Aunt Jing

"Little Ice, why are you in the Sin Domain?"

"Don't call me Little Ice."

"Little Cold, what exactly are you?"

"And don't call me Little Cold either."

"Little Sparrow, how long have you lived in the Sin Domain?"

"If you want to die right now, I can freeze you to death silently and painlessly."

The words seemed to touch upon some taboo of the female voice. The voice, which had been somewhat impatient just moments ago, turned incomparably icy in an instant, making the little boy stop asking questions.

A few minutes passed, and perhaps seeing that the little boy had quieted down—

The female voice returned to how it had been at first.

"Instead of worrying about my identity, you should pay attention to your current situation."

Not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate the cramped room from outside. In the dim surroundings, roughly several dozen children were gathered, cramming the already crowded room completely full.

In one corner of the room, a boy who looked to be around three years old sat on the floor, muttering to himself about something.

A little girl beside him cast him a curious look.

This guy had quite a delicate little face. Why did there seem to be something wrong with his brain?

Under her gaze, the boy opened his eyes. They were a pair of beautiful eyes, like sunlight shining into glaciers—crystal clear and bright.

That ice blue shade looked soothing just by itself.

The little girl was actually captivated by his eye color for several seconds.

"Are you looking at me?"

The little boy noticed the little girl's gaze and turned to look at her, curiosity in his eyes.

He did not understand why this girl, whose face looked all grimy, was staring at him like that.

Well, she was not very pretty, but her clothes were beautiful. Her little dress was trimmed with gold and looked very expensive.

In his mother's words, he was precocious. At such a young age, he already understood many things, all thanks to his absorption of knowledge.

Ever since leaving that place called the "Sin Domain," he had encountered many strange and unusual things he had never seen before.

He had also learned the difference between having money and not having money.

He had been seized by those two black-clothed men from the street precisely because he did not have money to live in a big house.

"I-I wasn't looking at you. D-Don't flatter yourself."

The little girl spoke in a childish voice.

In fact, most of the children locked in this room were around four or five years old, and all of them spoke with childish voices.

"You're lying."

The little boy said seriously.

"Mother said that if you stutter when you speak, it means you feel guilty because you're lying."

"I'm not!"

The girl lifted her chin. Though she was very young, judging from the shape of her face, she was indeed a delicate little girl.

"I, Wen Qingxuan, never lie."

"Your name is Wen Qingxuan? That's such a hard name to write."

The boy complained.

"Hey, hey! I said I never lie!"

Wen Qingxuan puffed out her little cheeks angrily. Why was this guy not paying attention to the important part?

"My name is Bai Ye. Bai as in daytime, Ye as in nighttime. Nice to meet you."

The little boy said happily.

He had heard that making friends began with exchanging names. Did that mean he had taken the first step?

Unlike a certain icy little bird, who still had not told him her name.

"I am not a little bird."

At that moment, the earlier voice sounded calmly in his heart.

Little Bai Ye's body trembled, and he was a little startled.

"What's wrong?"

Wen Qingxuan noticed the boy's shudder and asked curiously.

"Nothing."

Bai Ye answered obediently, calming himself down.

Yet in his heart, he silently asked once more, "Can you know what I'm thinking?"

"My name is Bing Yu. If you get my name wrong again, I'll freeze you to death a hundred times."

The female voice—or rather, the woman named Bing Yu—spoke coldly.

Bai Ye pursed his lips and said aggrievedly, "Then calling you Little Ice wasn't wrong either."

"Call me by my full name."

Her voice was cold, but Bai Ye did not mind. Perhaps he had grown used to it. Ever since leaving the Sin Domain, she was the only person he could talk to.

"Hey, why are you suddenly spacing out?"

Seeing him like this, Wen Qingxuan said unhappily. I'm so adorable, yet you actually dare to space out while talking to me.

It was simply an insult to her.

Hearing her voice, Bai Ye came back to his senses and looked at her. Just as he was about to speak, a dazzling beam of sunlight shone directly in from outside.

All the children in the cramped room raised their heads at the same time and looked toward the source of the sunlight.

The wooden door of the little room was slowly pushed open, and a tall figure walked in from outside.

Bai Ye recognized him at a glance. He was one of the two black-clothed men who had abducted him from the street.

