The male supporting character was actually myself.

The book says, "A teacher for a day is a father for life," so why don't I recognize you as my godfather?

"Pfft!" Jiang Chen, who was drinking tea, was so startled by her sudden turn of events that he spat out his tea, staring at her in shock. "What did you say?"

The fluffy ball of fur, which was licking its paws, was stunned. With its fur standing on end and its airplane ears bristling, it looked at its host with a terrified expression and meowed, "Host, the male lead's big fish wants to call you daddy! Who's taking advantage of whom here?"

With a serious expression, Feng Li'er repeated, her round face serious, "You've taught me so many principles; you're my teacher who guides me through life. What's wrong with me acknowledging you as my godfather?"

“I’m only twenty-six!” Jiang Chen took a breath, put down his teacup, and patiently explained, “The saying ‘a teacher for a day is a father for life’ means that you should respect and honor even a teacher who has only taught you for one day. It’s just a metaphor, not that you should call everyone you meet ‘Dad’.”

Feng Li'er: !!(o'?'o)?o????

"You're only twenty-six years old? You're so young?" Her focus had clearly shifted. She rested her chin on her hand and stared at the handsome and gentle Liu Jiangchen for a while, her eyes growing brighter and brighter. "Then I'll become your disciple!"

The book says that there is no age limit to being a teacher; the most accomplished person is the master. I'm over three hundred years old, and you're only twenty-six. It doesn't seem quite right for me to acknowledge you as my godfather. Instead, I'd like to become your disciple. If I can learn alchemy from you, I can benefit countless cultivators!

Moreover, our demon race has vast and abundant lands, teeming with all sorts of spiritual herbs. In the future, we won't have to go through so much trouble searching everywhere to refine pills. If I could truly become an alchemist, my father would be laughing in his sleep!

Jiang Chen: ...

I have a feeling that Lin Xucheng's fish is heading down a wildly erratic path, never to return.

"If you want to become my disciple and learn alchemy, first you must be sure you have the potential to be an alchemist; secondly, you must join the Free and Unfettered Sect before you can become my disciple. As a little princess of the demon race, would the Demon King agree to let you become a disciple of another sect?"

"None of these are problems!" Feng Li'er patted her chest and assured everyone, "As long as you're willing to take me as your disciple, I'll take care of the rest!"

Jiang Chen's face darkened. "Little princess, the fundamental reason why alchemists are so rare in the cultivation world today is that their physiques are so special that only one in ten thousand can be selected. Cultivation talent is determined from birth and cannot be changed."

The little white cat rolled its eyes and muttered under its breath, "What a silly goose!"

"You don't know this, do you?" Feng Li'er raised her chin with a proud expression and lowered her voice, "Our demon race has a marrow cleansing pool, and there is a secret realm deep in that pool. As long as you can withstand the scouring of the vast spiritual energy, you can completely mutate your spiritual root in the secret realm! To obtain the spiritual root needed by an alchemist is simply a matter of time and endurance."

She stretched out her fair and slender arm and patted it, "I'm a master of the Divine Transformation Realm with the Xuan Bird Body, how could I not withstand it? If I can't get it, I'll just keep trying!"

Jiang Chen: w(°ｏ°)w

As expected of the demon race, who are supposed to be rich and powerful and have been providing material resources to the male lead in the script, they actually have this kind of trump card?

It's like grinding for stats in a game, right?

That's strange, why wasn't it mentioned at all in the original storyline?

Logically speaking, male protagonists usually have all the good things, so why doesn't he go and get a better spiritual root so he can ascend to immortality sooner?

Not receiving a response, Feng Li'er was quite pleased to see that Liu Jiangchen was stunned. She crossed her arms and said with a grin, "And the most important point is—I haven't determined my own Dao yet. After I develop a new spiritual root, I can specialize in alchemy, which won't delay anything!"

"I have just advanced to the Golden Core Realm and am not very clear about the Great Dao of Longevity. Could you please enlighten me?" Jiang Chen vaguely felt that he had grasped the key point.

The original owner was single-minded and indifferent to worldly affairs, so he didn't know much about the cultivation world.

