You Can Be Human!

Dawn broke, with the crowing of roosters and barking of dogs.

The sky was just beginning to lighten when, in the grand residence of the Chen family at Qu Kou's Qing Shui Qu Kou, early rising servants were already busy with the household's daily chores.

However, while the front courtyard was full of life, the ancestral hall in the back was deathly quiet.

So quiet, in fact, that when faint human voices could be heard from within, no one noticed.

Otherwise, there would likely be rumors of hauntings spreading again.

Inside the ancestral hall, Huang Buyu knelt before the shrine, respectfully offering incense and invoking the gods.

In a moment of absentmindedness, the wisps of smoke rising from the incense sticks suddenly unfurled and spread, like clouds rolling and unrolling.

Immediately, a figure in blue leaped out, as if a phantom.

Upon closer inspection, it was the Immortal of the Nine Netherworlds:

—Mister Mo.

Unlike the last time, which had caught him off guard, Huang Buyu was prepared this time and looked closely.

In that fleeting glimpse, it clearly saw the hustle and bustle of the marketplace within the faint incense smoke, and heard the clamor of human voices.

It was an old farmer selling chickens;

It was a street vendor calling out about his wontons;

It was a market woman haggling over produce…

This seemingly ordinary, fleeting scene stirred a surge of emotion within Huang Buyu.

It clearly remembered the first time it saw Immortal Mo, the momentary glimpse of the Jie Netherworld Realm, and the extreme yin miasma that pierced the heavens.

The comparison made it feel even more deeply.

It figured that Mister Mo, having reformed his physical body, had become as ethereal as a banished immortal, frolicking in the mortal world.

"Disciple Huang Buyu pays respects to Mister Mo."

Lost in thought, Huang Buyu respectfully performed the disciple's bow, uttering awkward and nonsensical words.

"Seeking me out so early in the morning, have you discovered Chong Shizi's background?"

Mo Chuan asked.

—Speaking of which, his eagerness to leave Jinghe County was precisely because he had heard Huang Buyu's incense prayers.

As he spoke, he leaped lightly, his figure like a feather, drifting down from the shrine to the ground.

This effortless display made Huang Buyu's eyes burn with envy.

"The immortal's insight is as sharp as a torch. Disciple, with the help of the nine paths of immortals, has already discovered Chong Shizi's background. The matter is of great importance, and I dare not delay."

"Oh? Tell me more."

"According to my knowledge, Chong Shizi was a disciple of Qingwei Palace in Yunzhou. He was killed by someone several days ago, his corpse left exposed in the courtyard. By the time he was discovered, his body had already begun to decompose, turning into a 'giant's view'."

"A Qingwei Palace disciple?"

Mo Chuan was slightly surprised, finally understanding why Huang Buyu was reporting so early.

Qingwei Palace was a branch of the Three Sects of Talismans, specializing in Lightning Arts, and enjoyed considerable fame in Yunzhou.

Qingshui County, though not in Yunzhou, actually benefited from Yunzhou.

This involved power struggles between the imperial court and local authorities, a matter too complex to explain in a few words.

That wasn't the key point.

The key point was that Qingwei Palace was extremely averse to the concept of spirit mediumship and possession.

In their eyes, the Five Great Immortals, Four Great Gates, Guardian Household Immortals, and Great Spirit Invocation were all vulgar and heretical practices.

It was no wonder Huang Buyu was so terrified.

With Chong Shizi, a Qingwei disciple, dead in Qingshui County, Qingwei Palace would definitely send people to investigate thoroughly, which would likely cause another uproar!

If the killer couldn't be found, in their rage, they might even slaughter all the demons and monsters in the county.

They might even ascend Fuluanshan Mountain.

"Have you found the killer?"

"No,"

Huang Buyu replied in a low voice, his heart filled with unease.

It didn't know the true intention behind Mister Mo's request to investigate Chong Shizi's background.

Was it a warning to be wary of Qingwei Palace?

Or… was Chong Shizi killed by the immortal himself?

"Disciple, having received the master's guidance, discovered a piece of nabo beneath the offering fruit tree. Disciple searched all around Yellow Maple Slope but could not find a second piece. I beg Mister Mo's forgiveness."

As he spoke, Huang Buyu took out a piece of nabo from the saddlebag beside him, held it up with both claws, and presented it high.

Mo Chuan was utterly bewildered by this.

