Yellow Springs Demon Saint? The Yellow Springs Demon Saint!

The old man gently helped Wu Bai to his feet, a kindly smile on his aged face.

As he studied the boy, who had yet to come to his senses and still looked a little dazed, the old man blinked in surprise.

The boy could even become an Alchemist. A pity I'm not one myself...

Wu Bai suppressed his excitement and hurriedly bowed to his new teacher.

"Teacher."

"Come to think of it, you're my first student."

The old man made a motion as if stroking his beard. He truly had no experience in this.

"I was dead, and now I've come back to life. I know little of this era, so I can't teach you much just yet. Let me learn how things stand first. Once you become a Dou Zhe, I'll consider how best to teach you."

"As you wish, Teacher." Wu Bai bowed his head.

"No need to be so formal. A young man should act his age. Now then, little fellow, let me ask you something. Have you heard of the Yellow Springs Demon Saint?"

"The Yellow Springs Demon Saint?"

Wu Bai raised his head slightly. Seeing the expectation in his teacher's eyes, he nodded slowly, recalling what the original novel had said about the Yellow Springs Demon Saint.

"The Yellow Springs Demon Saint was a legendary expert from ten thousand years ago. They say the Yellow Springs Great Sage was only half a step from becoming a Dou Di, and even his bloodline had begun to change. Unfortunately, he never managed to take that final step."

The old man nodded as he listened, though shock lurked in his eyes.

My student's gift really is extraordinary. He reached across ten thousand years and brought a dead man like me back.

Though the boy doesn't seem to understand his own gift yet.

When Wu Bai finished, he asked curiously, "Teacher, were you from the same era as the Yellow Springs Demon Saint?"

"Heh..."

The old man chuckled and shook his head.

Understanding dawned on Wu Bai's young face. Of course. Even someone like the Yellow Springs Demon Saint had died ten thousand years ago. How could his teacher possibly be from that era?

He probably asked about the Yellow Springs Demon Saint to work out how long he's been dead.

"I am the Yellow Springs Demon Saint."

"Teacher, don't joke with me. He died over ten thousand years ago..."

Wu Bai's first instinct was disbelief. Ten thousand years of wear and tear? Living that long without becoming a Dou Di? Surely he was joking.

But his teacher looked so serious that Wu Bai began to doubt himself.

Could he be telling the truth?

Gulp.

Wu Bai's barely visible Adam's apple bobbed. He blinked. "Teacher, you're really not joking?"

"What do you think?"

"..."

Surprise, shock, realization, sorrow, and joy flickered across Wu Bai's face in succession.

The Yellow Springs Demon Saint smiled faintly and returned to the uneven little pebble. He would let the boy take his time absorbing it.

Now that he knows his teacher is the Yellow Springs Demon Saint, I doubt he'll sleep a wink tonight.

Half an hour later, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint listened to the steady breathing in the room and fell silent beneath the moonlight.

A few minutes later, he laughed soundlessly.

"Interesting..."

Dawn came.

After his morning training, Wu Bai washed his face with cold water. He was about to head out when he slapped his forehead.

He turned back and found a length of string.

"Teacher, may I thread this pebble onto the string and wear it around my neck?"

"Mm."

The next moment, something astonishing happened.

The uneven pebble instantly became a smooth little stone sphere, with a hole through its center just large enough for the string in Wu Bai's hand.

Wu Bai tucked the sphere beneath his collar, let out a breath, and stepped quietly out of his room.

"Every day, all you do is jinx things. But you never forget to show up for food, like you starved to death in your last life."

Wu Bai kept his head down and played deaf and mute, treating his biological father's words like so much hot air.

At that moment, he was rather glad he had been reborn into this life. Otherwise, wouldn't this "dear father" have bullied him to death?

"What's that act supposed to mean? Fuck's sake, we've already finished eating. Nobody said you couldn't eat!"

His biological father's hateful gaze pierced Wu Bai's heart again, though that heart had long since gone cold. His biological mother dared not say a word. She merely served food to the younger son beside her.

His elder and younger brothers ate their delicious meal with gloating smiles, identical contempt filling their eyes.

"Worthless trash. Fourteen years old, and still only at the Seventh Stage Dou—"

If I sensed correctly, his father should be a Three-Star Dou Wang, shouldn't he?

Inside the little stone sphere, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint had seen something new today. He had never imagined a father like this.

With a Dou Wang expert's perception, if you'd paid even the slightest attention to your son, you wouldn't mistake Ninth Stage Dou Qi for the Seventh Stage!

He can't even be bothered to pretend. He doesn't care about the boy at all, and instead hurls such vicious abuse at his own flesh and blood...

Back in his room, Wu Bai told his teacher what had happened two years earlier.

"That's what happened. Of course, my account might be a little biased in my favor."

"Over a few gold coins?"

"More or less. But I think it's mostly because I'm the middle child. Whatever I do, they don't like it. Those gold coins just gave him a convenient excuse to stop pretending."

"This... isn't a good environment for your cultivation."

Even a legendary figure like the Yellow Springs Demon Saint struggled to stomach such a family.

He admired his student. To have grown up in that environment without turning bitter or giving up on himself—what strength of character!

"Mm. I'd made a few plans before, but I wasn't confident any of them would work. Luckily, I have you now, Teacher..."

Wu Bai smiled softly and gazed at the distant sky through the narrow window.

The Yellow Springs Demon Saint appeared behind Wu Bai and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry. Though I have less than a hundredth of my former strength, I can still deal with a few Dou Zong."

"Mm. Thank you, Teacher."

"You're my student. Does a teacher need thanks for protecting his student?"

His teacher's support gave Wu Bai the confidence he needed. The future no longer seemed uncertain.

After spending a few minutes imagining that bright future, Wu Bai returned to the present, as he always did, and continued cultivating and consolidating his Ninth Stage Dou Qi.

Once Wu Bai had settled into cultivation, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint left a trace of his perception on him. Then, unnoticed by anyone, he drifted through the city like a ghost.

Two and a half hours later, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint returned. He now had a general understanding of the present era.

He did not wake Wu Bai. He needed to think carefully about his student's future.

And about his own.

How can I help the boy become an Alchemist as soon as possible and gain enough power to bring me back to life...?

At midnight, Wu Bai finished his day's cultivation.