Inner Demons

In the previous fifteen minutes, four people living in the secular world saw the most bizarre sight of their lives.

From a distance and a rough look earlier, they only saw the Taoist priests setting up a formation. But as they cautiously walked through it, they noticed more things.

On each stone mirror, there was a "person." Of course, they looked like people.

Ying Jueran saw one with a human body and a fish tail. He saw one with a dog's head and a human body. There were also those whose entire bodies were human but had either forked tongues or scales. The only one that looked normal had a body that seemed to be made of water. If one was not careful, it would turn into a puddle of liquid and try to flow away. However, the guarding Taoist priest silently stomped his foot hard on the ground. A ripple, like a stone being thrown, spread through the liquid. It then quickly turned back into a person, with an expression of extreme pain on its face.

The four people realized in overwhelming astonishment that these were likely demons.

What shocked them was not limited to this. These demons seemed to be the "raw materials" for forming the array.

The progress of the magic array on some stone mirrors was faster, and the demon had already been dismembered. Ying Jueran had traveled the martial world for many years and had seen many scenes of cruelty and gore. He had personally witnessed someone carving and roasting meat from an enemy's body with a knife while the enemy was alive and screaming faintly.

But that experience was only once—and the one carving the meat was surrounded by powerful enemies, doing so only to intimidate others. In all the things he had experienced, people harmed and killed their own kind almost always for other purposes.

However, what they saw now was how the Taoist priests treated the demons, as if they were tools completely devoid of life. They dismembered a demon and used certain parts of the body to draw the magic array. Or, if they needed some demon blood, they calmly and steadily used instruments to draw the blood from its body. Their attitude was peaceful and serious, completely disregarding the demons' screams and struggles.

Yu Meng and the two girls might only find it "cruel." But in the eyes of Ying Jueran, who had seen more than them, this kind of cruelty was even more chilling.

But demons were demons after all, and they all knew they were not of the same kind. Thus, they walked on cautiously, and nothing happened. The four were confused as to why the Taoist priests paid no attention to them. This was because they did not know that, in the eyes of these Taoist priests, the difference between them and the demons, the birds in the sky, and the beasts on the ground... was not very great.

It was then that Ying Jueran saw Qiao Jiaxin next to a stone mirror.

That stone mirror was right next to a patch of forest. Actually, a corner extended into the forest—originally, a few trees grew at the edge of the stone mirror. One of them could still be seen now—half of it was still growing well, while the other half had smoothly disappeared, revealing the cross-section of the tree trunk.

The Taoist priests also ignored the half-tree, acting as if they were uninterested in everything except writing the formation.

The progress of this stone mirror seemed relatively slow. They could completely leave the area where the Taoist priests were by entering the forest from here. So they slightly slowed their pace and saw a girl standing at the edge of the stone mirror, with two Taoist priests talking in low voices a dozen steps away from her.

Ying Jueran was slightly stunned when he saw the girl and almost stopped. Yu Meng, Wusu, and Lili looked at him. He slightly frowned and walked straight into the forest.

After walking another dozen steps, the trees blocked their figures. The four then jogged quickly into the depths of the jungle.

They stopped and took a breath only after the dense canopy blocked out the sunlight from the sky.

"Wait for them here," Ying Jueran said. He frowned as he spoke, seeming preoccupied.

"They" referred to his dozens of followers. They had split up in the city to avoid drawing attention after leaving the city. It now seemed that this decision was correct.

Yu Meng saw his concern but said nothing. He found a thick tree trunk lying on the ground, its surface covered with mushrooms and moss, and sat down, untying the water skin from his waist. He offered it to Wusu and Lili. The young sisters insisted that the young master drink first. They then stood guard in front of and behind Yu Meng. Yu Meng slowly took a sip.

After listening to the birdsong and feeling the wind in the dense forest for a while, people slowly arrived. After another two quarters of an hour, almost all of Ying Jueran's men had gathered. Checking the count, three were missing. They said that they had been ambushed by another group who couldn't resist testing them while they were covering the rear. One died instantly, and one was seriously injured. The last person stayed in the city with the severely injured one and would leave in a few days.

Yu Meng watched Ying Jueran talk to his men for a while, then saw him separate from the crowd and walk towards their three master and servants.

"The three of you leave first." Ying Jueran's expression looked like he had made a difficult decision. "If you need manpower, I can spare three people for you. No more. I need people to do things."

Wusu and Lili exchanged glances. Yu Meng, however, was not surprised.