Guidance?

When did this Daoist ever guide you?

"Oh, tell me the details."

Utterly bewildered, Mo Chuan still reached out to take the cymbals, asking as he examined them closely.

Huang Buyu quickly recounted how he had guessed Mo Chuan's thoughts.

Finally, he earnestly emphasized repeatedly that he had only found one set of cymbals and had absolutely not hidden another.

Mo Chuan glanced at Huang Buyu with a strange look.

He then attempted to inject Primordial Qi into the cymbals. Instantly, the golden malevolent energy within them subtly intensified by a third, but he couldn't activate it.

He flicked the cymbals with his fingers. To his surprise, the seemingly thin copper plates refused to vibrate.

Clearly, without the collision of the other cymbal, its power could not be unleashed.

"This humble Daoist only found the taste of the offering fruit to be quite peculiar. I never expected... it to be such a small opportunity."

Mo Chuan remarked casually, then turned his gaze to Huang Buyu:

"This humble Daoist has long heard of Yellow Skins seeking human form, but has never delved into the details. Tell me about it."

Huang Buyu's heart trembled.

The minds of Immortals were unfathomable and their intentions profound.

Naturally, they wouldn't ask about the method of seeking human form without reason. Now that he was asking, could it be...?

Huang Buyu's heart pounded. He had a vague premonition but dared not believe it, fearing it would be a false joy.

"Reporting to Mister Mo, the path to seeking human form lies in enlightenment during a Jiazi cycle..."

Huang Buyu described it in detail.

It turned out that the method of seeking human form was a form of enlightenment originating from the Grand Perfection of the Great Dao.

When it cultivated to Grand Perfection of the Jiazi cycle and was about to transform into a human, an inexplicable impulse, a flicker of desire, arose in its heart.

A desire to borrow a human's prophecy and transform into a human.

Like a lamb kneeling to its mother.

After listening, Mo Chuan vaguely formed a conjecture.

Compared to humans, whose wisdom was largely accumulated postnatally;

Birds and beasts, with their limited lifespans, inherited most of their wisdom prenatally.

The method of seeking human form that Huang Buyu spoke of most likely originated from bloodline inheritance, and could only be triggered when cultivation reached a certain level.

'However, this is called a method of seeking human form, but it is actually seizing human fortune. It's truly an evil method!'

Mo Chuan mused inwardly, feeling a sense of displeasure.

Unexpectedly, as a result of the situation, a passage of scripture from Yunji Temple suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"The Dao is the mystery of all things, the treasure of the good, and the protection of the not-so-good!"

He recited it subconsciously, and in a daze, gained a glimmer of enlightenment.

Compared to Buddhism's concept of karmic retribution for good and evil, Daoist thought was more expansive. In a nutshell, the Great Dao did not reject the not-so-good.

In other words, even evil people were not rejected by the Great Dao.

It could be said: Heaven covers impartially, Earth bears impartially.

Truly fair, treating all equally.

Similarly, even if Huang Buyu sought human form by harming others for its own benefit, the Great Dao still allowed it, and even had methods for its derivation.

To some extent, for the Great Dao, humans, beasts, insects... were no different in essence.

It was just that humans overestimated themselves, mistakenly believing themselves to be favored by the Great Dao.

Thinking of this, Mo Chuan's mind swayed. He felt both the pleasure of enlightenment and a considerable amount of contradiction and displeasure.

He shook his head, glanced at Huang Buyu, and a sense of exhilaration suddenly arose in his chest.

"You can become human!"

As the words fell, a faint prophecy leaped up, having just emerged, it suddenly fell.

Unexpectedly, at the very moment it was about to fall, the Dao of Seizing took hold, rising with the prophecy, drawing in some of Mo Chuan's vitality, and surging into Huang Buyu's body.

Huang Buyu, who was still looking at the Immortal's words in a daze, suddenly widened its eyes as the prophecy surged into its body.

Its body swelled like a balloon, its bones grew, and its fur receded. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a handsome young man with clear features.

The young man stared at his hands, dumbfounded. He tried to take a step, but due to his unfamiliarity with bipedal gait, he stumbled and fell to the ground in a clumsy heap.

Unsure of how to brace himself, he fell face-first into the dirt, his face covered in blood.

He wiped it away, looked at the blood on his palm, and his expression trembled slightly before he burst into laughter, tears welling up in his eyes.