Striving for Science C94 pt2

The most dazzling sunlight in the world couldn't compare to Dao Nian's faint smile. He slowly lowered his hand, staring at Dao Nian in a daze: "Dao Nian, what do you think of the TV series 'The Legend of the White Snake'?"

Dao Nian: "Hmm?"

"It's a story about a snake yao falling in love with a human, and their child even became the top scholar."

"From a scientific perspective, humans and snake yaos are reproductively isolated and cannot have offspring. From... the rules of Heavenly Dao, the love, hate, life, and death between different species are not important, but the offspring of human-yao hybrids cannot become the top scholar among humans. The civil service exam system is created by humans, and the characters and knowledge are also created by humans. All creatures with other races' blood cannot take away what belongs to humans. This is the fairness established by Heavenly Dao."

Shen Chang'an: "..."

I want to talk about love with you, but you talk about rules with me, my heart is so tired.

"Then..." Shen Chang'an asked casually, "When yaos and humans fall in love, will they be punished by Heavenly Dao?"

"Heavenly Dao isn't that idle." Dao Nian said, "According to this rule, you humans calling figurines and virtual characters your husband and wife, you probably would have been struck dead millions of times. Who wants to be with whom, what does Heavenly Dao care?"

"It's... kind of reasonable?" Shen Chang'an was convinced by Dao Nian, or rather, his heart was hoping that humans could fall in love with yaos.

"Hmm." Dao Nian glanced at the time, "It's not early anymore, let's go home for dinner."

"Dinner?" Shen Chang'an held his head and shouted, "Did I skip work this afternoon?"

He's currently saving money to try and date a yao, he definitely doesn't want to be docked his pay!

Why did he feel like only a short time had passed, but it was already four or five in the afternoon?

"Did that person take you to a place that's boundless?" Dao Nian sensed the scent of the void realm on Shen Chang'an.

Shen Chang'an nodded.

No wonder Shen Chang'an had already appeared in the temple, but he couldn't sense Chang'an's aura at all. It turned out he had used the void space to cover his five senses.

"I feel like that person is quite afraid of taking my life with his own hands," Shen Chang'an said, "I don't know why, I just have this feeling."

"Of course, our Chang'an is different." Dao Nian reached out again to touch Shen Chang'an's hair, "Hurting Chang'an will be punished by divine punishment."

***

In the dark space, the man in gray clothes was torn apart by the fierce hurricane. His head and hands were twisted into strange shapes. After a long time, the hurricane disappeared, and the man floated in the air, like a dead fish.

The boundless silence made this space terrifyingly desolate. He slowly sat up, covered his face and laughed. His laughter was full of malice and twisted hatred, even with a touch of frantic eagerness to destroy everything.

***

Until Dao Nian brought Shen Chang'an home, Shen Chang'an didn't ask Dao Nian that single question, "Why pretend to be an ordinary person and deceive me?" Along the way, Dao Nian thought of many reasons, but Shen Chang'an never asked.

He didn't even change much because of his identity, at most, he just looked at him more often.

As his feet landed on the garden soil, Shen Chang'an turned to look at Dao Nian: "Dao Nian, can you transform into your original form for me to see? I've wanted to touch a panda for a long time."

Dao Nian: "..."

Seeing that Dao Nian didn't speak, Shen Chang'an immediately said, "If it's too much trouble, then forget it."

"No problem." Dao Nian said each word clearly. Suddenly, a silver light emanated from his body. After the silver light disappeared, Shen Chang'an saw a chubby, adorable panda on the ground.

This... this is so cute?

Shen Chang'an couldn't help but bend down and hold Dao Nian in his arms, reaching out to touch his head, then his ears, and finally even the short tail.

"Mr. Liu, there's..." The security guard walked to the front gate of the villa, and was stunned when he saw the panda in Shen Chang'an's arms.

"This is my pet dog." Shen Chang'an took off his jacket and wrapped the panda-transformed Dao Nian in it, revealing the fluffy ears. He chuckled, "Do you think these ears look like a panda?"

The security guard: "..."

What is this?

"Come on, puppy, give the security guard a bark, say hello." Shen Chang'an smiled and patted Dao Nian's head, whispering in his ear, "Dao Nian, cooperate and bark. Stealing national treasures is a serious crime. Come on, bark like a wang."

Dao Nian: "..."

Hearing the security guard's voice, Shen Tu and Liu Mao, who came out, said: "..."

"Hahaha, this dog is really cute." The security guard laughed dryly a few times. "It's just that the ears are a bit pointy, panda ears are rounder."

"Yeah, yeah, pandas are too expensive to keep, I can only pretend I have one." Shen Chang'an quickly followed the security guard's words.

The two looked at each other and smiled, both showing a tolerant expression of "I understand."

However, they both secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Security guard: Let Heavenly Dao Dad bark like a dog, he'd rather destroy his spiritual consciousness and reincarnate in the underworld sooner.

Shen Chang'an: Thankfully, the security guard is simple and didn't suspect he was holding a real panda.

In the living room, Shen Chang'an rubbed the panda in his arms, listening to the "people" in the room introduce themselves for the second time.

"Actually... I'm not human either." Liu Mao said, "I'm actually a mao ox."

