Chapter 16: Fragments of the Little Demon

The moment he sensed the aura of the little demon, Yin Tian couldn’t believe it himself, thinking it was an illusion.

When there was no activity, he couldn’t find it for two months. However, as soon as activity resumed, it occurred two days in a row, in the same place.

But he quickly confirmed that it wasn’t an illusion.

Because the aura emitted by the little demon had changed again.

He detected it three times, and the scent was different each time.

How could this be?

A guess surfaced in Yin Tian’s mind, but he was even more unwilling to believe it, deciding to chase after it to see what was going on.

This time, he really couldn’t let the little demon slip away.

If he didn’t find the reason, the situation would become even more complicated.

Yin Tian went straight out the window, landing from the fifteenth floor. Unexpectedly, Pei Jing followed him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Just want to see what this so-called little demon looks like.”

“…”

The little demon’s aura was very faint, as if it were in a weakened state, about to disappear at any moment.

Yin Tian didn’t say much to Pei Jing, focusing on heading in the direction of the little demon’s scent.

The hospital was quite large. Yin Tian paused at the end of a cool, damp, and shady path.

There was no one there, only a small cat curled up in the corner, licking its wounds.

Seeing them approach, the cat immediately became alert and hostile, arching its back and hissing threateningly.

“…Is this the little demon’s true form?”

Pei Jing couldn’t sense any aura. In his eyes, it was just an ordinary little cat.

“No.” Yin Tian’s expression was grave. “A little demon has possessed it.”

Although the aura was faint, it was undeniably real, emanating from the little cat in front of him. Yin Tian couldn’t be mistaken.

“But didn’t you say that little demons only possess young creatures?”

“There are occasional exceptions.”

Yin Tian didn’t explain further, just paused in silence for a long time.

Then he picked up a fallen leaf, transforming it into a sharp blade with his bare hands, preparing to stab the cat.

Pei Jing was shocked. “Are you going to kill this cat? Didn’t you say there was a spell to make the little demon appear?”

Yin Tian wanted to silence this person and stop him from talking nonsense.

But soon Pei Jing couldn’t speak either.

Because the cat, startled, didn’t attack Yin Tian, but instead charged at Pei Jing.

Accompanied by a sharp, piercing screech, the cat, baring its fangs and claws, leaped from the ground, straight for Pei Jing’s face, opening its sharp claws to scratch.

Pei Jing raised his hand to defend, swatting the cat away with a wave.

The cat couldn’t land on its feet, but instead fell heavily to the ground.

In the end, it didn’t even let out a sound, lying motionless on the ground.

The cat was dead.

Along with the cat’s death, a hazy, evil aura emanated, green and shimmering, floating above the cat’s corpse for a good ten seconds before dissipating.

Pei Jing felt this unusual evil aura and saw the green light with his own eyes.

“Is this the little demon’s evil aura?”

“Yes.”

Only when all the power was dissipated, commonly known as “death,” would the evil aura on the little demon be released.

“Then did I kill this cat, kill the little demon?”

Pei Jing was somewhat shocked and disbelieving.

“But I didn’t use much force just now. Is the little demon so fragile?”

“You didn’t kill it.” Yin Tian’s expression was solemn. “This cat was already dead. It was possessed by the little demon after death.”

“…”

Hearing this, Pei Jing realized that the cat’s body was already stiff and starting to emit a foul odor.

It was just that the little demon could hide its aura, concealing the stench as well.

“What’s going on? How does it feel different from what you said?”

Yin Tian’s face was grave and solemn as he said in a deep voice, “The little demon has split.”

…

“Split?!”

Dong Mian was unwilling to believe what he was hearing.

“Repeat it. What split? How could it split?!”

Yin Tian repeated for the third time, “When injured too severely and unable to find a suitable host in the short term, the little demon can split itself, then each part possesses something, repairs itself, and finally recombines into one.”

This was the reason why Yin Tian sensed the little demon as sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and why the scents changed several times.

“This can maximize its chances of survival. Some parts that can’t be repaired are discarded in time, like just now.”

But even if it was just a part, even if it was destined to dissipate, the little demon possessed an astonishing will to survive, not even letting go of a dead cat.

Generally speaking, little demons wouldn’t choose animals, because animals are weaker than human children and can hardly provide any power.

That’s why Yin Tian paused for so long when he saw the dead cat at the end of the path.

“…So what do we do next? Do we have to find all the parts of the little demon and deal with them one by one?”

Finding one was troublesome enough, and now they didn’t even know how many there were.

Yin Tian had already dealt with one, but even if no one dealt with it, it would soon dissipate on its own.

Two months of effort resulted in no progress and actually made the situation more complicated and difficult.

Yin Tian replied, “We just need to find the heart. All the split parts will eventually converge towards the heart. As long as the heart dissipates, the other parts will also dissipate.”

“But from another perspective, as long as the heart is still alive, the little demon won’t die, and the other parts can continue to split infinitely, splitting endlessly?”

