“…I almost forgot to tell you. Those people up there are your parents and your younger sister.”
A small hand gripped the “victim’s” neck, the tone of the voice eerie and wicked.
“Before your sister was taken out, she kept asking where her brother went.”
“And the person next to her—how strange. She has no blood relation to you, yet she kept calling your name. Oh? It looks like there’s a child in her belly?”
The owner of the voice feigned surprise, drawing out her words.
“Oh, right. I told your sister that if she jumped into the cauldron of oil voluntarily, I would let you go. She didn’t even think twice before jumping right in. Guess what her last words were? ‘I wish you happiness’~~”
“Jie jie jie jie jie jie jie jie—Ouch!”
“If you’re going to eat, then eat. Why are you talking so much nonsense!”
Hua Yan retracted the chopsticks she had used to rap Hua Xiangrong’s forehead, giving her a disgruntled glare.
“You’re just peeling a shrimp. Why make it such a performance? And that strange laugh… I have no idea who you learned that from.”
Currently, the mother and daughter were sitting in a private room of an exquisite restaurant.
The round table was laden with a sumptuous feast.
Right in front of Hua Xiangrong was a plate of bright, red braised prawns.
“Ugh…”
The pink-haired girl clutched her forehead, her eyes welling with tears.
She looked up pitifully.
“Mother, I was just… practicing how to be a proper Demonic Cultivator in advance…”
Hua Yan’s lip twitched slightly.
“Who told you that all Demonic Cultivators act like that?”
“Is that not the case?”
The girl tilted her small head, her pink eyes filled with confusion.
“Aren’t Demonic Cultivators supposed to be sinister, cunning, and wicked people who kidnap children to refine pills?”
“Then let me ask you,” Hua Yan extended one slender, white finger and tapped the tip of her own nose, “do I look like that kind of person?”
Hua Xiangrong tilted her head and thought about it.
First, she shook her head, but then she immediately nodded.
“You don’t look like it… but when you were killing those bad guys a few days ago, you were a bit—Ouch!”
The girl’s head was struck firmly by the chopsticks once again.
“You know yourself that I was killing bad guys,” Hua Yan grumbled, glaring at her.
“So how did I become an ‘evil person who eats children’?”
‘Hmph, this stereotype was definitely planted in her head by that woman Yun Xuechang since she was a child. How infuriating!’
Hua Yan added another mental mark to her grudge against Yun Xuechang.
“Once you finish this meal, I will properly explain to you what the Righteous Path is and what the Demonic Path truly is!”
……
To Hua Xiangrong’s surprise, after lunch, Hua Yan did not explain things directly.
Instead, she led her out of the restaurant in the mortal city at the foot of the Frost-Ridge Mountains.
After weaving through the crowds, they eventually entered a bustling teahouse.
“Mister, could you tell a story about Immortal Siheng?”
Hua Yan took a silver coin from her sleeve and slapped it onto the table in front of the storyteller, who had just finished a session.
“Heh! Certainly!”
The storyteller’s eyes lit up.
He quickly grabbed the silver coin and bit it to verify its authenticity.
With a beaming smile, he shouted to the waiter:
“Waiter, show these two honored guests to their seats! The story of Immortal Siheng begins now!”
“Huh? Immortal Siheng again?”
“Lao Zhao, my ears are growing calluses from that story. Tell us something new!”
A chorus of complaints immediately broke out in the small teahouse.
The storyteller paid them no mind.
He tucked the silver coin away safely, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and suddenly struck his gavel with a loud thwack.
The room fell silent.
“Now, honored guests, do not be annoyed! Since an honored guest has requested it today, this old Lao Zhao shall tell you all once more of the legend of the first immortal to ever grace the Shenzhou Continent—Immortal Siheng!”
“They say that 1,000,000 years ago, our Shenzhou land was a true living hell, a scene of unbearable misery!”
“At that time, the world of cultivation followed the iron rule of the strong devouring the weak. Sects were incompatible, constantly at each other’s throats! Even among fellow cultivators, for a bit of opportunity or a single treasure, brothers would turn against each other and students would kill their masters—such things were commonplace!”
“And that wasn’t all! Those high-and-mighty cultivators loved descending to the mortal realm! They snatched mortals to use as dual-cultivation furnaces and abducted civilians to use as raw materials. Such atrocious crimes, and they dared to call it ‘recruiting disciples’! There are even legends of great cultivators who, in order to forge a wicked weapon, refined 1,000,000 living souls at once! Imagine, everyone—how tragic, how sorrowful that was!”
The storyteller shook his head repeatedly as he spoke, his face showing compassion.
The teahouse was filled with sighs and groans of sorrow.
“Right as the world was collapsing and life was being treated as grass!”
