I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed the side where Xue’er was supposed to be was empty. Byakko and Ling were carelessly sprawled on the bed. Ling, as a trait could enter my body. But she liked to stay outside, free and unrestricted.

I looked for Xue’er and found her sitting in one of the corners of the room.

“Xue’er is sorry. Xue’er is sorry. Xue’er is sorry. Please do not punish Xue’er! Xue’er is sorry. Xue’er is sorry. Xue’er is sorry. Please do not punish Xue’er! Xue’er is sorry.” she muttered these lines, like a broken record.

I checked the place where she was supposed to be sleeping and found a patch of wet area. Just as I expected.

“Xue’er,” I called out to her.

She looked towards me, her eyes filled with fear. “Xue’er will sleep on the floor. Please let Xue’er stay. Please don’t send Xue’er away.” She was a bundle of nerves. She flinched at every little movement I made.

I sighed and went to her. I patted her head, as softly as possible. “It’s okay. No one is going to punish Xue’er here.” I consoled her until her nerves calmed down.

Once she was calm enough, I made her go and change into a new set of clothes. Fortunately, we had bought enough clothes. Meanwhile, I changed the sheets.

Byakko and Ling slept through the whole commotion. They didn’t even wake up when I picked them up and changed sheets. I could only sigh, feeling helpless. Just how weak were their vigilance?

“Xue’er is fine sitting on the floor,” she said.

I shook my head. “We are family. Don’t let a small thing like this bother you, Xue’er.” I dragged her by force and tucked her in.

“Is it really alright for Xue’er?” she asked.

“Yes,” I affirmed. Although it was obvious, some things needed to be said. “Have a good night, Xue’er.”

“Good night, Young Master,” she replied.

I sighed. I was unable to stop her from addressing me as ‘Young Master’. I would have been fine if she just called me ‘Big Brother Su Ren’. But seeing her in her jittery state, I decided to give her more time. Time would be the best remedy to heal her heart.

Following that day, I had her accompany Byakko and Ling. I hoped the two’s silly antics would brighten her up and open her heart gradually. It proved to be the right decision. She became livelier and less reserve as days went by.

As for me, I researched [Chimera Transformation].

A memoire about a great war mentioned people transforming into giants and other fantastical creatures. The description given in the book made me believe that [Chimera Transformation] fell into the same category. Unfortunately, I was not able to make any headway. There was no further information. Even the [Living Grimoire]’s ability to generate extra information was useless when there was no starting point.

I went to check about related information to all the jade record stores. None. There was no information. Just what was with these transformation abilities? In the end, I could only give up on researching it on my own.

I could only turn to external help.

“Transformation abilities? Can’t say I have heard about it,” Yu Chen’er said putting the teacup to the table. “I don’t think I have seen any books on it in our clan’s library either.”

I was disappointed. I had hit a wall. Again.

“Maybe, Brother Chen knows something about it,” I heard her mutter in a small voice. She got up. “I will check up on him and get back to you. He might have some idea about it,” she told me.

I had not idea who this Brother Chen was but I nodded. I was ready to cling at any little hope.

In a flurry of movements, Sister Yu left the scene.

With nothing to do, I paid the bills and went back.

Byakko, Ling and Xue’er were waiting for me.

“Father~” Byakko said, jumping into my arms. “Sister Xue’er prepared the meal today. It smells very delicious.”

Ling bobbed her head up and down to agree.

“You did?” I was pleasantly surprised. A few days ago, she was a bundle of nerves. Now, she was taking the initiative to do things. Good. She was making progress. She was slowly integrating into the family. I smiled. My foul mood from my inability to find anything about transformation abilities disappeared.

Xue’er nodded her headed with a slight blush on her face.

I rubbed her head and went inside. A table filled with roasted meat was set up on the kitchen.

“Let’s dig in,” I said.

That served as a signal. The four of us started stuffing food ravenously. Even Xue’er. Staying with us, she was adapting to our lifestyles.

What is this? I couldn’t help but pause. The meat. They tasted so delicious. It was not at the level of those at the restaurants but it was pretty close. If condiments were to be added to it, I felt that it would give those meals that we ate at the restaurants a good fight. Everything seemed to be done perfectly. It was roasted to the right temperature. The right amount of salt was added. The little amount of spices we had was also used perfectly.

“Did you really prepare this?” I asked. I couldn’t keep off the surprise that I felt.

“En,” she nodded with a quizzical look on her face.

There was more to her than met the eyes. I had not yet checked her status. I hadn’t found it necessary to check her status. But this time, I did. I felt like I was prying into her secrets. But that didn’t stop me from trying to sate my curiosity. Activating [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black], I opened her status.

GENERAL

Name

Xue’er

Age

10 years old

Cultivation Method

N/A

Realm

N/A

Lifeforce

5/10 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)

Qi

0/120 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

1

Physique

1

Movement

1

Control

1

Soul

12

Comprehension

10

Charm

50

Fate

108

INNATE TRAITS

Divine Tongue

Nine Yin Body

Divine Ice Phoenix

Moon Eye

Death Inscription

Shadow Travel

AILMENT

Touch of Death

There were so many things weird about her status window that I was left speechless for a while. What the hell is this?

