Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

At that time, it was a complete alien and waste in the tribe.

The source of power that the Phantom Demon Clan relies on for survival - demonic energy, is like a leaky broken ladle in its weak body. No matter how it is absorbed and condensed, not much can be retained.

This made it weaker than even the most common phantom demon. Hunting it? It was simply a fantasy.

Its powerful fellows sneered at it and treated it like an ant, not even qualified to compete for blood and food.

It can only be like a rat in the gutter, relying on magic to lure some unintelligent mortal beasts, eating raw meat and drinking blood, barely hanging on to life.

That time, the feeling of hunger was like a red-hot iron, burning its empty internal organs and almost devouring the last bit of sanity.

It set its sights on a wild deer that had just been killed by a group of wolves.

However, it was so weak that it was no match for the wolves and was soon torn all over by the angry wolves' claws and fangs, and the demonic energy dissipated even more violently.

The severe pain and blood loss made its eyes go black, and it could only rely on its last instinct to escape desperately, with the howling of wolves chasing after it.

He ran for an unknown distance, and before his consciousness sank into darkness, he finally caught a glimpse of hope in his blurry vision. In the dusk of the nearby mountain valley, a few wisps of smoke rose. That was a mortal village! The desire to live overwhelmed everything.

It used up its last bit of strength to forcibly condense its translucent body, which emitted a dim light like broken glass, and transformed into a "boy" who looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, with tattered clothes, blood all over his body, and skinny.

Then, it let itself fall heavily onto the muddy path at the entrance of the village and lost consciousness.

When it regained consciousness, it found itself lying in a simple but clean mud house.

There was dry and warm straw beneath him, and a thin coarse cloth quilt with the fragrance of soapberry covering him.

The wound was carefully bandaged with a cloth that smelled of bitter herbs. Although it was simple, it stopped the bleeding.

It rolled its eyes warily, taking in the unfamiliar environment - the low roof, the mud-pasted walls, a dim oil lamp on the only wooden table, and several unfolded, yellowed bamboo slips.

A figure was sitting at the table, looking down at a book intently in the dim light.

He was a middle-aged man, wearing a washed-out blue cloth gown, with a thin figure and a face that had a weathered elegance, and his temples were slightly frosted.

His eyes were gentle and calm, and he exuded a strange aura, like the clean air in the mountains after rain, or the faint fragrance of books emanating from an old ink stick. It was incompatible with this crude earthen house and this bloody "demon".

"Awake?" The man noticed its movement, put down the bamboo slips and walked over.

The voice was not loud, and had a soothing and peaceful tone.

It immediately tensed its body and let out a low, threatening hiss from its throat, like a wounded little animal instinctively trying to protect itself.

At the same time, an idea was growing wildly in its hungry mind: this person looked gullible and... delicious.

When he recovers from his injuries, I’ll eat him!

"Don't be afraid, you are seriously injured, just rest and take care of yourself." Lin Zhuxuan didn't seem to see the fierceness in its eyes. He just explained gently and turned to the stove to bring a bowl of steaming rice porridge with the aroma of grains.

It stayed here for the following days.

On the one hand, the injury does require rest; on the other hand, this guy named Lin Zhuxuan seems to be an excellent "breeder".

He didn't talk much, but he would change the medicine for it on time, cook rice porridge and herbs, and even give it half of a small piece of meat that he got from somewhere.

Lin Zhuxuan discovered that this "boy" he had picked up seemed to have an unusual... resistance to words. Whenever he tried to teach it a few simple words or explain the principles in a book, it would either pretend to sleep, have a blank look in its eyes, or simply turn its head away, with an expression of "I'm so annoyed" written all over its face.

"Learning to read and understand reason is the foundation of life. You shouldn't live in ignorance," Lin Zhuxuan patiently advised, his tone gentle but firm, like a stream washing over a stubborn stone. "Books hold their own world; they can broaden your horizons and enlighten your mind."

It scoffed inwardly: Heaven and earth? Vision? Can it be eaten? Can it help me retain my demonic energy and become stronger? Those crooked, garbled symbols give me a headache just looking at them!

But because it was "living under someone else's roof" and really needed this "keeper" during its recovery period, it could only suppress its impatience and reluctantly follow Lin Zhuxuan, as if completing an extremely painful task, to learn those useless strokes from those boring books.

It thought to itself: Forget it, I'll just cooperate with the keeper to please him so that he can continue to provide food and wait for the injury to heal... hehe.

One day, Lin Zhuxuan watched it struggle to write a few crooked characters and suddenly asked, "What's your name? Where are your parents from? When your injury heals, I'll be able to send you home."

