Inner Demons

This dismissal came quickly, and Yu Meng was slightly stunned—the Yu Family rarely conducted business so directly, let alone finishing the conversation and immediately sending people away.

But he didn't expect Li Yunxin to be even more of a jerk than he thought—after saying those words, he waved his large sleeve...

Yu Meng, Wusu, and Lili were all taken into his folding fan and thrown back into that small world.

Then Li Yunxin looked at Ying Jueran: "Great Hero Ying, what are your plans for the future?"

Ying Jueran was still stunned by the scene just now. Now hearing him ask, he hastily said, "This... a gentleman's word—"

"Good. Then you're one of us too." Li Yunxin waved his hand casually, "So, let's talk about serious business now. Come in."

The last sentence was nonsensical. But as the words fell, they heard a sound—a woman in red gracefully walked in. Her sash moved without wind, fluttering gently in the air, like a water spirit stepping on the waves. The person who came was Lady Hong.

They had not met her, but Li Yunxin had seen her often. After all, it was the former residence of the Lord of Dongting, and he didn't mind Lady Hong overhearing all this—perhaps this was even a task the Lord of Dongting had left for her. Who could guess the thoughts of a demon?

"This is Lady Hong. Her father is the Lord of Dongting, and she is currently in the same boat as us." Li Yunxin paused slightly, and his expression became serious, "When I told you about the situation outside Weicheng just now, I made things sound light. But the actual situation is that we need to be prepared within fifteen days at the latest—Dongting is probably going to be finished."

Therefore, he took a deep breath and listened intently to Li Yunxin's words.

"The Sect Master of Langya Grotto-Heaven is also in Weicheng, and it is said that Sect Master Kun Wuzi is someone who can speak to the Two Saints. Now, under his very nose, Weicheng was massacred—the towering resentment of hundreds of thousands of people in the city are all unnatural deaths. This indicates the attitude of the Daoist Orthodoxy." Li Yunxin spoke quickly, as if treasuring every moment, "Weicheng is a major city, not some godforsaken place. The massacre here shows that the Daoist Orthodoxy is extremely concerned about the things inside Dongting. I observed the meaning of the Formation outside Weicheng for a while, coupled with the small mirror-like arrays outside the city that you mentioned before... following the principle of spiritual energy operation, it should be a powerful thing capable of instantly destroying the Dongting Restriction."

"I previously speculated that the Daoist Orthodoxy wanted to seize the Dragon Soul and declare war on the demons. It seems they are truly determined now. I am definitely marked on their list over there, and breaking the Restriction will probably make me the first one sacrificed." Li Yunxin thought for a moment, "We definitely can't sit and wait for death; we have to run away. Bai Yunxin has come to take the Dragon Soul, and if she truly takes it, the Daoist Orthodoxy will be setting off an empty cannon. But even if we escape from Dongting, we might not escape the pursuit—the distance and time between Weicheng and where we might find refuge could be very long. So, pool your ideas and tell me what to do."

He said "pool your ideas," but in reality, he was only looking at Old Daoist Liu.

Ying Jueran might be a general, but he didn't understand these mysterious and bizarre things. Only Old Daoist Liu had been with him for a long time and understood his style of doing things the best.

In fact, Old Daoist Liu understood Li Yunxin's style of doing things too well.

Thus, he seemed to not even think about it, and a "tactic" blurted out: "How about... we find someone to take the blame?"

"Taking the blame" was a fashionable phrase he had learned from Li Yunxin. When he heard it, he felt it had three points of mischief and four points of elegance, and now it finally had a use.

Li Yunxin immediately pointed at him with a smile: "I knew Old Liu understands my intentions the best. I think so too. As for who to find to take the blame—Miss, since you want to get involved in this matter, what do you think?"

Lady Hong saw Li Yunxin like this for the first time—not the peaceful and gentle manner he used to put on with her, but a casual, unpretentious peaceful and gentle manner. She found it very strange how an ordinary person like Old Daoist Liu could be so favored by Li Yunxin?

Therefore, she was not very happy. She wanted to sulk—but then she remembered that Li Yunxin had told her before that he didn't like women like that, so she had to sigh in her heart: "You have already found a way out. I was supposed to teach you."

"In this situation..." Lady Hong bit her lip, "Ninth Brother was supposed to manage the Wei River before, but it was actually occupied by various demons. There are also some demons entrenched on land... living with humans for a long time, they might have settled down. They have been our neighbors for hundreds or thousands of years, and we are familiar with each other. If you want to find some people, let's find them."

At this moment, Ying Jueran had understood what they were talking about—and was dumbfounded.

He thought, what kind of people are around this Li Yunxin—they seemed to have no psychological burden when doing immoral things and saying immoral words, as if they were just chatting. This Lady Hong looked like a great demon... did she just sell out her neighbors of hundreds or thousands of years in one package?

Li Yunxin was very happy. Because this was part of the scheme he had in mind. But... it was not the entirety of it.

He was slightly silent for a while, and then suddenly laughed to himself: "What you said makes sense, but there's an even more interesting method."

