Inner Demons

He stood in silent contemplation for a moment, not saying anything. Then, his form rose again, carried by the wind, straight towards Jun Mountain.

He landed on the Central Hall plaza halfway up the mountain and headed straight west. The east side of the plaza was a cliff, and the west side was a stretch of lush woods. Amidst them were artificial hills and pavilions, rarely visited by people.

Walking into the woods, he was not in a hurry to do the main business. Instead, he took out some paper and a ritual brush from his folding fan.

Both the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Painting School needed these two items, but they were not powerless without them. In everyday life, some minor techniques only required hand signs and incantations. In combat, they often burned written or painted Talismans. The time to actually use paper and brush was during pre-war preparations and when setting up spell formations.

Li Yunxin had the strong and unparalleled body of a demon dragon. He could usually solve many problems with brute force alone, and thus, he didn't realize it himself these days—the skills of the Painting School were slowly starting to lapse.

Now, taking out these items again, spreading the paper in mid-air, and holding the ritual brush to paint, he realized that the flow of his breath was somewhat blocked, and the operation of his thoughts was not as smooth as before. After further thought, he realized that he had hardly practiced the cultivation methods passed down by his parents these days—he was now in the True Realm, but in terms of skill, he was probably only comparable to when he first arrived in Weicheng—far surpassing the Manifestation Realm Daoists of the Painting School in the same realm, but still some distance from the True Realm.

With this thought of warning himself, he produced a few Talismans. Then he put away the paper and brush, strolled through the woods, and, with the aid of hand signs and incantations, activated all the Talismans.

There was no change in the woods. The tree canopy still covered the sky, and no stars or moon could be seen, nor was there any chirping of insects in the forest. But there was a constant flow of life-giving Spiritual Power circulating in the treetops and branches, occasionally scattering small, flying light particles like fireflies—a common phenomenon that neither Li Yunxin nor their parents had thoroughly studied.

Now, he took out his folding fan and suspended it in front of him with spiritual energy.

Bai Yunxin had told him the method to leave Dongting.

Demon-fiends with some cultivation would almost all have a "Traveling Palace." In Li Yunxin's view, this thing was similar to a "storage bag" or "spatial bag." When a demon-fiend's demonic power reaches a certain level, combined with some incense and vow power, they can condense such a thing—it has no fixed shape, taking form based on your deepest inner needs. For some, it might be a wooden bucket, for others, a rugged stone, or a sword.

The Traveling Palace is small. If the magical power is higher, it will become a "Dragon Palace."

The term "Traveling Palace" is understandable, but the term "Dragon Palace" made Li Yunxin somewhat confused—since all demon-fiends might have this thing, why was it named after the dragon?

It probably has some origin with the True Dragon.

Anyway, once the Dragon Palace is formed, people can enter it. The Red Flower City of the Lord of Dongting was like this, and so was Li Yunxin's folding fan.

However, there was a "trick" involved.

The Dragon Palace is like a residence. When the master enters the Dragon Palace, they use the "front door."

A residence has a back door—the Dragon Palace also has a "back door."

But this back door must be opened by oneself, and the method of "opening the back door" sounded even more extraordinary to Li Yunxin. The first time he was told about these things, he already felt like it was some strange "system" created by someone. Now, this feeling was even stronger.

—You must enter your Dragon Palace, select a location, and then open the back door there.

From then on, no matter where you are, as long as you enter the Dragon Palace and exit through the "back door" inside, you will return to the previously selected location.

However, this method cannot be used frequently. According to Bai Yunxin, it is, after all, the place where the Dragon Palace's Spiritual Power leaks out, and if used too often, there's a risk of the Dragon Palace collapsing, which would be a huge loss.

This matter seems clear and understandable in terms of its rules. But the problem is... as a method for demon-fiends, it is far too unprofound. It reminded Li Yunxin of some low-level and crude setting—no reason or explanation, "it is just so," with certain limiting conditions added.

This matter, combined with some previous minor details, often gave rise to an unknown fear deep within him. There might be some secret hidden in this unfamiliar world. But judging by what he currently knew, those secrets were probably not gentle and beautiful. He wasn't afraid of facing danger, but he was very afraid of not knowing where the potential danger was, and that made him uneasy.

So he tried to suppress this slight unease in his heart—and the next moment, he vanished from the woods.

He appeared in his "Dragon Palace."

Just like the last time he was here, the place was full of misty fog. Previously, there were some scattered objects and food inside. But he had used most of them to deal with Old Man Su a few days ago. Li Yunxin didn't like this feeling. A lot of things could be hidden in the fog, which made him feel surrounded. Having the situation not under his control was not a good sign, so he had always tried to avoid it.

The last time he came, the Dragon Palace was still a vast expanse of white fog. It was impossible to distinguish up, down, left, or right, and there were no boundaries.

But this time when he entered... he was quite surprised.

There was something there.

A small world appeared in the fog—it looked like a dense forest. The trees in the forest were towering and lushly green. Various flowers and plants dotted the forest, and colorful butterflies fluttered about. The Dragon Palace was extremely quiet... and he could even hear the melodious chirping of birds.

Li Yunxin was looking at that world from a strange perspective—he was like a creator, overlooking from the sky.

So he could also see an open space in the forest, and a two-courtyard compound on the open space. The yard looked dilapidated at a glance, with weeds growing in the courtyard and between the roof tiles.

...It looked familiar.

Li Yunxin quickly realized that he had indeed seen that courtyard and been in that courtyard—wasn't it the courtyard that Old Man Su had shown him, where Old Daoist Liu, Shi Kuizi, and San Hua were trapped?!

It was actually... in his Dragon Palace?!

This astonishment made him subconsciously "move" towards the courtyard—as soon as the thought moved, the scene quickly zoomed in. The next moment, he was already standing outside the courtyard.

And when he looked up at the sky again, he found that there was no sun in the sky, but the sunlight was bright. All around him was fog—probably the fog from his Dragon Palace. He raised his hand to touch the door in front of him and immediately felt the texture of the decaying wood and the scratchiness of the peeling paint on the door.

Li Yunxin took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

With a creaking sound, he saw the courtyard with overgrown weeds and two people standing in the courtyard—

Black Saber Ying Jueran's eyes were wide, looking at him as if he had seen a ghost.

Old Daoist Liu noticed the Black Saber's gaze and slowly turned his face to look at him, just about to open his mouth to speak.

And for the people inside the courtyard...

Old Daoist Liu had just realized that something might be amiss here.

Black Saber had just woken up from an illusion that lasted more than ten days. He recalled the words spoken by the fake "Old Daoist Liu." (To be continued.)

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