Chapter 1 The Infant Spirit

The infant was about fifty centimeters tall, its body not quite real. It had sparse downy hair on its head, chubby cheeks, and short, pudgy limbs like sections of lotus root, making it look extremely adorable.

It clung to Jiang Yuer's calf like a koala, its little head tilted, eyes closed, and motionless, as if asleep.

Was my aunt telling the truth? Was her hospital really haunted, and was it actually a vengeful infant spirit? Zhang Yuanqing stared at the tiny infant spirit, his mouth gradually widening.

This completely overturned his understanding.

"What are you gawking at!"

Seeing her nephew staring at her with ill intent, his aunt immediately glared at him.

She pulled out a chair, slumped back against the chair, and whined, "Mom, I'm exhausted. Get me some rice."

"Can't you use your own arms and legs?" his grandmother said, but she still got up and went into the kitchen.

"Oh, there's the family disgrace, you're back."

His aunt took a piece of roast duck with her hand while greeting her older brother.

"Give it a few more years of being single, and you'll become a family disgrace too. When that happens, we siblings will join forces and fight against the black-hearted witch," his uncle said with a mischievous grin.

At this moment, his grandmother came out with a bowl of rice, and his aunt immediately put on a well-behaved act, hugging his grandmother's arm and resting her head on her mother's shoulder, "You're the family disgrace. I'm Mom's virgin handmaiden, specifically here to suppress scum like you."

His aunt relied on this trick to win the hearts of his grandparents, earning the exclusive favor of the two elders.

"Then I can team up with Yuanjun too. Yuanjun is almost a family disgrace, right, honey?" his uncle said.

His aunt rolled her eyes at him.

"Huh?" His aunt chewed a few times on the roast duck and said suspiciously, "Mom, did you forget to add salt? This duck doesn't taste like anything."

"It's store-bought," his grandmother said grumpily.

His aunt frowned slightly, took a breath, and exclaimed, "Why can't I smell anything? The food doesn't smell good at all."

Hearing this, his grandmother asked with concern, "Do you have a cold?"

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing saw the infant spirit hanging on his aunt's calf, its flat little nose twitching. Then, it opened its black button-like eyes. Seeing the unfamiliar environment, its little face was filled with blankness, as if it didn't understand why it was here.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuanqing's heart grew heavier.

This was no ordinary spirit. Ordinary spirits had no consciousness, didn't think, and only acted according to instinct.

The infant spirit wasn't confused for long. It followed some instinct, twitching its little nose as it climbed up his aunt's body to her shoulder.

Then, it saw the table full of delicious food.

Zhang Yuanqing's eyes followed the infant spirit, and he saw its crawling speed suddenly increase as it climbed wobbly along his aunt's arm to the table.

It lay on the table, reaching out its short, chubby hands to try and grab a piece of roast duck, but it couldn't grab anything.

After trying again and again, it seemed to finally realize that it couldn't touch the delicious food, and it burst into tears of grievance.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately heard a illusory crying sound in his ears, loud and noisy.

This damn kid, so noisy... Zhang Yuanqing mobilized Taiyin power, concentrated it in his palm, reached out, and took a piece of roast duck, actually grabbing the infant spirit in his hand.

"You guys eat first, I'm going to the bathroom."

He carried the infant spirit by the scruff of its neck, like a little puppy, and went into the bathroom.

Behind him came his aunt's voice, "Huh, my nose suddenly cleared up, and the roast duck smells good again."

........

In front of the sink, Zhang Yuanqing held the dead child with one hand, watching it stick out its pink tongue and lick the Taiyin power in his palm.

For spirits, the Night Watcher's Taiyin power was a great tonic.

"It will follow my aunt home, probably because my aunt has my aura on her, which is fatal attraction for spirits..."

But what Zhang Yuanqing couldn't understand was that infants had weak mental strength. After dying young, the spirit would dissipate quickly, lasting a day or two at most, and a few hours at the shortest.

And the haunting rumors in his aunt's hospital seemed to have been around for some time.

This didn't make sense.

If I don't understand, I'll check the information... Zhang Yuanqing took out his mobile phone with his other hand and logged into the Five Elements Alliance's official forum.

#Shocking, the Ghoul Eye Judge is suspected to have died, and for a period of time in the future, some Fallen may lose control. Personnel from all over should pay attention and be on guard#

#Shocking, the Sheling Tunnel was actually conquered, the identity of the person who cleared it is mysterious#

Zhang Yuanqing's eyes glanced over the two pinned posts, not taking them to heart. The official organization was going to guard against the Fallen losing control, so the Ghoul Eye Judge's incident would definitely be made public.

However, the news that he had conquered the Sheling Tunnel had already spread on the Five Elements Alliance's official forum. The unfamiliar ID, "Yuan Shi Tian Zun," was known to the official Spirit Realm practitioners for the first time.

Zhang Yuanqing entered the four words "special spirit body" into the forum's search function.

Soon, he found a post that popularized knowledge about spirit bodies.

"Spirit bodies are the condensed spiritual power left behind after intelligent beings die. Because they have lost most of their consciousness, spirit bodies are in a sluggish state, acting on instinct, or rather, obsession.

"Once any living being dies, the spirit body will continue to dissipate. Ordinary people can maintain it for up to seven days, and the spirit body of Spirit Realm practitioners will stay in the world for a longer time, depending on the strength of their spiritual power.

