Chapter 2: Me? My name is Yin Jiujiu

They say.

Demons are born to eat people.

I don't think so.

Because I have seen many, many good people; they would give Jiu Jiu a bite to eat, so Jiu Jiu only ever absorbs the final wisp of breath from those wicked people.

I am a good demon.

But it seems that people don't think so.

They only believe that I have sucked away their three souls and seven spirits.

Standing quietly inside the inner room of a spacious building complex.

A woman dressed in embroidered robes is coughing, on the verge of death.

Jiu Jiu stands by the window, watching the moonlight spill down quietly; the woman's breathing grows increasingly heavy, and before long, a wisp of Soul Qi, symbolizing life and death, drifts from her spine.

It flies toward Jiu Jiu, who is gazing at the moonlight.

Jiu Jiu gently licks her red lips and reaches out to cup her own chin, which is as delicate as jade.

Immediately, a dizzying sensation, as if the world were spinning, begins in her mind.

【Please remember, every Reincarnation is a lifetime of yours.】

【Every end is the beginning of a brand-new Reincarnation for you.】

【Today's Reincarnation count: 3/3.】

【Your talent: God-Devouring Soul-Swallowing.】

【Please begin your Reincarnation! Please begin your Reincarnation! Please begin your Reincarnation!】

The voice, chanting like a scripture, echoes in Jiu Jiu's mind, making her dizzy.

She does not want to experience the painful life of a Guhuoniao over and over again; she does not want to review those experiences where everyone shouts for her to be beaten to death, time after time.

But to avoid that voice stinging her again.

Jiu Jiu whispers in her heart—begin Reincarnation.

The stinging sensation recedes like a tide.

【Your name is Yin Jiujiu.】

【You are a demon, your true form is a Guhuoniao, and you survive by devouring the final wisp of essence and soul from living people.】

【Your mother was a demon like you, also known as a Guhuoniao, and your father was a human, hailing from the Jinyang Yin Family, a scholar from a wealthy household.】

【Therefore, in the days just after you were born, you lived very happily.】

【However, good times did not last; in the year you were nine, a servant died in the Yin Family Courtyard. He had originally died of illness, but for some reason, when he was being placed in the coffin, black blood flowed from his seven orifices. The Yin Family believed in ghosts and gods, thinking the man had been struck by an evil spirit, and hurriedly ran to the temple to invite monks to perform rites for the soul.】

【When the monks from the temple arrived at the Yin Family Courtyard, they felt the Yin energy there was heavy and extremely suspicious, so they set up an array in the Yin house, but unexpectedly, they discovered something with horror.】

【There was a demon in the Yin Family Courtyard, and it was a powerful, titled great demon.】

【Thus, they concealed this matter, feigned composure as they took their leave of the Yin Family, and returned to the temple to inform the abbot.】

【Abbot Zhangde knew the gravity of the matter and, without delay, rushed to the Yin Family mansion, quickly confirming one thing.】

【The wife of the second son of the Yin Family, Yin Xuanxiong, was a demon, and a great demon at that.】

【After telling Yin Xuanxiong this news, his expression changed drastically; after confirming the matter repeatedly, he suspected that the death of the family servant had a great deal to do with his beautiful and alluring wife.】

【Thus, he plotted with Abbot Zhangde and ultimately decided to eliminate the demon.】

【As for your mother, she saw Abbot Zhangde's arrival, but she wanted to explain the matter clearly.】

【The servant's death had nothing to do with her.】

【She had only swallowed the final wisp of deathly energy from the servant before he died.】

【That person was destined to die.】

【She had originally thought her explanation could resolve the doubts of the husband with whom she had shared life for over a decade, but unfortunately, it was all a fantasy.】

【"A human is a human, a demon is a demon. You say Wang Bo was destined to die, which is why you sucked away that breath, but how am I to know if that is true?"】

【"I only know now that you are a demon, and you are clearly trying to kill us in the Yin Family."】

【"Abbot Zhangde, please... please slay the demon!"】

【Hearing her husband's heartless and cold words, your mother finally woke up; she knew she could not stay here, for if she remained, not only would she die, but you would also die here.】

【To protect you, she had to escape.】

【Alas, when Abbot Zhangde came, he had already made full preparations, yet your mother had naively thought that if she explained it clearly, the matter would return to dust and earth.】

【When she took you away from the Yin Family, she was severely wounded.】

【After caring for you for three years, she taught you some demon arts, taught you some ways to survive, and also taught you some skills to distinguish good people from bad.】

