Inner Demons

Although the old man's words were arrogant and divine, the logic was clear. Since he mentioned the word "this"—

Ying Jueran cast aside all other concerns and only asked one question first—if anyone had come from outside during these days.

Both Old Daoist Liu and Yu Meng looked surprised by the question. Then they truthfully told him that someone had indeed come.

The day after they arrived here, a Taoist priest came. And he came flying—at least someone of the Manifestation Realm. But a Manifestation Realm Taoist priest, while able to fly, still found it strenuous. This suggested the Taoist priest's realm should be even higher. Naturally, they could not see in the fog, but the Rat Demon and Rabbit Demon outside the fog could. The Taoist priest seemed to be blind, ignoring such a large patch of mist in the forest and clumsily stumbling around. After stumbling about for a while, he left, as if searching but unable to find something.

Ying Jueran then remembered what the old man had told him during the night—that he feared they were bait released by the Daoist Orthodoxy to lure Li Yunxin into opening the restrictions. Confining them here now could save Li Yunxin a lot of trouble.

Now that he knew this, he realized that the extraordinary person who possessed Old Daoist Liu had spoken the truth.

The extraordinary person said he had no ill will. Judging by this, it was probably true. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, he had helped Li Yunxin somewhat.

Ying Jueran then looked into the room again. The remains on the west side were gone, but "Lingkongzi" on the east side was still there. He pointed at Lingkongzi's body and asked the others if they knew who it was.

At this point, anyone could see that he was not quite right. But they still answered his question—saying they did not know when it appeared in the room, and no one knew who it was. However, although it looked hideous and terrifying, it did not harm anyone after all. And strange things often happened here, so they just let it be.

The sky was dazzlingly blue, and the sunlight was also a bit strange. The sky was clear, but the sun was not visible. Without the sun, the light seemed to come from all directions, filling this small corner of the world.

He slowly sat down on the dry steps in front of the room, leaning on his saber. After thinking for a while, he said, "Listen to me tell you something. I don't know if it's true or false... If you think it's false, just assume my spider venom hasn't cleared, and it's my imagination."

Then, he slowly recounted everything that happened "last night" to himself.

When he talked and contemplated, he had a habit of touching his chin. Ying Jueran had a broad chin, which he particularly liked. He believed it made him look stronger and more powerful, so he habitually shaved.

In this era, men considered long beards beautiful. Those who shaved, like Li Yunxin and him, were the minority, but not entirely uncommon.

So, when he spoke, he realized that Old Daoist Liu and Yu Meng had not been deceiving him. The last time he shaved was after entering Weicheng. In his "time," it had only been two days until now, so his chin might have stubble, but it should not have grown long.

However, when he touched it now, he realized it was already messy.

In the end, he narrated his experience completely, word for word. Then he spread his hands. "I didn't go into seclusion. Only one day passed for me—I don't even know if you people are real or an illusion right now. But that person said, 'it is clean in this'—I am wondering, where exactly are we right now?"

At first, people thought he was talking nonsense—perhaps the spider venom had not cleared, or he had gone awry in his practice. But as he continued, Old Daoist Liu's expression gradually changed.

Because some of the things Ying Jueran said could not have been fabricated.

Ying Jueran said that at the time, he mentioned the strange weather here to the strange person possessing Old Daoist Liu. The strange person, however, said that wind and rain were not strange—that it was common for it to rain fish, meat, or green plums across the world. Ying Jueran only took it as a casual remark, but Old Daoist Liu knew it was true.

These days, wind and rain in the sky were indeed common. But there were much more unusual things—not to mention the rumbling sounds that occasionally came from the sky. The sound was like muffled thunder but seemed very, very far away. Once it sounded, it took a long time to stop, but the sky was clear for thousands of miles, with no rain at all.

As for the rain of fish and meat, that was indeed true—otherwise, how had Old Daoist Liu survived these days?

Those things fell from the sky every so often. And they were all fish and meat that had been cooked—falling down in overwhelming portions. Some were smashed into a pulp when they hit the ground, and some rolled into the mud and could not be eaten. Occasionally, some hung on the branches and leaves of trees, and Old Daoist Liu would wait for it to stop and retrieve it to eat.

He used to be a glutton, so he even found the taste familiar. After eating a few times and smacking his lips, he realized it was the food from Wood South Residence in the city. When he and Li Yunxin lived in the Dragon King Temple, the incense offerings were abundant, and they had plenty of money. They occasionally ordered meals delivered from Wood South Residence, and he remembered the taste clearly.

