"You said you don't remember anything from when you were first born?"
"It's not that I don't remember," Xue Kui said. "It's just… back then, all I saw was a blizzard. I didn't even know where I was."
On the way back to her territory, Guizhong asked about his past.
"An extreme cold region… That explains why you wield Cryo." She frowned slightly. "But there's nothing like that nearby."
"How did you end up on these plains?"
"I wasn't planning to come this way," Xue Kui said, "but I saw something bright streak across the sky. So I followed it."
"I see."
Drawn by a falling star.
"And before that? What did you do?" "Follow instinct. Fight anything that moves."
"You've never worn a mask like this?" Guizhong lifted her hand, miming drawing something down over her face.
"Mask?"
Now it was Xue Kui's turn to look confused.
"That's your yaksha race's gift," Guizhong said slowly. "Are you really a yaksha…?" "I am." Xue Kui tapped his head. "The information was here the moment I was born." "What's in your inherited knowledge?"
"Identity. Combat knowledge. Common language."
He looked up at Guizhong, floating beside him, and asked with frank curiosity. "How do you do that?"
"Want to learn? I'll teach you." "Really?"
"Really. But only after you've learned what you need to learn first." She smiled. "Oh—here we are."
Xue Kui stared at the settlement, nothing more than a wooden fence encircling a cluster of rough structures. He rubbed his chin.
"It's… kind of shabby."
"Oh, we only just moved here," Guizhong said, cheerful. "Of course it's simple." Then she stared at the low fence, and the constant smile on her face turned solemn.
"But soon, I'll make this place beautiful—and safe enough to make people feel at ease." Hearing the seriousness in her voice, Xue Kui couldn't understand it.
Why would someone this strong care so much about a race this weak?
Even when he'd helped humans before, it was only because they looked vaguely like him. What did a god have in common with humans that could inspire such devotion?
"Come on!"
Before he could finish thinking, Guizhong grabbed his hand and marched him inside. "It's not bad in here."
Compared to the wild grasses outside, the neat rows of huts and cleared streets did look cleaner.
He saw many people swinging strange "weapons," smashing them into the ground over and over.
Xue Kui tilted his head.
"What are they doing? Are there enemies in the dirt?"
Even knowing he was newborn, Guizhong still covered her mouth and laughed.
"That's called plowing. They're not fighting enemies—they're loosening the soil so seeds can grow, and we can harvest food."
"Oh."
Xue Kui looked uninterested. He didn't need to eat. The Cryo in the air was enough to sustain him.
"Human cooking can make food taste better," Guizhong said, as if sensing his thoughts. "I'll take you to try it later."
"Uh… no need."
He'd tasted cooked meat from hilichurl pots after killing them. It was awful. Eating had become something he avoided.
"What exactly have you been eating?" Guizhong asked, surprised by the fear on his face. A yaksha who wouldn't flinch even in the face of a god—hesitating over food?
"Lady Guizhong!"
People noticed their protector and gathered to greet her. Guizhong spun happily in the air, smiling as she checked on everything like she always did.
"Has the land been tested? Is it suitable for planting?" "Did the workers understand the city wall design I drew?" "Will today's hunting haul last until the first harvest?"
"The Ma family had a new baby? A chubby boy?! Go congratulate them for me!"
"The young couple is finally getting married? Wonderful! I'll go drink at their wedding too!"
…
From serious matters to small gossip, the Dust God seemed determined to meddle in every part of mortal life.
Watching how loved she was, Xue Kui yawned.
Still couldn't understand why someone so powerful would blend in with humans so naturally.
"Everyone, meet him!" Guizhong said brightly. "This little one is Xue Kui—a yaksha. From now on, he's one of us!"
As the crowd turned toward him, Xue Kui instinctively took two steps back. Those bright, eager eyes made him uneasy.
"Oh? We're recruiting adepti now too?"
"He's so small—doesn't look like the yaksha under the Geo God." "So what? He's adorable!"
"Can an adeptus and a mortal have children?"
Since he'd been born, being surrounded wasn't new. But being surrounded without bloodlust or hostility? That was the first time.