“You’re right. Theoretically, that’s how it is.”

“…”

At first, they were searching for one little demon.

Now it had become like searching for a needle in a haystack from a pile of little demon fragments, and they had to find the heart fragment.

Pei Jing was still beside him, stroking his chin. “…I’ve never heard of this method. How can you guarantee that this is definitely how it is?”

No one knew why he was still here.50

Yin Tian didn’t know why he was explaining it to him.

“Because it’s my magic,” Yin Tian said. “I must have given it to the little demon when I injected spiritual power… I was drunk at the time, and I don’t remember how much I gave.”

Pei Jing was even more puzzled. “Wait, according to what you said, the little demon should be grateful to you.”

“Then why does it run away when it sees you?”

“…”

That was, of course, because Yin Tian had bad intentions and had bullied the little demon severely.

Yin Tian had saved the little demon’s life and granted it a significant amount of spiritual power; that was true.

But Yin Tian wasn’t doing it out of kindness.

After the little demon recovered, Yin Tian launched a cat-and-mouse chase after it.

He deliberately didn’t catch the little demon, but always maintained a dangerous distance, making the little demon feel anxious every moment.

When the little demon couldn’t hold on any longer, he would give it some spiritual power and continue chasing.

After repeating this for nearly a year, the little demon had run all over the abyss, memorized every terrain, and finally escaped successfully.

How could it still be grateful to Yin Tian?

The little demon saw him as if he were a ghost.

This was also why Yin Tian was confident before that if the little demon was really on Pei Qinglu, it would have already run away.

After explaining the key points, Yin Tian indeed received two disgusted looks.

“You can genuinely be this awful.”

“Truly a beast.”

“…”

Yin Tian wouldn’t refute Dong Mian, but he wasn’t polite to Pei Jing.

“Wait, why are you still here? What does our business have to do with you?”

Pei Jing took it for granted. “This is my hospital. I can be wherever I want. Besides, my child is inside. I have to stay here and watch over him.”

Yin Tian and Pei Jing jumped out of the building one after the other, leaving Dong Mian to watch the child.

Fortunately, the little guy’s attention was all on the fruit platter, and he didn’t notice that one of his fathers had disappeared.

After eating the fruit, Dongri started to feel sleepy again.

Between sleeping and chatting with Pei Qinglu, he decided to pull Pei Qinglu down to lie together and talk until he fell asleep.

Although Dong Mian didn’t like Pei Jing, he wouldn’t make things difficult for the child.

Besides, Dongri had never had any children his age around him. Now that he finally had someone willing to play with him, Dong Mian would never stop him.

Now that both children were sleeping obediently, they could talk freely in the corridor outside.

Pei Jing stole Dong Mian’s line. “This is the first time my child has been interested in other children.”

“Although I hate you, I won’t restrict my child’s freedom to make friends.”

“It’s not like our child is so rare,” Yin Tian retorted immediately. “If your little brittle dragon dares to scare my child, I’ll beat your father and son and use your dragon bones to make soup.”

“If you could do that, it would be fantastic. Do you think I’ll be able to discharge you from the hospital now?”

Dong Mian sighed, holding his forehead.

One big demon was enough to bother him, and now there was another black dragon who was almost the same, and it was simply killing him.

Although these two people had incompatible auras, they didn’t hold any deep-seated grudges from the past, and there were no conflicts of interest at that moment.

They couldn’t fight.

Then there was no need to continue the war of words.

Dong Mian interrupted their meaningless quarrel and asked Pei Jing, “…So your identity in the human world is a doctor?”

“No.”

Dong Mian was puzzled. “Then how do you own a hospital?”

“This is just one of the industries under my name.”

Unlike their usual disguises, Pei Jing was an incredibly successful president of a conglomerate in the human world.

Dong Mian was curious. “Isn’t it a problem to be so high-profile?”

“It’s not a problem,” Pei Jing said. “I’ve been in the human world for so many years. If I didn’t even have this much achievement, then that would be a problem.”

“…”

“…”

Although… but Yin Tian and Dong Mian felt like they were being subtly mocked.

Yin Tian wasn’t willing to be outdone. “Who would stay in the human world if they didn’t have something to do? Looks like you’re pretty free? Or are you quite disliked in your clan?”

He thought another war of words was about to break out.

Unexpectedly, Pei Jing explained earnestly, “My lover is human. Of course, I have to stay here.”

“Because after giving birth to the child, my lover’s health wasn’t excellent, so I built this hospital.”

They understood without needing to say more.

Giving birth to a dragon offspring was a perilous thing for humans, almost no different from skinning and tendon-drawing.

No wonder their child was a little brittle dragon. It turned out that half of his bloodline was human.

“In any case, for the sake of the children, if your mission encounters any trouble, I will spare no effort to provide assistance.”

Ultimately, the conversation shifted back to the children.

Although his personality was as annoying as Yin Tian’s, he seemed to be a good father, at least for now.

He was also putting a lot of effort into helping his child make a friend.