I Think I Don't Need to Be Afraid Anymore

"Grandpa, this is what I look like after Beast Martial Soul Possession." Zhu Wu could not see himself, so he did not pay much attention to the extra changes. What mattered most was that he had been drawn in by the information that had naturally appeared in his mind after Martial Soul Possession, leaving him somewhat shocked.

He had no other thoughts, only the urge to try it immediately.

"Grandpa, watch closely."

"Transform!" Soul Power surged, and purple light flashed around his entire body. Then, he suddenly felt an immense suction force from all around him. The next moment, he found himself in a strange space, his entire body enveloped in seven-colored light.

He raised a hand. It was a claw.

He had turned into a Three-Eyed Demon Fox.

"So the reason I can switch into beast form is because of the spatial attribute that comes with my Martial Soul?"

Although everywhere he looked was the Three-Eyed Demon Fox's view of the outside world, through Internal Vision, he could clearly sense that he was in a special space.

Moreover, he could see six separate spaces inside his belly. They were six spheres less than a meter in diameter, their exteriors shrouded in seven-colored light. Various items he had previously stored inside floated within them, while the last one contained a clump of murky mist.

He understood that it was the medicinal waste and waste gas from the herbs Little White had stored in its internal space.

He had a feeling that he could release it anytime he wished. However, it had to be released as a fart.

It was simply too undignified and could easily hurt someone by accident, so he decided not to demonstrate it in front of his grandfather.

"Grandpa, look, I've turned into a little fox." Coming back to his senses, he spoke as he ran toward Zhu Gang.

When he got close, he pushed off with his feet and leaped onto Zhu Gang's thigh. Since his true body was within the special space, he displayed no weight at all, perfectly taking on the form of a Three-Eyed Demon Fox.

It was practically a flawless replica!

"This..." Zhu Gang was already shocked beyond words. He instinctively reached out to touch him. Cool and smooth, the fur was sleek beneath his fingers.

"Xiao Wu, have you really turned into a little fox?"

"Of course it's fake. It's simulated with a Soul Skill, just simulated perfectly." The fox Zhu Wu had transformed into spoke in human language.

"Soul Masters truly are a profession that creates miracles." Zhu Gang could not help but sigh.

"Grandpa, there's more than that." Zhu Wu slightly raised his fox head, turned around, and jumped down from Zhu Gang's thigh to the ground.

His gaze swept over Zhu Gang, and Zhu Gang's image immediately appeared in his mind. With a thought, the image scattered apart as white light burst from his body.

The next moment, an identical Zhu Gang stood where he had been.

"This!" The real Zhu Gang was greatly startled.

Then he saw the Zhu Gang before him, identical to himself, suddenly blur and reveal Zhu Wu beneath, his face somewhat pale.

"Grandpa, the larger the thing I transform into with this move, the more Soul Power it consumes. Your grandson can only maintain it for a very short time right now." Zhu Wu spoke helplessly.

"It's all right. It'll get better in the future." Zhu Gang withdrew the surprise from his eyes and smiled reassuringly.

No matter how extraordinary Zhu Wu appeared, he was still his grandson, not some monster.

"Mm-hm." Zhu Wu nodded. "Grandpa, I'm going to meditate and recover my Soul Power."

With that, he walked to the side, sat down, and began meditating.

After some time, once his Soul Power had recovered, Zhu Wu summoned Little White again and used Martial Soul Possession, carefully trying to comprehend the skills Charm and Clone.

The result was that he had no clue at all. In his possessed state, he only needed to pour Soul Power into the Soul Ring and silently recite the skill he wanted to release. Then his eyes would grow hot, and Charm would activate. But once he canceled the possessed form or had Little White leave his body, that feeling disappeared.

Sure enough, it isn't that simple. He could not help but sigh inwardly.

"But that makes sense. If it were so easy, every Beast Martial Soul owner on the continent would have long since learned to create their own Self-Created Soul Skills."

