Inner Demons

Li Yunxin was unaware of what had happened before—Kunwuzi had pursued Yazi to this point.

However, we can already deduce the meaning of the phrase "returning to the Mysterious Realm." Ya Zi was injured in Tongtianze, and fearing the Daoist lineage would take advantage of his weakened state, he and Emperor Li fled separately. They must have encountered Kunwuzi again on their journey, and thus were pursued all the way here by this sect leader of Langya Cave Heaven.

Previously, he should have only been at the peak of the True Realm, but after absorbing a portion of the resentment of the million Yin soldiers he had today, he returned to the Profound Realm.

What he deduced was indeed the truth.

Now, this Kunwuzi was a true immortal who had attained enlightenment over a hundred years and had witnessed countless bloodshed. He was initially surprised to see Yazi, but quickly regained his composure.

He laughed heartily and performed a Daoist salute: "Lord Tongtian, what are you saying? I was merely idly frolicking with you. Now that you have returned to the Mysterious Realm and we are brothers again, I need not trouble you further. So be it—"

"You dare?" Ya Zi sneered.

Li Yunxin knew that Ya Zi had a bad reputation; people said he was cruel and tyrannical. But now that she saw him, she felt that at least "in appearance," he was not the Ya Zi that people thought he was.

His face was strikingly handsome—making Li Yunxin want to joke something like, "With those thick eyebrows and big eyes, you can be cruel and tyrannical." Even with his current "cold smile," he still looked...

Righteous and awe-inspiring.

At least on the surface, his "wicked charm" is completely different from that of the Ninth Prince.

The righteous and awe-inspiring Tongtian Jun sneered and said, "You think you can leave today? Not so easy. Although I am a magnanimous person, I don't forgive just anyone. You ambushed me once in Ye Kingdom and then chased me all the way to Qing Kingdom. If I let you go, how will I deter the demons of the world?"

"But before you die, you have a quarter of an hour to tell me—what are you trying to pin on me?"

Kunwu Zi smiled calmly and flicked his sleeve. Instantly, he was enveloped in a hazy golden light, and a faint, illusory image of a Bagua (Eight Trigrams) appeared behind his head. Within the Bagua, the black and white fish swirled endlessly, and in an instant, all the energy and spiritual power within ten steps of him were dispelled—turning into nothingness.

Li Yunxin had never witnessed a Xuanjing Daoist's serious fighting style before, so she didn't know the power of this attack. However, she wisely flew back more than two zhang away, determined not to participate in today's fight if possible.

After performing the ritual, Kunwuzi said, "Well, that's the matter."

He thought for a moment, then looked at Li Yunxin and said in a deep voice, "Your ninth brother may not be your biological ninth brother. His real name is Li Yunxin, and he is a person. He plotted to kill your biological ninth brother and took over his body—I must remind Tongtianjun to be careful that you may also be taken over by him. The body of a Xuanjing Great Demon is a good thing."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Li Yunxin and Tongtianjun's reactions.

There was no reaction at all.

The two people were still staring at him... as if waiting for him to speak.

Kunwuzi felt an even greater chill run down his spine. It was as if an invisible, enormous shadow was pressing down on him from behind, making this Xuanjing Daoist feel uneasy.

What kind of power could possibly... achieve this?

Thinking of this, he was too lazy to say anything more to Tongtian Jun. With a flash, he was about to escape into the air.

Then they heard Tongtianjun shout angrily: "You think you can just leave without saying a word? Do you really think you can get away?!"

As he spoke, Kunwuzi had already appeared a hundred meters in the air. But Longzi was clearly faster. A bright yellow figure flashed on the ground, blocking Kunwuzi's path and striking down with a palm!

This cultivator didn't want to get entangled in a fight with him, much less engage in hand-to-hand combat. A battle between cultivators at the Profound Realm level—unless he was currently at the peak of the Profound Realm—would be far more protracted than simply "endless."

Even a True Realm cultivator's body is strong and their soul is difficult to destroy, let alone a Profound Realm cultivator!

His figure vanished into thin air instantly, reappearing a hundred meters away in the blink of an eye. However, the dragon son Yazi was ultimately faster than him—once again transforming into a streak of light to block his path, and unleashing another palm strike!

In less than a breath, in the blink of an eye, the sky was shrouded in a misty haze—like a dome made of white silk threads. It was a cloud cover woven from the cone-shaped mist generated by the dragon's high-speed movement and breaking the sound barrier.

