If it were before, Cang Yan might have tried to persuade Xuehe.
Now, she wouldn't.
She knew Xuehe was stubborn and obstinate by nature, the type who wouldn't turn back until he hit a wall. Moreover, Xuehe's aversion to Karma and Fate was innate, and later experiences had only intensified his disgust to the extreme.
There was another point: Cang Yan felt that although Xuehe's view on Karma and Fate differed from hers, it couldn't be said who was right or wrong.
Cang Yan believed that it was the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and all living beings themselves who governed Karma and Fate.
Xuehe believed that it was Karma and Fate that governed the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and all living beings.
Cang Yan thought that one reaped what one sowed: good causes brought good results, evil causes brought evil results. The heavenly principles cycled, and Karma brought retribution. Sow many good causes, reap many good results, and Fate would naturally be smooth sailing. If one sowed too many evil causes and reaped only evil results, Fate would surely be fraught with hardship.
Xuehe, however, felt that living beings should not be bound by Karma. Who decreed that sowing a certain cause must yield a certain result? Who decreed that sowing good causes must yield good results, and sowing evil causes must yield evil results? I want to sow whatever cause I please and reap whatever result I please. Can't I sow a good cause and reap an evil result?
Can't I sow an evil cause and reap a good result?
Why must we follow so-called Karma? Why does so-called Karma determine so-called Fate?
In truth,
Cang Yan knew that what Xuehe wanted wasn't to sow evil and reap good, but rather not to have his life bound by Karma.
What he sought was freedom!
But if all living beings were not bound by Karma, what chaos would ensue? Good people would receive no reward, evil people would receive no punishment, morality would be meaningless, beings would know no fear, and reincarnation would cease to be a sin.
In the final analysis, one sentence summed it up.
Cang Yan believed that all living beings should be responsible for their own actions. Cultivation was about cultivating the heart and walking the path. One should follow Karma, for Karma was the Dao. To revere Karma was to follow the Great Dao.
Xuehe was different.
He was a Demon.
Demons sought to act as they pleased. Xuehe sought freedom and ease, unbound by any laws of the Great Dao, let alone the Great Dao itself.
If what Cang Yan sought was the Dao, then what Xuehe sought was the absence of Dao.
This had always been the case.
It had never changed.
Thinking of this, Cang Yan, leaning against the Azure Dragon pillar while sitting on a stone stool, found the smile on her peerlessly beautiful face gradually fading, replaced by a trace of melancholy. She raised her cup to drink. After a long while, she finally spoke: "You...
Do you regret it?"
After Xuehe's single thought turned him to Demonic cultivation back then, he had wholeheartedly sought the absence of Dao, aiming to slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos and usher in the legendary Wu Dao Age, so that all beings would never again be bound by so-called Karma, so-called Fate, or the so-called Three Thousand Great Daos.
But he had never tainted himself with Original Sin. From the Primordial Era until the present Ancient Era, he had not.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, couldn't, or didn't dare. It was because Cang Yan had said she didn't wish for him to taint himself with Original Sin in pursuit of the absence of Dao.
Cang Yan had said this, and Xuehe had always acted accordingly.
He had never tainted himself with Original Sin, not even a trace or a hint, whether in his true body or his incarnations.
Facing Cang Yan's question, Xuehe shook his head. "I don't regret it. Since I promised you back then, I keep my word. I didn't before, I don't now, and I won't in the future. As long as my consciousness remains, I will never taint myself with Original Sin."
Hearing Xuehe's answer, Cang Yan smiled, a very happy smile. Gazing at Xuehe, she asked, "Truly no regrets?"
Xuehe met her eyes firmly. "No regrets."
"Since you have no regrets, then why did you have the Skeleton Old Demon deliver that item to You Di in an Ancient Ruin?"
Without waiting for Xuehe's response, Cang Yan continued, "Ever since You Di entered the Primordial Black Hole, he has been closely watched by many existences across the heavens and the earth. Everyone wants to erase him, but because his existence is unfathomably deep, no one is confident enough, hence they have all been hesitating."
"By having the Skeleton Old Demon deliver that item to You Di, if my guess is correct, you wanted to take this opportunity to tell everyone that you support You Di. Whoever wants to erase You Di is making an enemy of you, right?"
Raising her cup to drink again, Cang Yan looked at Xuehe with a smiling expression and asked, "You hope for You Di to ascend as the True Lord of Original Sin, slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos, and usher in the Wu Dao Age, right?"
Cang Yan was indeed Cang Yan, truly understanding Xuehe inside and out.
She was not wrong. The facts were indeed as she said.
Back then, Xuehe had ordered the Skeleton Old Demon to give Gu Qingfeng a black jade statue precisely to make all the Great Dao experts across the heavens and earth who were watching Gu Qingfeng understand his stance: he supported You Di's ascension as the True Lord of Original Sin. Whoever wanted to erase You Di would have to get past Demon Emperor Xuehe first.
Facing Cang Yan's questioning,
Xuehe neither concealed nor refuted it. He directly nodded in admission. "I only promised you not to taint myself with Original Sin and not to pursue the absence of Dao. I never promised to prevent others from ascending as the True Lord of Original Sin, slaughtering the Three Thousand Great Daos, and pursuing the absence of Dao!"
"Hehe."
Cang Yan wasn't angry. Not only was she not angry, she even seemed quite pleased. "My dear husband, I always thought you were forthright and aboveboard. I never expected you to occasionally play such little tricks. Tell me honestly, were you deliberately trying to hide it from me?
