Wen Ning's words hit Chen Mu like a bucket of ice water poured over her head, chilling her to the bone.
"Wasn't running away enough?"
She even managed to force a smile as she said it, but it froze on her face, looking worse than tears.
"It didn't get an answer out of me, and I didn't make it some kind of god. Worst case, I just won't go back to my hometown. Surely it can't come into the city looking for me?"
Wen Ning looked at her as though she were an idiot.
"You're making this sound far too simple."
Wen Ning spoke slowly.
"Have you even thought about why it chose you?"
Wen Ning kept going.
"There must be plenty of people in your hometown, right? Villagers go up and down that road every day, riding electric bikes, driving tractors. It was waiting there for so long—couldn't anyone else see it? Why was it waiting specifically for you?"
Chen Mu opened her mouth, only to realize she couldn't answer that question. Somehow, she really had stumbled into something like this.
"Whether it's seeking Verbal Investiture or Immortal Investiture, it can't just ask any random person."
Wen Ning slipped his hands into his coat pockets.
"When a monster seeks investiture from a human, it chooses someone with a special fate. Someone with strong yang energy, a weak birth chart, a connection to immortals, or..."
He paused, keeping her in suspense.
"Someone whose ancestors accumulated great virtue."
Chen Mu began to understand.
"What did your parents do for a living?"
Wen Ning asked.
"They were teachers. Both of them."
"How many years did they teach?"
"My dad taught for thirty-six years, and my mom taught for thirty-three."
Wen Ning nodded.
"Teaching and nurturing people is one of the fastest ways