"I have to say, this world's cultivation system is truly strange. After a Soul Master absorbs a Soul Ring, the Soul Ring is fixed onto the Martial Soul rather than the host. And Soul Skills are fixed onto the Soul Rings, following the Soul Rings wherever they go." After experiencing it firsthand, Zhu Wu finally understood the relationship between Soul Masters, Soul Rings, and Soul Skills. "So when Little White leaves my body, it is equivalent to taking away the Soul Rings and Soul Skills."

"In that case, I can only command Little White to activate and release Soul Skills. My own body cannot trigger them, because the Soul Rings are not on me at all."

"Martial Soul Possession is different, because the Soul Rings are on my own body."

"So if I want to comprehend the skills Little White inherited from the Three-Eyed Demon Fox, I first need to understand Soul Rings."

"What a miraculous world!" That was all Zhu Wu could say.

"At this stage, I can only gain insight by using them more often." With an inward sigh, he sat down to recover his Soul Power before continuing his experiments.

Zhu Gang watched the entire time, his eyes full of gratification. Seeing his grandson work so diligently, he felt that Zhu Wu's future achievements would surely be far from ordinary.

The night passed without incident. The next morning, Zhu Wu rose early, lit the fire and cooked porridge, then practiced his movements beneath the rising sun to aid his cultivation of the Vajra Power Exercise. Afterward, he entered the room to help Zhu Gang out of bed for breakfast. Once they were done, he helped Zhu Gang settle into a reclining chair before continuing to experiment with his Martial Soul abilities.

The afternoon was much the same. Only when the medicine ordered from the apothecary arrived did he begin brewing medicine for Zhu Gang.

At night, he continued familiarizing himself with his Martial Soul abilities in front of Zhu Gang, only beginning his Longevity Exercise after Zhu Gang had gone inside to sleep.

In the days that followed, Zhu Wu did the same every day, devoting himself to staying by his grandfather Zhu Gang's side.

And with his grandson accompanying him every day and allowing him to witness his diligent cultivation and constant progress, Zhu Gang often wore a smile.

Time flew by, and three months later, the New Year arrived.

After winter began, the air became increasingly cold. Even though Zhu Wu did everything he could to keep Zhu Gang warm, he still could not prevent the cold from eroding Zhu Gang's body. Thus, not long after winter set in, Zhu Gang lost the ability to move and could only lie quietly in his reclining chair by the fire.

Zhu Wu had to care for all of his daily needs.

"Ah..." When Old Jack came to offer New Year's greetings and saw Zhu Gang's haggard face, he could not help empathizing when he thought of his own age. Then, glancing at Zhu Wu serving Zhu Gang nearby, a trace of pity and gratification rose on his face, and he grew even fonder of the boy.

Then he thought of Tang San, who had returned to the village yet had neither visited Zhu Wu, who had once given him medicinal seeds and been his classmate, nor visited Zhu Gang. Recalling that Tang San had once stolen Zhu Wu's herbs, resentment rose in his heart. He wanted to tell Zhu Wu the truth, but Tang San was also a Soul Master, and there was that little girl Soul Master beside him as well, so he suppressed the thought.

If Xiao Wu truly went to demand justice, Old Jack was genuinely worried that he would get beaten.

They said people could wear human faces while harboring beastly hearts. After learning that Tang San had stolen things, Old Jack no longer knew what to make of the usually modest and mild-mannered Tang San. After all, Tang San's father, Tang Hao, had a truly terrible temper. Who knew whether the son had followed his father's example and was the same sort of person deep down?

If Zhu Wu went to seek justice and was beaten instead, Old Jack would be harming him.

The crucial point was that conflicts between Soul Masters were, as his son Jerry had said, beyond the help of ordinary people like them.

Shaking his head, he called for his son to set down the things they had brought, then took his leave.

Zhu Gang ultimately did not make it to the coming spring. Just a few days after the New Year, he passed away. Sitting in the reclining chair before the Furnace, he watched Zhu Wu meditate with deep gratification, studying him until his eyes grew tired. Then he slowly closed them and fell asleep.

He never woke again.

