The next morning, the two people who were snuggled together sleeping soundly in the bed were woken up by Su Yao.
Bai Maomao rubbed his eyes with his little wings, groggily following behind Lang Junxian as he got up.
Then he noticed that Mother looked very different today.
Usually, Mother wore a casual white dress, her long hair simply draped over her shoulders, looking beautiful and gentle.
But today, Mother was wearing a retro pure black robe, with intricate and complex embroidery on the collar and cuffs.
At her waist hung an ancient Eight Trigrams array plate.
Her long hair was pinned up with a hairpin, making her look much colder than usual.
Bai Maomao had only seen Mother look like this once before — when he performed his formal apprenticeship ceremony.
Bai Maomao shrank his neck, dipped his mouth into the water cup to rinse, then gulped down a big mouthful to rinse again.
Finally, he smoothed out the messy fur from sleeping and waited quietly to the side.
When Lang Junxian finished tidying up, Su Yao nodded and led them further back.
They passed through a long corridor and two decorative archways before finally arriving at Qianji Hall.
“Let’s go.”
Qianji Hall was at the very back of the residence, where the memorial tablet of the first head of the Qianji Sect was enshrined.
Su Yao led the way. Upon reaching the door, she bowed deeply and respectfully,
“Disciple Su Yao, disturbing the Ancestor.”
Following behind, Bai Maomao imitated her, putting his little wings together and lowering his head.
After the salute, Su Yao pushed open the doors of Qianji Hall and said to them,
“Go in.”
Lang Junxian lowered his eyes and followed slowly behind Bai Maomao.
Su Yao came last, carefully closing the door before going in.
Qianji Hall wasn’t very large compared to the whole residence.
The four walls were lined with tall shelves filled with all kinds of books.
Lang Junxian kept his eyes down, quietly walking beside Bai Maomao.
Past the long bookshelves was a high platform, with a memorial tablet placed on top.
The ever-burning lamps on either side flickered slightly.
Su Yao stepped forward, took three sticks of incense, lit them from the eternal flame, and raised them above her head.
“Disciple Su Yao, bringing first-generation disciple Bai Hongyuan, pays respects to the Sect Master.”
After performing the salute, Su Yao inserted the incense into the burner, then turned to light three more sticks and handed them to Lang Junxian.
Lang Junxian pressed his lips together.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, but in the end, he steadily took the incense, imitating Su Yao by raising it above his head, then slowly knelt and performed the grand kowtow.
“Disciple pays respects to the Sect Master.”
A flash of surprise crossed Su Yao’s face, quickly replaced by satisfaction as she looked at Lang Junxian.
Once Lang Junxian placed the incense, Su Yao casually placed three meditation cushions on the ground and smiled at the slightly at-a-loss Lang Junxian,
“After the apprenticeship ceremony, we are family, no need to be so restrained.”
Lang Junxian silently nodded, sitting down on the cushion as told.
A faint warmth spread from beneath him, and the hidden pains in his body eased quite a bit.
Lang Junxian lowered his eyes, secretly astonished.
Everything in this residence was clearly not ordinary.
Bai Maomao also obediently squatted on his cushion, his black bean eyes watching Mother very sweetly.
Su Yao cleared her throat and slowly said,
“Just now you paid respects to the Sect Master of Qianji Sect, Qianjizi.”
Lang Junxian searched his mind.
Qianji Sect — it seemed he had never heard of it.
Could it be a hidden sect?
Seeing Lang Junxian’s puzzled face, Su Yao continued,
“Now that you have performed the apprenticeship ceremony, you are a first-generation disciple of my Qianji Sect.”
She then pointed to Bai Maomao, who was basking in warmth and squinting comfortably.
“Maomao is your Senior Brother.”
Lang Junxian: …
He swallowed hard, then calmly called out,
“Senior Brother.”
The dazed, sleepy Bai Maomao instantly perked up and responded crisply,
“Gah!~”
The milky little voice even echoed in the closed room.
Lang Junxian’s facial muscles twitched almost imperceptibly.
Su Yao noticed nothing, instead looking gratified at Lang Junxian, and began telling him the origins of Qianji Sect.
Qianji Sect’s founding master, Qianjizi, was a Xuan Turtle who had survived by sheer luck after the great war of ancient times.
Xuan Turtles had extraordinarily long lifespans.
The old friends of those days, having no hope of ascending, had already fallen one after another — only he still remained alive.
Back then, after the great war, the demon king Lihuo self-destructed his demon core, using Phoenix True Fire to stop the advance of the human race.
Although he managed to protect a small portion of his people, as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth continued to drain away, cultivation became increasingly difficult.
Coupled with the suppression from humans, the number of demons dwindled more and more.
