Not a single move I make is wasted

Strictly speaking, the world of "Ask the Heavenly Dao" had only two races.

The Human Clan and the Demon Clan.

Devils, meanwhile, were malicious thoughts that wandered between heaven and earth.

They had no physical form. They could only possess members of the Human Clan and the Demon Clan, seize their bodies, mutate them, then devour other cultivators for nourishment.

So whether they belonged to the Demon Clan or the Human Clan, anyone who encountered a devil would spare no effort to kill it, leaving none alive.

Even cultivators who had merely been tainted by Demonic Aura had to be imprisoned immediately, then tried and dealt with jointly by the Great Sects.

It was easy to imagine what Lou Yunxiao would face if he left the Demon Abyss and was discovered to have taken up devil cultivation.

Every protagonist had a cheat or two. The one Ning Ke's younger sister had given Lou Yunxiao was a constitution unique in all the world: after enduring a terrible calamity and being rebuilt from ruin, his body could support cultivating both the devil path and the Dao.

In other words, Lou Yunxiao was the only person in the entire novel's world who could merge those two paths into one. His cultivation path would grow ever broader, and the heights he could reach would far exceed those of anyone following just one path.

Of course, the pain and condemnation he would have to endure along the way were also beyond anyone else's understanding.

Now it all came down to Lou Yunxiao's choice.

Inside the wooden cabin, after a long silence, Lou Yunxiao asked,

"If I cultivate the devil path, will I lose myself and forget my hatred?"

He had always lived comfortably before, but this calamity had made him grow considerably.

He understood that, often, gaining something meant giving something up. To become stronger, he would have to pay a price.

According to the ancient texts he had read, anyone tainted by devils would undergo a drastic change in temperament, becoming a puppet of slaughter and desire.

He did not want that.

There were still things he had to do.

"As long as you figure out the key principles, you won't be controlled." Recalling the novel's plot, Ning Ke continued, "Devils are born from evil and desire. Cultivating the devil path also means cultivating desire."

"You must keep your heart calm at all times, guard against arrogance and impatience, and break through each layer of Demonic Thoughts. Only then can you keep them balanced against the sword Dao you cultivate."

"The devil path is yin, and the Dao is yang. Never let either side gain the upper hand. Once you decide to cultivate both, you must remember that every single day."

Despite saying this, Ning Ke recalled how, in the middle-to-late portion of the novel, Lou Yunxiao had regained his sight only to become repeatedly trapped in Demonic Thoughts after the death of his close male friend. A young monk had been the one to guide him.

But once Lou Yunxiao broke free of those Demonic Thoughts, the monk disappeared.

The subsequent plot never mentioned him again, either.

Could that monk be another role I have to play?

Hissing at the thought, Ning Ke couldn't help running a hand through his long hair, which was as silky as if he had used Rejoice shampoo for twenty years. He imagined what would happen if a ten-thousand-year-old fox spirit like him became a monk...

Wouldn't that make me a demon monk?

"All right. Thank you for your guidance, Sister. I'll keep it firmly in mind."

On the path of cultivation, nothing was more detrimental than indecision and shrinking back.

Ning Ke had already offered Lou Yunxiao advice. He had to decide how to walk the rest of the road himself and bear the risks on his own. Only then would he be worthy of the life this sister had saved.

He said earnestly, "Cultivating the Dao is cultivation, and cultivating the devil path is cultivation too. I'm confident I can forge a shortcut of my own and surpass that arrogant Demon Venerable as soon as possible, so I can make him pay for my sect with his life!"

His impassioned speech snapped Ning Ke out of his thoughts. Then the unexpected declaration about making him pay with his life sent a tremor through his poor little heart.

Sheepishly withdrawing the hand stroking his hair, he watched Lou Yunxiao spring to his feet, giving him a fright.

The boy's face brimmed with fighting spirit as he asked,

"Sister! How exactly do we practice dual cultivation? Tell me! I want to practice dual cultivation with you right now!"

"??? Cough, cough..." Ning Ke choked on a mouthful of tea and needed two seconds to catch his breath.

Could this brat stop leaving out crucial context?

Couldn't he say the whole thing?

It was dual cultivation of the devil path and the Dao! Not just dual cultivation!

Only after speaking did Lou Yunxiao realize something sounded wrong. Within seconds, a blush crept from his neck to his ears, and he stammered, unable to get another word out.

Ning Ke sighed,

set down his teacup, grabbed the little brat by the back of his collar, and walked to the riverbank.

"Since you're in such a hurry, I won't waste words."

"See this Demon Soul River?" Only after saying it did Ning Ke suddenly remember that Lou Yunxiao was still blind. But! That wasn't important! He continued,

"You'll only have mastered the basics once you can climb out on your own!"

Ning Ke had merely changed his appearance, put on a dress, and concealed his aura. His height and build remained unchanged.

With his tall frame of over a hundred and eighty centimeters, he held the hundred-and-seventy-something-centimeter Lou Yunxiao dangling above the Demon Soul River.

Below, dozens of black hands reached eagerly toward Lou Yunxiao, both greedy and cowardly. They wished this great slab of meat would hurry up and fall so they could finally feast.

An icy chill also seeped up from the river, piercing his clothes and entering every pore.

The boy could not see, but his body recognized all too well the pain this river had once inflicted on him.

He couldn't help curling his feet inward. He was just about to ask Ning Ke whether there was anything he should bear in mind, such as a devil cultivation chant, a secret art, or a cultivation method.

But he had barely uttered the first syllable of "Sister."

With a splash, Ning Ke swung his arm and sent him flying in a parabolic arc, flinging him hard into the Demon Soul River...

[Holy shit, hahahaha!!] The usually "reserved" Xiao Yuan burst out laughing. [Host, you're seriously ruthless! You're really just leaving him in there?]

[You spent an entire night working on him, feeding him a Demon Core and giving him foxfire! And now you just toss him in?]

"Strict teachers produce outstanding disciples. I can't really treat him like some precious treasure, pampering and coddling him every day. He'd never improve."

"If I spoiled a perfectly good protagonist into uselessness, wouldn't this world be done for too?"

Every word he said made sense.

Even Xiao Yuan kept nodding along. [That's true. I didn't realize you were so smart, Host.]

"Of course."

"Not a single move I make is wasted." He would never admit he was getting revenge. (˵¯͒〰¯͒˵)

With that, Ning Ke rummaged through the original owner's storage space and pulled out a lounge chair. Then he took out an enormous lace-trimmed oil-paper umbrella, as big as a sunshade, and planted it in a pile of rocks. He placed a small wicker tea table beside the chair, reclined, fished out a pair of round-lensed sunglasses and perched them on his beautifully shaped nose, then held his teacup and took a leisurely sip.

If one ignored the dark mountain ravine around him, the howling winds, the blood moon overhead, and the devil souls at the bottom of the river occasionally letting out fake cries as they clamored to be fed, he looked exactly like a tourist on vacation.

Carefree and utterly at ease.

Still, cultivation really was something no one else could help with.

Since Ning Ke had already completed the first stage of his mission and had no idea when the mission item would appear, all he could do was improvise.

Being strict with Lou Yunxiao now would also give him more ability to protect himself and make the novel's world more stable.

He had done nothing wrong.

Lou Yunxiao was simply the one who suffered for it.