Chapter 6: Brother Makes No Superfluous Moves
In the world background of Asking the Heavenly Way, strictly speaking, there were only two races.
First was the Human Race, and second was the Demon Race (Yao).
As for the “Demons” (Mo) involved in the Dual Cultivation of Dao and Demon, they were actually a kind of malicious thought wandering between heaven and earth.
They had no concrete form; they would only possess members of the Human or Demon Race (Yao), seizing their bodies, causing them to mutate, and then devouring other cultivators as nourishment.
Therefore, whether it was the Demon Race or the Human Race, whenever they encountered a “Demon” (Mo), they would do their utmost to slay it, leaving no survivors.
Even if a cultivator was merely tainted by demonic energy, they had to be imprisoned immediately and subjected to a joint trial and disposition by the major sects.
One could imagine what kind of situation Lou Yunxiao would face if he left the Demon Abyss and was discovered to have cultivated the Demonic path.
The so-called protagonist always carried a “Golden Finger” of some sort. The Golden Finger that Ning Ke’s sister gave Lou Yunxiao was this unique constitution—the only one in the world capable of supporting the Dual Cultivation of Dao and Demon after enduring a great catastrophe and being broken then rebuilt.
In other words, in the entire novel world, only Lou Yunxiao could fuse these two paths into one. The further he walked on this cultivation path, the wider it would become, and the heights he could reach would be far greater than those who only walked a single path.
Of course, the pain and criticism he would have to endure during this process were not things others could comprehend.
Now, it all depended on Lou Yunxiao’s own choice.
Inside the wooden house, after a long silence, Lou Yunxiao asked:
“If I cultivate the Demon path, will I lose myself and forget my hatred?”
He had always lived in a comfort zone before. Now, having undergone this great tribulation, he had grown a lot.
He knew that often, one must give up something to gain something; if he wanted to become strong, he had to pay the price.
In the ancient texts he had read, anyone tainted by a Demon (Mo) would suffer a drastic change in temperament, becoming a puppet of slaughter and desire.
He didn’t want to become that.
He still had things he absolutely had to do.
“As long as you grasp the essentials, you won’t be controlled.” Ning Ke recalled the novel’s plot and continued, “Demons are born of evil and desire. Cultivating the Demon path is also cultivating desire.”
“You must maintain inner peace at all times, guarding against arrogance and rashness, in order to break through layers of demonic thoughts and keep them in balance with the Sword Dao you cultivate.”
“The Demon path is Yin, the Dao is Yang. Never let either side gain the upper hand. This is the key point you must keep in mind every day after you decide to dual cultivate.”
While he said this, Ning Ke thought of the mid-to-late stages of the novel. After Lou Yunxiao regained his sight, he was frequently trapped by demonic thoughts due to the death of his close friend. It was a young monk who enlightened him.
However, after Lou Yunxiao broke free from the demonic thoughts, that monk disappeared.
The subsequent plot never mentioned him again.
Could that monk be another role he had to play?
Hiss, thinking of this, Ning Ke couldn’t help but reach out and stroke his own long hair, which was as smooth as if he had used conditioner for twenty years. He imagined what it would be like if he, a ten-thousand-year-old fox spirit, became a monk…
Wouldn’t that be a Demon Monk?
“Alright, thank you for your guidance, Sister. Yunxiao will definitely etch this in his heart.”
On the path of cultivation, the most taboo thing was to be indecisive and hesitant.
Ning Ke had already given Lou Yunxiao advice. For the rest of the road, he had to make his own decisions and bear the risks himself. Only then would he be worthy of the life his “Sister” had saved.
He said seriously, “Cultivating the Dao is cultivation, and cultivating the Demon path is also cultivation. I am confident I can walk a shortcut that belongs only to me, striving to surpass that arrogant Demon Sovereign soon and make him pay with his life for my sect!”