Or did you think such a little trick could escape my notice?"
Demon Emperor Xuehe's stern face showed a slight strangeness. His originally firm gaze seemed somewhat evasive, looking rather awkward.
Indeed.
Given his nature, if he wanted all existences across the heavens and earth to understand his stance, he would have appeared himself at the time, not the Skeleton Old Demon.
Just as Cang Yan said, Xuehe was always forthright and aboveboard, never hiding or concealing things. If he wanted to support You Di's ascension as the True Lord of Original Sin, he would support him openly and aboveboard, making his stance clear to all existences across the heavens and earth.
The reason he didn't appear personally later, instead having the Skeleton Old Demon act in his stead and expressing his stance in a relatively roundabout way, was indeed because he wanted to hide it from Cang Yan. He didn't want Cang Yan to know that he hoped for You Di to ascend as the True Lord of Original Sin and usher in the Wu Dao Age.
In all the world, only Cang Yan could make a generation's Demon Path overlord like Xuehe act so cautiously and carefully, engaging in petty schemes he normally disdained and playing little tricks he normally scorned.
The reason was none other than this:
He adored Cang Yan, unto death and beyond.
Cang Yan sighed helplessly. "My dear husband, you shouldn't have done this. You really shouldn't have..." "If you don't like it, I can stop. I can give it up."
For Cang Yan, Xuehe would do anything.
Yes.
Anything.
Back then, for the sake of the Blood River, a single thought turned him Demonic. He slaughtered until the Great Wilderness ran red with rivers of blood, daring to oppose the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and all living beings.
Now.
For Cang Yan, he would do the same.
If Cang Yan asked him to protect the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, he would protect it.
If Cang Yan asked him to erase all existences plotting for the True Lord of Original Sin, he would do so.
If Cang Yan did not wish for the Wu Dao Age to dawn, he would spare no effort to prevent its arrival.
Ushering in the Wu Dao Age was his dream.
But if he had to choose between his dream and Cang Yan, he would choose Cang Yan without the slightest hesitation.
This was Xuehe.
"No!
No!
No!"
Cang Yan said 'no' three times in succession, explaining, "That's not what I meant. That you could promise me back then not to taint yourself with Original Sin was already enough to satisfy me. I won't interfere with your other matters. Moreover, I've told you before, I neither wish to protect the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, nor do I seek the Wu Dao Age. At least, not now."
"Besides, you are my husband, and I am your wife. Isn't there a saying in the mortal world: 'Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog.' Since I am your wife, I naturally stand with you. If you don't wish to protect the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, then we won't protect it. If you wish to pursue the Wu Dao Age, then we will pursue it."
"My only request of you is that I don't want you to taint yourself with Original Sin, that's all. As for whether you wish to protect the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth or pursue the Wu Dao Age, it's all up to you. What you desire in your heart is what I desire in mine."
Opposite her,
Demon Emperor Xuehe seemed somewhat confused by Cang Yan's words. He asked, "If that's the case, then why did you say just now that I shouldn't have done this?"
"You can support whoever you want to ascend as the True Lord of Original Sin. As long as you're willing, I will also do my utmost to help you."
Cang Yan spoke with some worry. "But why did you have to pick that fellow, You Di, of all people?"
"Do you understand that fellow?"
"Do you know what kind of person that fellow is?"
"Do you know what kind of existence that fellow is?"
Cang Yan pressed on with questions. "As far as I know, you haven't even met You Di in person yet, have you?"
No sooner had she finished speaking than Cang Yan felt something was off.
She understood Xuehe.
She knew deeply that although Xuehe's nature was aloof, indifferent, straightforward, and self-willed, he was never a rash or impulsive person. On the contrary, he was someone rough on the outside but meticulous and extremely detailed on the inside.
Others might not know this, but Cang Yan did.
In her estimation, if Xuehe didn't understand You Di, he absolutely would not casually and publicly declare his stance supporting You Di's ascension as the True Lord of Original Sin before all the Great Dao experts across the heavens and earth.
If Xuehe dared to do this, he must have some understanding of You Di.
Moreover,
this understanding wasn't superficial, nor was it hearsay. He must have personally interacted with You Di, making detailed assessments of You Di's cultivation achievements, identity background, even his mental state, temperament, character, and disposition.
Otherwise, Xuehe would absolutely not publicly support You Di.
"Have you met You Di in person?"
Xuehe shook his head in response. "I have not met You Di in person. To be precise, he probably hasn't seen me, but I have been secretly watching him."
As Xuehe's voice fell, Cang Yan froze in place, her eyes wide as she stared at Xuehe, looking utterly astonished, as if she suddenly found Xuehe very unfamiliar. She even doubted if she had misheard. She asked again, "What did you say?
You've been secretly watching You Di?"
Perhaps feeling that secretly watching someone was somewhat dishonorable, especially seeing Cang Yan's astonished expression, made Xuehe feel even more awkward. But he still steeled himself and nodded.
Sure enough.
Cang Yan immediately stood up, staring at Xuehe with an incredulous look.
Xuehe was already quite embarrassed. Being stared at like this by Cang Yan made him feel even more mortified.
"My dear husband, you truly are my dear husband. From time to time, you always do one or two things that surprise your wife. I always thought I understood you quite well, even better than you understand yourself. But only today have I realized that my understanding of you was merely what I thought I understood. In truth, I don't understand you at all."