It was stunned for a moment. A name? What kind of name did a monster need? It only had a faint mental mark used by the tribe to identify it.

It curled its lips and answered in an extremely impatient and self-deprecating tone: "I have no name! I have no father and no mother! I am just a wandering soul in the world! Why ask these questions?" It can't be eaten!

After hearing this, Lin Zhuxuan frowned slightly and remained silent for a moment.

It could not understand the complex emotions in that look at the time. It just felt that this person was meddling in other people's business and was very troublesome.

However, a few days later, Lin Zhuxuan brought up the matter again, his expression unusually serious: "How can a person stand in this world without a name? Name is destiny. It is the expectation of one's parents, a symbol of oneself, and a 'mark' of one's journey through the world.

Without a name or surname, you are like a rootless duckweed, a wandering ghost. I have thought about it for a long time and would like to give you a name. Is that okay?

It was bored, drawing circles in the dirt with its fingers. It didn't even look up when I heard him speak, its nonchalant attitude intact: "No need! What's the use of a name?!" It's just a code name. Wouldn't calling it "Hey" or "That guy" be the same? Why bother with all this nonsense?

Lin Zhuxuan did not give up because of its resistance.

He looked at it calmly, as if he saw something deeper through its rebellious appearance.

He spoke slowly, his voice low, "Without a proper name, words will not flow; without flowing words, nothing can be accomplished. With a name, you are truly an independent 'person' in this world, not just a drifting object. With a name, people will remember you, call you, and interact with you. With a name, your actions will have a sense of belonging."

Lin Zhuxuan paused, his eyes filled with pure, unrequited concern. "Since I brought you back, I can't just watch you live your life in obscurity and ignorance."

It wanted to continue arguing, and even wanted to scratch that face that always made sense with its claws.

But for some reason, seeing the almost stubborn seriousness and concern in Lin Zhuxuan's eyes, those harsh words were choked in his throat for a moment.

It turned its head away in annoyance and stopped talking, but it also did not object as fiercely as before, which was considered as tacit consent.

Never mind, let him be, after his injury heals...

Seeing that it no longer objected fiercely, Lin Zhuxuan showed a relieved smile on his face.

He pondered for a moment, then said solemnly, "A righteous name leads to upright conduct. I hope you will uphold the righteous path, cultivate yourself, and cultivate virtue. How about calling you... 'Zhengxiu'?"

"Zheng...xiu?" He repeated it subconsciously - these two words sounded a bit awkward and there was nothing special about them. He still didn't take them too seriously, just thinking of it as another step to deal with this nosy scholar.

So, he got a name - Lin Zhengxiu.

Days passed by in the scent of herbs and rice porridge. The wounds on Lin Zhengxiu's body gradually scabbed over and his strength recovered a little.

He still felt that those Chinese characters were the most useless things in the world, but in order not to go hungry, he reluctantly endured Lin Zhuxuan's "teachings".

Until one day, he overheard two women in the village chatting.

"Hey, that kid from the Zhang family has the same surname as his father, Zhang, and the same temper. He's also as stubborn as a bull!"

"That's right, we all have the same surname, so people from the same family should be like one another..."

Lin Zhengxiu's ears pricked up suddenly. Surname? Follow Dad? A terrifying thought exploded in his chaotic mind like thunder!

Lin Zhuxuan...Lin Zhengxiu...

A surge of anger, feeling fooled and offended, shot straight to his head! Demonic energy surged uncontrollably within his body, causing the air around him to slightly distort. Fortunately, no one saw it.

"You bastard Lin Zhuxuan!" He roared in his heart, his sharp canine teeth almost piercing his lower lip. "I was wondering why you gave me a name for no reason! So you were waiting for me here! You want me to share your last name? Are you trying to take advantage of me? You want to be my father?!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He felt like a fool who had been fooled.

What about "a name that is upright leads to good conduct" and "a sign of walking between heaven and earth"? It's all lies! This guy clearly wants to be his father!

Lin Zhengxiu could no longer sit still. Like a lit firecracker, he suddenly jumped up from the straw pile, and with the momentum to overturn the simple earthen house, he rushed towards Lin Zhuxuan who was quietly grinding ink by the window with murderous intent.

"Lin Zhuxuan!" The boy's voice changed slightly due to extreme anger and grievance, and it was sharp and piercing.

He rushed to the desk and slammed his hands on the table, causing the flame of the small oil lamp to jump violently and almost go out.

He leaned forward, his eyes wide open with two flames of anger burning in them, like a completely enraged wild cat with its fur standing on end, every invisible hair standing up, ready to pounce and scratch the other person's always calm face.