"We can't leave first at a time like this," Yu Meng said. "Tell us about Great Hero Ying's business. We might be able to help."

Ying Jueran nodded: "Good. Dragon Head Yu, thank you for your righteousness—I need to rescue someone."

"Did Dragon Head Yu see a girl when we passed the stone slab just now?"

"You mean the one guarded by two Taoist priests?"

"Yes," Ying Jueran said. "I recognize that child. Her surname is Qiao, and her given name is Jiaxin. Her father is called Qiao Duanhong—"

"Oh... the Qiao Family's Hongfu Escort Agency," Yu Meng said. "I remember. When I escorted Li Yunxin back to the city, Qiao Duanhong was also there, and now that I think about it, that girl was there too. Is Great Hero Ying familiar with her?"

Ying Jueran sighed slightly: "I know Qiao Duanhong. He's a good hand near Weicheng. The Qiao Family's escort agency was robbed by the Six Ghosts of the River... and those Six Ghosts of the River were the ones I drove away from near Weicheng. Their encounter with that incident is somewhat related to me. Furthermore, Meng'e, an old servant from the Qiao Family's manor, is now the Second-in-Command at my fort. He asked me that if I ever saw his young mistress, he hoped I could lend a hand."

"And... Li Yunxin seems to have deep ties with the Qiao Family. With all these things winding together, I have to give it a try."

Yu Meng was silent for a moment before saying: "Great Hero Ying, have you thought this through? That Qiao Jiaxin, appearing here at this time—you know those things we saw earlier..."

"She might also be a demon," Ying Jueran interrupted him. "But Li Yunxin is also a demon. And the martial path I cultivate emphasizes moving forward without reservation and having an open heart. If I see her today and don't save her, my thoughts will inevitably be troubled. When my cultivation reaches a critical point in the future, it might lead to problems. This is a potential flaw, and I don't want it."

"...Then... if you can't rescue her today? Will Great Hero Ying still risk his life?"

Ying Jueran smiled faintly: "If the situation is impossible—then take a different approach; it is still moving forward without reservation and having an open heart."

Yu Meng thought about it: "Is Great Hero Ying saying... if you can't save her, you'll give up?"

"Ahem... you could say that."

Yu Meng chuckled softly for the second time that day: "The martial path of Great Hero Ying is truly profound."

...

...

Ying Jueran had heard the two Taoist priests talking earlier.

Although there were only fragments of sentences, and he didn't know what many of the words they spoke meant, he could generally understand the context—it seemed they had to wait until the array right outside the city wall was set up before dealing with things here. And these arrays seemed to be prepared for a great demon in Dongting Lake.

Among everyone in this forest, only Ying Jueran had experience fighting cultivators. But that couldn't really be called a fight; it was one-sided crushing. Nevertheless, he was a well-traveled martial world expert who knew that once a fight broke out, many factors could determine the outcome.

He didn't know the identities of the two Taoist priests before, so he underestimated them. But now, he had dozens of experts with him, could prepare in advance, and was only there to rescue someone, so it was indeed worth a try.

They dared not delay too long, fearing that the Taoist priests would also dismember Qiao Jiaxin. But they also dared not be too hasty—Ying Jueran had experienced the Taoist priests' methods, and based on Li Yunxin's performance then, those were only two low-level Taoist priests, the equivalent of the likes of the Eight Tigers of the Wei River in the martial world.

Therefore, they spent an hour planning two or three strategies.

Ying Jueran walked out of the forest again.

The two Taoist priests on the stone mirror were still talking. But they seemed to have a disagreement, and their tone was quite heated. Ying Jueran slowly walked to the edge of the stone mirror and stared straight at them. One of the Taoist priests with a long, five-strand beard glanced at him but didn't pay him any mind.

Ying Jueran saw Qiao Jiaxin.

The girl seemed to be bound by an iron chain, standing still and unable to move. She wore a white inner garment, and her hair was loose. She pursed her lips and said nothing, her large eyes looking left and right, appearing panicked and confused.

Ying Jueran walked to a position two or three steps away from her and whispered: "Miss Qiao. I am an old friend of your father and a friend of Li Yunxin. I was entrusted by someone to come and rescue you. I have set an ambush in the forest. As long as we can rush in, there's a seventy percent chance of escaping. If you can speak, tell me how to unlock this iron chain on you."

However, Qiao Jiaxin did not speak. Her eyes kept moving around him, like a small child.