"Ah, Xiao Wu, don't be too sad. Old Zhu left with a smile on his face. He died without regrets."

Two days later, at the funeral, Old Jack patted Zhu Wu on the shoulder and sighed as he comforted him.

"My condolences." Tang San's words were brief.

Xiao Wu behind him said nothing, merely following quietly, as though she was not used to such occasions.

Quite a few people looked at her and Third Brother with what seemed to be unfriendly gazes.

"Thank you." Zhu Wu forced out a faint smile, his response equally brief.

The funeral was not elaborate and soon ended. As for his grandfather's burial, he did not choose the traditional burial in the earth, but cremation into ashes. In the future, if he could reach the pinnacle of this world, he would place his grandfather's ashes in the most revered place in the world.

His grandfather had never had the chance to become a Soul Master, so Zhu Wu would make him someone the entire Soul Master world would remember.

He had fulfilled his filial duties while his grandfather was alive, and after his death, he would do something as well.

At noon, tables were laid out before the courtyard. Every household in Holy Soul Village was there, except Tang San and Xiao Wu.

He did not know why, but he could sense that the villagers seemed deliberately distant toward Tang San.

Half an hour later, after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the villagers bid farewell and left. However, quite a few women stayed behind to help clean up. By the time everything had been put away, it was already afternoon. Zhu Wu thanked them one by one, then returned alone to kneel before Zhu Gang's grave.

He remained kneeling there until dusk.

After a long silence, with night approaching and no one around, Zhu Wu finally spoke softly.

"Grandpa, when I first came to this world..."

He gently spoke of the past, of the bitterness in his heart.

"Grandpa, do you know? To avoid arousing suspicion, I pretended to be a child in front of adults from a very young age, and I pretended to be a child before kids my own age. But I knew that only in front of you could I truly be a child."

"Eventually, I even gradually began to see myself as a real child. Life was hard, but I was very happy during that part of my childhood."

"To be honest, at first, I even wondered whether pretending for so long would give me a split personality."

"Fortunately, it didn't."

"Because you were there, I could be a child without worry, just like when I was little in my previous life."

"Besides, sometimes I really was afraid of offending Tang San. I was afraid of dying, and even more afraid that you would be dragged into it. I was also afraid that if I died, you would be heartbroken—afraid that you would be all alone, with no one to care for you and no one to talk to you."

"That would have made your grandson unfilial."

"But now, I think I don't need to be afraid anymore."

"But you're gone too."

After saying that, he fell silent again.

Night descended, and the air grew colder. Mountain winds gradually rose through the graveyard on the mountainside, tossing Zhu Wu's hair into disarray.

Zhu Wu knelt quietly, feeling the chill and the stillness.

Until an orange-red glow appeared in the darkness, accompanied by a voice.

"Xiao Wu, you really are here." It was Old Jack's son, Uncle Jerry, his voice mingling with the sound of footsteps.

"Ah, Xiao Wu, hurry back." Reaching his side, Uncle Jerry sighed. "It's getting cold. It won't do if you catch a chill."

"I think the old man wouldn't want to see you hurt your health because of him either."

Hearing this, Zhu Wu took a deep breath, turned his head, and forced out a smile. "Uncle Jerry, thank you."

"Let's go back."

"Come, I'll help you." A smile appeared on Uncle Jerry's face as well, and he quickly reached out to support Zhu Wu, whose legs had grown stiff from kneeling so long.

Supporting each other, the two walked down the mountain into the night wind.

By the lamplight, Uncle Jerry occasionally glanced at Zhu Wu's expression from the corner of his eye, worried that the boy would brood and become upset. But after looking several times, he realized he had been overthinking it. Zhu Wu's face was calm, as tranquil as a clear pool, completely unlike how he had been during the day.

It was good that he could let it go!

Uncle Jerry thought no more about it. He steadied Zhu Wu and continued onward with the oil lamp, heading toward the scattered lights at the foot of the mountain.

This part of the plot marks a small turning point for the protagonist. Splitting it into chapters would make it harder to read, so I combined them. It's a little over six thousand words, released as two chapters.