So Qianjizi moved to Yuze Mountain and established the Qianji Sect, hoping to find a slim chance of survival for the demon race…
All the animals and plants on this Yuze Mountain—including Su Yao herself—were ones that Qianjizi had picked up one by one over the years.
Lang Junxian couldn’t hide the astonishment on his face after hearing this.
He was all too clear about the plight of the demon race, because his own mother was a demon cultivator.
Attracted by her beauty, his father took her as a concubine, and then he was born.
Because of her identity as a demon, both mother and son were looked down upon in the family, never having a single day of peace.
Only when his father occasionally remembered them did their lives become slightly better.
Thinking of the past, Lang Junxian’s mood sank a little.
“When did you start losing control of your form?”
Lang Junxian’s heart trembled, and his always calm eyes rippled.
Ever since he became this way—neither fully human nor fully demon—he had never looked at his own reflection.
Even without seeing it, Lang Junxian knew that like this, he was nothing more than a half-human, half-demon monster.
Despised by human cultivators, looked down upon by demon cultivators—even if he just wanted to be an ordinary person, with this appearance, he would still be regarded as a monster.
But at this moment, Su Yao’s question gave him a sliver of hope.
“Mo…Mother knows why I became like this?”
Su Yao looked at him with tender affection.
“Tell me first, how long have you been like this?”
Lang Junxian lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then said softly,
“Almost a month.”
From the time he was locked up in the torture chamber to now, it had already been a month.
Seeing his dejection, Su Yao reached out and patted his shoulder.
“The reason you’re like this must be because one of your parents is a demon.”
“During the era of the ancient demon kings, the boundary between humans and demons wasn’t very clear. Hybrids like you were not uncommon.”
The drooping ears on top of Lang Junxian’s head quietly perked up a bit, and he looked at Su Yao with anticipation.
Su Yao smiled and continued to explain,
“Children born of human-demon unions often have astonishing talent. From birth, they can freely shift between human and demon forms.”
“But judging by your current appearance, you probably can’t fully turn back into a human form, right?”
Lang Junxian nodded, his gaze dim.
Su Yao stroked his head.
“Things now are not like the ancient times. Ever since that great war, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has been sparse, and the demon bloodlines even more diluted. The rare half-breeds that do appear are mostly locked into human form.”
“But your situation isn’t hopeless either.”
Su Yao winked at him.
Lang Junxian’s spirits lifted, and he looked at her with eyes full of expectation.
Seeing his anxious look, Su Yao stopped keeping him in suspense.
“Now that you’ve joined the Qianji Sect, you’ll begin your foundational cultivation. The Qianji Sect just happens to have a cultivation technique suited for hybrids. Once you master it, you’ll naturally be able to control your transformations.”
Knowing there was a way to solve this, Lang Junxian’s long-tormented heart finally settled a bit.
But before he could rejoice, he heard Su Yao say again: “However—”
Lang Junxian looked at her nervously.
“However, if a demon clan cultivation technique like this leaks out now, it will definitely cause an uproar. If it’s serious, it could even threaten the very existence of the Qianji Sect.”
She didn’t have to finish for a clever person like Lang Junxian to understand.
Even though he had already joined the Qianji Sect, pushing the sect with such valuable secrets into the open for the sake of one insignificant disciple would not be a wise decision.
But Lang Junxian couldn’t give up.
Su Yao hadn’t told him much detail about the origins of the Qianji Sect—many things were deliberately left out—but one thing he could be certain of: even if just one treasure from this sect leaked out, the major families would fight to the death over it.
Understanding this, his initial excitement and anticipation quickly cooled.
Lang Junxian lowered his eyes, trying hard to appear calm.
“I understand everything you’ve said, Mother. If it’s too difficult, this disciple won’t insist.”
Su Yao looked at his pitiful little expression and finally couldn’t help laughing.
“Since I’ve brought it up, of course I won’t refuse you.”
Su Yao’s face was smiling, but her eyes were firm and left no room for argument.
“If you’re truly determined to learn, then take this pill.”
Her slender, flexible hand opened slightly, revealing a brown pill in her palm.
Lang Junxian stared at it for a moment, then firmly took the pill and swallowed it without hesitation.
The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth.
Lang Junxian swallowed, feeling a faint bitterness, and stubbornly looked at Su Yao.
Su Yao reached out to push aside the hair on his forehead.
“Don’t worry. If you never betray the Qianji Sect, this pill will be no different from taking nothing at all.”
Lang Junxian didn’t care at all.
He tilted his head, meeting Su Yao’s gaze.
“Then can I start learning the cultivation technique now?”
Su Yao slowly smiled.
“Of course.”
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