Inner Demons

Lingkongzi's great name was like thunder in the ears of cultivators across the land. But to Ying Jueran, it was indeed a completely unfamiliar name.

Therefore, he did not ask why this person named Lingkongzi was here, nor why she was in such a state.

He was merely shocked by the scenes unfolding one after another, and he thought—when Meng'e had previously recommended this Ghost Calculator Liu Gongzan to him, he had thought that since the man had left the martial world for many years, he might not have the ruthlessness of the current generation of young people. To navigate the martial world, one needed martial arts skills, connections, but also ruthlessness.

But now he realized... the "ruthlessness" of people in the martial world was insufficient to describe or measure the Ghost Calculator Liu Gongzan before his eyes. He no longer even belonged to the mundane world, but was in another world that was more dangerous, supernatural, and magnificent. In that world... the boundaries of "human" were beginning to blur.

They were eating that demon—did that count as eating a "human"?

At the very least, many martial artists of the martial world would not be able to remain as calm and composed as Liu Gongzan was right now when facing such a matter.

Ying Jueran stopped speaking and didn't ask any more questions. He just watched Old Daoist Liu scoop meat into the wooden bowls and pour some broth over it. When the three bowls were filled, he handed one to Ying Jueran.

Black Saber looked at the half-body in the western corner, then at Old Daoist Liu, took a deep breath, accepted the bowl, but only held it in his hands.

Old Daoist Liu didn't insist that he eat. He picked up the other wooden bowl and walked into another room, leaving only Ying Jueran and Lady Sanhua in the dilapidated main hall.

Then she looked at the earthenware pot, glanced at it a few times, and then turned her head to stare at Ying Jueran's hand.

Black Saber knew she was a demon. Her face was illuminated by the firelight, making her expression unpredictable, and he had just watched her eat a "fellow creature." Therefore, seeing Lady Sanhua extend the tip of her bright red tongue to lick her lips right now, he felt a tingling chill run through him. He quickly offered the bowl in his hand and smiled, "I don't really feel like..."

San Hua reached out and took it.

Her fingertips brushed the back of Ying Jueran's hand. He felt an astonishing heat—she looked like she should be icy cold, yet she was actually this scorching hot!

Lady Sanhua ate every bit of the soup and meat in Ying Jueran's bowl, and then thrust the bowl back into his hand.

Then she let out a burp, stood up, and walked in a circle around Ying Jueran—Black Saber could feel her gaze pinning his spine like an awl, as if she were trying to see right through him.

Then the demon stopped beside him, crouched on all fours like an animal, and looked at him. After staring for a moment, just as he couldn't help but ask what was wrong, she suddenly leaned close to his ear, the tip of her bright red tongue almost touching his ear!

Ying Jueran had no time to react and could only stiffen—he felt the demon starting from his ear, deeply sniffing him from top to bottom, before returning to his ear.

Then he heard her say, "Heh. You fool, you barged right in."

"Aiya, you smell like a human... hmm... This lady will tell you something. It's not a waste, aiya, to have given this lady your meat to eat."

Ying Jueran had previously listened to the rat and rabbit spirits speak—although they seemed somewhat naive, their speech was fluent, clear, and logical. Anyone would have thought they were human, not non-human. But listening to this "Lady Sanhua" speak again, he found her speech utterly peculiar and rambling, more like a babbling child or someone with a mental affliction. Therefore, hearing her speak like this, he thought she was about to say some confused nonsense. Perhaps this demon was not right in the head and was teasing him.

But he also needed to be more careful. Lest she suddenly go berserk and tear him apart.

He forced a smile to accompany her. Just as he was about to speak, the demon's words came before his.

Just one sentence, and it was like a clap of thunder exploding in his mind, making all the hairs on his body stand on end—

"That old Taoist priest, he's not human."

In the desolate wilderness, an isolated village, or a ruined temple, what people fear most is encountering ghosts. Although Ying Jueran had been interacting with demons for the past few days, the demons he saw were visible and tangible, not overly grotesque or terrifying. And since he had only just met them, his mind hadn't had much time to process or adapt.

Now, with Lady Sanhua speaking these words in the flickering firelight, and him being in this environment, he immediately recalled all the legends of vengeful ghosts harming people.

But only after this shock did he manage to clear his mind. He quickly let out a long breath, calmed down, and forced a smile: "My Lady must be joking. Since you are all... well, beings with supernatural powers. Whether he's a demon or a cultivator, what's so surprising about that?"