"But there are always exceptions to everything. As far as I know, high-level Night Watchers and Illusionists can rely on special means to exist in the world for a long time, even if their physical bodies are destroyed."

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but shift his gaze to the infant spirit, thinking that this little guy clearly didn't have the ability to exist in the world for a long time, and couldn't possibly be a high-level Spirit Realm practitioner.

He continued to read the post:

"The above is the spirit body under normal circumstances. Next, let's talk about abnormal spirit bodies. The so-called abnormal spirit bodies..."

The content stopped abruptly. Zhang Yuanqing pulled to the bottom and found that the second half of the post was locked and needed to be paid for to read.

This is the legendary paying for knowledge? He twitched the corner of his mouth and used his mobile phone to recharge his "Yuan Shi Tian Zun" account with two hundred yuan to complete the payment.

It is worth mentioning that in the past few days, the clerical staff had already processed a mobile phone card and bank card belonging to "Yuan Shi Tian Zun" for him, separating it from the identity of "Zhang Yuanqing."

"The so-called abnormal spirit body is a spirit body that has been artificially refined. The most famous is the Night Watcher's ghost-controlling technique. Of course, other professions also have corresponding methods, which will not be described here.

"A spirit body that has been refined has a chance to give birth to special abilities and can be regarded as a valuable item or pet. In the Night Watcher's jargon, this kind of spirit body is called a spirit servant.

"But be aware that spirit bodies are also divided into aptitudes. Not all spirit bodies can be refined into spirit servants. A spirit body with the aptitude to be a spirit servant is one in a million. Next, let's talk about the refining method..."

"Finally, I want to remind you that refining the spirit bodies of evil professions is allowed, but enslaving the spirit bodies of ordinary people is against the rules."

"Poster: Yuan Ting."

The two hundred yuan was well spent... After reading the contents of the post, Zhang Yuanqing sincerely exclaimed.

This post revealed a lot of information to him.

One: After the Night Watcher's level increases, they can raise ghosts and refine corpses. When encountering Spirit Realm practitioners in battle, the fighting style can switch between a stealthy assassin flow and a stealthy summoning flow.

Two: This dead child is a very valuable spirit servant. I've struck gold.

It has already given birth to special abilities, so it is a genuine spirit servant, not just a special spirit body.

Three: There is something wrong with the hospital where my aunt works.

"Just now, my aunt suddenly lost her sense of taste and smell. It should have been caused by it, so its ability is to steal other people's sense of smell and taste? Well, I'll verify it later. If I can cultivate this little guy, maybe it can be worth a prop."

While Zhang Yuanqing was delighted, he couldn't help but feel worried.

There should be a Spirit Realm practitioner hiding in my aunt's hospital. Now that it has followed my aunt home, the refiner behind it will never let a valuable spirit servant be lost.

There will be trouble later, and it may even endanger my aunt.

Regardless of whether the other party is an official or a wild Spirit Realm practitioner, using the spirit bodies of ordinary people to refine spirit servants is against the rules.

This matter cannot be settled peacefully.

"I'll tell the squad leader about this tomorrow, and make reasonable use of the resources around me..."

After thinking it through, he relaxed a lot and examined the infant spirit lying on his palm and forearm.

Sensing his scrutiny, the little guy opened its big, black button-like eyes and made a flattering sound, "Ah ba, ah ba..."

Seeing that Zhang Yuanqing ignored it, it continued to lick the Taiyin power.

Its intelligence is higher than that of an ordinary infant, but it can't communicate normally yet... He pinched the infant spirit's scruff and turned it over: "Come, let me see if you're a little idiot or a little troublemaker."

"From now on, you'll be called Little Idiot."

Zhang Yuanqing carried the infant spirit out of the bathroom. The family dinner was coming to an end.

He returned to his seat, and while quietly hanging the infant spirit on his uncle's neck, he ate as if nothing had happened.

He might as well use the family disgrace to test the infant spirit's abilities.

His uncle was chewing on a floss stick, carefully picking his teeth, unaware that there was a dead child riding on his neck.

"Uncle, would you like a bowl of soup?"

Seeing that it was about time, Zhang Yuanqing served his uncle some soup.

He wanted to know if his uncle would lose his sense of taste and smell like his aunt.

His uncle stroked his round belly and shook his head:

"No, no, I don't want to drink any, unless you have jianbing guozi (Chinese savory crepe)."

As he said this, he made up his own rap gesture, and just as Zhang Yuanqing thought he would hear familiar lyrics, his uncle suddenly put his thumb in his mouth, "Ah ba ah ba ah ba..."

At the same time, the infant spirit riding on his uncle's neck made a sound that only Zhang Yuanqing could hear: "Yo yo, check it out, jianbing guozi, let's have a set."

"Pfft ~"

Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yuer sprayed out the chicken soup in their mouths very tacitly.

His grandfather, grandmother, aunt, and cousin all looked at him with an expression of pity for his misfortune and anger at his lack of ambition.

.......

ps: Let me explain the character Li Dongze. When I was working on the beginning, I was watching "The Naming Art of the Night". When I wrote the character Li Dongze, a thought came to my mind and I wrote the name. At the time, I felt inexplicably familiar. Later, I took the time to read "The Naming Art" again and suddenly saw the familiar name. I realized that I had ripped off Elbow (author's nickname). At that time, Li Dongze had already appeared for a long time, and it was too much trouble to change it, so I decided to rip it off to the end, since it was just a supporting role anyway.