“Congratulations, congratulations, Patriarch Su! Great joy has come to your household!”
“You’re too kind, you’re too kind. Manager Wang, please come inside. Oh! Isn’t this Old Master Zhang? Why have you come as well? You’re truly honoring this humble home with your presence!”
The head of the Su Family personally stepped forward to welcome the guests.
At the eastern edge of the front courtyard, near the Eastern Wing, Su Wan and Cang Ye were still adjusting their clothes and preparing to attend the formal Disciple Acceptance Banquet.
Cang Ye suddenly asked, “Disciple, you said earlier that your Master had already given you a disciple acceptance gift. What was it?”
“Hmm?” Su Wan was momentarily stunned.
He sat before a bronze mirror while a maid arranged his clothes, then replied, “A disciple acceptance gift? Isn’t saving my mother one already? There’s no better gift than that. I don’t want anything else, either. One shouldn’t be too greedy. Being content with what you already have isn’t a bad thing.”
“Is that so?” Cang Ye murmured before repeating, “Being content with what you already have isn’t a bad thing?”
Cang Ye smiled and said, “Then you’re truly someone who knows how to be content.”
“Hehe~” Su Wan smiled and replied, “It’s just about knowing your own limits. The greater your abilities, the greater your ambitions can be.”
“Mmm.” Cang Ye responded softly and examined his own attire once more.
He was wearing a simple set of white robes.
He raised his hand to dismiss the maid, then stood up and examined Su Wan’s outfit.
Su Wan wore a formal white robe decorated with gold thread and white jade, making him look like a young noble.
His clothes were even more luxurious than Cang Ye’s.
Cang Ye was quite satisfied with the result.
It should be enough to give Su Wan the status and dignity he deserved.
After all, Cang Ye belonged to the Demon Race, and anything he wanted had to be obtained through his own efforts.
Compared to mortals, he was practically synonymous with power.
However, in Su Wan’s case, he was far too weak in one particular regard.
Su Wan needed these seemingly ‘superficial’ mortal things, along with the recognition and favorable opinions of outsiders, to improve his standing.
Since the Human Race had its own customs regarding formal master-disciple ceremonies, Cang Ye took the opportunity to discuss cultivation with Su Wan.
Cang Ye explained, “In cultivation, the passage of years means very little. A talented cultivator can advance a hundred miles in a single day, achieving in one or two years what might take someone else ten or twenty years.”
“Those without talent, meanwhile, crawl forward like snails, making painfully slow progress every day.”
“Among the Human Race, a person’s cultivation talent is determined by their spirit root or spirit vein. These are simply two different ways of describing the same thing.”
“What do you think?” Su Wan asked.
He then wondered, ‘If Mother is a Fox Demon, does that make me human or demon? Or am I a Half-Demon?’
Growing more curious, Su Wan asked, “Does the Demon Race have spirit veins?”
Cang Ye shook his head and explained, “For the Demon Race, the entire body serves as its spirit vein. The Demon Race cultivates the body, while the Human Race cultivates the spirit.”
“The Demon Race can be considered body cultivators, whereas the Human Race can be considered law cultivators. That’s the fundamental difference.”
“That’s why the Human Race likes refining magical treasures and artifacts, while the strongest magical treasure of a Demon is usually its own body.”
“To be precise, the demon body itself,” Cang Ye added.
Su Wan nodded.
He suddenly remembered that Cang Ye had once said he didn’t possess any magical artifacts.
Perhaps he really hadn’t been pretending to be modest.
Did Cang Ye simply disdain using or carrying magical artifacts because they were practically worthless to the Demon Race?
No, perhaps that wasn’t entirely true.
It would still depend on the grade of the artifact compared to the strength of the demon body.
If a magical treasure were equivalent to a Level 10 treasure, while the demon body was only equivalent to a Level 1 treasure, then the magical treasure would undoubtedly be stronger.
A Demon with only a Level 1 demon body probably wouldn’t be able to obtain a Level 10 treasure in the first place, since they wouldn’t be worthy of possessing one.
Su Wan roughly understood the logic.
He nodded at Cang Ye and began, “Then, Master…”
Su Wan glanced around and noticed that a maid was still present.
He frowned, stood up, and gestured for Cang Ye to sit down so they could speak privately.
