Chapter 14: Master or Mother?

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Meow!

The white cat didn’t give the old monk any time to hesitate. It simply lunged forward.

“Wicked beast! Die!”

The old monk had wanted to leave, but he was still worried about the safety of Qian Yue and Su Wan.

If Qian Yue and Su Wan weren’t fox demons but instead had some other uncommon constitution—like naturally gifted spiritual eyes that could spot the abnormality in the tree demon’s branches.

Or if they were hidden low-cultivation rogue cultivators, then he would have wanted to save them.

The white cat kicked backward, striking the monk’s staff.

The old monk once again commanded his cassock to whip toward the white cat.

The battle between the man and the demon was at a standstill.

Qian Yue was still lying on the ground.

Su Wan was still in Cang Ye’s arms, clinging to his neck.

Su Wan whispered, “Master, why don’t we just take Mother and leave? We don’t need to kill the old monk. Fighting is too dangerous. Let’s take Mother away and hide her… and leave the cat demon and the monk to fight it out. Mother’s human identity… can still be preserved.”

Cang Ye glanced at Su Wan and said with a smile, “So you’re admitting your mother is a demon?”

Su Wan frowned, shot Cang Ye a glare, then turned his gaze to the battle between the cat demon and the monk, and said:

“Whether she is or isn’t—if she is, then we protect her. If she isn’t, then isn’t saving her even more necessary? Hurry up!”

Su Wan urged, “The cat demon has no time to bother with Mother right now. This is our best chance to save her.”

As he spoke, Su Wan tried to jump down from Cang Ye’s arms, but Cang Ye held him tight.

“Hm?”

Su Wan turned back to look at Cang Ye and asked, “What?”

Cang Ye smiled and looked toward Su Wan’s mother, saying, “What if she doesn’t want you to see her? What if she doesn’t want to show you her true form, and wants to kill you…”

“Impossible!”

Su Wan’s face flushed red as he frowned at Cang Ye, displeased.

“Mother loves me the most. She dotes on me the most. Look at how she treats others… ahem!”

Su Wan’s face grew even redder with embarrassment, and he added, “But with me, she’s different. I’m the only man she treats specially!”

“Treats specially? Ha! Little thing, you can hardly be called a man. Even a woman’s body…”

Cang Ye said.

“Hey! No dirty jokes around a kid!”

Su Wan said, his face red.

“Oh, so you do know you’re a kid, huh? My adorable little… man. Haha!”

Cang Ye chuckled softly, then transformed into a gust of wind, carrying Su Wan—who had likewise turned into wind and leaves—over to where the fox demon lay.

But he stopped two steps away.

Cang Ye warned, “Be careful. She might hurt you.”

Cang Ye tightened his hold on Su Wan’s body as he tried to leap out.

“Let me go! My mother would never hurt me!”

Su Wan struggled.

Cang Ye frowned and said, “Trust me. She’s a fox demon. They only like to eat people, not raise them. You’re her half-blooded child born of her and a human. In the animal world, it’s not rare for a mother to devour her newborn.”

“Nonsense!”

Su Wan said angrily.

“You’re spouting pure lies! I might not know about other demons or animals, but when it comes to Mother… I have absolute trust!”

Qian Yue: “…”

Qian Yue lay on the ground, still weak, frightened, and unconscious, but the corners of her mouth curled up in a smile she couldn’t suppress.

The corners of her lips twitched up twice, pressed down twice, and finally settled into a smile that would never fade.

She was simply overjoyed.

But Su Wan, hidden in Cang Ye’s arms and firmly restrained by both of his hands, couldn’t see this scene of his mother’s delight.

Cang Ye, however, noticed it and frowned.

‘If I want to lure Su Wan away in the future, other mortals won’t be the obstacle. The biggest obstacle is Su Wan’s equally long-lived mother—this white-furred fox demon.’

‘Whether to follow Master or to live with Mother—that’s a rather difficult choice for a child.’

Cang Ye felt he would need to compete for Su Wan’s affection against his mother, vying to shower Su Wan with even more love.

Only then would Su Wan be willing to leave with him later, making it easier for him to forcefully seize the divine ability.

“Let me down!”

Su Wan yelled.

Cang Ye resolved to treat Su Wan even better, to make him attached and fond of him, so he nodded and said:

“Fine, I’ll spoil you. Let me hold your hand, and don’t run off.”

“Huh? Yeah!”

Su Wan hesitated only briefly, then nodded firmly.

He was set down and immediately tried to run toward his mother.

A large hand grabbed his left arm, then held his left hand.

He glanced at Cang Ye on his left and ignored him.

Then he quickly pulled Cang Ye closer to his mother’s side, crouched down, and asked, “Mother? Mother? Wake up. Are you alright?”

Su Wan knelt on his mother’s left side, gently patting her shoulder as he asked.

“Mn-nh?”

Qian Yue seemed to just awaken.

She opened her eyes, glanced at the little hand Su Wan had on her, then pushed it away with ‘disdain.’

Qian Yue smiled again, pulling the fox fur coat up with her right hand to cover her shoulder.

