Let Him Rest in Peace

After escaping the swamp's range, the monster, just as before, did not leave the swamp. Who knew where it had hidden itself, waiting for him to return again.

Qin Yang finally let out a sigh of relief. He did not hurry onward, instead setting the little brat on the ground and rubbing his head, his expression somewhat complicated.

"What's your name?"

"I don't know." The little brat stood there blankly, looking up at Qin Yang with a bewildered expression.

"How did you end up here?"

"I don't know."

"Who did you see in that puddle just now?"

"I don't know."

Three consecutive "I don't knows" made Qin Yang's brow knot tightly. He felt like his balls were aching...

"You don't know who you saw? Then why did you go over there?"

"She looked familiar. I wanted to ask if she knew who I was." The little brat answered honestly, making Qin Yang's head hurt even more.

This little brat did not know who he was, did not know how he got here, and did not know why he was here. He knew nothing...

The little brat sat on the ground, utterly lost.

Qin Yang's expression was complicated. He hesitated for a long while before finally letting out a faint sigh.

"Little guy, you're actually already dead. Do you remember?"

"I'm dead?" The little brat was not overly surprised. He merely parted his lips slightly, as though he had suddenly understood something.

One incense stick's time later, the little brat looked dejected. Lowering his head, he muttered to himself, "I think I really am dead. I've been dead for a long time..."

"Don't think so much. Just think about what your name is and where you want to go." Qin Yang rubbed the little brat's head and tried to comfort him, though his heart was complicated as he sensed the skill that could be activated.

Zhang Zhengyi had died before, yet the skill had not reacted. Later, he had indeed seen Zhang Zhengyi again, still as shameless as ever, with his instinct for seeking fortune and avoiding disaster as sharp as ever. When he saw Steward Qiu chasing after them, that little bastard had not followed him, instead chasing after Bai Yutang...

But this time, although this little brat's aura was imperceptible and his spiritual energy fluctuations were weak—at most, the first or second level of Qi Nourishing—the instant Qin Yang came into contact with him, he sensed that the skill could be activated.

That only proved one thing: this little brat was dead.

A dead soul that had forgotten he was dead, forgotten his own name, forgotten everything from his past, yet still wandered here for some purpose he himself did not know.

No, more precisely, this little brat's dead soul had likely already dispersed. Only because the obsession from his life was too strong, and because he himself possessed many extraordinary traits, could he wander here like a living person.

Even the monsters in the swamp could not tell whether this child was alive or dead.

"Have you remembered anything?"

"A little."

"Tell me."

"I remembered that I need to find my mother and father, but I forgot their names. I only remember that my mother was very beautiful, and my father was very powerful." The little brat's eyes shone brightly. He did not seem troubled by the fact that he was already dead.

"If that's all, it'll be very hard to find them..." Qin Yang gave a bitter smile. Before he could finish, the little brat's pleading gaze defeated him, and he could not say the rest. He could only soothe him, "How about this? I'll do my best to help you find them. But whether I can succeed, or when I can find them, I can't say."

"Thank you, big brother. I'm counting on you." The little brat narrowed his eyes in a smile, his eyes curving into crescents. He placed one hand in Qin Yang's, as though he had so easily entrusted himself to Qin Yang.

Then, without warning, a sudden change erupted.

The little brat's chubby palm silently dissolved, turning into grim white bone. The clothes on his body scattered with the wind and vanished into nothing.

"Big brother, I'm counting on you." The little brat was not surprised by his own transformation. His bewildered gaze became bright and clear at that moment. "My name is Bao Yu. My father's name is Wu Bi'an. Please send me home."

After the last sentence, the chubby little brat silently transformed into a grim white skeleton. The bones had already become jade-like, warm as polished jade to the touch. Purple Dao Patterns densely covered them, seeming born of heaven itself and filled with a harmonious, natural beauty.

Looking closer, those seemingly simple Dao Patterns contained boundless profundity. They resembled clouds and mist, the veins of the earth, and the vast majesty of thunder. It was as if the supreme principles of heaven and earth were all contained within those simple lines. After only a few glances, Qin Yang felt dizzy and his soul became unstable. Startled, he quickly looked away, not daring to look further.

Only after giving up on studying those profound Dao Patterns did Qin Yang begin to notice other things.

The skeleton looked humanoid, but its body was slightly different. Its spine actually had thirty-six vertebrae.

Even in a child, whose sacrum and coccyx had not yet fused, there would be at most thirty-three.

Yet this little brat's sacrum had fused into one piece, and so had his coccyx. Excluding those two bones, an adult's spine had only twenty-four segments, but this little brat had ten extra bones. Eight were distributed through the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae, while the remaining two were in the coccyx.

Upon closer inspection, Qin Yang discovered that this little brat also had an extra pair of ribs compared to an ordinary person...

There were also faint, nearly imperceptible tiny scars on his skull. After comparing them, Qin Yang determined that they were all bite marks, left behind by the monsters in the swamp.

Some of these tiny marks were fresh, some old. It was already impossible to calculate how many times he had gone through this.

Looking at them, Qin Yang could not help feeling a pang in his heart. He touched the little brat's head. This little brat had likely wandered here for countless years and had been dragged down by those monsters who knew how many times. The monsters had probably discovered that he was already dead and that his skull was absurdly hard, so they had grown too lazy to pay him further attention.

It was only that these monsters were not intelligent enough, so every time, they were drawn over by the little brat again.

"Don't wander anymore. Even if you keep wandering here for another ten thousand or a hundred thousand years, there will be no hope. Rest in peace. If I can leave this place alive, I'll take your remains outside, help you find your father, and send you home." Qin Yang let out a faint sigh. This little brat had likely wandered within this secret realm for several thousand years.

Unfortunately, this secret realm was sealed off. With him wandering around aimlessly like this, he would never find any result even after another hundred thousand years.

For such a simple, innocent little brat, that was far too cruel...

If he continued here, Qin Yang could already foresee his final end. He would surely disperse completely without a trace. By then, it would not merely be that he had forgotten everything from his past—he would not even be able to retain his final sliver of obsession.

It was better to let him rest in peace...

If Qin Yang could get out, there would at least still be some hope.

With that thought, Qin Yang slowly activated his skill. A phantom palm flew from his right hand and grabbed at the little brat's remains.

At once, the blinding light blooming in its palm nearly blinded Qin Yang.

"Fuck, what's going on?"

Within that phantom giant hand, the light was dazzling and grew ever brighter, yet the retrieval still did not succeed.

It was as though the item being retrieved weighed a thousand jun, impossible to lift in a short while.

The palm slowly rose. The radiance within was so piercing that Qin Yang could no longer open his eyes, yet he could only continue holding on.

PS: Ahem, someone said my synopsis was as bad as dog shit. Honestly, I really don't know how to write synopses. Over the past few years, adding it all up bit by bit, I've written several million words, but every synopsis I write ends up awful and weak. I'll find time to see whether I can come up with a better one, something lofty, grand, and badass. Also, the usual plea for bookmarks and recommendation votes.