He felt that he could get more clues from the Nascent Soul Realm expert, and maybe he could control Lin Xucheng's lifeline!

“The Great Path to Immortality…” Feng Li’er tilted her head and looked him over carefully for a moment before grinning and saying, “Although you’re a little confused, your path has actually been determined: specializing in alchemy!”

Actually, I don't know much either, after all, the demon beast race is quite different from human cultivators.

My father once said that once you embark on the path of cultivation, the Great Dao is already predetermined in the unseen realm. The extraordinary encounters and states of mind that cultivators will experience are all guided by Haotian onto different paths.

However, some paths are open, and with enough luck, one can ascend to become a banished immortal;

Some roads are blocked from the very beginning.

Those with great fortune can forge new paths to ascension; those without great fortune can only exhaust their lifespan and eventually perish.

I haven't found the right path, so I've just drifted along, living freely and letting things take their course. Even after cultivating to the Nascent Soul stage, I still haven't settled down. So, it might be possible for me to change my spiritual root and specialize in the path of alchemy.

Once you've chosen and begun cultivating the path to immortality, you can't change it. Who would be so foolish as to discard everything from scratch and start all over again?

Jiang Chen immediately understood. Lin Xucheng had already determined his path to immortality after ascending from the lower realm. In addition, the script team arranged for him to have a "personal" alchemist to provide him with pills at any time, so he naturally did not need to suffer and pains to cultivate a new spiritual root to switch to the alchemy path, which has weak attack power.

But... what exactly is his path?

"Little Master, what are you thinking about?" Seeing him lost in thought, Feng Li'er hurriedly poured a cup of tea and brought it over to flatter him, saying, "As long as you agree to take me as your disciple, I'll go back to the demon clan to refresh my spiritual roots right away!"

Looking at the beautiful young woman with clear, expectant eyes, the question that had been nagging at him slipped out, "You mean... what kind of path to immortality requires constantly dating and falling madly in love, only to abandon the other person without hesitation after you've won them over?"

Feng Li'er: (⊙_⊙)?

Judging from the little master's dejected look, could it be that he was dumped by the female cultivator?

Whether or not he can become Liu Jiangchen's apprentice depends on Liu Jiangchen's change of attitude towards him. He must find a way to answer Liu Jiangchen's questions and make him feel that taking him as an apprentice is useful!

"Hmm, I'm not too sure. But I can ask my father for my master; he knows a lot!" She casually took out a huge conch shell from her storage bracelet, held it in her hands, and muttered a few words of incantation.

After a moment, Feng Li'er pressed her ear to the conch shell and listened intently before relaying her words: "My father said that there are several possibilities for the question that puzzles my little master."

The first type is the path of passion.

Those who cultivate this path to immortality constantly fall deeply in love with all sorts of mortals and cultivators, loving each other to the point of life and death, unable to part, thus replacing the many emotions that might only arise after thousands of reincarnations.

To love once is like living a lifetime. By constantly comprehending love and being loved, one eventually achieves enlightenment and glimpses the path to immortality.

The second, completely opposite approach, is to cultivate the path of ruthlessness.

The difference between being passionate and being heartless lies in the fact that being passionate is based on experiencing and understanding love; while being heartless means severing emotional ties after giving one's all, and is a path that is passionate yet heartless.

Those who cultivate this path to immortality aim to gradually refine themselves into having an iron heart, unmoved by emotions, through repeatedly severing their emotional ties, ultimately achieving the path of ruthlessness.

The third type is purely absorbing yin to supplement yang or absorbing yang to supplement yin.

This is a common practice among members of the Hehuan Sect, especially among male and female cultivators who have cultivated special techniques. It can't be said to be anything low-class, since each has their own needs. Some cultivators, after a long period of abstinence, inevitably develop inner demons and need to indulge themselves. However, finding another cultivator requires going through the proper channels and announcing it to the world. Once they become Daoist partners, it's very difficult to break free from the bond.

Therefore, many people like the demon men and women of the Hehuan Sect. They don't fall in love; they just absorb some yang and yin energy to harmonize their own cultivation techniques and improve their cultivation. Neither side has any psychological burden.