The hem of the fur coat barely covered her hips.

Beneath the fur coat, around where her tailbone would be, there seemed to be a large mass of something strange, bulging and swaying gently.

She gently swayed the fox tail hidden beneath her hips and said, “Mother’s fine, but who might this handsome young master be~?”

Qian Yue blinked slowly, a coquettish charm rising in her eyes as she looked at Cang Ye with a shy gaze.

She also placed her left hand lightly over her chest.

Cang Ye had been watching her face, noting her movements and fluctuations of spiritual power.

But as her hand lifted, Cang Ye’s gaze caught a glimpse of pale skin between her fingers.

Cang Ye raised his eyes to Su Wan’s mother’s face, confirming that she had only raised her hand to cover herself, not to cast a spell.

As for the incidental fox charm woven into the gesture—whether Su Wan’s mother did it deliberately or not—that wasn’t worth considering.

Su Wan had already blushed and averted his gaze, turning his back to his mother, Qian Yue.

With his back to Qian Yue, Su Wan said, “Master, please take off your outer robe and lend it to my mother to wear. Later… I’ll wash it for you myself.”

Cang Ye asked with a smile, “Is this your wish?”

Su Wan nodded.

“Yes! Please take off your robe and give it to my mother.”

“Master?”

Su Wan’s mother, Qian Yue, looked confused.

She blinked her eyes and let an alluring expression cross her face.

Qian Yue brought her fingertip to her lips, probing curiously at the seam of her mouth in a strange, bewitching manner, and said:

“Since when did he become Master? Haven’t the demons in the manor been caught yet? Wait~”

Qian Yue smiled again and said, “Since this handsome young master is Wanwan’s Master, would you be willing to give Wanwan more lessons in the future? That way, this concubine can properly host you as well?”

Qian Yue’s voice was soft and seductive, and combined with her wearing only a fox fur coat, it added even more temptation.

Cang Ye frowned.

With his right hand holding Su Wan’s left hand—Su Wan still turned away from his mother—he glanced at Su Wan’s mother’s alluring display and suddenly smiled, saying:

“Sure~”

“Huh?!”

Su Wan quickly turned his head to the left, looking at Cang Ye.

“Master, are you going to be my… stepfather?”

“No! You can’t, I…”

Su Wan’s cheeks burned as his words caught in his throat.

He lowered his head.

“Forget it. I’m just a kid. I won’t interfere. I don’t know anything!”

If his biological father had treated him well enough and had cared enough about him and his mother—not just caring about his mother’s beauty—then he might have interfered.

But now that his mother wanted to ‘remarry’ in pursuit of happiness, then he had no business meddling.

He could only pretend not to know.

Cang Ye frowned. His right hand held Su Wan’s hand, and his left hand patted Su Wan’s head, scolding:

“What are you thinking about? Master already has someone he loves. No matter who it is—even if it’s your mother—Master wouldn’t fall for her.”

“Hm?!”

A soft, questioning sound arose.

Qian Yue sat on the ground, tilting her head with a frail air. “Are you hitting my son? Ha~”

Qian Yue opened her mouth, revealing her fox pupils and sharp fox fangs as a threat.

“What was that sound?”

Su Wan turned his head halfway to the right. He caught only a blurry glimpse of his mother’s face and didn’t dare look back further.

“Oh~ it’s nothing~”

Qian Yue suddenly retracted her ferocity—her fox fangs and pupils—and turned to Su Wan with the gentlest expression, smiling.

“It might have been the sound of fighting. Perhaps you misheard.”

“Is that so?”

Su Wan asked, puzzled.

“Yes!”

Qian Yue explained with a bit more force.

“Yes.”

Cang Ye also nodded in agreement.

Then the two of them quietly glanced at each other.

They were both tacitly deceiving Su Wan.

There was no need for children to know about adult conflicts.

“Let’s go.”

Cang Ye lowered his gaze and gently patted Su Wan’s right shoulder.

But that made Su Wan frown slightly as he turned back to look at Cang Ye’s hand.

Cang Ye paid no mind to Su Wan’s reaction.

He simply wrapped an arm around Su Wan’s right shoulder and said casually, “Since the rescue is done, let’s head back.”

“Hm?”

As Cang Ye spoke, Qian Yue’s slender brows furrowed quietly.

She fixed her gaze on the spot on Su Wan’s shoulder that had seemed to ‘get hit.’

She shot Cang Ye a stern glare with knitted brows.

Then she smiled tenderly and carefully reached out to straighten the clothes on Su Wan’s right shoulder.

This gesture made Su Wan turn to look, but she gently turned his chin back forward and said:

“Little ones should behave and not look around. When you grow up, then you can look at other things. Be good~”

She smoothed out the spot Cang Ye had patted, then lowered her head and blew a soft breath over it, gently saying, “It didn’t hurt, did it~?”

Qian Yue glanced sideways at Cang Ye, the left corner of her mouth curling up to reveal a single sharp fox fang.

Cang Ye frowned.

“Protective mother fox. He’s just not used to people being close or touching him. It’s not like I hurt him.”