Old Daoist Liu's memory was stirred by Ying Jueran's words. Then he thought of another thing—

It did not rain fish and meat every day; sometimes, fruit fell.

And the fruit was none other than sour, astringent green plums. He once ate that stuff for two consecutive days. Thinking about it now, he felt his mouth watering, ready to spray water droplets. Green plums... they were what Brother Xin used to like to eat.

He occasionally slowly chewed a green plum when he was free. Old Daoist Liu would ask him why he ate that stuff when he saw it, his mouth puckering. Li Yunxin would smile and say that this thing was not something you could eat whenever you wanted—he bumped into someone selling it while wandering the streets. It was so sour and astringent that no one was buying it, so he bought the whole basket.

When he felt blandness in his mouth and heart, he would pick one and slowly chew it. It always managed to cheer him up and keep him alert.

This also fell now.

Liu Gongzan, the Old Daoist Liu, thought carefully about Ying Jueran's words, his eyes growing brighter and brighter. A thought was circling in his mind, about to burst out. He did not care about the others anymore. Displaying his skill, he leaped onto the roof, staring intently at the blue sky. After watching for a while, he lowered his head and asked Ying Jueran loudly, "Did the strange person in your dream say anything else?!"

Ying Jueran thought about it and felt that he had already said all the important parts. The unimportant parts were just the things the strange person said before leaving. Vague, esoteric things like "good fortune has run out" and "if a fortuitous chance arises."

Old Daoist Liu listened to him say these things and fell silent for a moment, standing on the roof and staring intently at the sky. After watching for a long time, he suddenly smiled. "Great Hero Ying, the truth of whether what you experienced was a dream, an illusion, or reality will probably be revealed soon!"

Let us change the subject.

While Ying Jueran felt only one night had passed, over ten days had gone by.

Li Yunxin, in Dongting, had the same feeling—anyone bored would feel time passing slowly. A day felt like ten or more days, terrifyingly long.

Boredom was simply due to boredom. Although there were beautiful women, interesting strange people, and some silly, cute Demons. But a beauty had to be someone he was infatuated with, and an interesting person had to be someone whose identity and background he knew and who he was sure would not cause trouble.

As for the Demons in the lake—

The former Dragon's Son was infinitely more capable than them, and he could talk and laugh with the Dragon's Son—what fun were these shrimp soldiers and crab generals?

He was just waiting all these days. He was bored and anxious waiting, but there was nothing he could do.

He had truly overestimated the capabilities of those Demons.

Originally, he rushed into the water and destroyed White Eel Li Shan's cave dwelling, and then had him sweep through the others one by one. But he quickly realized that doing so was time-consuming and laborious. It was better to have them gather in one place and deliver themselves to him.

He previously knew that King Ao had sent his minor Demons to various places to invite people to "conspire for a major event." Unfortunately, a bunch of useless Demons completely ignored him.

Li Yunxin thought for a moment and went to ask Old Man Su, who lived on Jun Mountain, for help. He originally wanted to extract some information from the old man, so he often chatted with him. That day, while rambling, he mentioned his troubles—those Demons were useless and would not gather in one place.

Old Man Su seemed to be a playful person. He said this matter was easy to handle. He immediately walked to the lake, his beard and hair bristling, and let out a shout. The Vicious Flood Dragon in the lake obediently appeared. This Old Man Su ordered it to destroy the Demons' cave dwellings—and the Vicious Flood Dragon went without a second word!

Only then did the Coiling Immortal Valley in the lake get destroyed by the Vicious Flood Dragon, and the Coiling Immortal Valley Master, Red Serpent King, go to King Ao to "conspire for a major plan."

Li Yunxin was just waiting.

After waiting for over ten days like this, he had roughly gathered three or four-tenths of the Demons in the lake. According to Li Shan, who was gathering information, the five Valley Lords led by King Ao had gathered a host of Demons and were aggressively searching, saying they wanted to drag out Li Shan, then the person behind him, and even deal with the Vicious Flood Dragon while they were at it.

But everything they did was like children playing house in Li Yunxin's eyes.

He just wanted to wait for these fellows to start moving, and then he would deal with them all at once. The two main things he was doing now were, firstly, entertaining Old Man Su. Secondly, trying to find... the "Dragon Soul" in this Dongting.

Because he had a conversation with Old Man Su a few days ago.