"Then why are you surnamed Liu, not Niu?" Shen Chang'an was very curious about this question.

"After transforming many years ago, I stayed in Shu County for a thousand or two years, so I don't really distinguish the pronunciation anymore." Liu Mao coughed, pretending not to see the gentleman lying on Shen Chang'an's legs, looking lazy. "I apologize for deceiving you before."

Then, Shen Chang'an learned that, besides him, there was no human in this villa.

Especially after he learned that Shen Tu and Yu Lei were actually door gods, he couldn't help but have them stand together for a photo.

"Chang'an, what are you taking this for?"

"Door gods ward off evil spirits, I'm going to send your photos to the grandpas and grandmas in the courtyard, let them print them out and put them on their room doors."

Shen Tu and Yu Lei: "..."

"Uncle Zhao, then you are..." Shen Chang'an looked at the last person who hadn't reintroduced himself, Uncle Zhao.

"Me?" Uncle Zhao chuckled good-naturedly, patting his belly. "I don't even remember what my secular name was, but you humans like to call me the Kitchen God. The full title is Dongchu Siming Jiuling Yuanwang Dingfu Shenjun, it's quite long, most people can't remember it."

Shen Chang'an was screaming internally.

My god, he's been eating the Kitchen God's food every day?! No wonder everything else tastes a little off.

He reached out and silently picked a piece of fruit from the fruit plate and stuffed it into Dao Nian's mouth, then put another piece in his own mouth. He needed to eat two pieces of fruit cut by the Kitchen God himself to calm his nerves.

Stroking Dao Nian's soft fur, Shen Chang'an didn't even eat properly that night, he was too busy feeding Dao Nian. After dinner, Shen Chang'an wiped Dao Nian's mouth and washed his paws, he couldn't bear to be apart from him.

The gods and yaos in the villa looked at their master, who was already lazy and now even lazier, with mixed emotions.

Why would the mighty Heavenly Dao, to please a human lover, stoop to becoming a panda to curry favor? It's supposed to be a sacrifice for love, but seeing him enjoy it, they couldn't muster much emotion.

Shen Chang'an used a soft comb to brush Dao Nian's fur as he lay on the sofa. Uncle Zhao was preparing fruit, and everyone else was doing their own thing, very relaxed and harmonious.

"I secretly placed a spell Shen Tu taught me on that gray-clothed man today, and he didn't seem to notice."

Everyone turned to look at Shen Chang'an, even Dao Nian, who had been lazily closing his eyes, opened his black bean eyes.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Shen Chang'an gave an embarrassed smile: "I didn't learn much from Shen Tu's magic, just one curse."

Shen Tu's expression was quite subtle.

Yu Lei asked, "Brother, what did you teach Chang'an?"

"I taught him the Soul Splitting Technique," Shen Tu took a deep breath. "This technique can weaken a person's soul power, causing temporary disorientation, giving them a chance to escape. But Chang'an just learned it, he hasn't mastered it yet, and it's not very stable. Sometimes it takes a while for the technique to take effect."

This technique wouldn't cause much harm to complete spirits and deities, but for fragmented souls and resentments, it would be like tearing them apart limb by limb.

The unidentified man in gray who took Shen Chang'an away, they suspected he was another powerful lingering resentment left behind by the Great Dao.

If that were truly the case...

Shen Chang'an was subtly undermining the Great Dao.

Liu Mao and the others were dumbfounded. They began to suspect that Shen Chang'an, this Life Dao practitioner, might not be the nemesis of the Master, but the nemesis of the Great Dao's lingering resentment. Otherwise, why were all these coincidences happening?

***

The gray-clothed man tried to forcibly change Shen Chang'an's current life trajectory, and was punished by the rules of the Great Dao remaining in his body. He had just escaped the hurricane punishment, when he felt a tearing pain in the body he had painstakingly condensed.

His consciousness, his five senses, were all clamoring to leave him, he writhed in pain, finally unable to bear it, he let out a cry of anguish.

Why is this happening?

He had clearly condensed a new divine soul, about to become an independent "person," why would his soul suddenly become unstable?!

***

"Why is it thundering again?" After combing Dao Nian's fur, Shen Chang'an heard the thunder booming outside, like the wail of some creature, it was a little creepy.

He took the opportunity to pull Dao Nian into his arms, his face full of fear. "I'm so scared, Dao Nian. Tonight, you can transform into your original form and sleep with me."

Dao Nian: "..."

Chang'an had never been so close to him before, but he wasn't happy at all.

Because Chang'an didn't like him, but the panda illusion he transformed into.

What's so good about a giant panda? Their ancestors, millions of years ago, at least had some of the grandeur of Chiyou's divine beast. Now? Besides eating, what else can they do?!

Although Chang'an brushing his fur was very comfortable, and he didn't have to do anything except eat, which was very relaxing, but...

Dao Nian struggled internally for a moment, then landed and transformed back into a human.

He looked out the window at the painful thunder: "The thunder tonight is abnormal. My panda form is not good, I can't protect you. Is this okay?"

Shen Chang'an pointed to the window, then to himself: "You mean?"

"I'll stay in the room with you tonight. With me here, don't be afraid."

Shen Chang'an was overjoyed. In a roundabout way, this meant Dao Nian wanted to sleep with him!