Ning Ke was snapped back to reality by his impassioned speech. Hearing the sudden demand for him to “pay with his life,” his little heart trembled.
He sheepishly retracted the hand that was stroking his hair, only to see Lou Yunxiao suddenly stand up, giving him a start.
The boy was full of fighting spirit as he asked him:
“Sister! How exactly do I dual cultivate? Tell me quickly, I want to dual cultivate with you right now!”
“??? Cough cough…” Ning Ke choked on a mouthful of tea, taking two seconds to catch his breath.
Could this kid not speak so ambiguously!
Couldn’t he finish his sentence properly?!
It’s “Dual Cultivation of Dao and Demon”! Not just “Dual Cultivation” (sex)!
Only after Lou Yunxiao finished speaking did he realize something was wrong. Within seconds, a blush crawled all the way from his neck to his ears, and he hemmed and hawed, unable to utter another word.
Ning Ke sighed.
He put down the teacup, grabbed the brat by the back of his collar, and walked to the riverbank.
“Since you’re in such a hurry, I won’t waste words.”
“See this Demon Soul River?” After speaking, Ning Ke suddenly realized Lou Yunxiao was still blind. But! That’s not important! He continued, “When you can crawl up from it by yourself, you will be considered to have entered the rudiments!”
Ning Ke had only changed his appearance and dress, and concealed his aura; his actual height and build hadn’t changed much.
With a tall stature of over 1.8 meters, he dangled the 1.7-something-meter Lou Yunxiao over the Demon Soul River.
Below, dozens of black hands were eager and cowardly, itching to get at Lou Yunxiao, wishing this big piece of fatty meat would fall down quickly so they could have a feast.
The yin-cold energy penetrated Lou Yunxiao’s clothes through the river surface, seeping into every pore.
Although the boy couldn’t see, his body could familiarly perceive the pain this river had once brought him.
He couldn’t help but curl his toes. Just as he was about to ask Ning Ke if there were any precautions, such as a demonic cultivation chant or secret technique…
He had just uttered the first word of “Sister.”
With a splash, he was thrown by Ning Ke with a flick of the hand, tracing a parabolic arc before crashing ruthlessly into the Demon Soul River…
[Damn, hahahaha!!] The usually “reserved” Xiao Yuan couldn’t help but burst into laughter: [Host, you are truly ruthless. You really just stopped caring about him?]
[This is the person you spent the whole night saving, feeding a Demon Core and giving Fox Fire! You just threw him away like that?]
“Strict teachers produce brilliant disciples. I can’t really treat him like a baby, protecting and holding him every day; he wouldn’t improve that way.”
“If a perfectly good protagonist gets raised into a cripple by me, wouldn’t this world be finished too?”
Everything he said made sense.
Xiao Yuan nodded repeatedly listening to him, saying: [That’s true. I didn’t expect you to be quite smart, Host.]
“But of course.”
“Brother makes no superfluous moves.” He wouldn’t admit he was taking revenge. (ˉˉ)
After speaking, Ning Ke rummaged around in the original host’s storage space. He pulled out a reclining chair, then a super-sized lace oil-paper umbrella that looked like a beach umbrella and planted it in the pile of rubble. He placed a small rattan tea table next to it, lay down on the recliner, fished out a pair of sunglasses with round lenses to perch on the superior arch of his nose, and held a teacup, taking a sip comfortably.
If one ignored the surrounding pitch-black ravines, the howling yin winds, the blood moon hanging in the sky, and the Demon Souls at the river bottom occasionally fake-crying “waiting to be fed,” he looked exactly like a tourist here on vacation.
Unfettered and carefree.
However, cultivation was indeed something others couldn’t help with.
Since Ning Ke had already completed the first stage of the mission and didn’t know when the mission item would appear, all he could do was improvise.
Being strict with Lou Yunxiao now would allow him to possess more ability to protect himself, making the novel world more stable.
He wasn’t wrong.
It was just hard on Lou Yunxiao.
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