Ji Yuan remained silent for a long while. Seeing that Ran Kui's resolve had not wavered in the slightest, he finally let out a long sigh.
"Senior Brother, why put yourself through this?"
"Why..."
Ran Kui shook his head with a bitter smile. "Junior Brother, you joined the sect later than I did. There are some things you probably don't know."
"What things?"
Ji Yuan quickly looked up at him.
Ran Kui smiled, then began telling Ji Yuan about the road that had brought him here.
"I wasn't born into a cultivator family like Second Junior Brother, nor into a mortal royal family like Third Junior Sister. I, Ran Kui... came from a place called Yellow Millet Town in Creek Kingdom, in the mortal world."
Creek Kingdom. I've been there.
But Ji Yuan did not interrupt. He listened as Ran Kui went on.
"When I was born, a wandering scholar happened to pass through our town. Seeing that I weighed much more than an ordinary baby, he named me Kui. I grew up safely enough, until the year I turned ten. An old Daoist suddenly came to our town, claiming to be an immortal. He said he had come specifically to find disciples with Spiritual Roots to inherit his teachings."
"When my parents heard that, they naturally sent me to him. How could they pass up such a good opportunity?"
"I was sturdier than most children, so naturally I was chosen. But the other two boys he picked were just as burly... I realized something was wrong."
"Sure enough, while we were still in Yellow Millet Town, the old Daoist treated the three of us wonderfully, just as he would disciples. But after we left town and entered the forest... he changed."
"He was a Demonic Cultivator, one whose lifespan