My family tree hollow connects to the modern era : Chapter 2

Ink Cloud Mountain was packed with tourists because the early cherry blossoms were in full bloom in April.

At first Ink Cloud Mountain only had cherry blossoms, and tourists would come to look at the flowers, take some photos, and leave. Later, as construction progressed step by step, the place gradually gained quite a few entertainment attractions.

There was grass sledding on the meadows, hot spring baths, barbecue and camping grounds, and even a film and television shooting base not far away. If you were lucky you could even spot celebrities here. Slowly, Ink Cloud Mountain’s visitor numbers grew more and more, and every weekend the parking lots were packed to bursting.

Bai Zhizhi, who had no idea why he had simply gone to sleep and woken up in a completely different place, looked at the blue sky and white clouds, felt the warmth of the sunlight, and twitched his nose. The smell was completely different from Qingqiu, and he almost instantly determined that this was not Qingqiu.

He quietly released his divine sense to check, and there were no restrictive formations around either. He grew even more puzzled. Where was this place, and how had he ended up here.

Bai Zhizhi patted the dust off his clothes, perked up his ears to listen, and whoosh flew straight toward the most bustling area. He was going to find out exactly what kind of place this was, and who was playing tricks on him!

After walking along the winding mountain path, a lively, never before seen scene came into view. People, so many people, people in all kinds of strange outfits.

Bai Zhizhi, who had never seen a human being in his entire life, stood on the mountain path so shocked that his ears shot straight up, forgetting how to even put his feet down.

Although Qingqiu was not exclusively fox clan and had other demon clans as well, there were no humans. His understanding of humans all came from books, but the books only recorded various human cultivators.

Now he stood here looking at the people coming and going below, and he did not sense any cultivation aura from them. So these were not cultivators, but ordinary people?

Bai Zhizhi tilted his head, his face full of confusion. So many ordinary people. Just where exactly had he slept his way to?

He instinctively turned around wanting to find Beishan, but unfortunately Beishan, who had been inseparable from him since childhood, had not come with him.

His perked up ears drooped back slightly, and his excited expression sagged a few degrees. It felt rather uncomfortable not having Beishan by his side. If only he had let Beishan enter the tree hole with him earlier.

Bai Zhizhi moped for a while, but quickly cheered up again. He had long been curious and wanted to see the world outside Qingqiu.

He had just lifted his foot to take a step down when Bai Zhizhi looked at his own clothes, then looked at what the people below were wearing. He was dressed differently from everyone else. Would that not be a bit awkward? When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right?

Bai Zhizhi looked left and right, and spotted a stall below that seemed to be selling clothes. His eyes turned, and whoosh he darted down. A few breaths later he came back up holding a set of human clothes in his hands.

Bai Zhizhi copied the humans and put the clothes on. The fabric was a bit scratchy and not very comfortable, but it was quite novel. Now that he looked like everyone else, he walked boldly down the mountain.

As soon as he stepped into the crowd, quite a few people looked over at him. Almost everyone who passed by him took a second glance.

Bai Zhizhi frowned slightly and checked himself over again. Human shirt, human pants. He was dressed exactly like everyone else. Why were they looking at him?

He turned his head and saw the stall owner also looking at him. Bai Zhizhi got so startled his ears shot straight up, and he turned and ran.

He remembered reading in books that the currency on human cultivator continents came in several types: spirit stones, and also gold and silver. He figured since everyone here was ordinary people, they probably would not need spirit stones, so he used a gold leaf to exchange for the clothes, of course doing it secretly.

He had no idea whether one gold leaf was enough or not. He did not want to get arrested for stealing on his very first day outside Qingqiu, so his first reaction was to run away guiltily.

After running to where he could no longer see the stall owner, Bai Zhizhi let out a sigh of relief and slowed down. Only then did he spare some attention to start looking around at his surroundings.

Everything was stuff he had never seen before, and even the books did not seem to record them. He could not understand them, and he was too embarrassed to ask, so he could only observe quietly, committing these strange things to memory. There would be opportunities to slowly figure them out later.

The things for use and play Bai Zhizhi could not understand, but food was easy enough to understand. If he saw someone eating it, that meant it was edible.

But the way people paid money here seemed different from what he had read in books. Not spirit stones, not gold or silver. He only saw people here holding one strange thing, tapping it against another strange thing, and then they could take the food away.

What were these strange things?

Two girls buying ice cream felt the gaze from the side, turned their heads, and could not help drawing in a small breath inwardly. The hands they were using to hold each other squeezed together.

This guy was way too good looking. There were no words to describe his features, truly as exquisite as a painting. Thick dark brows, black eyes, skin as white as porcelain, extremely silky lustrous long hair, and a pair of white ears standing at the sides of his head.

When they looked over at him, those two ears even shrank back slightly. This was way too realistic. What kind of divine level beauty was this? It was practically trying to kill the furry fans. They wanted to rush over and take a sniff, he must be fragrant and soft.

Probably because their gazes were a bit too intense, Bai Zhizhi took a step back wanting to leave.

One of the girls quickly spoke up: “Sorry, may we take a photo with you? Are you a cosplayer? Which anime character are you cosplaying? The ears and hair are done so beautifully.”

Bai Zhizhi did not understand. What player? And what was anime?

He never spoke rashly about things he did not know, so Bai Zhizhi just smiled at them with his head tilted. His sister always said he looked the most well behaved when he smiled. Usually when he smiled like this, other people would be helpless and would give him whatever he wanted, except of course for leaving Qingqiu.

Sure enough, as soon as they saw his smile, the two girls’ expressions turned excited, and they walked over toward him, then took out a strange thing.

Bai Zhizhi watched the strange thing in their hands carefully, but before he could figure it out, one of the girls stood beside him, her head tilting over, almost leaning on his shoulder.