The storyteller struck his gavel again, his voice rising sharply, jolting the audience awake.
“A great figure of monumental power appeared out of nowhere!”
“This person is our protagonist for today—Immortal Siheng!”
“Legend has it that as soon as Immortal Siheng appeared, he wiped out the demons of the four seas and slew the evil spirits of the eight wastes! With his power alone, he established the Siheng Laws and set the world’s principles right. Eventually, he attained immortality, and his name has been remembered for eternity!”
“After Immortal Siheng set the rules and ascended, the world of cultivation was transformed! Killing at will and stealing opportunities became a taboo despised by all. The prohibition against slaughtering mortals became the iron law of Shenzhou!”
“His disciples inherited his will and founded the great immortal sects to guard this hard-won order. For the next 1,000,000 years, talents have emerged in abundance on the Shenzhou land, and the path of immortality has flourished. One legendary tale after another has been passed down to this day!”
The storyteller picked up his tea bowl, took a slow sip, and brought the story to a close:
“This is the story of the first person to attain immortality since the beginning of the Shenzhou Continent—Immortal Siheng.”
“Good! Well said!”
Despite the complaints at the start, the teahouse eventually erupted in enthusiastic applause.
“You have probably heard the story of Immortal Siheng since you were little. Are you wondering why I brought you here to listen to it again?”
Hua Yan took a sip of tea and raised her hand to set up a soundproofing spell, just as she had done at the restaurant.
Hua Xiangrong moved her gaze away from the storyteller on stage, who was smiling and busy collecting tips, and shook her head honestly.
“It is actually quite simple,” Hua Yan said, putting down her teacup.
“According to legend, after Immortal Siheng ascended, his disciples and followers split into two factions.”
“One faction advocated that cultivation should focus on ‘insight’—refining one’s own heart and proving one’s own path. The other faction advocated using ‘objects’ as a medium, borrowing external things to investigate the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.”
“The former’s progress was slow, but their foundation was solid, and the realm they attained belonged entirely to themselves. The latter’s progress was rapid, but because they borrowed power, it easily led to a hollow cultivation level that was difficult to integrate perfectly. The two of them had their own pros and cons.”
“With that said, can you guess what these two factions eventually became?”
Hua Yan put down her teacup and looked at her with a faint smile.
Without waiting for an answer, she continued:
“Correct. These were the precursors to the current Righteous and Demonic paths. What are called the Righteous and Demonic paths were originally just a dispute over the method of cultivation. After 1,000,000 years, the viewpoints of the two factions have long since permeated each other, and the boundaries have blurred long ago.”
“For example, the Xiaoyao Sword Sect where your mother, Yun Xuechang, resides is a sect that rose rapidly only 10,000 years ago. According to the old classifications, since they use the sword for cultivation—and the sword is an external object—they should have been classified as a Demonic path.”
“But sword cultivators also emphasize refining a Sword Heart, which should count as the Righteous Path, shouldn’t it?”
Hua Yan muttered in a low voice, shaking her head.
The ornaments in her red hair swayed gently.
“Whatever, it’s a mess.”
“In short, the difference between the current Righteous and Demonic paths is not that large. Even if you trace it back to the era of Immortal Siheng, they can be considered as coming from the same source. It is only in the last few hundred years that relations between the two factions have become tense, leading to many negative impressions of each other.”
“Of course, the people of the Righteous Path are mostly rigid fools. Just saying half a sentence more to them can tire you to death. This is absolutely true; you must remember it well.”
Hua Yan added another comment, completely unaware that in the eyes of Hua Xiangrong and 099, she was the one who currently fit a “stereotype” the most.
“As for that stuff you mentioned about eating children and refining blood pills, most of those are rumors from the ancient era that have long been lost.”
“However…”
Hua Yan changed her tone, and her delicate brows furrowed slightly.
“In recent years, many ferocious Evil Cultivators have suddenly appeared from nowhere, like the bandits we encountered that day. Normally, such people were rarely seen in the past.”
“Regardless,” she extended a slender finger and gently tapped the forehead of the girl who was listening intently, “don’t listen to Yun Xuechang’s nonsense in the future, and don’t let her throw the dirty water of Evil Cultivators onto us Demonic Cultivators.”
With that, she stood up and gestured: “Let’s go. We still have a journey ahead of us.”
“Oh!”
Hua Xiangrong hurried down from her chair and followed with small steps, asking eagerly behind her: “Then Mother, when can I learn those spells you used to slash the bad guys that day?”
“What’s the rush?”
Hua Yan kept her pace, not looking back.
“Once you’ve mastered the Water Condensation Art I taught you and can water the flowers in the courtyard, we can talk about other things.”