Chapter 1: The Beginning, Leaving the Mountain

Description

Demon Territory.

A male demon lord with sharp sword-like brows and starry eyes was cultivating.

“Pfft!”

The demon lord suddenly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of green demon blood.

“How is this possible?”

The demon lord opened his eyes in confusion.

The hair on his head, half white and half black, had turned even whiter by a few strands.

“I understand now. Life and death paths conflict. I already have two divine abilities, and trying to gain a third… is extremely difficult. What if I were to discard my first divine ability…”

The demon lord’s gaze flickered, then he shook his head and thought, ‘Abolishing my cultivation to heal wounds would take too much time. Better yet… I’ll find someone to cultivate on my behalf.’

The demon lord swept his gaze around him once more and thought, ‘Humans are the most spiritual of all living beings. Human cultivation might be faster. First, I’ll nurture a human, then kill them and forcibly seize their divine ability. Let’s go!’

Ignoring his injuries, the demon lord Cang Ye surged upward directly, transforming into a green demonic wind that swept toward human territory.

A few years later.

Cang Ye wandered through human lands, saving people everywhere and practicing his second divine ability through healing—

[Restore Flesh from Bone]

One day, he arrived at a great human city.

On the street.

Demon lord Cang Ye carried a white banner reading ‘Healer for All’ as he wandered.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped, and he saw a person—a little boy.

His heart immediately began to race, as if he had seen an old acquaintance.

He walked closer to the boy and called out, “Young friend, please wait a moment.”

“Hm?”

Ten-year-old Su Wan paused his steps slightly, holding a vegetable basket in his right hand and clutching his money pouch with his left.

He thought to himself in alarm, ‘I’ve run into a jinx. Nothing good ever comes from someone telling me to wait.’

He quickened his pace, but before he knew it, his vision blurred, and a figure stood before him, smiling warmly.

Su Wan frowned and said, “Who are you? I am the Ninth Young Master of the Su family. Do you have business stopping me?”

“I’m not sick.”

Seeing the man carrying the healer’s banner, he understood the other was a traveling physician, so he added that line deliberately.

“Hehe~” The man chuckled softly.

Su Wan looked him up and down, lifting his eyes to notice the man’s hair was styled in that half-white, half-black look—the kind that suggested premature aging and a short life.

Su Wan frowned again and warned, “Don’t tell me my forehead looks darkened and that disaster is imminent!”

“Of course…”

Demon lord Cang Ye paused for a moment, then said, “not.”

The demon lord’s voice sounded calm.

He smiled softly again, gently studying and examining Su Wan’s features.

A spell he had learned during his travels was cast directly upon Su Wan in secret.

The faint silhouette of another man’s face flickered above Su Wan’s head, seeming uncomfortable, as if struggling.

The influence from his true spirit’s past life was reflected back onto Su Wan’s body.

Su Wan felt a wave of chills run through him and shuddered.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going. My mother called me home for dinner.”

As he spoke, Su Wan lifted the vegetable basket in his right hand.

After making his point, he quickly sidestepped around the man and dashed toward his home.

Behind him, the demon lord frowned at his retreating figure and murmured, “Not Yun Ci; his past life isn’t her. However…”

Suddenly, the demon lord’s heart stirred, and a sudden impulse led him to count on his fingers and divine.

After the calculation, a smile spread across the demon lord’s face.

He said, “Yang turning to Yin—if one were to transform from human to demon, that would be best. If one were to turn from male to female, that would be even better. This divine ability, [Slaughter of Myriad Lives], is destined to be hers.”

“My good disciple, here I come.”

Demon lord Cang Ye followed Su Wan’s steps and headed toward the direction of Su Wan’s home.

…

Outside the side gate of the Su residence.

Su Wan squeezed through the door, then quickly closed it shut.

Behind him, on the ground, sat a house servant on guard duty, but the servant only glanced at him before leaning against the corner and dozing off again with half-closed eyes.

Su Wan paid the servant no mind and hurried toward his own courtyard.

Or rather, his mother’s courtyard.

“Mother, Mother, I’m back!”

As Su Wan called out, he heard another man’s voice speaking inside the courtyard.

“Ninth Young Lady, the master requests your presence. Remember to bathe and burn incense.” The man added with a low, lewd chuckle, “He wants you to share his bed with the Sixth and Seventh Concubines.”

“Yes~ understood~ Thank you for the reminder, brother~”

Su Wan’s mother had a delicate, beautiful face, youthful and radiant.

Her face was full of a seductive smile, and her eyes shimmered with flirtatious charm as she playfully batted her lashes at the man.

She wore a slightly revealing red dance outfit, her right hand resting at her chest as if about to pull it down but not quite—utterly alluring.

A thin layer of fragrant sweat glistened on her forehead beneath her hair, directly captivating the male servant before her.

She appeared to be only twenty-six on the surface, with two months remaining before she reached the threshold of twenty-seven.

She had become pregnant at sixteen and given birth to Su Wan at seventeen.

After all, people matured early in ancient times—a girl was considered an adult at fifteen upon reaching maidenhood.

“Someone’s here~”

Su Wan’s mother said in a soft voice, her seductive smile slightly receding.

“It’s my son.”

“Mother~”

Hearing his mother speak, Su Wan obediently stood before her.

His right hand still held the vegetable basket, and his left hand still clutched the money pouch.

He was a little afraid of his mother.

He suspected she wasn’t an ordinary person.

He had once seen her lying prone on her bed at midnight, breathing toward the moon, adopting a beast-like crouching posture, her face full of enjoyment.

“Hm,” Su Wan’s mother, Qian Yue, nodded and said, “Go back and cook for yourself and eat. I’m going to attend to… your father. See you in three days.”

“Yes~”

Su Wan lowered his head.

Though three days was a long time, for his mother…

It was only a minor matter.

This was also the reason his mother had managed to rise above the ranks of ordinary dancing girls.

She knew how to play the game.

That was what the household staff said, not something Su Wan had witnessed himself.

…

Su Wan dashed into the small kitchen.

He had no time to change clothes, wash his face, or wipe off his sweat.

He only glanced at his mother entering her room, heard her instructing the maids to prepare her bath, incense, and a change of clothes as she readied herself to serve his father’s pleasures.

“A decadent yet enviable life. Ouch! Mother, I know I was wrong!”

Su Wan first muttered to himself, then a small sachet flew out from the window and hit him on the head.

He immediately called out to admit his mistake to his mother.

“Hmph! A little kid like you shouldn’t be indulging in lewd thoughts when you’re fed and warm, understand?”

“Oh, oh, I understand, Mother…”

Su Wan pouted, displeased by his mother’s attitude of only allowing adults to play with fire.

He had once been an adult too—he had just been shrunk.

In another seven years, when he reached twenty and came of age, he would be an adult as well.

When that time came, he would definitely enjoy being fed and warm…

And indulge in lewd thoughts to his heart’s content!

…

On the grounds of the estate, outside the Ninth Courtyard.

Demon lord Cang Ye remained at a distance far from the small courtyard.

He studied the space above the courtyard and nodded, saying, “There’s the fragrance of fox musk. A Moon Scent Fox—a rare and precious pet that became a spirit. It has grown into a great demon and resides here. I can’t approach recklessly. I’ll play it safe for now.”

As he thought this, the invisible Cang Ye left the courtyard and went outside the estate to find lodging nearby.