But the distant Taoist priests noticed him. They hadn't cared before, seemingly because, in their eyes, these mortals couldn't interfere with them at all. As long as they didn't block their paper or path, they wouldn't be distracted enough to stand up and brush them away. But now, this mortal was talking to their "material," and the matter was different.

The Taoist priest with the long, five-strand beard slightly frowned, and just as he opened his mouth to speak.

Ying Jueran had already grabbed the iron chain on Qiao Jiaxin and fiercely pulled it.

The iron chain was initially just loosely wrapped around her. If it were on an ordinary person, it would probably fall off with a slight movement. But on Qiao Jiaxin, it floated lightly, like an illusion.

And Ying Jueran only intended to—pull it once.

If the iron chain remained motionless, he would turn and run, declaring the rescue mission a failure. He knew he was facing a terrifying opponent and did not think it was ridiculous to do so—just as even the bravest child would not try to wrestle with a fierce tiger.

However, unexpectedly, he moved the iron chain. In fact, the moment his hand touched it, the thing rattled and fell to the ground, as if the secular person's finger had broken some balance. This sudden change was something even Ying Jueran hadn't anticipated, and he was even stunned for a breath of time.

After this brief moment of stupor, he decisively grabbed Qiao Jiaxin's hand, turned his head, and ran wildly!

But the problem was, he didn't grab anything. Or rather, he grabbed a bit of wind.

—On a windy day, if you hold your palm up to the wind, you will feel the "touch" of the wind... it was that kind of feeling. Ying Jueran was mentally prepared for Qiao Jiaxin to be non-human. But in this instant, the corner of his eye caught something else—

Qiao Jiaxin originally had facial features. However, with his pull, it was as if the original features were piled up from smoke and instantly scattered.

Only a pale, smooth face was exposed.

A Faceless person!

At this point, Ying Jueran's heart was truly—as if it had been fiercely hammered by a large mallet. A surge of frantic energy rushed up in his chest. He almost messed up the flow of his internal energy, and his steps slowed slightly.

The Taoist priest not far away finally shouted: "Vile creature, where do you think you're going!"

Simultaneous with the sound was a Talisman from his palm—faster than lightning, reaching the back of Ying Jueran's heart in the blink of an eye.

It was in this moment of extreme peril that the Faceless Qiao Jiaxin lunged at Ying Jueran's back. Black Saber felt a strong wind suddenly push him, knowing that Qiao Jiaxin was helping him. Despite his internal energy going astray, he forcefully gathered his breath and leaped, rocketing onto the treetop of a nearby bowl-thick elm tree.

The moment his toe touched the tree trunk, he heard a deafening crisp sound behind him—where he had just stood, a hole deeper than a person had appeared!

He dared not hesitate further. He fiercely swallowed the mouthful of metallic sweetness that had surged to his throat and sprinted according to the route he had scouted beforehand, zig-zagging through the forest. All he heard was the whooshing sound of the wind screaming in his ears, and the branches and leaves leaving tiny cuts on his cheeks like sharp knives.

He had no time to listen for anyone chasing him—that was the concern of those in ambush. He only relied on the continuous push from behind, traversing the forest like a galloping horse until—

The force behind him disappeared.

Yu Meng rushed out from the side to support him. Only then did Ying Jueran realize that he had covered a li in just three breaths!

"Did anyone follow?"

They both asked almost simultaneously.

But the forest was very quiet—except for the sound of the wind, the birdsong, and the rustling of leaves.

No one pursued them.

The Taoist priest who had sent a Talisman at Ying Jueran didn't even enter the forest.

He stood at the edge of the stone mirror, and with a swipe of his hand on the ground, the iron chain that had bound Qiao Jiaxin turned into an ordinary hemp rope.

And the Taoist priest who had been "arguing" with him stood respectfully behind him and whispered: "Sect Master, why bother doing this yourself? He's just a secular person."

"This is exactly what you should know," the Sect Master of the Daoist Orthodoxy's Langya Grotto-Heaven looked into the forest for a while and then whispered, "Don't be careless about anything related to that Li Yunxin. I hope you are the ones who bring him back to Cloud Mountain, not that he leaves you here."

The Taoist priest seemed unconvinced but dared not contradict this Sect Master.

So, he turned his head and looked towards the southwest of Weicheng—he desperately wanted to see the Dongting restriction opened soon.

He needed it to pass the Heart-Losing Tribulation. (To be continued.)

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