The sound of a ceramic bowl shattering rang out.
Ding Nan, who had been immersed in martial arts and deep thought, found his train of reflection interrupted.
He followed the sound and saw Luo Yao with her head tilted to the side, her shoulders slumped.
“Wait… Why are you practicing Xishan Sect techniques again?”
Luo Yao took a single step, and in an instant, her body flickered as she reappeared directly in front of Ding Nan.
Startled, Ding Nan caught his breath.
“Are you going back to the Xishan Sect? Why? Can’t this place be your home?”
Luo Yao grabbed both of Ding Nan’s wrists.
Her hands were slender and delicate, but they clamped down on him like two iron pincers.
“Do you really like that bitch Ji Lanruo? Are that fatty’s two mounds of flesh really that good? Are mine not good enough?”
She had a flawless, porcelain face and eyes like black pearls.
Her shadow completely loomed over Ding Nan.
“Tell me, why? Why isn’t it working? Why isn’t it me? Why!”
Her face was pressed close to his, her lips almost overlapping with his own.
It should have been a heart-stirring scene, but Ding Nan only felt an overwhelming amount of pressure.
“I—I was just…”
Luo Yao didn’t give him a chance to finish.
She pulled him toward her.
“Wait… Stop…”
Luo Yao didn’t listen and she didn’t stop until Ding Nan began gasping for air due to the lack of oxygen.
Only then did she finally release him.
Both of them were panting.
She didn’t let go entirely, however, keeping one hand firmly on his shoulder as if afraid he might run away.
After catching his breath, Ding Nan saw the blatant aggression and desire for possession in the depths of her dark eyes.
He hurriedly raised a hand to stop her, but she caught it in her palm.
“The Great Path of the Red Dust!”
Ding Nan shouted the moment he saw his hand being drawn toward her soft curves.
That nonsensical shout caused Luo Yao to freeze.
“What?”
“The Great Path of the Red Dust,” Ding Nan said with a serious expression.
Luo Yao tilted her head, blinking several times.
“If you’re talking about the Red Dust, isn’t that just something used for heart-questioning trials?”
“Soulfire is the manifestation of life and the soul. Although most Soulfires are identical in most respects, they all carry the corresponding will of the person to some degree.”
“Are you referring to that? The Danxia Manual states that the fragments of consciousness remaining in Soulfire will actually affect the person absorbing them. In severe cases, it can lead to cultivation deviation or mental insanity.”
Luo Yao gradually calmed down and looked at Ding Nan sternly.
“Young Master, do not try such things.”
“That is why I am drawing inspiration from the Flowing Cloud Manual,” Ding Nan explained.
“Huh?”
Luo Yao was confused.
“The Flowing Cloud Manual focuses on objective reality, using the intent of The Impermanent to carry out the affairs of The Constant. This path clearly belongs to the Heavenly Dao. The Danxia Manual, on the other hand, focuses on human affairs and practicality, making it the Human Path.”
“And then?”
“And then, life is Constant yet Impermanent.”
The Constant referred to the rules and norms people lived by.
The Impermanent referred to the unpredictable changes of life, specifically death.
Usually, the Constant part was what people called the Red Dust.
Luo Yao scanned Ding Nan up and down with a strange look in her eyes.
“Do you have memories of a past life?”
Ding Nan’s heart skipped a beat.
“Haha, how could that be possible?”
Ding Nan said, scratching his head.
‘A transmigrator is my biggest secret. This world has powerful beings capable of controlling space. If they ever found out I came from another world, they might turn me into a research specimen.’
“Then how do you know these things?”
The Impermanent was not something adults actively discussed.
Death was not something young people had a deep understanding of.
Only those who were used to the coldness and fickleness of the world could truly understand the weight of the Red Dust and the pain of The Impermanent.
“You know me, I like to read books when I have nothing better to do,” Ding Nan explained.
He wasn’t lying.
In this Cultivation World without Wi-Fi or video games, the most popular entertainment items were crickets, the most explosive way to spend time was visiting brothels, and the most respectable way was to go to a theater to listen to songs.
He had no interest in crickets and no money for the theater, so all that was left was reading.
“Hmm…” Luo Yao nodded.
“The Constant and The Impermanent. Go on.”
“Soulfire can be considered the trace of a life. Therefore, instead of using the Five Elements Spiritual Fire as a base, I will use its predecessor, ‘Ying-Yang,’ as the foundation.”
“So the reason for practicing the Flowing Cloud Manual is for ‘Ying-Yang’?”
“Exactly. I want to find a way to merge Soulfires from it,” Ding Nan said.
Soulfires could not be merged.
Even Soulfires of the same race would repel each other because the life paths of their owners were different, resulting in different individualities.
“So, what is your plan?”
“Well, my current idea is to collect Soulfires from the same race.”
Luo Yao tilted her head.
She looked adorable.
“Ahem… and also the Soulfires of people in the same profession,” Ding Nan added quickly.
“After collecting these Soulfires, I will nourish them with Spiritual Qi and let them gradually wear down each other’s internal individual wills.”
Luo Yao finally understood.
“Once they truly merge, they will become the Soulfire of a specific profession…”
She played the idea out in her mind.
Her hands and feet went cold before her heart began to race.
This was the Human Path—the most authentic and complete Human Path.
There were countless people in the Spirit Chef profession alone.
If the Soulfires of all Spirit Chefs were merged, that Spirit Chef Soulfire itself could become a new school of cultivation.
“I’m sorry for taking the initiative to change things without the permission of the Luo Family Ancestor,” Ding Nan said.
“It’s fine. You can try to change it,” Luo Yao murmured.
“Huh? Didn’t we agree the Ancestral Law is unchangeable?”
Ding Nan asked, scratching his cheek.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Luo Yao raised her hands to tidy her hair and sleeves.
“I’ll go clean up those broken bowls first and then prepare dinner.”
“Oh, alright.”
Ding Nan nodded.
Soon after, he returned to his focus on contemplation and martial practice.
Luo Yao walked over to the broken bowls.
The mung bean paste was spilled all over the ground.
She looked back at Ding Nan.
He was moving his palms as if dancing, his figure elegant and his movements light and erratic.
Luo Yao’s expression was complicated.
‘I’m sorry, someone like me isn’t suitable for marriage, so I won’t respond to you.’
A voice from the past echoed in her ears.
Luo Yao bit her lip.
“What did he mean by not being suitable for marriage? What did he mean by not responding? Was that the reason he founded the Xishan Sect instead of returning to the Luo Family?”
“It’s not enough. This isn’t enough at all,” Luo Yao whispered to herself in a voice only she could hear.
“I must make Young Master remember me clearly. I have to make it so he can’t leave me. Otherwise, at this rate, he will leave me again soon!”
—
That evening, after a hearty meal, Ding Nan was served by Luo Yao as he took a bath.
Originally, Ding Nan never allowed her to do such things, but at this point, he no longer cared.
They had already gone all the way together; a mere bath was nothing.
Ding Nan sat in the wooden tub. Soon after, Luo Yao sat down across from him.
The two of them enjoyed the hot water together.
When they were almost finished, Ding Nan stood up and pulled a towel from the rack nearby to dry himself.
“Yao’er, pass me my clothes while you’re at it.”
Ding Nan reached out as he spoke.
Unexpectedly, his hand brushed against a hard ring.
He took it and looked down, only to see a Wine-red Leather Collar.
“Miss Luo Yao?”
Stunned, Ding Nan turned to look at her.
He saw Luo Yao licking her lips with the tip of her tongue, her eyes filled with a dazed, peach-blossom luster.
“Holy crap!”