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down. I couldn’t let my rationality be ruled by my emotions. If I wanted to make a clear analysis, I needed all my reasoning faculty. Let’s begin from the beginning.

Her name was Xue’er. No surname. According to what I came across, that could only mean one thing. She was disowned. I already knew that she was ten years old from the few conversations we had before. But if one were to purely judge her by her tiny frame, most people would take her for a seven year old. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she had not been living a good life.

Moving onto the attributes, strength, physique, movement and control, four of the six basic attributes were at the lowest they could be. Soul and comprehension could be considered high for a person who had not begun cultivation yet. The thing I was really confused was, we had been eating high quality meats. How did they not even add a single stat points to those basic stats?

Charm and fate stats were also strange. They were very high, especially fate. Even with all the events I had been through, my fate was not even half of hers! Just how much did Fate love her?

She had six traits. That was very shocking. The highest amount of traits ever recorded in the history was five. She had already beaten the record. As for me, I started off with a single trait. The others, I acquired it.

I checked the details of the traits. If it was before, it would have been impossible but now that [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] had been upgraded and there was also [Living Grimoire] to assist, to check the details of traits was very easy.

DIVINE TONGUE

Identifies all flavors under Heaven and make the perfect combination.

This must be what enabled her to make the perfect meal.

NINE YIN BODY

Blocks all the meridians, disrupting the flow of Qi and Essence in the body. However, if the blocks are cleared, the body will go through an absolute rebirth.

DIVINE ICE PHOENIX

Gives absolute control over ice element.

MOON EYE

Can create illusion.

DEATH INSCRIPTION

Reduces the maximum Lifeforce limit of those afflicted for certain duration. Depends on the difference in Soul.

SHADOW TRAVEL

Can travel through shadows.

She would make a perfect assassin, that’s what I thought. Her traits were all inclined towards it. The problem was, there seemed to be a huge obstacle blocking her path, namely [Nine Yin Body]. It gave her a lot of potential yet at the same time, it imposed a huge barrier in front of her. If she were unable to overcome it, she would forever be an ordinary person.

Finally, I checked the Ailment section. [Touch of Death] seemed very ominous.

TOUCH OF DEATH (Ailment)

Cause: Presence of five yin traits

Effects: Disable the growth of stats through any means. Disables the use of five yin traits. Disables the ability to cultivate. Reduces the maximum lifeforce limit by 5% every year.

Cure: Presence of equally powerful yang energy in the body.

The ailment was far worse than I had thought. The most worrying thing was the reduction of lifeforce limit. The maximum limit her lifeforce could regenerate was ten. But every year 0.5 was reduced. This was her tenth year and the lifeforce limit had already reached down to five. It was half of the original value. By the twentieth year, she would not be able to hold any lifeforce. In other words, she would be unable to live past twenty.

Moreover, she was unable to cultivate. In a cultivation world like this, she was basically a cripple. She also couldn’t increase her stats through other means like eating food, taking pills and training. To add insult to the injury, those five traits that caused the whole situation couldn’t even be used. No wonder she was disowned and thrown away. She was nothing more than a waste of clan resources. The clans could get pretty heartless. Even if it were one of their members, they would treat them very cruelly if they couldn’t bring any benefit to the clan.

I looked at her dark eyes that were gazing at me with a shy yet happy look. They were no more lifeless.

I was really fond of this quiet young lady. I could see how cruelly life had treated her so far. Yet she kept on trying her best to live. Even now, she was working really hard. Such a person did not deserve such a horrible future.

I clenched my fist. I had no way to solve her problem at the moment. But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t have any in the future. From this point forward, finding the remedy to solve this issue would be at the top of my priority.

The shadow quietly trailed the human boy that appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen. It had been at it for several hours. It had to suppress its urge to jump at the prey. Other humans had been around. If they found it, it would have a huge mess at its end.

Finally, its patience bore fruit. The human boy it had selected separated from the other humans and began to move on his own.

The shadow trembled in joy. Yet it didn’t attack. The difference in their strength was not much. If it got dragged into a fight, there would be loud commotion, which was something it wanted to avoid at any cost. It had to finish everything in a single attack.

Its moment came soon. Taking out a dark dagger, it sneak attacked the human boy. The boy never saw it coming. He was dead before he knew what happened.

Success. It smiled happily.

With the help of the dagger, the shadow gouged out the heart of the human boy. Warm. The shadow opened its mouth and ate the human heart that was still dripping with warm blood.

Ding!

You have consumed a ‘Heart of Human’.

Congratulations!

You have gained +1 in all six basic attributes.

Ding!

The number of ‘Heart of Human’ you have consumed has reach 100.

Congratulations!

You have acquired the trait [Devour].

Yes. It had finally been able to rank up to become a true demon. It had not been confident. It was a long journey but it had been able to travel it. It checked the details of its new trait.

DEVOUR

Enables you to consume the ‘Heart of Humans’ and ‘Heart of Beasts’ to steal their stat.

The shadow… no, it should be now the demon, smiled. It could finally embark on the journey it wanted.