The situation described by the young master could be a demoness from the Hehuan Sect who is solely focused on cultivation; or it could be a cultivator practicing the Path of Passion and the Path of Ruthlessness.

However, regardless of which type, young master, please run as far away as possible; these three types of people are best avoided!

The fluffy ball stroked its whiskers with a look of disgust. "Meow~ According to what she said, it feels like the Joyful Union Sect is a legal red-light district in the cultivation world. It's quite suitable for Zhou Zhixue."

"Why shouldn't we mess with them?" Jiang Chen asked, pondering the question.

Feng Li'er wrinkled her round little face in disgust and said, "Not to mention the Hehuan Sect, those little vixens are insatiable! A handsome and powerful cultivator like Little Master would be a hot commodity once they get their hands on him."

The little demonesses specialize in bewitching arts, and their young master, only at the Golden Core stage, is easily led astray and corrupted.

If you keep doing this, you'll be completely drained, so unless you have an inner demon that you can't get rid of, never mess with a vixen!

The amorous cultivators are slightly better off, since they just want to experience hundreds of different kinds of love. Even if they break up, it is more gentle and acceptable. At most, they suffer some heartbreak and have to heal slowly.

Cultivators of the Ruthless Path are truly terrifying!

Such people cultivate a heart of stone and ruthlessness in order to sever emotional ties. Although they may seem to love passionately, they actually treat their partners as playthings and tools. Once they have exploited them and they are no longer of use, they will be ruthlessly abandoned.

My father said that some cultivators of the ruthless path would even go so far as to eliminate all traces of their loved ones, lest the other party become entangled and cause them to develop inner demons. Oh, and by the way, there are even more ruthless cultivators who will slaughter their closest relatives to completely sever all emotional ties!

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen's expression hardened. "Oh no, could Lin Xucheng be cultivating the Path of Ruthlessness?"

"Who is Lin Xucheng?" Feng Li'er clearly hadn't heard of this name before, and solemnly warned, "Don't take any chances. If he's not from the Hehuan Sect, according to my little master's description, he's definitely either from the Amorous Path or the Heartless Path. Stay as far away as possible!"

With a thought, he conjured a portrait of Lin Xucheng in mid-air to warn Feng Li'er, "See this guy? He falls for every woman he gets and then dumps her. He even tried to use forbidden magic to drain the life force of one of his lovers. Although our sect leader interrupted the spell, he still couldn't save her life and she was indirectly killed by Lin Xucheng."

"He's got shifty eyes, he's obviously no good!" She immediately labeled Lin Xucheng as an irredeemable villain, and said viciously, "It's a good thing he's human, if he were a member of the demon race, I would have slapped him to death!"

The fluffy dumpling leaned lazily against the couch and hummed twice, "No need to kill him, just make sure you don't get seduced by him and ruin the future of the demon race, your father will be burning incense in gratitude!"

Unable to resist Feng Li'er's persistent pleading, Jiang Chen finally decided that as long as she could develop a new spiritual root and persuade the Demon King to become a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect, he would make an exception and accept her as his apprentice.

The little demon princess, dressed in a red dress, who had come to steal the elixir, happily tore through space and left after receiving a positive reply. He stared at the updated script and fell into deep thought.

If Lin Xucheng cultivates the Path of Ruthlessness, he will need to completely sever all emotional ties once he achieves mastery of the Great Dao.

According to the script, he travels around and gets involved with many sects and ancient families. His relationships with family, friends, lovers and all kinds of grudges are very extensive. Wouldn't he have to destroy most of the cultivation world to succeed?

"I think I understand now!" He recalled for a moment, remembering that in the original plot, when the male protagonist Lin Xucheng was about to ascend to immortality and undergo tribulation, he used a punch and a kick towards the cultivation world below during his battle with the heavenly punishment. After a struggle, he successfully passed the tribulation and became an immortal.

Lin Xucheng, a peak Tribulation Transcending Realm cultivator known in the cultivation world as a Mysterious Immortal who has stepped into the Immortal realm, would unleash a full-force punch and kick that would bring an irresistible disaster to the cultivation world.

