[You adopted the little white dumpling and gave him a name: Xiao Hei—Su Xiaohei, taking your family name.]
[Of course, rather than “adopted,” you feel “fostered” is more appropriate. Just as the righteous and demonic sects didn’t view mortals as human decades ago, you, equipped with the simulator, also never truly saw them as people. You treated them like NPCs within the simulation.]
[The same logic applies to Su Xiaohei. You viewed him as a pet NPC for this round of simulation—something to raise, cuddle, and use to lighten your mood.]
[You never intended to clear the Cultivation Simulator in one go. This first run is all about gathering as much information as possible to lay the groundwork for the next simulation.]
[You returned to the mountain peak that belonged to your branch. The number of registered disciples under your line had dwindled to just a few. You weren’t surprised by this.]
[A wise bird chooses a good tree to nest in. Three years ago, despite being the sect’s youngest Foundation Establishment elder with the potential to form a Golden Core, you failed to secure more benefits for your branch. Instead, you chose to lay low during a political maelstrom.]
[Naturally, those disciples would have found better prospects elsewhere and left you behind.]
[You gave each remaining disciple a batch of cultivation resources as encouragement. Then, you cultivated a peach grove at the summit and erected five cenotaphs.]
[They were for your four senior brothers and sisters, as well as your nominal master. If it weren’t for the wealth they left behind, your path in cultivation wouldn’t have been so smooth.]
After that, you renovated your spartan cave dwelling and moved in with your little dumpling.
“Hmm??”
Su’s mother looked at her son in confusion, not understanding why he had suddenly asked her that question.
“I just wanted to know,” Su Bai said as he took a bite of the crisp, juicy watermelon, his words slightly muffled.
“You fed you when you were hungry, gave you water when you were thirsty, and took you out for some fresh air now and then.”
“That’s it?”
“Of course not,” his mother said, rolling her eyes at him.
“Back then, you were my little sweetheart. I was afraid you’d fall if I held you too loosely and melt if I kissed you too much. I didn’t dare sleep until I saw you sleeping peacefully, and the first thing I did every morning was change your diaper and feed you.”
She sighed again, lost in the memory.
“Wait a second… why are you asking this out of nowhere? You didn’t… you’re not…”
She suddenly paused and narrowed her eyes, suspiciously eyeing her son.
Su Bai quickly shook his head.
“No way! Definitely not! Mom, I’m only eighteen, I just finished my college entrance exams—how could I be fooling around outside?”
“That’s true…” she nodded, thinking it over.
“If you really dared mess around like that, your dad would break your legs.”
***
After finishing his watermelon, Su Bai casually said goodbye, then returned to his room to play games.
His mother, however, continued watching his retreating figure.
Her gaze lingered on his pale, porcelain-like face.
Why did it feel like her little piglet had suddenly gotten so much better-looking lately?
[Armed with your mom’s parenting wisdom, you begin following it step-by-step, copying it exactly.]
[Time passed quickly. The peach blossoms on the mountain turned from white to pink, then back to white. Peaches grew and fell, then grew again—three full cycles in all.]
[Today, just after you finished your daily meditation, you heard a soft knock at the door.]
“Come in,” Su Bai said calmly, still seated cross-legged on the meditation mat.
Creak…
The door opened slowly.
A small boy in white robes stepped inside.
He looked about five or six years old.
His skin was fair, his features delicate.
Unlike other boys his age who were usually chubby and round-faced, this child was slim and ethereally pretty—there was something quietly graceful about his appearance that immediately put others at ease.
“Mother.”
He threw himself into Su Bai’s arms, rubbing against him and acting spoiled.
“I finished all my homework today. My tummy’s hungry. I wanna eat,” he whined.
“I’ve told you so many times already—remember to call me ‘Dad,’” Su Bai said, rubbing the little boy’s head with a touch of helplessness.
“But Mama’s so pretty. Shouldn’t I call you ‘Mom’ instead?” Su Xiaohei tilted his head and asked.
His pitch-black eyes reflected Su Bai’s current appearance—waist-length black hair cascading over his shoulders, delicate facial features, skin as smooth and fair as porcelain.
A hint of heroic sharpness lingered between his brows, and those bright, captivating peach blossom eyes looked as if they could suck someone in.
Most importantly, Su Xiaohei thought his mama’s beauty had already transcended the boundaries of gender.
So, “Daddy” = “Mama”!
Calling him “Mama” was the same as calling him “Daddy.”
“Alright, have it your way.”
Su Bai shrugged and picked Su Xiaohei up.
“Come on, I’ll cook you something to eat.”
“Yay! I want peach blossom soup!”
“Peach blossom soup again? Aren’t you tired of it?”
“Nope! It’s sweet and yummy, especially when Mama makes it. It’s my favorite!”
“You little glutton.”
***
Under the setting sun, the shadows of one big and one small figure stretched long across the ground.
When Su Bai led Su Xiaohei to the peach blossom grove at the mountain’s peak to pluck fresh petals, the little boy once again pointed toward the five burial mounds and asked, “Mama, what are those?”
Su Bai looked toward the five stone markers.
His gaze lingered on the first tombstone, the one engraved with the name “Niu Aihua.”
He paused for a moment before snapping back to his senses and gently patting Su Xiaohei on the head.
“Those… are the markers of a story—not too long, but not too short either.”
“But, I’ll only tell you once you’ve officially started cultivating.”
The moon hung high in the sky, casting a bright and boundless glow.
Inside the cave residence, Su Bai stared at his reflection in the water mirror with a look of surprise and suspicion.
Reflected in the mirror was a beautiful person who looked seventeen or eighteen years old, with features so androgynous it was hard to tell if they were male or female.
Dressed in a plain white daoist robe, the reflection wore a cold expression and radiated an ethereal air, like a banished immortal.
“Why do I feel like my cultivation speed has skyrocketed recently? It’s only been three years, but I’ve already gone from early Foundation Establishment to mid-stage. Isn’t that a bit too fast to be normal?”
“Could it be that I messed something up during practice?”
Su Bai frowned deeply.
Cultivators going astray during practice and falling into qi deviation was nothing new.
The lucky ones just suffered serious injuries and could recover after a few years of rest.
The unlucky ones would end up dead, their souls scattered, returned to the Dao.
‘Maybe in this simulation, his cultivation had progressed too fast because he’d taken the wrong path—and that’s why he ended up looking like this?’
To be fair, Su Bai had always had some doubts about the Sunflower Manual.
But all he really knew about it was from watching New Smiling Proud Wanderer.
As far as he could tell, practicing it would just make you a bit more feminine—like that new version of Dongfang Bubai in the TV drama.
“Mama.”
Suddenly, a soft little voice called out beside Su Bai.
He turned around in surprise.
At some point, Su Xiaohei had appeared right next to him—and Su Bai hadn’t noticed a thing.
“What’s wrong? Hungry again?” Su Bai reached out and patted his little pet-turned-adopted-son on the head.
“I’m not hungry.”
Su Xiaohei shook his head and looked up with wide, hopeful eyes.
His voice was soft and sticky with affection.
“Mama, I want to sleep with you tonight.”