【In the fourth year, unable to recover from her severe wounds and with a heart that could not heal, she passed away. As she was leaving, she held your hand and said to you softly: "People, there are good ones and bad ones, just like us demons; there are good ones and bad ones too."】

【"Your Papa was afraid of me; he is not a bad person."】

【"Mother cannot accompany you to the end; Jiu Jiu must find a way to protect herself."】

【That time, you shed tears, and that time was also the last time your mother wiped away your tears for you.】

【From that day on, you also knew the reason your mother named you Jiu Jiu; she hoped you would possess extraordinary good fortune like a nine-tailed demon.】

【From then on, there was one more demon in the human world, disguised as a beggar, wandering in the mortal dust.】

The scene freezes, entering an interface where Jiu Jiu can freely control her consciousness.

Every Reincarnation, she has to watch from the same beginning; she has to watch with her own eyes as her mother falls into her arms.

Her long, slender fingernails embed deeply into the flesh of her palms, even as blood spills out.

【Tianming Calendar Year 7, you are wandering in Hangzhou; you have spent a rather dull year and gained some progress in your cultivation.】

【The beggar you are playing was beaten out of a shop when asking for leftovers, but relying on your Demon Power, you stole the shop's silver.】

【Yes/No: Enter the shop's backyard at night to suck away their Soul Qi.】

Jiu Jiu subconsciously chose no.

She had already stolen the shopkeeper's silver as revenge; if she were to go and kill someone as well, it would be somewhat unnecessary.

If one drains the Soul Qi of the living, they will undoubtedly die.

What's more, her mother had always warned her not to devour the Soul Qi of the living.

Just like that, passing the days year after year without end, Jiu Jiu was merely acting as a beggar running back and forth across the land of Northern Wei.

Devouring the last wisp of Soul Qi that the dead had possessed while they were alive.

【Tianming Calendar Year 24, you arrived in Guanzhong to continue acting as your little beggar self, and you lived in a dilapidated temple in Guanzhong for three months; when you decided to leave Guanzhong, you suddenly sensed an aura like the Spirit Qi of a Great Demon, and it shrouded an entire area.】

【You could not identify which Great Demon this Spirit Qi belonged to, but from this aura, you sensed a nauseating turbidity; this striking sense of disgust made you want to leave this place.】

【You continued your journey of travels across Northern Wei.】

【Tianming Calendar Year 31, you revisited your old haunts and returned to Guanzhong once again, and this time, you suddenly wanted to visit the place where the Great Demon had descended back then, to discern exactly which Great Demon had appeared here.】

【You wandered around and arrived in Xi'an.】

【Amidst the bustling crowd, you saw a young master with a solemn expression, looking around cautiously; out of the mischievous nature inherent to a Guhuoniao, you reached out and snatched the sesame flatbread he was holding in his hand.】

【As you snatched the flatbread, you flashed a smile at him.】

【Then you made a move to run, but discovered he had stopped in his tracks, as if he had no intention of chasing you.】

【"Hey, what is wrong with you? I snatched your things, why aren't you chasing me to beat me up?"】

【You slowed your pace, quite enjoying this feeling of chasing and frolicking.】

【"Why would I chase you to beat you up?" He asked somewhat strangely as he bought another sesame flatbread from a street stall, "If you're hungry, just take it and eat it; at most, I'll just buy another one."】

【He seemed a bit surprised that you were able to snatch the flatbread from his hand; perhaps it was because he really hadn't been paying much attention and had been distracted.】

【"Here, looking at how thin you are, it seems you haven't gone without hunger much; consider yourself lucky to have met me, I'll buy you a few more so you can go hungry a few less times," he said.】

【"Are you stupid?" You couldn't help but laugh.】

【It had been a very, very long time since you had met such an interesting person.】

【"What is your name?"】

【"Me? My name is Gu Jiangming."】

【"Gu, the Gu of the Gu family; Jiang, the Jiang of the river water; Ming, the Ming of Mingyue."】

【"How about you? What is your name?"】

【"Me? My name is Jiu Jiu."】

【"Jiu Jiu? That's a strange name. I've never seen anyone with the surname Jiu. Come, shopkeeper, give me five more sesame flatbreads."】

【He called out to the shopkeeper and placed the five sesame flatbreads into your hands.】

【"Hold onto them well, we shall meet again by fate in the pugilistic world."】

【Saying this, he left your field of vision with his sword on his back just like that.】

I'm strange?

You're the one who's strange.

Jiu Jiu felt an inexplicable curiosity toward this person who had appeared so suddenly.

Not just because of his behavior, but because this was a person she had never encountered in her previous hundreds of Reincarnation cycles.

(End of chapter)