Spirit Realm Wanderer

Chapter 35: The Infant Spirit

The infant was about fifty centimeters tall. Its body didn’t look quite real, but with sparse baby hair on its head, chubby cheeks, and short, plump limbs segmented like lotus root, it looked incredibly cute. It hung from Jiang Yuer’s calf like a koala, its little head tilted to one side, eyes closed, and completely still, as if asleep. Was her aunt telling the truth? Was their hospital really haunted—and was it actually the spirit of an infant? Zhang Yuanqing stared at the tiny infant spirit, his mouth opening slightly. This completely overturned everything he thought he knew. “What are you staring at!” Seeing her nephew staring at her with ill intent, his aunt quickly glared at him. She pulled out a chair, slumped back against the backrest, and said in a whiny voice, “Mom, I’m exhausted. Help me serve some rice.” “Don’t you have arms and legs of your own?” Grandma said this, but she still got up as asked and went into the kitchen. “Oh, you black sheep of the family, you’re back.” His aunt greeted my older brother while picking up a piece of roast duck with her hand. “Stay single a few more years, and you’ll be the family’s black sheep too. Then we’ll join forces as brother and sister to take on that wicked witch together,” her uncle said with a sly grin. Just then, Grandma came out carrying a bowl of rice. My aunt immediately put on a docile act, wrapping her arm around Grandma’s and resting her head on her mother’s shoulder. “You’re the real black sheep of the family. I’m Mom’s chosen one, here specifically to keep scum like you in check.” His aunt used this trick to win over Grandpa and Grandma, earning the exclusive favor of both elders. “Then I could team up with Yuanjun too. He’s almost become the family’s black sheep as well, right, honey?” my uncle said. His aunt shot him a withering glance. “Huh?” My aunt chewed on a piece of roast duck a few times, looking suspicious. “Mom, did you forget to add salt? This duck tastes bland.” “We bought this from a store,” Grandma said irritably. His younger aunt furrowed her delicate brows, took a deep breath, and exclaimed, “I can’t smell anything—the food doesn’t smell good at all.” Hearing this, Grandma asked with concern, “Have you caught a cold?” Just then, Zhang Yuanqing noticed the infant spirit clinging to his aunt’s calf. Its flat little nose twitched once, and then it opened its eyes—black as buttons. Upon seeing the unfamiliar surroundings, its little face froze in bewilderment, as if it didn’t understand why it had ended up there. Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing’s heart grew even heavier. This was no ordinary spirit; ordinary spirits have no consciousness, cannot think, and act solely on instinct. The infant spirit didn’t remain bewildered for long. Following some instinct, it twitched its little nose as it crawled up her aunt’s body to her shoulder. Then, it spotted the table laden with delicious dishes. Zhang Yuanqing’s gaze followed the infant spirit as it suddenly sped up, shakily crawling along his aunt’s arm onto the tabletop. It lay on the table and stretched out its short, chubby little hand, trying to grab a piece of roast duck, but it didn’t manage to catch anything. After trying again and again, it finally seemed to realize it couldn’t reach the delicacies and burst into a wailing cry of frustration. An ethereal wail—loud and shrill—immediately rang in Zhang Yuanqing’s ears. That damn kid, so noisy... Zhang Yuanqing channeled the power of the Dark Moon, concentrating it in the palm of his hand. He reached out to grab a piece of roast duck—but in reality, he was clutching the infant spirit in his hand. “You guys eat first; I’m going to the bathroom.” He grabbed the infant spirit by the back of the neck and carried it into the restroom as if it were a little puppy. His aunt’s voice came from behind him: “Huh, my nose suddenly cleared up, and the roast duck smells even better now.” Standing at the sink, Zhang Yuanqing cradled the dead child in one hand, watching as it stuck out its pink tongue and slowly licked the Taiyin energy from the palm of his hand. The Taiyin energy of the Night Wanderer is a powerful tonic for spirit forms. “It’ll follow my aunt home—she must have picked up my scent, which holds a fatal attraction for spirit forms...” But what Zhang Yuanqing couldn’t figure out was that an infant’s spiritual energy was weak; after an untimely death, its spirit would dissipate rapidly—at most a day or two, at least within a few hours. Yet the rumors of hauntings at his aunt’s hospital seemed to have been circulating for some time. That didn’t make sense. If he didn’t understand, he’d look it up… Zhang Yuanqing reached into his pocket with his other hand, pulled out his phone, and logged into the Five Elements Alliance’s official forum. #Shocking: The “Judgment Eye” is suspected to have perished; in the coming period, some Fallen Ones may lose control—personnel in all regions should remain on high alert# #Shocking: The Soul-Shedding Tunnel Has Been Conquered; the Identity of the One Who Cleared It Remains a Mystery# Zhang Yuanqing’s gaze skimmed over the two pinned posts without giving them much thought. Since the official organization would need to guard against incidents of Fallen Ones losing control, news of the “Judge with the Eerie Eye” would inevitably be made public. However, news of his conquest of the Sheling Tunnel had already spread across the Five Elements Alliance’s official forum, and the unfamiliar username “Yuanshi Tianzun” had come to the attention of the official Spirit Realm Walkers for the first time. Zhang Yuanqing typed the four characters “special spirit entities” into the forum’s search function. He quickly found a post explaining the basics of spirit entities. “A spirit form is condensed from the residual spiritual energy of an intelligent being after death. Because it has lost the vast majority of its consciousness, the spirit form remains in a dazed state, acting on instinct—or, one might say, out of obsession. “Once any