My family tree hollow connects to the modern era : Chapter 3

With the coming and going tourists as the backdrop, cherry blossoms drifting through the air spiraled down.

Two people with exceptionally striking looks pulled at each other and locked eyes, as beautiful as a brightly colored painting.

Quite a few people thought they were filming some short drama and could not help stopping to gather around and watch.

Jiang Lin quietly mobilized the spiritual power within his body, preventing this little fox demon from making a move to escape.

But unexpectedly, this little fox demon did not resist even while being held by him. He opened his round eyes and tilted his head slightly, his clear pupils reflecting Jiang Lin’s appearance, seeming to observe him with a face full of innocence and harmlessness, his eyes full of curiosity.

Jiang Lin noticed that more and more people were gathering around to watch. He softened his expression and said with a touch of reassurance: “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. Let’s leave this place first.”

He tentatively pulled the little fox demon along for a couple of steps, and seeing that he actually followed obediently without the slightest intention of resisting, he was slightly surprised and his attitude softened a few degrees more.

Leading him to a stall, Jiang Lin casually picked up a pair of holey slippers and placed them on the ground: “Put these on.”

Bai Zhizhi looked at the strangely shaped shoes, lifted his foot and slipped them in.

The soles were quite soft to step on, but the touch was also hard, just like the ice cream he had eaten earlier. It smelled sweet and fragrant, but the taste was just so so. The human world was so strange, with so many baffling things.

Jiang Lin paid the money, turned his head and saw the little fox demon looking down with novelty at the shoes on his feet, his silky smooth long hair drifting about, his exquisite and beautiful brows and eyes full of naive innocence unversed in worldly affairs.

Looking back at the rear mountain where there was no longer a trace of demon aura, Jiang Lin said: “Let’s go. I’ll take you back to the Bureau first to register your identity.”

Bai Zhizhi looked up at Jiang Lin: “Bureau? Identity?”

Jiang Lin was just about to say something when Lin Xiaoyang, who had been the loudest earlier, ran over: “Brother Jiang!”

When he ran closer and saw the person Jiang Lin was holding, then looked at the pair of white fox ears on the other’s head, he was so shocked his eyes went wide: “Th th this…”

Jiang Lin said: “There are too many people here, this is not a place to talk. Let’s go back first. You notify the others, then go up the mountain to check again.”

Lin Xiaoyang made an oh sound and followed behind obediently.

Bai Zhizhi was led by them into a car, yet another thing he had never seen before. He sat obediently, turning his head to look everywhere, but in his heart he was analyzing the current situation.

This person called Brother Jiang had clearly come for him, but the other party bore no malice. Most people here were ordinary folk. Of those with cultivation, he had only encountered two so far. One was very weak, one was super weak. Neither was a match for him. He touched the bracelet hidden on his wrist. This was a magical treasure his mother had refined for him. It could store items and could withstand a fatal strike from an upper immortal level cultivator. His personal safety was not a concern.

Bai Zhizhi set his mind at ease. He would go back with them first and see, go to that whatever Bureau. Best if he could find out exactly what kind of place this was and how he had ended up here.

Jiang Lin was driving. Lin Xiaoyang, sitting in the passenger seat, watched Brother Jiang activate the formation inside the car, confirming that this little demon could not escape. Only then did he come forward with a grin to strike up conversation: “You’re a fox demon, right? Which mountain did you cultivate on? Have you been to the human world before?”

Bai Zhizhi blinked but did not make a sound. Human world? In Qingqiu they called the ordinary people’s world the mundane world. Was the human world here the same mundane world as they understood it?

Lin Xiaoyang did not mind his silence and continued asking: “What’s your name? Did you just come down from the mountain today? Let me tell you, now mortals hold sway. You demons who want to live in peace have to hide your identities and cannot let people know.”

Bai Zhizhi only then turned his head slightly to look at him: “What happens if people find out?”

Bai Zhizhi’s voice was clear and pure, carrying the youthfulness of a young person. One could tell at a glancethat he was not very old.

Lin Xiaoyang narrowed his eyes slightly, a teasing thought arising. He put on a fierce expression to scare him: “If people find out you’ll be caught and eaten! Demon meat is the tastiest, especially little demons like you who just transformed and came down from the mountain. You’re the most tender and fresh, and can extend your lifespan!”

He had just finished speaking when Jiang Lin shot him a look: “Don’t scare him.”

Glancing at Bai Zhizhi sitting obediently in the rearview mirror, he reassured: “Don’t listen to him. Humans don’t eat demons. But ordinary people don’t know demons exist, so if you want to move freely in the ordinary people’s world, you do need to hide your identity.”

Bai Zhizhi fell silent upon hearing this. Mortals hold sway. This place was indeed strange. Dignified human cultivators actually feared ordinary mortals and made demons hide themselves away. Too strange.