After Cang Ye sat down, Su Wan leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Master, should I cultivate Human Race techniques or Demon Race techniques? Can I cultivate the techniques of the Demon Race?”
Hearing this, Cang Ye unexpectedly smiled.
He said nothing for a moment, realizing that Su Wan had already accepted the possibility that he belonged to the Demon Race.
Or perhaps Su Wan had simply begun to believe that he might be a Demon.
Although they had never openly discussed it, Su Wan already suspected that his mother was a Fox Demon.
He might even be the Tree Demon who had been hostile toward her…
Cang Ye merely nodded and said, “It depends. Your Master possesses a divine ability of the Demon Race, but I don’t know whether you can cultivate it.”
“At most, I might be able to modify it a little. Perhaps that would allow you to cultivate it successfully. If not… then perhaps it’s fate.”
Cang Ye carefully studied Su Wan’s face once more, momentarily imagining what his deceased wife had looked like as a child.
If Su Wan couldn’t cultivate the Demon Race’s divine ability, perhaps his deceased wife was intervening to protect him.
That would be Heaven’s will.
It would be his deceased wife’s wish.
And in that case…
Cang Ye would still have no choice but to return to the path of self-destruction.
Even if the two divine abilities conflicted, and even if cultivating them together proved incredibly difficult, he would find a way to cultivate both simultaneously.
After all, someone in the past had successfully cultivated them together.
Although that person’s ultimate fate had been tragic, there was still hope.
If sacrificing himself could bring his deceased wife back…
He ‘didn’t know’ whether she would be willing to accept such a sacrifice, but…
He truly wanted to be selfish just once.
Even if he could spend only one final second with her, he would still be willing to drink that poison as though it were sweet nectar.
Moreover, those who came before him hadn’t been able to improve the technique.
They had only managed to develop its original version.
That didn’t mean future generations couldn’t improve it or discover a way to cultivate both divine abilities successfully.
Therefore, no matter what happened, as long as even the slightest hope remained, even if it meant defying Heaven itself, he would pursue it.
He had to resurrect his deceased wife!
“What fate?” Su Wan asked Cang Ye.
“The fate of being unable to cultivate the Dao? Of being unable to live long enough to witness eternity and having to remain a mortal?”
Actually, Su Wan was quite puzzled about why he wasn’t a fox but an ordinary human.
If his mother was a Fox Demon, he should at least have been a Half-Demon touched by the extraordinary.
Yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of anything supernatural about him.
‘Could it be…’ Su Wan wondered, ‘that I have to wait until adulthood before I can transform into a magical girl…?’
“Bah!” Su Wan frowned, realizing that his analogy wasn’t particularly appropriate.
He quickly shook his head to clear those thoughts away.
A maid called out, “Young Master, Master Cang, the Disciple Acceptance Banquet has officially begun. The head of the family invites you both to make your appearance.”
Cang Ye glanced at Su Wan, smiled, and extended his hand affectionately.
“Let’s go. We’ll walk out holding hands and show everyone how close we are.”
“Hmm? Hmph!” Su Wan snorted coldly, finding Cang Ye a little childish.
He was treating him exactly like a little child.
But since Cang Ye had already suggested it…
“Heh~” Su Wan extended his hand, smiled at Cang Ye, and said, “Your disciple will indulge you this once. Let’s go~ I’ll accompany you outside so you can show off your wonderful relationship with your good disciple.”
“Hmm?” Cang Ye hummed before smiling and taking Su Wan’s hand.
“You’re quite something. What a reversal of the natural order! Fine, you can indulge your Master. Let’s go outside and see… the guests who’ve arrived.”
As Cang Ye spoke, his gaze suddenly shifted toward the ceiling, as though he could see the sky beyond it.
Puzzled by his reaction, Su Wan asked, “What’s wrong, Master?”
Cang Ye smiled and answered, “Nothing much. It seems the Demon Suppression Bureau has arrived. I overheard the guests discussing it.”
“Hmm?” Su Wan was startled and immediately thought of his mother.
Since today’s banquet was a special occasion, his birth mother would be allowed to attend, even though she was only a concubine.
“Let’s go! Let’s take a look!” Su Wan moved closer to Cang Ye, wrapped both arms around his arm, and whispered his plan.
“Let’s adapt to the situation. If anything goes wrong, help my mother immediately.”