San Hua leaned into his ear and continued, "The Old Daoist Liu is indeed human. The one you see right now, aiya... oh dear... he is not human!"

As she said this, she put a finger to her lips and shushed him: "Shhh! He doesn't even know that I know!"

The chill that had been suppressed rose from the bottom of his heart again. Ying Jueran believed he understood the demon's meaning.

He had seen this demon fight in the alley—killing the two Taoist priests who had left him helpless was like butchering pigs and dogs. But now, listening to her tone, her attitude towards this "Old Daoist Liu" was that she knew something was wrong, yet she was still afraid to say it!

Sweat finally began to run down his back.

The wind was strong outside, so people had to speak louder to be heard clearly. Therefore, Ying Jueran moved to face the direction Old Daoist Liu had entered, and lowered his voice to ask San Hua, "My Lady means... the Liu Gongzan I see right now is not the original Liu Gongzan? Can My Lady elaborate?"

San Hua leaned into his ear and blinked, "Aiya. We were separated originally... Later, hmm... This lady met this old man... Aiya, so wordy. Ptooey, ptooey!"

After saying those few sentences, San Hua seemed to find it too much effort to elaborate on the details of that day, so she became impatient and made to retreat to the side. But this matter concerned Ying Jueran's life, how could he be as "carefree" as this Cat Demon? He coaxed her little by little with many good words until she finally clarified the events of that day. Afterwards, he gasped, staring intently at the room "Liu Gongzan" had just entered, not daring to blink for a long time.

According to Lady Sanhua's account, after Li Yunxin killed Yue Yunzi and the Daoist Orthodoxy cultivators rushed to the vicinity of Weicheng, she and Old Daoist Liu were separated.

As the Taoist priests began to hunt down demons and monsters near Weicheng, they did not dare to stay for long. They fought several battles with the "despicable Taoist priests" of the Daoist Orthodoxy, fleeing further and further until they finally hid in this Yeyuan Forest.

Then they met Old Daoist Liu.

When she first met him, he didn't talk much, but San Hua babbled on and on. After a long time of this, Old Daoist Liu also started to converse, but he always asked her strange questions. To Ying Jueran, it sounded like he was trying to extract information—wanting to get various details about their past from Lady Sanhua. Subsequently, he spoke more and more, and his questions became increasingly clever.

Until one day, San Hua finally felt that something was amiss, and then she met the rat spirit Shuke and the rabbit spirit Daoist Tuzki again.

That night, taking advantage of Old Daoist Liu's absence, Lady Sanhua stammered out the story to the two demons.

When the three demons were talking, they were facing the direction from which Old Daoist Liu would return. Furthermore, all three of them cultivated the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law under their King's Legend of the Dragon King; they were genuine Illusory Realm beings. When it came to fighting and using supernatural powers, they would not be at a great disadvantage even against a Taoist priest of the Daoist Orthodoxy.

But they inexplicably didn't realize... when Old Daoist Liu had moved behind them.

After murmuring to each other and about to disperse to think of a solution, they turned around and saw Liu Gongzan standing behind them. His eyes were piercing, like two large, dazzling, and terrifying lanterns in the dark forest.

Seeing this, the three demons simply decided to drop all pretenses and capture him first.

Who would have thought that Old Daoist Liu merely waved his hand, and the three demons immediately stood still, unable to speak or move!

San Hua was also an experienced individual. When Li Yunxin was in Weicheng, he often went to the Qiao residence in the front courtyard of the Dragon King Temple to preach the Dao to them. Probably out of gratitude for Lady Sanhua once saving his life, Li Yunxin showed her exceptional favor. He told her many things he knew, regardless of whether she understood them or not.

And San Hua truly took it to heart. Her speech was rambling, but her mind was not necessarily so. Therefore, as soon as she saw the methods of this "Old Daoist Liu," she knew that things were terribly wrong.

Because Li Yunxin had told her many "theories." Whether it was the Painting School, the Daoist Orthodoxy, or the Sword Sect, their foundations were all quite similar. Since the foundations were quite similar, the changes in their supernatural powers also had patterns to follow. For example, a novice entering a kitchen who hears people say to cook this dish this way and that dish that way would only feel that all the countless ways to cook dishes are different. To have him meticulously record them one by one would be like reading an undecipherable script.

But if he knew that cooking dishes was simply about using various methods to create textures that people like, he would realize that the principles of many methods are interconnected, the so-called "different routes leading to the same destination." Then, he would see things clearly, knowing that boiling and then frying the meat can make it crispy outside and tender inside, and coating the meat with powder before frying can also make it crispy outside and tender inside—all based on the single principle of "locking in moisture."