Xue Kui—who had no interest in harming weak things that didn't show aggression—didn't know what to do.
And unlike the respectful distance they kept around Guizhong, when faced with a cute,
white-haired child, elders and women reached out freely—pinching his cheeks, ruffling his hair. Xue Kui found himself oddly admiring Guizhong.
Because now he couldn't move again.
And what held him wasn't overwhelming force— But something warm and soft.
"All right, all right," Guizhong said, amused. "He'll be here a long time. Stop crowding him—you'll make him angry."
Seeing that Xue Kui hadn't lashed out, she nodded in satisfaction, shooed the crowd away, and rescued him from the mob.
"That's enough. He felt your enthusiasm. Go back to work."
After they dispersed, Guizhong looked at Xue Kui as he fixed his hair. "How does it feel?"
Xue Kui paused. Expressionless, he answered:
"Pointless."
Guizhong only smiled, took his hand, and tugged him along. "Come. I said I'd show you human food."
Ignoring the way his face changed, the always-elegant Dust God moved with unstoppable energy.
"I told you I—" Wait.
What was that smell? "Today's on me."
Guizhong held two cloth-wrapped parcels, each smaller than a fist, yet giving off a deep, rich fragrance. She tossed one to Xue Kui.
Not that she needed money anyway. Xue Kui peeled back the cloth.
His eyes widened.
That was… a potato, wasn't it?
The moment the cloth opened, the aroma burst out, and a giant question mark appeared over Xue Kui's head.
Was this really the same species as the potato hilichurls boiled into something resembling monster droppings?
Steam rose from the potato like a gentle hand, stroking his cheek, nudging his face closer. He didn't know when he opened his mouth.
Only that something soft and fluffy filled it.
Crisp at first—then melting into warm, starchy sweetness, with a hint of salt that made the flavor fuller.
Guizhong had her mouth slightly open, exhaling mist as she ate. Watching her, Xue Kui hesitated.
For them, the heat should've been nothing.
Still, he opened his mouth and copied her, breathing out warm air. The white mist rose. It was normal.
But realizing it came from his own mouth made him feel strangely amused. And then he startled himself.
So there were things in this world besides strong enemies and battle that could interest him. Even if it was something as stupid as breathing steam.
"Hurry up," Guizhong said, tugging him onward. "There's even better food." Hearing "even better," Xue Kui followed without thinking.
Guizhong, with a god's body, swallowed the scalding potato in two or three bites. Xue Kui wanted to imitate her—yet couldn't bear to waste it.
In the end, thinking about what came next, he forced himself to finish.
Then he saw the next thing: pork belly skewers, glistening with fat and juice. Xue Kui swallowed.
Human civilization… Was good civilization.
So he decided he would protect humans.
That evening, as the sun dipped behind the mountains, Guizhong left him briefly—something about the city wall needed guidance.
With nothing to do and still unfamiliar with the settlement, Xue Kui quietly withdrew to a nearby hill and sat down, gazing at the human homes from above.
When he didn't want to fight, he often sat like this and stared into nothing. Humans were a strange race.
Watching those tiny figures below, each busy with their own task, Xue Kui fell into thought. Why did such a weak race seem… happier than others?
They looked like him.
So what, besides natural strength, made them different?
The sun set. Darkness swallowed the land—and the settlement with it. He should go down. He couldn't see anything from here.
That's what the young yaksha thought.
Then—suddenly—a spark flared in the black, like a tiny ember igniting dry grass.
Light spread like a fuse from the settlement's entrance to its far end, then bloomed outward until the entire cluster shone.
From the hill, the glowing settlement looked like fireflies in an endless night. Weak.
Yet undeniably present.
Seeing the humans still running about, laughing, calling to one another, Xue Kui's expression softened.
A wisp of sand drifted past.
Guizhong appeared behind him without a sound.
When she saw the faint longing in the yaksha's eyes as he watched the lights, she smiled. Entering the mortal world wasn't simply walking among it.
Only by feeling different emotions, living through different events—by letting yourself join the currents of life—could you truly be said to have entered it.
And at that moment, the yaksha began to taste the warmth and cold of the human world.