the sunlight, as if she were genuinely happy about what he said. She patted Han Jie's shoulder and said, "Lunch is on Sister Lin, but I'll treat you to a big meal tonight."

Looking at the dishes of home-style cooking that Xiao Tu brought out one by one, a faint smile appeared on Han Jie's face. "No need to spend money, this is very good, very good."

"Well then, let's go eat. My stomach has been growling for ages." Seeing Sister Lin come out of the kitchen, Meng Qingtong walked towards the dining table, but stopped after taking only two steps.

Han Jie had already sensed it, and frowned, saying, "They're here for you?"

She nodded, somewhat troubled. "It's that demon that entangled me when I discovered my abilities. It touched my aura, so even after activating the spirit array to seal it, it was still attracted. I thought it would need some time to recover, but it seems... it's healing quite quickly."

"What is it?"

"Its real name is Jingbei, but it's usually called the Two-Headed Flying Leopard. In the Academy's Complete Book of Demons, its name is the Kinslayer. I had a commission to deal with it before, and after dealing with it for so long, I suddenly discovered this thing called a real name... Ugh, never mind, it's so annoying, I can't even have a peaceful meal." Meng Qingtong tied her hair up tightly. "It's on page thirteen of the Complete Book, much more troublesome than the thieving rabbit on page one hundred and twenty-six. You guys eat first, I estimate it'll be a while before I'm back."

Han Jie looked at the dining table.

He hadn't had a "normal" meal like this in ages.

"I'll go." He walked towards the door and said casually, "The food will get cold and won't taste good."

(End of this chapter)