And San Hua, having listened to Li Yunxin preach many principles about cultivation, knew that although she did not know how to use many of the methods and supernatural powers, she could generally understand what was going on when she saw others use them.

But that move by "Old Daoist Liu"—there were no Talismans deployed, no incantations cast. Just a casual wave of his hand...

She couldn't understand it.

This meant that the methods of this "Liu Gongzan" were so advanced that it was startling; he had truly reached the point of being "profound and unfathomable"!

Afterward, this "Liu Gongzan" didn't say much, nor did he get angry. Instead, he extended a finger and lightly touched the foreheads of the three demons, one by one.

San Hua only felt a surge of Spiritual Power inject into her spiritual center, circle around, and then dissipate with a turbulent feeling, seemingly unable to find an exit. She did not feel anything unusual.

The next moment, Old Daoist Liu waved his hand again, and the three demons could move.

It was then that San Hua discovered that the rat and rabbit spirits seemed to have completely forgotten what had just happened. They chuckled and exchanged a few words with their "Order-Holding Elder" and then went about their own business.

Lady Sanhua was also quick-witted in the past; she had scared away the swordsman who was pursuing Li Yunxin and saved her Dragon King's life. Facing this situation now, she also had a degree of calculation in her mind. So she said nothing, merely pretending that she too had forgotten the incident.

Later, when she looked for a good opportunity to bring up the previous incident with the rabbit and rat spirits, an even stranger thing happened—

Whenever, and only whenever, she spoke of anything related to the phrase "Liu Gongzan is an imposter," the two demons acted as if they hadn't heard a thing, completely ignoring her!

She didn't know what to do. But she couldn't simply abandon the two demons and run away herself—when the two demons had listened to her preach the Law, they had formed a mentor-disciple relationship of passing on and receiving the Law with her. Li Yunxin although he had given them their names, he had never called himself their Master; she was essentially teaching the Law on his behalf, making Li Yunxin more like an Ancestral Master.

Furthermore, San Hua knew that since the "Liu Gongzan" could employ such a strange and supernatural method, she would likely not be able to escape his "clutches." She was also worried that if she fled, she wouldn't know what schemes this fake Taoist had, or if he intended to harm her King...

After much deliberation and inner turmoil, she ultimately did not escape, but instead pretended that she, too, remembered nothing, and remained by his side.

After that... they were trapped here by a cloud of mist.

Later, they saw Li Yunxin walk out of the mist, exchange a few words with them, and then vanish again.

And after Li Yunxin left, that terrifying-looking body appeared in the eastern corner of the main hall. First, it was only a skeleton, which then slowly grew. She didn't know what it was growing with.

Ying Jueran was utterly astonished by all of this. For the first time, he profoundly experienced what it meant to have "just left the dragon's pool and entered the tiger's den."

He let out a long breath and slowly turned his head to look behind him—fearing that Old Daoist Liu would also appear there, staring at him with a pair of lantern-like eyes!

But behind him was the night curtain and heavy rain.

He then thought of Old Daoist Liu saying his people were in the "backyard"—could they also have been harmed?!

Just then, Liu Gongzan came out of that room. Ying Jueran immediately let out a soft sigh, trying to keep his heart from pounding so fiercely.

Old Daoist Liu was holding an empty wooden bowl. He first looked at San Hua and chuckled, "You were complaining that you didn't like it earlier. But now you've cleaned the bowl."

He then slowly walked to the bonfire and sat down, looking at the human and the demon: "The two of you have met before. And now you're chatting so warmly. But Great Hero Ying—"

He leaned slightly forward and looked at Ying Jueran's expression: "Why does your face look so pale?"

Ying Jueran was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and replied, "Perhaps the spider venom hasn't been completely purged, and my body is weak."

Old Daoist Liu asked again, "Why is your heart beating so fast?"

Ying Jueran replied again, "The thunder is loud, and I am scared."

"Why is there sweat on your head?"

Ying Jueran looked at Old Daoist Liu: "It's really hot by this fire, and I'm feeling scorched."

Old Daoist Liu stopped asking. He stared intently at Ying Jueran, slowly leaned his body back, and let out a long, enigmatic "Ah."

"I thought Great Hero Ying had heard something he shouldn't have. That would have been troublesome." This Liu Gongzan smiled as he spoke slowly, "Words can be fearsome."

A clap of thunder exploded, and his face was utterly pale, like a dead man's.

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