All the way back to the Administration Bureau, Bai Zhizhi discovered another strange thing about this place. There was no spiritual energy here, yet there was a different kind of driving force. The vehicles traveling here were not slow. The buildings, though cramped, soared into the clouds. Going to upper floors did not require mobilizing spiritual power to fly up. Instead one could freely move about using external objects.

What was important was that all these things could be controlled by ordinary mortals.

Seeing that Bai Zhizhi was very cooperative and showed no intention of escaping, Jiang Lin’s attitude toward him grew even gentler. After bringing him to an office equipped with formations, he got him some water and food: “Wait here for me. In a moment someone will come to explain the human world’s situation and rules to you. Rest assured, as long as you cooperate, no one here will hurt you. If you have any needs you can also tell us.”

In the current world, spiritual energy was thin. Human cultivators were already pitifully few, let alone demon cultivators. Any demon who could successfully transform into human form was someone with great fortune. As long as they did not disturb the peace of the human world and were willing to obey human laws, the Administration Bureau would do its utmost to protect their safety.

After temporarily settling Bai Zhizhi, Jiang Lin went to the Director’s office.

The Director of the Administration Bureau headquarters stared at the screen on the wall. The image displayed on the screen was exactly the footage from the office where Bai Zhizhi was. Seeing Jiang Lin arrive, the Director asked directly: “You went and only found this little fox demon?”

Jiang Lin nodded: “By then there was no longer any demon aura detectable on the mountain. If this little fox demon had not just come down from the mountain and known nothing, his transformation not yet complete, we probably would not have been able to discover even him.”

Because this little fox demon also did not have the slightest demon aura on his body. If he put away his ears, even Jiang Lin might not have been able to tell he was a demon.

The Director sat back in his chair: “What’s your take on this?”

Jiang Lin looked at the screen. On the screen, Bai Zhizhi was drinking water. He first held the cup and observed it, then sniffed it, and only then tried taking a small sip. Newly arrived and cautiously feeling his way around, his ears shrinking back from time to time, so well behaved it made one’s heart soften.

Jiang Lin said: “I plan to temporarily keep him by my side.”

The Director said: “You keep him?”

Jiang Lin nodded: “Judging from the degree of demon aura that burst out on the mountain, there must have been a powerful demon cultivator’s cave dwelling that was opened at the time. But the only one who came out was him. I also cannot detect his cultivation level. He definitely has some concealment treasure on him. Either he is that powerful demon cultivator himself, having taken refuge in a cave dwelling to sleep through a catastrophe, and awakened after thousands of years. Or he is the descendant of that powerful demon cultivator, having been kept in the cave dwelling to cultivate, and finally transformed into human form and ran out from the cave dwelling.”

Jiang Lin added after finishing: “Of these two possibilities I lean more toward the latter. But regardless of which it is, I will temporarily keep him by my side. I can both help him integrate into human society and keep a certain degree of watch over him.”

The Director pondered for a moment and nodded: “You handle it as you see fit. Report any situation immediately.”

What Jiang Lin said was also what the Director had guessed in his heart. Whether this little fox demon was a powerful demon cultivator himself or a demon cultivator’s descendant, judging from the demon aura that burst out at the time, his origins were certainly extraordinary. Having Jiang Lin act as his guide and lead him to integrate into society could to the greatest degree make him hold a friendly attitude toward humans.

While they were discussing Bai Zhizhi’s arrangements, Bai Zhizhi had already gained a rough understanding of this world from the person who came to register his information.

Their Qingqiu was actually an existence from ancient mythology in the human cognition of this world. This world had no gods or immortals. They existed in ancient mythology, but later the Dao collapsed, gods and immortals ceased to exist, and only ordinary humans remained to multiply. After thousands of years of evolution through the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, it finally formed the current human society.

No wonder that cultivator earlier said that now mortals hold sway. With a population of nearly ten billion, cultivators might number in the tens of thousands, and demon cultivators currently registered were less than a hundred. With such a vast gap, even a dragon would have to coil up.

Bai Zhizhi digested this information slightly and asked: “Besides me, are there other fox demons?”

The young lady who came to explain things to him checked on a tablet and nodded: “There is a red fox. Three years ago it cultivated into human form at Stele Boundary Ridge, and was caught because it stole a few chickens that humans were raising.”

Bai Zhizhi instinctively looked at the clothes on his body, and his straight back inexplicably weakened a few degrees: “After being caught, what then? Where is it now?”

The young lady said: “Now working at the zoo.”

Bai Zhizhi said: “What is a zoo?”

The young lady pulled up information on the zoo and explained to him: “Here, this is a zoo. People buy tickets to go in and watch animals. This fox demon performs in its true form at the zoo during the day, and attends night school in the evening.”

Saying this, she looked at the little fox demon before her whose beauty was filled with an immortal aura, and comforted him considerately: “Through his own unremitting efforts, he has successfully integrated into human society. So don’t worry, integrating into human society is not difficult.”

Bai Zhizhi was shocked. A dignified fox demon actually had to perform for a living like this. The human world, terrifying beyond words!