Will he really use the power of severing his emotional ties to cultivate the path of ruthlessness and achieve the position of God Emperor?

Jiang Chen suddenly stood up. "Before the script is updated, we must find out Lin Xucheng's background immediately. If he really is cultivating the Path of Ruthlessness, then we must find a way to sever his path to completely eliminate the hidden danger!"

Chapter Twelve: Preparing to Expose the Truth

The fluffy dumpling clearly didn't understand the connection. Even if Lin Xucheng didn't cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness, didn't they still have to find a way to keep him at the Free and Unfettered Sect?

But it still obediently jumped onto its host's shoulder, nuzzled his face, and showered him with compliments, "As expected of the host I chose, your actions are as fierce as a tiger. You've only been in the mission world for a few days, and you're already ready to expose the protagonist's secrets!"

"Hmm? What great path does Lin Xucheng cultivate?" Upon hearing that Liu Jiangchen had requested an audience late at night, Yan Xuzi immediately sent someone to invite him in. However, after the other party had exchanged greetings, the question he asked immediately stumped him.

After pondering for a moment, he shook his head and replied, "Lin Xucheng possesses the most top-grade Heavenly Spiritual Root, with excellent cultivation talent and super strong combat power, but after all, his cultivation time is still short. He only truly began after ascending from the lower realm, and he is currently only at the peak of the Golden Core Realm."

Although his cultivation speed is much faster than that of his peers, from the perspective of the entire cultivation process, he has only just begun.

It is common for people to remain at each realm for over a hundred years after the Golden Core realm. The path to enlightenment must be gradually established through the long river of cultivation.

As an alchemist, it goes without saying that you will naturally attain enlightenment through alchemy.

As for Lin Xucheng, who excels in combat… I can't tell yet. He probably hasn't determined the path to immortality either. Why did you suddenly ask about that?

Jiang Chen said without any hesitation, "This disciple suspects that Lin Xucheng is cultivating the Great Dao of Ruthlessness. The reason he joined the Free and Unfettered Sect is because he covets the foundation and dragon vein of one of the oldest sects in the cultivation world, hoping to take advantage of it to soar to the sky."

Yan Xuzi:…(⊙＿⊙;)…

Do you have any evidence?

"No." He answered crisply, "So this disciple wishes to obtain the sect master's permission to go to the lower realm to investigate Lin Xucheng's ascension past, and whether he cultivated the Ruthless Dao. A simple investigation will tell us."

Legend has it that once the Ruthless Path is completed, everything that has ever had a relationship with it will become ruins and be used as stepping stones. If such a powerful and ruthless entity were to emerge from a sect, even if all the ancestors came out of seclusion, they would probably find it difficult to protect the entire sect from disaster!

Yan Xuzi closed his eyes tightly and made a hand seal with his right hand, but the heavenly secrets he wanted to glimpse were all in chaos and he couldn't see anything clearly.

This situation had never occurred before, and a sense of crisis arose spontaneously.

"Even I can't deduce anything. It seems that the entire cultivation world has lost its light and future." He sighed and took out a bronze mirror and several magic treasures from his storage ring, handing them to Liu Jiangchen. "This matter involves the chosen one of destiny, and it can only be known to you and me. I'm worried that involving others will not only fail to help you but will also become a hidden danger."

Fortunately, cultivators in the lower realm can only ascend to the cultivation world after their bodies have reached a state of utmost purity. Your arrival in the lower realm is practically like being in a god-like position, so even if you specialize in alchemy and are not good at combat, you will not be in danger.

I can open a separate path to the lower realm just for you.

Do not send anyone with you this time, lest the other party be influenced by the Chosen One and then try to kill you again.

These magical items can help you make up for your lack of combat power, just in case;

This bronze mirror, if replaced with the "Return of Knowledge," can be used to see the past and future when necessary to answer your questions. Please be extremely careful on this trip; regardless of whether you can uncover Lin Xucheng's background, your own safety must be your top priority.

When you need to return to the upper realm, simply crush this teleportation orb.