In such a short time, Kunwuzi had been stopped by Yazi dozens of times!

Even the most patient person would find this unbearable—Kunwuzi, after finally exchanging a fierce blow with the dragon prince and leaping back to the ground, became enraged: "Can you hold me back?! Even if I were to fight you for three days and three nights right now, so what? Do you still consider yourself a peak Xuan Realm cultivator?!"

Ya Zi stood majestically in mid-air, sneering again: "I can't stop you by myself, but I have helpers—the two of us can stop you!"

Kunwuzi glanced at Li Yunxin: "Him? Hmph—a mere True Realm cultivator, he'd be pulverized if he even brushed past the edge!"

Ya Zi laughed heartily. He turned and landed beside Li Yunxin, then reached into his sleeve and pulled out a fang-like dagger. He then used the dagger to draw a circle around Li Yunxin's feet.

"Ninth Brother, don't panic or be afraid," Li Yunxin, his second brother with thick eyebrows and big eyes, said in a deep voice. "Just stand in this circle, and we can protect you from being hurt. Watch how your second brother kills this stinking Taoist priest who's making things difficult for us brothers, and then we can have a good chat about our brotherhood!"

Li Yunxin felt a little uneasy.

He felt his unease stemmed from a misjudgment of Ya Zi—he seemed, at least for now, completely different from what he had imagined. But… if he were a human, he might believe it. But he was a demon—could a demon possess such a nature?!

He had been trying to observe Ya Zi's subtle expressions from beginning to end. Although the information and details he had obtained were not yet sufficient, if he were to draw a conclusion at this moment, it would be one that even he himself would find hard to believe—this second son of the dragon, Ya Zi, was indeed that kind of person.

Generous, enthusiastic, and unpretentious.

...And what kind of demon is this?

Li Yunxin took a deep breath and smiled: "Okay."

He spoke in a flippant tone, his voice rising in cadence: "After Second Brother kills this stinky Taoist priest, Ninth Brother will tell Second Brother some more interesting things."

The two of them talked, leaving Kunwuzi standing to the side. The Xuanjing Daoist sneered, "Protect him? You beast, you have no idea how deep and terrifying this brat's cunning is. If I were you, I would have killed him with a single palm strike right now—otherwise, you'll regret it one day!"

Ya Zi ignored him, walked a dozen steps to the left, stepping over the mess on the ground to reach the edge of Dongting Lake, before turning to look at Kun Wuzi: "You stinking Taoist, you should have already seen the helper I'm looking for. I'm currently at the Xi Yi Xuan Miao realm, so naturally I can't kill you. But, with another Xuan realm helper... things will be different."

"This old fellow in the lake reached the Mysterious Realm of the Rare and Profound a thousand years ago. Now... I wonder what level he has reached. But it is said that he enjoys consuming the essence and yang energy of people. After a thousand years of accumulation... he is probably not much inferior to you. He is my other helper."

"Don't you know that Lord Dongting has been imprisoned in Dongting Lake for two thousand years, unable to venture even a foot outside the lake?" Kunwuzi stared at him with a gloomy expression. "How can you expect him to help you? Even if you could get him out—I doubt that old man would want to get involved. To be an enemy of me is to be an enemy of the Daoist tradition. Do you know what killing me at this time would mean?!"

Ya Zi stopped laughing. He stared at Kun Wuzi for a while, then shook his head. His expression was a mixture of mockery and pity: "Everyone says that human cultivators are always smarter than demons, but I think they're nothing special."

"You know that Lord Dongting is imprisoned in this lake, and he knows he is imprisoned—the whole world knows this. But for so long... two thousand years, why hasn't anyone thought about why he was imprisoned? You little brat, your lifespan is short, only a few hundred years. Those two old fellows on your mountain, on the other hand, have long lifespans, thousands of years—they should know the truth, but they don't tell you."

"Since they won't tell you, you won't think about it or ask. Hey, humans, they're just such muddle-headed little things. Dull-witted and confused! It's become the norm!" Ya Zi paused, then pointed to Dongting Lake. "Today, however, I'm going to tell you... why this old thing is trapped here!"

As soon as he said this, Li Yunxin and Kunwuzi were both taken aback.

—Did Yazi actually know this secret?!

However, the Taoist priests of the Mystic Realm knew that what Long Erzi said was indeed true. The fact that a powerful demon from the Mystic Realm had been imprisoned sounded utterly unbelievable. But it was precisely because this had been going on for so long that the short-lived humans quickly stopped being surprised by it.

