Standard altarless casting—this isn't something your average Taoist can pull off, not even a low-level Daoist Master.

The Taoist stood on top of the hillside, pulled out a compass with heaven-round and earth-square from his bag, glanced at it, and looked down the mountain.

But with just one glance, he saw Jia Jinfeng pushing a stroller; inside, a gentle glow was swaying back and forth.

The Taoist's eyelid twitched; he silently recited "Supreme Heavenly Master," then strode down the slope.

Looping around to the front and waiting by the roadside, he got a good look at the baby in the stroller: still feeding, clutching a ball of light, kneading and playing with it.

The compass in the Taoist's hand fell to the ground with a clatter. He stood there slack-jawed, his eyes about to pop out.

He hurriedly closed his eyes, chanted the Calming Incantation, and opened his eyes for another look.

This time, Jia Jinfeng was pushing the little guy even closer to him. Now he saw everything crystal clear.

The Taoist turned away, trembling all over. He found a tree, pulled out an ancient scroll, hung it on the trunk, and knelt down—the foundation of his Dao heart on the verge of crumbling.

"Ancestor, give me a sign, would you please."

"Was it the magic artifact you passed down that's got a problem, or the teachings you handed down, or is it me who's got the problem?"

"Or is it, damn it, that even a nursing baby has already forged their Spirit Platform Dao Foundation? Hell, based on that alone, he meets the Daoist Master standard."

"Ancestor, which is it? Just say it already."

The Taoist in the scroll kept his eyes closed, one hand pointing to the sky—completely unchanged.

The Taoist kneeling before the portrait looked out of it, deeply shaken.

All his beliefs, the knowledge he'd learned, the experience amassed over years wandering the world—all of it told him there's no way something like this could happen.

No matter how much of a genius, even if descended from the heavens or a reincarnated immortal, there's no way to forge a Spirit Platform Dao Foundation while still bottle-feeding.

Besides, this was obviously no ordinary Spirit Platform Dao Foundation.

The Taoist stared at the old Taoist in the painting, silently chanting the Calming Incantation three times before kowtowing to the portrait.

"The ancestor is right."

"Since fate let me run into this, there's no way I can just sit back and ignore it."

"No matter what kind of divine being or demon, I have to bring this one into our fold."

"This big responsibility—just leave it to me!"

The Taoist put away the portrait, just about to leave, when a voice suddenly sounded from the tree above.

"You stinky old Taoist, the nerve you've got, really shameless."

The Taoist looked up and saw a Sparrow Cat demon perched on the tree, sulking, glaring at him with utter disdain.

The Taoist was honestly surprised—he hadn't even noticed a demon approach.

"Stop looking, I'm giving you a heads-up: don't even think about laying a finger on my little one."

"With that yellow robe of yours, you've got some skills. You're a Daoist Master, right?"

"You target that little guy, and trust me, just one call from his dad—he can summon an entire trainload of yellow-robed Daoists."

"Another phone call and within ten minutes the Scorching Sun Department will have a whole combat squad pointing guns at your head."

"And that's just dealing with reasonable folks."

"If his second uncle gets pissed, now, that guy plays rough—if he says he'll kill you, you're a goner, no one can stop him."

Upon hearing all that, the Taoist relaxed a lot—so there were adults behind this.

He knew it. No way a baby would suddenly have forged a Spirit Platform Dao Foundation for no reason.

Whose family is this, having such heaven-defying talent?

How come he'd never heard about them before?

Back in his early years, he started by training his body, building a solid foundation, honing heart and character, memorizing the classics, slogging through endless study—years and years went by before he finally forged his Spirit Platform Dao Foundation.

The hardships he went through—impossible to say in a few words, and there are even more Taoists who never succeed at forging the Spirit Platform Dao Foundation at all.

After seeing this today, even his Dao heart wavered.

Suddenly all those decades of struggle, constant vigilance, felt completely meaningless.

Now, even after calming down, he felt like he'd lived his whole life for nothing.

The Taoist closed his eyes to collect himself. After a long while he opened them with a deep sigh.

"I'll just take a look, just a look, broaden my horizons."

"I'm not exactly some nobody either—if the family agrees, I could be that kid's master, and I'd give it my all!"

He still couldn't let it go. No matter who this kid's family was, to just walk away—he'd regret it for a lifetime.

Have to at least give it a shot.

"Shameless! You really aren't afraid of dying, are you?" Sparrow Cat sneered, lips curled in mockery.

The Taoist's face remained unchanged.

"I mean no harm, where's the risk in that?"

"Dare you to stand your ground and not run."

Sparrow Cat flapped its wings, flying off.

The little guy was out sunbathing, and Sparrow Cat couldn't relax, so it kept a watchful eye. Even though in broad daylight, the Scorching Sun Department had just pulled off a big operation next door, and non-humans didn't dare stir up trouble nearby—

Still, you never knew—there could be bad apples among ordinary folks. Sparrow Cat eyed the chubby little one—so soft and fragrant, even it wanted to steal the kid away and cuddle up to sleep together every night.

Now as soon as it saw that Taoist's shifting expression, everything about him screamed "not a good person."

A proper Taoist might read palms, but none of them blame a person for calcium deficiency!

Sparrow Cat fluttered back, grabbed the Little Zombie, and started spinning an embellished tale. The Little Zombie promptly whipped out his phone and started a video call to Wen Yan.

"Wah wah wah..." The Little Zombie flailed his hands and feet, crying while making gestures.

"Wen Yan, some weird, obviously shady Taoist has his eyes on your kid."

"What?" Wen Yan looked confused. "Explain, what happened?"

Sparrow Cat went all out with exaggeration and alarmism, claiming the Taoist hid in the woods peeping, wearing a twisted look, and uttered things like, 'no matter what kind of demon, I'm taking him away', etc, etc.

Sparrow Cat even said he revealed himself to scare off the Taoist, but the guy wasn't fazed, and was planning to stalk them back to where they were living and all that.

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