"You! What do you mean?!" He practically yelled, "It's fine if you gave me a name, but why do you want me to have the same last name as you, 'Lin'?! Do you... do you want to be my father?!"

His chest heaved violently, he gasped, and stared at Lin Zhuxuan, as if he would pounce on him and fight him to the death if the other party dared to nod.

Unexpectedly, the expected panic or excuses did not appear.

Lin Zhuxuan was slightly startled by his sudden and fierce accusation, and the hand holding the ink ingot stopped in mid-air.

He raised his head and looked at the boy in front of him with flushed cheeks and fiery eyes.

After a moment of astonishment, instead of panic, a clear smile gradually appeared in Lin Zhuxuan's calm eyes. The smile was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, spreading out in circles and finally staining his eyebrows and eyes.

He did not answer immediately, but put down the ink stick and leisurely wiped his hands with a cloth, his movements still calm and unhurried.

Then, he looked at the furious Lin Zhengxiu, a gentle arc at the corner of his lips, and his tone was as calm as if he was discussing the weather, but with a strange seriousness: "It's not a bad idea."

These four words were light, but they were like a heavy hammer, which stunned Lin Zhengxiu's head full of anger and the subsequent roar he had prepared.

"Is it...possible?" Lin Zhengxiu repeated subconsciously, his mind a little confused.

The other party actually... admitted it? And was so confident?!

For the Phantom Demon Clan, survival is cruel, and the law of the jungle is the only rule.

The so-called kinship is so weak that it is almost non-existent.

The only vague fragment of memory that Lin Zhengxiu had left was about an equally weak maternal shadow that had fed him with meager demonic energy when he was young. However, that shadow had long since dissipated in the cruel competition for survival, and even its specific appearance could not be remembered.

As for "father"? This concept does not exist in the world of phantom demons. Reproduction is merely the instinct of powerful demonic energy to pass on or divide, and has nothing to do with emotion or responsibility.

However, during the time he lived in this small world, he had seen the embodiment of the role of "father" among humans through the dilapidated window frames or the dirt road at the village entrance.

He had seen the burly woodcutter next door easily lift up the babbling human baby that had just learned to walk and place it steadily on his broad and strong shoulders.

The cub's tiny hands clutched tightly at its father's messy hair, and it giggled, its short legs kicking excitedly in the air.

The woodcutter carried his child on his shoulder as if he were carrying the most precious prey, and strode home in the sunset, letting the child use his shoulders as a throne overlooking the world.

He also saw that when a peddler came to the village entrance, a father in patched clothes would carefully take out a few shiny copper coins from his pocket, exchange them for a small piece of malt sugar or a simple wooden gadget, and put it into the hands of a child who was staring at the peddler's basket.

Those human men who are called "fathers" will use their arms to hold up young lives, will clumsily try to satisfy the children's little desires, and will silently use their backs to support a small sky for the children.

These fragments of images flashed uncontrollably through his mind, which was already in a mess due to the four words "it might be possible".

If...if Lin Zhuxuan wanted to be his "father"...

Lin Zhengxiu subconsciously imagined the scene: the slender and elegant Lin Zhuxuan, like the woodcutter, lifting him up and placing him on his shoulders? Or clumsily taking out money to buy him candy? Or simply looking at him intently with that gentle and calm gaze?

Ugh—that’s so corny!

An indescribable heat, a mixture of extreme shame, a sense of absurdity, and a secret throbbing that he himself had not even noticed, suddenly rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

Lin Zhengxiu felt his cheeks, ears and even neck suddenly burn up, so hot that it was scary.

He lowered his head suddenly, trying to hide his flushed face, but his red ears were exposed.

The huge shame and embarrassment overwhelmed everything, even the anger just now was mostly dissipated.

To conceal his sudden embarrassment, he could only muster up the last bit of his energy and snorted heavily through his nose. His voice trembled with embarrassment, and carried a kind of bluffing contempt:

"Lin Zhuxuan! I didn't expect... you, you have this kind of habit!"

Lin Zhuxuan, who was sitting behind the desk, was completely stunned when he heard this. Even though he had been with this "young man" with a strange temper and unpredictable thoughts for quite some time, and he considered himself to be well-mannered, he was still speechless after hearing the earth-shattering word "habit".

He opened his mouth slightly and looked at the boy in front of him whose face was as red as a boiled shrimp, his eyes were wandering but he was still pretending to be fierce. For the first time, confusion and bewilderment clearly emerged between his brows - this kid... what on earth is he thinking about?