When cultivators study the Dao, they always learn about the great demons and monsters of the world. They are often told by senior cultivators about the cultivation level and nature of certain demons. For a novice cultivator, every demon is extraordinary—

Demons are not human, and it's common for them to have strange temperaments. The fact that the Lord of Dongting is imprisoned is certainly a "strange thing"—but isn't it also strange that the Golden-Winged Roc's nest has never been found?

And so it became "common sense".

"Imprisoned"—this is the label of Lord Dongting, almost becoming a part of him.

Some people were curious and asked why the Lord of Dongting was imprisoned. But these ancient secrets were known to the two sages, yet they remained silent, and some even claimed to be able to find the truth.

No one was curious anymore.

Until this moment.

Kunwuzi was taken aback for a moment before saying in a deep voice, "You're talking nonsense."

"Hmph." Ya Zi chuckled and snorted, turning to face the vast Dongting Lake that had just been turned upside down. His voice was like muffled thunder, "Lord Dongting, today is your day! If you want to leave this place—come out and see me at once!"

Li Yunxin and Kunwuzi had called for him before, but he hadn't come for a long time.

But today, when Ya Zi called out to him—

Suddenly, a tall column of water shot out from the lake—and the Lord of Dongting, dressed in red, appeared atop it in the blink of an eye. He glanced down and spotted Yazi. Then, he plunged forward, carrying a cloud of mist, and rushed to within ten feet of Yazi, exclaiming, "You really mean it?!"

Li Yunxin and Kunwuzi were truly stunned at this moment.

Ya Zi... seems to be telling the truth.

It seems that Lord Dongting and he had made a prior agreement!

Ya Zi smiled and turned to look at Kun Wu Zi: "Of course it's true. It's also a coincidence that you've suffered enough today. It's even more coincidental—when I came to release you from this sea of suffering, this stinky Taoist stopped me. Otherwise, you would have been freed much sooner. But since it's such a coincidence—you'd better help me kill this stinky Taoist."

Kunwuzi already knew that Yazi's words earlier were not empty boasts. He had no time to ponder why Yazi could free the Lord of Dongting; instead, he clearly understood that once the Lord of Dongting was freed, he would truly be aiding the demon…

I would be in real danger.

Therefore, he said in a deep voice: "Emperor Li has committed heinous crimes in the Li Kingdom. My lineage has not yet held the demons accountable for that matter. The reason I have been chasing you all the way is because of that matter—a new Xuan Realm demon has appeared in the world, but my lineage has lost five True Persons. Therefore, my lineage needs an explanation and also needs to find a balance."

He glanced at Ya Zi, then at Li Yunxin: "Today, the world has gained another demon of the True Realm—right here in Weicheng. The Daoist lineage and the Sword Sect are unaware of this. However, once they find out, there will inevitably be another uproar."

"Fortunately, I have already spoken with your ninth brother and promised him some things. I will return to the Daoist lineage and think of some ways to resolve this matter. There may still be room for maneuver."

“However, if I were to perish here today… I would lose another True Realm cultivator and another Profound Realm cultivator today.” Kunwuzi looked earnestly at Yazi. “The Daoist lineage, the Sword Sect, and the demons would then have no possibility of peaceful coexistence. That would be a catastrophe—a catastrophe like the one that wiped out the Painting Demon a thousand years ago, or even worse!”

"You've thought this through. To kill me today would be to declare war on the Daoist tradition and the Sword Sect—a total war that will continue until one side is utterly destroyed! Do you demons deserve our full force?!"

After saying this, he looked coldly at the three people opposite him.

There was a moment of silence.

Ya Zi turned to look at Dongting Jun, then at Li Yunxin, and laughed: "This stinky Taoist priest is scared."

"But I'm not afraid," the dragon prince sneered. "War? That's exactly what I want! Lord Dongting, will you help me or not?!"

But the expected decisive and swift response did not come.

Lord Dongting stroked his beard—it seemed that Kunwuzi's words had calmed him down a bit.

"These things..." the three-thousand-year-old demon of the Mystic Realm said slowly, "If we kill him and the Daoist lineage invades—my cave, well, it's still in Dongting after all. If Tongtianjun escapes then... I'll be in a difficult situation."

Kunwuzi smiled: "Indeed. Lord Dongting's thinking is mature—not just based on impulse. Even if you escape, what's the point if you lose your life?"

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