This fellow had sharp brows and keen eyes, red lips and white teeth—truly a handsome young man, and quite the talker, endlessly chatty. In less than half an hour, he had given me a rough introduction to modern society.

　　I was listening with fascination, marveling at the times.

　　The two of us arrived at a secluded spot, clearly brought here by his design.

　　As soon as he saw there was no one around, he shook off my hand, changed his expression to one of seriousness, and at the same time, a chilling murderous aura emanated from him, instantly enveloping the area.

　　He spoke: “I know you’re a monster from the deep mountains, returning to the human world after years of cultivation. But no matter what your purpose is, you cannot harm humans. Otherwise, I won’t show any mercy.”

　　“Big words. And if I refuse to listen, what will you do?” Of course I wasn’t frightened. With my cultivation, he wasn’t even qualified to fight me.

　　With a calm smile, a flash of green light appeared in the youth’s hand, cold and dazzling. A green glow circled around him several times, and any soil, stone, or tree it touched was instantly shattered.

　　Watching this strange green light, soaring and twisting like a flood dragon or a spirit snake, even I was astonished. Wasn’t this an immortal’s flying sword, used to slay demons?

　　How could a monster like him have been taught such things? It seemed his cultivation was quite deep, and he had practiced for many years. Of course, I wasn’t afraid of him; even if a true immortal appeared, I might not lose, let alone to a half-demon with shallow cultivation.

　　Those who receive teachings from immortals but haven’t truly changed their cultivation methods are commonly called “demon immortals.”

　　“Fine. You’re impressive, I admit defeat. Just don’t let me catch you next time.”

　　Though I admitted defeat with my mouth, I was secretly amused. I didn’t want to fight him. The reason I came here was something I’d been waiting five thousand years for.

　　“Don’t cause trouble, don’t complicate things.” That’s what I was thinking.

　　“Hey, buddy, stop pretending. I can tell you’re not the kind of monster who does evil. Don’t take offense at what I said earlier.”

　　I...

　　He actually saw through me. Though my words were harsh, my expression didn’t match, and he picked up on it.

　　“And you? You look like a monster who just wants to enjoy life among humans. When I was talking earlier, you looked so impatient—I knew I was being a bit of a busybody.”

　　As he spoke, the sword light in his hand faded, and a smile returned to his face.

　　My name is William Brooks, what about you?

　　Hmm, after a moment’s thought, I answered him.

　　Brian Cooper, my name is Brian Cooper.

　　This is the name I gave myself after beginning my cultivation, and I’ve kept it for six or seven thousand years without changing it.

　　Under William Brooks’s guidance, I changed my clothes. My old set, apparently from the Tang dynasty, was replaced, and my hairstyle was changed too. I no longer wore my hair in a topknot; since I refused to cut it, he let it down and tied it back, saying it was a ponytail, and that this was the style now—something called F4 was popular with this look.

　　Now I looked like a genuine city youth, no longer exuding the rustic air of a monster.

　　So that’s it! With my cultivation, how could he have seen at a glance that I was a monster? Turns out it was my outfit that gave me away—too conspicuous.

　　Then I prepared to say goodbye to William Brooks and part ways.

　　But this fellow was truly persistent, insisting on being friends. He said he hadn’t seen a monster in ages; in modern society, monsters had all blended into ordinary human life, and he couldn’t tell them apart. It was rare for him to recognize me, so we should keep in touch.

　　No helping it.

　　What I needed to do wouldn’t be hindered by his joining me, and he might even be helpful, so I let him come along.

　　William Brooks quickly chattered on about his own situation.

　　He was currently living with a human family; both his parents were high-ranking government officials, so he’d always lived comfortably. His household registration said he was fifteen, in his third year of middle school—actually, he’d already finished middle school and was in the gap before starting high school. He didn’t have a girlfriend yet.

　　What’s that got to do with me?

　　He even talked about his parents’ corruption and bribery, saying his life was so happy it made him feel guilty.

　　I asked why he didn’t do anything about his parents’ corruption and bribery, since that also harmed the human world. He blinked and said, “Human affairs should be solved by humans themselves. I don’t meddle in their business.”

　　Tch—

　　As for how he managed to forge an immortal’s flying sword, he explained that he’d accidentally acquired a treasured sword, and the sword case had twelve lines of sword-forging incantations carved on it, so he was able to forge it.

　　That story wasn’t entirely believable, but I didn’t care—I wasn’t after his sword incantations.

　　There were still... no, now time is counted in hours—about ten hours left until the time I was waiting for. At midnight... no, after twelve o’clock, I would begin my task.

　　During this time, William Brooks took me to a place called an internet café for entertainment. It was too complicated; I couldn’t really understand his explanations, so I simply used my divine search technique to browse the memories of over a hundred people nearby. Now, this world was no longer so mysterious to me.

　　But I still needed some practice.

　　William Brooks bought a lot of food and drinks.

　　That Coca-Cola, though black as ink, actually tasted pretty good—I quite liked it. In my old world, there was only wine, tea, or plain water. There was never this kind of choice.