I'm Feng Aotian—And I’m Running Away from My Wedding - Chapter 23

“So, what’s the deal with the scales growing on my palm?”

Halfway through eating her fish, Li Baiying seemed to recall something and actively prodded the strand of divine consciousness in her mind.

“Oh, I forgot to mention that,” the woman said with a yawn. “The scales are just the beginning. As your cultivation advances, you’ll eventually turn into a demonic beast, at the latest by the Golden Core stage.”

“What? A demonic beast?!”

“This is a demonic cultivation technique. If you want to continue practicing it, you won’t be able to maintain your human form. You must transform into a demonic beast to achieve mastery.”

“I see…” Li Baiying chewed on her grilled fish, suddenly finding it tasteless. “High-level demonic beasts can shapeshift, right? Can I turn back?”

“That’s hard to say,” the woman replied, her tone dripping with amusement. “Whether you can regain your human form or not, demonic beings are universally despised in the martial world.”

“…”

Li Baiying didn’t argue. She was not ignorant of the plight of demonic cultivators. On the contrary, many texts extensively documented their wickedness and emphasized how their inner cores were prized treasures for martial artists seeking to enhance their power.

It was no exaggeration to say that the widespread condemnation of demonic cultivators was often just a pretext for legitimizing the plunder of their cultivation.

“Young one, do you still intend to continue cultivating?”

“Yes!” she declared resolutely. “Becoming a demonic cultivator at least gives me a chance at revenge. But if I give up now, I’ll spend the rest of my life hiding, worse than a rat scurrying across the street.”

The choice before her had always been singular.

“I want to know why my family was destroyed, and I won’t let a single one of those traitors go unpunished!”

She stared at the scales on her palm, their crimson glow brighter than flames, reflecting the same unwillingness in her eyes.

The woman fell silent, and Li Baiying didn’t bring up the topic again.

After quietly finishing her fish, she stood up and began gathering the bamboo skewers scattered on the ground.

“You’ve worked hard all day. Go back and rest, I’ll handle this,” Qin Yixiao said, reaching out to take the skewers from her.

“No, I’ll do it,” Li Baiying replied, glancing at her briefly before quickly looking away and bending down to clean up.

If not for the ancestor’s jest, she wouldn’t feel so awkward around her.

Wait, there’s nothing between us. Why should I feel awkward?

Li Baiying quickly straightened out her thoughts and subtly glanced at the girl beside her, who was staring at the boundless pond, lost in thought.

“Any news about your mother?” she asked, recalling the rumors about her.

The girl shook her head and whispered, “I don’t know.”

“Back then, to solve my inability to cultivate, she went alone to the Divine Wind Pavilion. After that, there was no news, she vanished for over a decade. I suspect she’s trapped there, unable to escape.”

She didn’t voice the worse possibility.

“The Divine Wind Pavilion,” Li Baiying mused, her thoughts drifting to the records she’d read. “It’s a remarkable place but extremely dangerous, often frequented by demonic cultivators who harbor deep hostility toward martial artists. Once I master the demonic cultivation techniques, we can disguise ourselves and go investigate.”

“Demonic cultivation?” Qin Yixiao frowned, looking at her in surprise. “You’re going to abandon your martial arts and turn to heretical paths?”

“This is not heretical!”

Li Baiying’s expression darkened as she retorted, “Any path that grants me strength is a righteous one.”

“…Your dantian is your own. I won’t try to persuade you further. It’s not too late to turn back, everything is still ahead of you, and there are other choices.”

“What other choices? You know my situation as well as I do. Conventional cultivation methods are useless to me!”

Muttering in frustration, Li Baiying looked up and noticed the young woman had already walked away.

“Little one, your young companion isn’t wrong. Deciding to abandon martial arts to cultivate as a demon, you truly ought to reconsider carefully.”

A woman’s voice echoed in her mind, unusually devoid of its usual teasing tone.

“Ancestor, I’ve already made up my mind.”

Li Baiying’s answer remained unchanged. She couldn’t quite pinpoint the source of her stubborn anger, it felt like an argument cut short, leaving her fuming alone where she stood.

“Heh, in my day, I was no less determined than you are now. In fact, my obsession with power surpassed even yours.”

The woman sighed deeply, her voice growing distant. “Back then, I was the Grand Elder of my sect, at the peak of the Refining Void stage, just one step away from achieving Unity and ascending to the immortal realm. I wielded immense authority, my abode was filled with treasures, my six disciples were all outstanding talents, and crowds would see me off whenever I traveled, I lived in boundless glory.”

“But I knew that if I failed to break through, when my lifespan ran out, I would become a pile of bones, discarded in the mass graves alongside those who never set foot on the martial path.”

“So, I began journeying across the lands, searching for a way to advance further. Divine pills, forbidden realms, masters from beyond the seas, I tried every path I could conceive. Sadly, none could shake the bottleneck holding me back.”

“In utter despair, I arrived at the Eastern Sea and witnessed the Kunpeng’s heavenly tribulation. It was at that moment I truly encountered demonic cultivation and began contemplating a new path of practice…”

Li Baiying listened, captivated, and couldn’t help but ask, “What happened next? Did you switch to demonic cultivation?”

“No, it wasn’t that simple.”

The woman sighed again. “For a martial artist, learning an entirely new school requires discarding all previous cultivation. In other words, if I wanted to specialize in demonic arts, I would have to abandon everything I had learned over the past two centuries.”

“Of course, after decades of inner conflict, I resolutely threw myself into demonic cultivation. Because I sought immortality, I needed power, I couldn’t bear the thought of ending in mediocrity.”

Listening quietly, Li Baiying nodded in understanding. She fully grasped the elder’s ambition. Were she in the same position, she would likely stake everything for even the slimmest hope.

“But I never expected that, after changing my cultivation method, the greatest obstacle wouldn’t be starting from scratch, but the fact that my identity as a demonic cultivator made me an outcast in the eyes of the world.”

The woman’s tone shifted, laced with a sharp, murderous intent.

“Just when I had finally broken through to the Unity stage as a demonic cultivator, instead of receiving congratulations, I was met with ten warrants for my arrest issued by my own sect.”

“The first to accept the mission was my head disciple, we had shared a master-disciple bond for over two hundred years. Who could have imagined she would go straight to my residence, exploit my trust in her, use her token to bypass the restrictions, and attempt to join others in taking my head?”

“Not just her alone, the other five disciples also came at the rumor, attempting to trap me using the formation techniques I once taught them. The outcome was evident: all these traitors were slain by me, including even the five elders of the sect.”

She gave a cold laugh. “But the troubles that came with turning into a demonic cultivator had only just begun.”