>to willingly walk into a trap<

What is fate?

Bai BingLu could not help herself but questioned it. The fate written for her was the path of the evil and she cannot deny that fate as there was a long road in front of her and the possibility for her to become feral was still high.

But, what she wanted to question was her closest fate. As in what would happen to her in the closest future. As in what would happen to her in a few days after she left the Bai's ancestral family house for her travel.

Bai BingLu saw a chrysanthemum blooming above two eggs and a small brown bird.

How wild, she only left the Bai Jia for a few days but her eyes had already been tainted by the sight of a male genital. It had belonged to a child who sprawled across the ground, revealing a full view of his bottom to Bai BingLu.

"What are you doing here and why are you...not-clothed?"

Bai BingLu coughed, removing her gaze from the boy who cannot be older than 10. This was even wilder, her eyes had molested a minor. Bai BingLu threw the child the smallest size robe she had in her storage.

The boy has a delicate face that made people wanted to bully him more as he tears up. She watched as the boy struggled to tie the over-sized robe on his body. It painted him as a very vulnerable and pitiful child.

How did the child end up in the deepest part of the forest, stark-naked with only a few scratches? 

Then she caught a fragrant smell coming for the child. Bai BingLu instantly repulsed herself from him. The members of Bai Jia were born with a keen sense of smelling thanks to their ancient demonic beast heritage and Bai BingLu was not an exception. It was a strong delicious scent, something she commonly found from women with a lot of yin energy. If Bai BingLu was a common beast, she would have swallowed the child right there. 

Bai BingLu was not ignorant, human especially cultivators would have devoured the boy as well, turning him into their personal human furnace. She felt a small tug in her heart as she thought of the child being treated as a tool by cultivators who disregard his rights. 

The poor boy seems to cower under the silent gaze. Bai BingLu wanted to assure him that she was a good person. She went closer but then she caught another smell on him and it was a scent that Bai BingLu hated so much.

It was the scent of a devil cultivator.

Instantly she was reminded of tribulation clouds she saw the previous day. When she checked the place, it reeks of devil qi. It was the proof of an ascension faced by a devil cultivator. Could it be that the boy was the devil cultivator? If that was the case, the boy should become an Evil God but yet he smelled like a person who just started cultivating. 

Or, was there another devil cultivator and they were the one that supposed to face the tribulation? When given another thought, it was the most plausible answer. The devil cultivator must have brought the boy to the forest to supply them with yin energy. That would explain why the boy was naked and alone in the forest. The other devil cultivator must have failed their tribulation and burnt to ashes. Yes, that was the correct answer!  

All of this takes some time to describe but actually happened in an instant. While Bai BingLu was turning the gears in her head, the boy was cursing in his. He didn't know if he was lucky or cursed to meet with a righteous cultivator after failing his tribulation. If it was not for the heavenly artifact he carried, his body would be torn apart like his clothes.

Although there was a silver lining in meeting with the cultivator, the boy could not help but curse more and more. He was a mighty and fearful devil cultivator! His name was used to scare children into behaving, and yet he had turned into a child himself! His heart was heavy. With such a fragile body, he would need to cultivate to be strong again. But in that time, would he be able to protect himself from others who wished to turn him into a human furnace (again)?

Then a thought appeared.

The boy shyly glanced at Bai BingLu who was quietly (without him noticing) rubbing a cold ointment onto the wounds at his leg.

"Jiejie[1]... Can I follow you? I don't have anywhere to go..."

"I would be good, I'll promise!"

"If... If you want me to warm your bed... I can do that too... Jiejie would be more gentle with me than others, right?"

Bai BingLu felt like committing mass murder. No wonder such a cute child ended up resorting to devil cultivation if he experienced all of that when he was still a baby!

"No, you don't have to do anything. Jiejie would protect you, okay?"

"Jiejie! Thank you so much!"

The boy flashed her the most dazzling smile he could ever muster with his tainted heart.

At that moment, Bai BingLu felt she could let herself to be fool by the child. It's not like she could not fix the child back to the righteous path. It was fine, it was fine. She could handle a child. If the boy tried to kill her, she could always retaliate. How strong can the boy be anyway?

"My name is Bai BingLu, what's yours?"

The boy's eyes sparkled, his heart leap in triumph. He hit a jackpot! A member of Bai Jia! And to have a generation name as well! She must be a core family member! If he hugged her thigh, he could guarantee a smooth ride to adulthood (again)!

"My name is Ji Shen, jiejie!"

>Author's note<

[1] Jiejie = older sister

The appearance of our first male lead! I like Ji Shen very much uwu