Li Yunxin was not very fond of naked violence. If he could stand in the dark and watch his enemy die, he would absolutely not want to cut his enemy to death with a saber, sweating profusely.

Of course, before the enemy died, he would certainly step out of the dark and say a few words... otherwise, what was the point of killing?

Since he had learned some of Old Man Su's past from Li Shan, he could not keep it to himself.

This Old Man Su seemed to believe greatly in the saying, "If you are full of flaws, then you have no flaws." From his first meeting with Li Yunxin, he had revealed everything—he did not conceal his identity or his divine powers. He had perfected the tactic of "only telling part of the truth." Furthermore, he was indeed immensely capable and unfathomably divine...

It truly made Li Yunxin wonder "which flaw to attack."

Since that was the case, he did not act like a villain either. If he had something on his mind, he would ask it.

The day he got the information from Li Shan, he carried Li Shan back to Jun Mountain. He first threw this "Tenth Prince" in front of Old Man Su, had him state everything, then drove him out and closed the door.

So, only he and the old man were left in the room.

It was already dark then. They were in the Central Hall of the Ziwei Palace on Jun Mountain.

The Central Hall was built halfway up the mountain, with a cliff on one side. Looking out from the window now, one could see the bright moon hanging high over the vast Dongting, with thousands of miles of lake surface covered in misty waves—a beautiful sight, like a fairyland.

Li Yunxin stood by the window, looked at Old Man Su, who was eating and drinking in the room, and smiled. "I didn't intend to probe your background. It's just that I encountered a group of Demons on the road, casually killed them, and it turned out to be connected to your Su Family."

"I carefully pondered his words for a while and found your background very strange. Look—you are not an ordinary person. Your methods are so advanced that I cannot figure out your origin. But you don't seem like a Demon either."

"Logically speaking, your style of action is very similar to the Mutual Aid Society, I think. But you are deliberately opposing them. So... are you perhaps a person from the Daoist Orthodoxy? But the people of the Daoist Orthodoxy—"

Li Yunxin slightly drew out his voice. As the cool lake wind blew in through the window, he stared intently at the old man's face. "How can those blockheads be as interesting as you? So, I don't think you're from the Daoist Orthodoxy either. I say, Old Man—"

"I am half-master of this Dongting now. I provide you with good food and drink and talk with you every day. You said you only have a few dozen days left to live, and I am seeing you off in your old age—so, can you tell me your background? Ah—I know, all experts like to be enigmatic. They want their juniors to figure out many things for themselves. I've heard many such stories; they're very wondrous."

"But Old Man, you have to know that's survivorship bias. The stories of those who understood are passed down, and everyone thinks, 'Wow, that's great.' More and more instances where people didn't understand, and both parties were disappointed, are certainly not recorded. So..."

Li Yunxin walked over and sat down in front of Old Man Su, poured him a full cup of wine, and looked at him sincerely. "Let's have a little more sincerity and a little less posturing. Let's speak frankly, okay?"

"I am very anxious now. I am worried about my people outside, and I am also afraid for my own life. If you need me to do something, you can clearly say it. If I think it's feasible and a win-win, I will try my best to do it. If I think it's unreliable, dislike it, or disagree with it... even if you don't say anything and just force me, the result might end up being a mutual destruction."

Li Yunxin sighed and said kindly, "You have to know, I am actually very vicious."

The old man had been listening quietly before. He only smiled when Li Yunxin said the last sentence. He picked up the wine on the table, drank it down, put it down, and smacked his lips.

"You're an impatient child." He pondered for a moment and let out a long breath of wine-scented air. "Good, good, good. Since you've said so, and given your temper, hehe—if I don't tell you something now, you will undoubtedly be talking to me with a smile while secretly plotting against me. You said you're vicious. Ah, this old man knows that too."

"But it's precisely because of this one matter." The smile on Old Man Su's face slowly disappeared. But he was not cold; he was solemn. "It's precisely because your actions are too vicious and your malevolent aura is too heavy. So, even if there was a way for you to leave this Dongting, you cannot right now. And don't be anxious. This old man said he doesn't have much time left, so I won't live long. When I leave, you can naturally leave Dongting too."

Li Yunxin smiled, about to speak.

Old Man Su, however, interrupted him. "Don't laugh. I know the things you've done. I also know that many things you did were out of necessity, but... one thing, I ask you—how exactly did that Yin Family girl die?"

Li Yunxin slowly straightened his body.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, and a gentle smile appeared on his face. "What are you talking about?"

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