Su Daoxuan let out a quiet sigh, his deep eyes resting on the pale youth before him.
"Child, do not throw your life away in pursuit of revenge. Your mother would not have wanted that."
Su Ye's fingers tightened slightly.
Promise me…you'll live on well.
Su Ru's final words surfaced in his mind, clear and unshaken, as if carved into his very soul.
"Patriarch," Su Ye said slowly, his crimson eyes steady, "my mother wished for me to live well. But if I cannot take revenge…then I will never be at peace."
Su Daoxuan studied him in silence.
"…It seems words alone will not move you," he said with a faint smile. "In that regard, you truly are your mother's son."
He turned around and faced an old tree standing at the edge of the training grounds.
Its trunk was thick and weathered, its branches stretching outward in all directions, casting a wide shadow beneath it.
With his hands behind his back, Su Daoxuan spoke again.
"Su Ye, a tree cannot live without water, just as a man cannot live on hatred alone. If all you consume is vengeance, then one day, your roots will rot, your branches will wither, and what remains…will be nothing more than an empty husk."
He paused briefly.
"Tell me, what is your dao?"
"My dao…"
Su Ye fell into thought.
His gaze drifted to the tree.
At first glance, its branches spread like countless reaching hands. But as he looked longer, they seemed less like hands…and more like paths, extending in different directions.
Each branch was a choice.
Each direction led somewhere unknown.
And at the very top was where he wanted to reach.
His gaze lowered to his palm.
The Yin Devouring Aura emerged, swirling slowly like a living shadow.
"…I've decided."
Su Daoxuan did not turn around. "Speak."
Su Ye's voice was calm.
"Since my father calls me a jinx…then I will become the greatest evil."
Silence.
The wind stirred faintly.
"…What?"
Su Daoxuan turned around abruptly, his composed expression breaking for the first time.
"Child! Don't rush to conclusions," he said, frowning. "A dao is not a title you claim out of anger. It is the path you are willing to walk for the rest of your life."
What is this child thinking? Straight to being evil?
"To become 'evil'…is that your answer, or merely your defiance?"
Su Ye met his gaze without hesitation.
"I understand what you are saying, Patriarch. But I am not choosing this out of anger."
"Then explain," Su Daoxuan said, his tone sharpening. "What is 'evil' to you?"
Su Ye paused for a moment.
"…Someone who does whatever they want."
Su Daoxuan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"And that is your dao? To act without restraint?"
Su Ye shook his head.
"No."
He lifted his hand, the Yin Devouring Aura twisting more violently.
"A greater evil…that crushes lesser evils."
Su Daoxuan remained silent, allowing him to continue.
"My dao is to stand above them all. I will use villains as my stepping stones. I will devour them…and grow stronger for my own sake."
Su Daoxuan watched him carefully.
"Then what you seek is not evil," he said calmly. "It is power."
Su Ye did not deny it.
"Yes."
"Then what separates you from those you call 'evil'?" Su Daoxuan asked immediately.
"If you walk the same path, use the same methods, and abandon the same limits…how are you different from your enemies? Greater evil? You're simply the same color with a different shape."
Su Ye's expression did not change.
"I don't need to be different."
Su Daoxuan's gaze sharpened.
"Then you admit you may become the very thing you hate?"
"Yes."
The answer came without hesitation.
For a brief moment, even Su Daoxuan was silent.
"…And if that day comes?" he asked. "If you lose yourself completely, if your so-called dao turns you into something worse than your enemies…what then? There are things in this world that are even deeper than the abyss, even darker than the night. You'll never be able to sleep or eat as you once did."
Su Ye looked at the Yin Devouring Aura in his hand.
It pulsed faintly, darker than before, with a hint of deep violet emerging within the black.
"Then I will accept it."
His voice remained calm.
"If falling into the abyss is the price…then I will walk it willingly."
Su Daoxuan stared at him for a long moment.
Then—
He laughed.
It was not mocking, but filled with a strange mixture of surprise and approval.
"So in the end…" he said, shaking his head slightly, "you seek freedom above all else. Freedom to act, to choose, and to bear the consequences."
He turned and began to walk away.
"Your dao is flawed," he said plainly. "Dangerous and self-destructive."
He paused briefly.
"But it is yours."
Without turning back, he added one final sentence.
"Just be careful that one day…you do not mistake the abyss for your destination."
Su Ye stood alone.
The Yin Devouring Aura in his palm deepened, black swallowing light as strands of violet flickered within.
His crimson eyes remained steady.
"If the abyss is what leads me forward…" he murmured quietly, "then I will walk it with a smile."