Chapter 313: Not Lack of Intellect Doesn

Watching Bai Yi hold the little white mouse, Feng Xue felt a deep urge to complain but couldn't find the words—until he led them inside, unwrapped the seal around Su'e Huiye's jade statue, and let Bai Yi handle it herself, at which point he finally couldn't hold back.

"Aunt Bai, I have a bold question I'd like to ask you."

"What's bold or not? Just ask. Whether I answer is up to me." Bai Yi carefully brought the little white mouse close to Su'e Huiye's jade statue, afraid she might accidentally touch it first—the mouse's expression was utterly lifeless, clearly having been held too tightly.

Then again, that made sense: Diliujiang was, in essence, a special kind of wish-energy, highly prone to corruption, so it couldn't be bound by stillness spells or similar techniques—only brute force could restrain it.

But seeing this, Feng Xue could now understand why, despite Diliujiang appearing once every sixty years, there were still so few demons: even if a normal animal was forced into it, it was nearly impossible to perfectly metabolize!

At this critical moment, Feng Xue dared not speak—until the little mouse finally touched the Diliujiang and its body began to glow faintly, at which point he finally asked:

"I mean, when a transformed demon gives birth, does it produce an animal or a human?"

"?" Bai Yi's face twisted into a strange expression; Feng Xue grew embarrassed and quickly explained:

"I mean, no ulterior motive—I just know my wife is a snake demon, so I'm curious, curious. What if she lays an egg and the timing's all wrong… Anyway, uh, you see what I mean?"

Seeing Feng Xue's expression, Bai Yi laughed, pinching the mouse's tail to keep it from wriggling free, then said:

"You don't need to worry too much—normally, when a human and a transformed demon have offspring, the child is human, at most with minor demon traits: a few scales here, odd hair color, that sort of thing—easily fixed with cultivation."

"Even if two transformed great demons mate, if they reproduce in human form, their child will be born already transformed. Only when demons mate in their true forms do they produce offspring in their original shapes."

"But this girl's unlucky—she was born in Yi Si year, clashing with the Grand Duke, and was reverted to her original form. Yet her talent is quite strong, and you just happen to have this opportunity—it's heaven not abandoning her."

Here, Bai Yi added:

"Even if you can't obtain Diliujiang again, your method of storing it is an incredibly advanced technique—but don't try selling it to demons. I only happened to run into this. Normally, transformed demons don't need it much, and untransformed ones can't even speak—they're unlikely to have anything valuable to offer."

"If you really must, go north to the Outriding Immortals. If they die without enough incense worship to become ghost immortals, they're forced into the animal realm to cultivate as demon immortals. Even if they time their rebirth carefully, they often miss Diliujiang. Go to them—even if they don't want to buy, their ancestors queued up underground for rebirth will make them pay."

"..." Feng Xue didn't know how to respond to Bai Yi's words, but Liu Yunxi, who had "accidentally" passed by, leaned over and asked:

"Don't transformed demons have untransformed relatives? Don't their offspring have gaps?"

"You mean, do you remember where your siblings from the same nest are now?" Bai Yi rolled her eyes; Liu Yunxi replied:

"What about those who awakened their spirit before taking human form and gave birth? Or those who awakened right after giving birth?"

"There are some, but their motivations are hard to explain. In practice, most demons, once awakened, focus solely on cultivation and don't casually reproduce. Even if they do, most of their young won't survive until the next sixty-year cycle."

"In our lineage, three of my siblings metabolized Diliujiang and barely entered the cultivation path. Since then, my nephews and nieces have numbered over a hundred, my grandchildren number in the tens of thousands—and right now, my youngest grandson still hasn't transformed. Do you know how many pups he produces each year? Who has time to care for them all? Even the most conscientious ones just send their pups to Outriding Immortal families as messengers—it's better than being left to die."

Bai Yi shrugged, delivering a cruel answer—but upon reflection, it made sense: different species have different reproductive strategies. At the extreme, does anyone expect a pufferfish, which lays hundreds of millions of eggs, to care for each one?

Feng Xue stopped asking, but Liu Yunxi clearly still had questions—when suddenly, the little mouse, having finally metabolized the Diliujiang, stood upright on its hind legs, raised its tiny paws, and struck a pose Feng Xue found disturbingly familiar…

"What's going on?" Feng Xue rolled his eyes—but Bai Yi, who could understand the mouse's meaning, was even more bewildered:

"What exactly is in this Diliujiang?"

"What?" Feng Xue watched the mouse's gesture and felt a bad premonition; Bai Yi said blankly:

"This girl suddenly knows how to recite poetry…"

"..." Feng Xue didn't need to ask—he knew exactly what she meant. But Liu Yunxi clearly didn't, so she asked:

"What poem did she recite? Did she write it herself, or is it a famous one?"

Bai Yi clicked her tongue:

"That one by Blacksmith Zhang: 'Suddenly a madman grinds his blade at night, the Emperor Star trembles, Mars burns high.' Could this Diliujiang not come from the moon, but from Mars? That might explain why it appears on New Year's Eve…"

"I think it's just a database issue…" Feng Xue muttered to himself, but didn't say it aloud—instead he asked:

"Ask her what else she knows."

Bai Yi thought for a moment, emitted a sound inaudible to human ears—and the little mouse, upon hearing it, sat upright, lifted her head, clutched her tiny paws together, and assumed the dignified posture of a refined lady. But Bai Yi grimaced:

"She wants a dragon's pearl… Why not ask for a flat peach instead?"

"What did she say now?" Liu Yunxi's gossip spirit blazed fiercely; Bai Yi sighed, then replied:

"She says if you want to marry her, you must offer a dragon's pearl as bride-price… This child is unmarriageable!"

"Pfft…" Liu Yunxi burst out laughing—she now realized: this was exactly the story used to fill in the legends of the Moon Goddess back in He Zujie! Now that she thought about it, that "Emperor Star trembles" line must've been the rebellion's ideological residue.

Feng Xue glared at her, concerned:

"Could this be a problem?"

"No problem at all. Diliujiang sometimes retains residual knowledge—mostly from contact with impure wishes during its fall. It's harmless, even beneficial for awakening intelligence. When I first awakened, I couldn't even form a complete sentence!"

Saying this, Bai Yi grabbed the little mouse, now in a new pose, to stop it from embarrassing itself further, then looked at the jade statue of the goddess with rabbit ears:

"I'll take her back to her parents. No need to keep her longer. If you need me, come to my place—3rd unit, 207, West Building, Chicken Coop Village!"

(End of chapter)