Genius Daddy in the City

Old Shen’s words made Dai Wei’s expression change.

He asked immediately, “Old Shen, do you mean that whatever that happened has something to do with that weasel that I encountered?”

Di Jing seemed to have recalled something, so she said while looking at Old Shen in confusion, “Old Shen, could Dai Wei have offended an immortal?”

She was from the northeast, so it was only natural for her to know a little about immortals.

Upon hearing the word ‘immortal’, Ye Chen, who was next to her, could not help but look at Old Shen.

Facing their stares, Old Shen nodded while looking serious. “Xiaodi, you’re from the northeast. You should’ve heard about the rumors about immortals. There are five immortals: the fox, the snake, the weasel, the rat, and the hedgehog. They’re called the Five Immortals.”

Di Jing nodded.

Old Shen organized his thoughts and proceeded to speak, “It’s said that the Five Immortals are animals with a certain level of cultivation. Before they become an immortal, they must go through tribulations such as the child barrier, the adult barrier, the road barrier, the life and death barrier, and the heaven barrier.”

Ye Chen secretly nodded upon hearing that.

The immortals that Old Shen was talking about were different from those in the cultivation world. The animals in the cultivation world would only go through the Heavenly Tribulation if they were to cultivate into an immortal. However, it might be due to the different Heaven and Earth Law of both worlds.

“Old Shen, do you mean the one that I encountered earlier was an immortal?” Dai Wei’s face turned pale at the moment. He spoke while stammering, “I-I didn’t really offend it. I only scolded it a little, and I was drunk back then.”

“Sigh!” Old Shen sighed softly and said, “Xiaodi, this would definitely not have happened if you had pretended not to see it or ignored it when you encountered it back then.”

He paused before explaining further, “I mentioned before that animals have to go through tribulations to cultivate into immortals such as the child barrier, which is the innocent child barrier. They beat up snakes, rats, hedgehogs, weasels, and so on when they see them. If those animals survive the beating, they will pass the barrier even if they’re severely injured.

“The second one would be the adult barrier. Everybody knows that humans in this current society love exotic meat. They love eating bullfrogs, crayfish, wild boars, and especially snakes. Humans eating snakes would be the adult barrier.

“The third one would be the road barrier. For instance, a snake being killed by a moving car on the road will mean that they’ve failed the barrier.”

Di Jing asked instinctively, “Old Shen, I read from the news that a university kept a white fox which was scared by the students chasing it. Then, it was killed when it was running away. Is that the road barrier?”

Dai Wei was also curious as he had seen that on the news too. After it went viral, most netizens blamed the death of the white fox on the students of the school. Eventually, the topic grew heated. They attacked the university verbally, saying that they were useless students of China and that they were lowly.

Old Shen nodded softly and said, “The last would be the heaven barrier which is also called the heavenly thunder barrier. After going through all those tribulations and almost dying, they will become an immortal and achieve their cultivation base after going through the heaven barrier.”

Old Shen sighed softly as he spoke to this point. “Before they go through that, they’ll do everything they can do to get the humans’ approval.”

“Old Shen, why do they need the humans’ approval?” Di Jing was shocked. Even as someone from the northeast, she had never heard of such a thing.

Old Shen paused and said, “I heard from a master that humans are the masters of the world while a human’s consciousness is a subtle guide on a certain level. Therefore, these animals dress up as humans before going through the heaven barrier. They will go around asking humans, and their questions are simple such as ‘Do I look like a human?’.”

Dai Wei’s face turned pale because Old Shen’s explanation was similar to what he had experienced. The weasel that he had encountered back then had asked him the same thing.

Di Jing proceeded to ask, “Then, what happens?”

Old Shen said, “Most people will either be scared or react like what Xiaodai did, which is to condemn them when they encounter such a situation. Some people who know about it would’ve realized that it was asking for approval. They would say directly, ‘Yes, you’re a human’. Then, it’d have left with utter gratefulness.”

“Old Shen, why would they ask such a question?” Di Jing was confused. She felt like she had learned something eye-opening today.

While forcing a smile, Old Shen said, “Because they want validation from this world, which what humans say is the equivalent of approval to them. If they get approval, it’ll be so much easier when they go through the heavenly thunder barrier next.”

Ye Chen nodded slightly though he did not agree with what Old Shen said.

The reason why those animals would have those issues were that they were animals. To be blunt, they were brutes. They felt lowly before humans. Therefore, they hoped to be validated by humans. It was a psychological effect.

For instance, Xiaoming hoped that his math teacher would take him seriously and believe in him. Therefore, Xiaoming asked his math teacher whether he would pass the exam before the final exam.

If the teacher said, “You piece of trash, you either read novels or sleep in class, yet you’re hoping to pass your exam? You wish!’, then Xiaoming would definitely…

At that moment, Dai Wei’s face was extremely ashen. “W-what if I said it d-didn’t look like a human?”

Old Shen sighed and said, “If you said that, it would mean that you denied it’s hard cultivation, as well as the tribulations that it has gone through. It would be traumatized, so it’d be even more difficult for it to pass the heavenly thunder barrier next. There’s a slim chance for it to pass.”

Thud!

Dai Wei fell directly onto the ground while his face was terribly pale. “T-that means that I’ve destroyed its cultivation and it would take revenge on me…”

“Sigh!” Old Shen shook his head lightly. “Xiaodai, what you said back then: ‘No matter how much you try, you can’t change the fact that you’re an animal’…that was just crossing the line. I don’t think it managed to pass the heavenly thunder barrier.”

“It’s already dead, so how can it take revenge on me? I don’t believe it!” Dai Wei was clenching his teeth, refusing to accept what Old Shen said. He was rather stubborn.

Old Shen said, “Humans ask for help when they’re being bullied. How would you know that it doesn’t have family or friends?”

“Old Shen, doesn’t that mean that those that we encountered at the hotel back then were immortals and not ghosts?” Di Jing was secretly relieved. She was not scared if those were immortals. After all, she had not done anything to them.

“I’ve no idea whether they were immortals or ghosts,” Old Shen shook his head and said, “But judging by the marks on Xiaodai’s neck, that hotel must have something to do with immortals.”

At that moment, a fishy smell came from somewhere. There was the smell of blood intermingled in it too.

“What’s that smell?” Di Jing squeezed her nostrils immediately.

Ye Chen lifted his eyes and looked at the bush ten meters away from the off-road vehicle. There was a skin filled with fresh blood on it.

Di Jing and Old Shen looked towards where Ye Chen was staring. The duo had a drastic change of expression. Di Jing said while stammering, “D-Dai Wei, how did the shroud that you got rid of turned into a piece of skin now?”