"There are thirty-two in total? Not a bad haul."

The man swept his gaze over all the children in the room and spoke in a deep voice.

"These children should be enough to sustain Old Ancestor's third Blood Spirit Array."

Behind him, a somewhat lecherous male voice followed.

This was the second man who had captured Bai Ye.

"Such wickedness goes against the natural order. I fear it may invite Heaven's wrath."

The first man spoke in a low voice, his tone carrying a trace of reluctance.

Bai Ye raised his head. Before him was a square-faced middle-aged man.

There was a touch of compassion on his face. As his gaze swept over the boys and girls huddled together, sorrow showed in his eyes.

That look caused the children it fell upon to feel a strange measure of goodwill toward the man, even as they feared the future.

"Stop putting on an act. Wasn't this suggestion yours in the first place?"

But before that goodwill could last long, the second man's lecherous voice rang out.

He stepped out from behind the other man, fully revealing his face to the children. Matching his voice was an exceptionally lecherous-looking face.

At the sight of him, all the children instinctively shuffled backward.

Only Bai Ye kept his large, beautiful eyes wide open as he carefully observed the two men before him.

For a fledgling that had left its mother, observation was one of the most important ways to learn.

Under the lecherous man's merciless accusation, the middle-aged man's compassionate expression gradually changed. Beneath the gazes of the thirty-two children, the reluctance in his eyes faded at astonishing speed. The next moment, his mouth split into a strange smile.

"Don't put it that way. I have no choice either. If Old Ancestor cannot break through to Earth Supreme, our entire White Wood Sect will be swallowed up by the other factions. For the future of the White Wood Sect, there is no price we cannot accept."

"You always make yourself sound so righteous."

The lecherous man said indifferently.

The middle-aged man stuck out his blood-red tongue and licked his lips. "Thank you for the compliment."

"What a shameless thing."

The two exchanged smiles, then turned and left the room to wait outside.

After hearing their conversation, the other children in the room began trembling uncontrollably.

Even at their young and ignorant age, their instincts were warning them.

Those two people were terrifying. What awaited them had to be something terrifying—something truly terrifying.

The next moment, the room erupted into chaotic noise, filled with the cries and fear of the children. In the little room, Bai Ye could even smell a faint stench of urine.

"Aren't you scared?"

In a corner unnoticed by anyone else, Bai Ye looked curiously at Wen Qingxuan beside him and asked.

Unlike the other children, Bai Ye did not see even a trace of fear or panic in Wen Qingxuan.

Though he did not really understand why everyone else was crying and shouting at a time like this, it seemed that being afraid was what normal people were supposed to do right now.

Hearing Bai Ye's question, Wen Qingxuan raised her smooth little chin as always.

"I'm not scared at all. My father is really powerful. Once he gets here, he'll beat all these people until their snot runs out."

"Then why were you captured?"

Bai Ye did not quite understand. He had been captured because he was alone and weak. If Wen Qingxuan's father was so powerful, why had she been captured too?

Wen Qingxuan's confident expression stiffened slightly as she suddenly remembered something.

"Father... Father seems to not know that I ran out of the inn."

That meant...

"Father won't come and chase away the bad guys?"

In an instant, little Wen Qingxuan lowered her chin and turned teary eyes toward Bai Ye, the closest person to her. Her eyes were full of What do I do? What do I do?

"I don't know."

Facing Wen Qingxuan's gaze, Bai Ye honestly shook his head.

"Then why aren't you scared?"

Upon hearing Bai Ye's answer, a hint of a sob entered Wen Qingxuan's voice.

Her father would not come to save her. Would she be swallowed by some man-eating monster?

She was so adorable. It would be such a pity if a monster ate her. There were still so many, so many things she wanted to do.

Would she never see her father and mother again?

So scary...

"You're crying. That's so embarrassing."

Seeing someone's face already like a Pear Blossom with Rain, Bai Ye laughed.

His laughter was especially abrupt amidst the many cries. Looking at the smile on the boy's face, Wen Qingxuan did not find it warm at all. Instead, she felt that his smile was begging to be punched.

"Y-You really aren't scared at all?"

Wen Qingxuan asked between sniffles.

She felt this boy was very unusual—unusually thick-skinned. He was very good-looking, but that was not a reason for him not to be afraid.