living being dies, its spirit form begins to dissipate continuously. For ordinary people, it lasts no more than seven days, while the spirit forms of Spirit Realm Walkers can linger in the mortal world for a longer period, depending on the strength of their spiritual energy. “But there are always exceptions. As far as I know, high-level Night Wanderers and Illusionists can, even after their physical bodies are destroyed, use special methods to ensure their spirit bodies endure in the mortal world.” Upon reading this, Zhang Yuanqing couldn’t help but shift his gaze to the infant spirit, thinking to himself that this little one clearly lacked the ability to endure in the mortal world and could not possibly be a high-level Spirit Realm practitioner. He continued reading the post “The above describes spirit forms under normal circumstances. Next, let’s discuss abnormal spirit forms—the so-called abnormal spirit forms...” The text abruptly ended. Zhang Yuanqing scrolled all the way to the bottom and discovered that the second half of the post was locked—it required a paid subscription to read. So this was the legendary “paying for knowledge”? His mouth twitched as he used his phone to top up his “Yuanshi Tianzun” account with 200 yuan to complete the payment. It’s worth noting that over the past few days, the administrative staff had already set up a cell phone SIM card and bank card in the name of “Yuanshi Tianzun” for him, severing all ties to his “Zhang Yuanqing” identity. “So-called ‘abnormal spirit entities’ are spirits refined through artificial means. The most famous example is the Night Wanderer’s art of ghost-riding; of course, other professions have their own corresponding methods, which I won’t go into here. “Refined spirit entities have a chance to develop special abilities and can be regarded as valuable items or pets. In the jargon of the Night Wanderers, such entities are called ‘spirit servants.’ “But note that spirits also vary in aptitude; not all spirits can be refined into spirit servants. Spirits with the aptitude for spirit servants are one in ten thousand. Next, I’ll explain the refinement method........ “Finally, a reminder: refining the spirit bodies of members of evil classes is permitted, but enslaving the spirit bodies of ordinary people is a violation of discipline.” “Posted by: Yuan Ting.” Those 200 yuan were well spent... After reading the post, Zhang Yuanqing couldn’t help but remark with genuine admiration. This post revealed a great deal of information to him. First: Once a Night Wanderer’s level increases, they can raise ghosts and refine corpses. When facing Spirit Realm Walkers in battle, they can switch between a sneaky assassin playstyle and a sneaky summoner playstyle. Second: This dead kid is an extremely valuable spirit servant—I’ve struck gold. Since it has already developed special abilities, it’s a genuine spirit servant—not just a special spirit entity. Third: There’s something wrong with the hospital where my aunt works. “Just now, my aunt suddenly lost her sense of taste and smell—it must have been this little guy’s doing. So its ability is to steal people’s senses of taste and smell? Hmm, I’ll have to verify that later. If I can raise this little guy, it might even be worth as much as an item.” While Zhang Yuanqing was delighted, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. There must be a Spirit Realm Walker hiding in Auntie’s hospital. Now that it has followed her home, the refiner behind it will certainly not let such a precious spirit servant slip away. This would lead to trouble down the line—and might even endanger his aunt. Whether the other party is an official or an independent Spirit Realm Practitioner, refining a spirit servant from the spirit body of an ordinary person is a violation of the regulations. This matter won’t end well. “I’ll tell Section Chief Shi about this tomorrow. We need to make good use of the resources around us...” Once he’d worked it out, he felt much more at ease as he examined the infant spirit lying in the palm of his hand and on his forearm. Sensing his gaze, the little one opened its big, black, button-like eyes and, with a pleading expression, made a sound: “Aba, Aba...” Seeing that Zhang Yuanqing was ignoring it, the infant spirit continued to lap up the Taiyin energy. Its intelligence was higher than that of an ordinary infant, but it still couldn’t communicate normally… He pinched the infant spirit by the back of its neck and flipped it over: “Come on, let me see if you’re a little goofball or a little troublemaker.” “From now on, you’ll be called ‘Little Jester.’ ” Zhang Yuanqing walked out of the restroom carrying the infant spirit; the family dinner was already drawing to a close. He returned to his seat, quietly draping the infant spirit around his uncle’s neck while continuing to eat as if nothing were amiss. It was the perfect opportunity to test the infant spirit’s abilities on the family’s black sheep. His uncle was chewing on a dental floss stick, carefully cleaning between his teeth, completely unaware that a dead child was perched on his neck. “Uncle, why don’t you have a bowl of soup?” Zhang Yuanqing, seeing that the time was right, poured some soup for his uncle. He wanted to see if his uncle, like his aunt, would lose his sense of taste and smell. His uncle rubbed his round belly and shook his head “No, I won’t have any, unless you’ve got some jianbing.” As he spoke, he struck a rap pose of his own invention. Just as Zhang Yuanqing thought he was about to hear the familiar lyrics, his uncle suddenly sucked on his thumb, “Aba, aba, aba...” At the same time, the infant spirit perched on his uncle’s neck let out a sound only Zhang Yuanqing could hear: “Yo-yo, check it out—bring on a set of jianbing guozi.” “Pfft~” Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yuerr, in perfect unison, spit out the chicken soup they’d been sipping. Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt, and my cousin all wore expressions of pity for his misfortune and frustration at his lack of initiative.