Before he could react and step away, the other girl called out that it was done, and the two switched places. The other girl also came to stand by his side.

Bai Zhizhi was confused the entire time, and also a bit at a loss. These humans were so strange.

After taking the photos, the two girls bought an ice cream and handed it to Bai Zhizhi: “Thank you little handsome guy. With your looks it’s such a waste not to debut. If you become a celebrity later, we’ll be your original fans.”

Bai Zhizhi still did not understand, but he received his first food in this unfamiliar place. He saw that other people ate it directly, so he also lowered his head and tentatively took a bite. It was cold and refreshing. Although it did not taste as good as it smelled, this was the first thing he had eaten since leaving Qingqiu.

Bai Zhizhi looked at the two girls who had bought him the ice cream, his bright sparkling eyes curving slightly, revealing a sweet smile: “Thank you.”

While Bai Zhizhi was observing the unfamiliar human world, a group of people who had received an urgent notice from the Administration Bureau rushed over from different locations.

These people all had outstanding appearances and extraordinary auras. Gathered together in a group they attracted quite a lot of attention.

Some tourists thought they were celebrities filming at the neighboring film city. Although they all looked unfamiliar and no one could call out their names, the men were handsome and the women beautiful, making people unable to resist taking out their phones to snap photos. They seemed long accustomed to being stared at, ignoring the tourists who gathered around to watch the commotion, and instead stood together discussing something. Until another car drove up, and when they saw who got out of the car, everyone’s grave expressions relaxed a few degrees.

The newcomer was nearly six foot four in height, with impressively long legs, a straight posture, and a naturally outstanding bearing. His facial features were sharply defined, handsome and heroic, and his brows and eyes exuded a calm composure.

At the sight of him, Lin Xiaoyang quickly stepped forward to greet him: “Brother Jiang!”

Jiang Lin looked at everyone: “The higher ups called me and said the demon aura that burst out was very intense. Don’t let your guard down. This demon aura outbreak has been classified as special grade. Cultivators in the nearby area are also on their way here.”

Lin Xiaoyang hissed softly: “Special grade? But we’ve been observing here for a while and haven’t detected any demon aura at all.”

They were cultivators, people who had accidentally entered the path of cultivation or who had been trained by the state because of good talent. The Administration Bureau was backed by the state, providing them with various conveniences and cultivation resources. In return, they had to work for the state. For example, if any special situation was discovered anywhere, they had to be the first to go handle it.

After arriving here, Jiang Lin also found that the situation was different from what the Administration Bureau had just notified them about. Everything here looked perfectly ordinary. Even he had not detected the slightest trace of demon aura. It was so clean that it seemed like the anomaly the Bureau had just detected was an illusion.

Even though he had not found any demon aura, Jiang Lin did not let his guard down: “Spread out and search the area thoroughly. Everyone be careful. Report any situation immediately. Don’t act rashly.”

Everyone accepted his arrangements and dispersed in different directions. Jiang Lin also chose a direction and walked into the crowd.

It happened to be the flowering season, and the weekend crowd was enormous. Quite a few people were wearing colorful outfits specifically to take a set of viral photos under the cherry blossom trees.

In an environment where you ran into a fake wig every three steps and fake ears every five steps, the white ears on Bai Zhizhi’s head were not particularly eye catching.

But Jiang Lin still spotted at a single glance in the crowd that Bai Zhizhi was not playing dress up. He was a little fox demon with a pair of real fox ears standing on his head.

When Jiang Lin discovered Bai Zhizhi, Bai Zhizhi was being pulled by a man with lust in his eyes. The man was coaxing him: “Our line of work is very easy. You just eat and drink casually, and you earn at least over a thousand a night, easily twenty or thirty thousand a month. If you don’t have a place to stay, we can also provide accommodation.”

Bai Zhizhi did not know how much twenty or thirty thousand was in the currency here, but when he heard there was a place to stay he was ready to go with the man. He had just arrived and had not figured anything out yet, so finding a place to stay first would be better.

As for the man’s obvious ulterior motives, he was not afraid at all. They were just a bunch of ordinary mortals. He could slap a whole crowd of them to death with one palm.

Just as he was being pulled and about to leave, a hand suddenly reached out from the crowd and grabbed him.

Bai Zhizhi followed that hand and looked at the person who came, his slightly round eyes widening a bit. A cultivator’s aura. This was not an ordinary person, this was a cultivator!

Jiang Lin looked at the man who had nearly succeeded in tricking the little fox demon away, his gaze turning sharp: “Perhaps you’d like to take a trip to the police station with me.”

Meeting the other’s gaze, the man who had been coaxing Bai Zhizhi let go with an awkward smile: “I just saw he was alone and wanted to ask if he needed help. Never mind then.”

He turned and ran after saying this, afraid that if he moved any slower he would be dragged to the police station.

Jiang Lin did not chase after the man with ill intentions, but instead looked the little fox demon up and down with a heavy gaze.

This fox demon’s ears had not fully transformed yet. He did not carry any demon aura on him. His eyes were innocent and pure, his face full of inexperience with the world. He was wearing a tourist shirt that said something like “I was here,” barefoot without shoes. Any random scammer could easily sweet talk him into going along. He was clearly a little fox demon who had just come down from the mountain.

While Jiang Lin was sizing up Bai Zhizhi, Bai Zhizhi was also sizing him up.

Twitching his nose and sniffing around, he did not smell any powerful magical artifact. Ordinary clothes, mediocre cultivation. He could casually swat him dead with a move. Yep, a weak human cultivator, not a threat.

Author’s Note:

First impressions

Jiang Lin: A little demon freshly down from the mountain.

Bai Zhizhi: A weak human cultivator.