"Not at all."

Bai Ye shook his head with a smile.

From the moment he was born until now, the only time he had experienced fear was not long ago, when his mother's body had turned into specks of starlight and vanished in the Sin Domain.

"Why?"

Wen Qingxuan wiped at the corners of her red eyes and asked curiously.

"I don't know."

Bai Ye spread his hands and answered unconcernedly.

Wen Qingxuan sniffed and looked at Bai Ye. The boy wore a smile the entire time, as if he found nothing strange about their current situation.

It did not feel particularly warm, yet for some reason, it gave people a great sense of security.

So Wen Qingxuan wiped away her tears, leaned against the wall like Bai Ye, and—

She noticed that Bai Ye had been observing the other children around them. His gaze passed over each child's face, filled with intense interest.

Why?

Why could he still have that look at a time like this?

He was simply too strange.

Wen Qingxuan could not understand.

"If you want, I can take you out right now."

At that moment, Bing Yu's voice sounded in Bai Ye's heart.

"You brought me out of the Sin Domain. I owe you a favor."

Bai Ye shook his head, rejecting the suggestion without hesitation.

"You don't owe me a favor."

Bai Ye's voice replied from the depths of his heart.

"Taking you out of the Sin Domain was my own decision. Mother said I should live happily. Being able to bring you out made me happy."

To live freely, without any restraints, and face this world with a smile.

Those were the final words left behind by the woman named Bai Yu.

"..."

Bing Yu fell silent. Truthfully, although she was far older than this little boy, she could not understand the will contained within that tiny heart.

Perhaps this was the uniqueness of a Bloodline Ancestral Returner?

"Do as you wish. If you feel you need me, let me know."

Bing Yu's voice fell silent.

Seeing Bing Yu grow quiet, Bai Ye turned his attention back to the real world.

Come to think of it, ever since Bing Yu entered his body, he had only heard her voice. He had never seen her full form, nor did he have any idea where she was hiding.

"Is my body really that big?"

Bai Ye muttered softly. He was such a small child—how could such a big bird live inside him?

So strange.

Just then, Wen Qingxuan gently poked his arm, drawing his attention.

"What is it?"

Bai Ye asked curiously.

He turned his head and saw that the little girl had stopped crying, her big eyes fixed on him as if she wanted to say something.

"I—I think I heard something..."

A sound?

Bai Ye was slightly startled. He had been too busy talking to Bing Yu to notice.

So he pricked up his ears and listened carefully toward the outside.

Sure enough, voices were coming from outside the house.

"Is it here?"

"Ninth Grade Supreme? You mean that old man who can't even stand steady?"

"I can't be bothered to waste words on you."

The woman's voice gradually faded away. Then, in the next instant, just as all the children in the room began to panic, a tremendous roar suddenly erupted from outside.

The roar did not last long, probably only a few seconds.

Despite such a huge sound, the dilapidated house was not damaged in the slightest.

Bai Ye could not help wondering whether a battle had actually broken out outside.

"It must be my father coming to take me home."

Wen Qingxuan, who was sitting beside Bai Ye, said happily, even though she had looked like Pear Blossom with Rain just moments ago.

Because of the tremendous noise, the children in the house became restless once again.

Bai Ye covered his ears. He hated noise; senseless noise always put him in a bad mood.

Back in the Sin Domain, Mother would always use Spiritual energy to seal the cave where they lived, keeping the howling wind and snow outside from disturbing them.

Damn it, he was thinking about Mother again.

Just then, the dim room was illuminated by sunlight once more.

Bai Ye shifted his gaze toward the opened door.

Blinding sunlight streamed directly inside. He forced open the eyes that had watered from the sudden glare.

He looked at the figure slowly walking in against the light.

With her back to the sunlight, her features were somewhat indistinct. Yet as she walked in slowly, she appeared gentle and noble, her bearing soft and elegant.

She seemed to be smiling, and her smile was so gentle.

Bai Ye unconsciously lowered the hands covering his ears. All the clamor around him seemed to have nothing to do with him.

He stared blankly ahead, his little lips moving slightly.

"Mother..."

"Little one, you can't just call anyone Mother. But like Ling Xi, you may call me Aunt Jing."

Aunt Jing...