Old Daoist Liu saw that he was in high spirits at the moment, and appropriately played the straight man: "The method Brother Xin thought of must be even better. What is it?"

Li Yunxin took the cue and spoke happily: "First, you need to know a basic fact—about precipitation. Precipitation is when it rains."

"The land we live on is very large. Some countries are near the sea, but more countries are inland. Our Qing Kingdom is inland. So, precipitation mainly involves water vapor condensing into clouds in the sky and then falling. But when you are far from the sea, the water vapor is scarce, so there will be drought. Do you understand this principle?"

Ying Jueran also understood this principle. He thought for a moment and said, "That's right. If the water jar is nearby, the house will be a bit moist. But... rain isn't the Dragon King..."

"That's the problem I want to talk about," Li Yunxin said with a smile, even standing up and pacing a few steps, seeming to like his new idea very much, "Logically speaking, so many places here are inland, it should have been terribly dry long ago. But look at the vicinity of Weicheng; there used to be rice paddies. This is because there are many large rivers. Another reason is the Dragon Kings in the world's water systems."

"Some rain falls on its own from the sky, and some is supplemented by the Dragon Kings of various places. A minor demon pretending to be a Dragon King might only enjoy Three Sacrificial Animals and cause rain once a month, but with so many Dragon Kings of all sizes combined, the rainfall is quite considerable—because of them, it hasn't become completely dry."

San Hua was originally sitting quietly, playing with her hair and not speaking. Hearing Li Yunxin mention "Three Sacrificial Animals," she suddenly looked up and around—finding nothing, she lowered her head and continued to space out.

Li Yunxin glanced at her and continued speaking: "But now the Daoist Orthodoxy wants to court disaster—to wage war against the demons. They have already wiped out all the major and minor demons near Weicheng, haven't they? In the future, they probably want to wipe out all the demons in the world too. So, here's the problem—if the minor demons are all dead, where will they find so many spirits to be Dragon Kings? Without this supplementary rainfall, won't the world suffer a great drought? If the world suffers a great drought, won't the people be struggling to live—will the people allow it?"

When he reached this point, the few people suddenly realized. They felt his words made perfect sense, but why hadn't they thought of it before?

Li Yunxin then showed off understandingly: "It's not your fault for not thinking of it. In this world, demons are part of the Ecological Chain. The people in the Daoist Orthodoxy don't have biologists among them, and they lack basic scientific knowledge, so naturally, they wouldn't think about what effect removing a group from the Ecological Chain would have. Even in smarter places in the world... people only realized this a little over a hundred years ago."

Old Daoist Liu was delighted to hear him speak, feeling that he had learned a lot of the "scientific and cultural knowledge" that Brother Xin often mentioned. Because of this joy, his mind became more active, and a flash of inspiration struck: "Brother Xin means—"

Li Yunxin smiled: "Tell me what you think."

"We tell these things to the people of the world. When everyone in the world knows about this, the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Sect will gradually lose the support of the people. Although their Daoist Arts are powerful, they cannot fight against the whole world—"

Li Yunxin nodded: "The general direction is correct. But the details need adjustment."

"For example, things like ecological rainfall—the people in the Daoist Orthodoxy don't understand it very well, and the common people naturally understand it even less. There's no point in trying to reason with them; they won't listen. So, we must first make them suffer. First, let the Daoist Orthodoxy truly eliminate some of the world's demons and cause a great drought in the world, so people can learn their lesson."

"But if the demons are truly mostly dead, it will be useless even if people learn their lesson later. So, we also need to save a batch and keep them somewhere in reserve. They will all be our people in the future, and we can release them to benefit the common people. And before that—" Li Yunxin looked at Lady Hong, "We will follow what you said and package up all the major demons with some cultivation nearby and sell them to the Daoist Orthodoxy, letting them have a good killing spree. Consider it killing with a borrowed knife."

He paused, then smiled again: "But we always need a justification. I propose that since we are going to protect the minor demons in the world who can be used by us, let's call our organization the Little Demon Protection Association, or Little Demon Protect for short—do you support it?"

The two people and two demons in the room looked at each other, not knowing where the joke that made Li Yunxin so happy was. But they ultimately felt that what he said made sense, and this strange-sounding name was also quite fitting.

—So, of course, they supported it.

With the discussion reaching this point, Li Yunxin clapped his hands: "That's good. Then the meeting is adjourned—the specific details will be decided later. If there are other matters, I will talk to you. Great Hero Ying—"

Ying Jueran responded.

Li Yunxin smiled and waved his hand, collecting him into the folding fan as well.

Then he nodded to Lady Hong: "You should also go and rest."

Lady Hong felt his behavior tonight was slightly odd, but she didn't know why. But this oddness was better than his usual cold attitude, so she gave a beautiful smile, hesitated to speak, and finally walked out.

San Hua seemed to not particularly like listening to these things she couldn't understand. Having heard Li Yunxin's words about "adjourning," she quickly darted out the window and ran off to play somewhere unknown.

In the hall, only Li Yunxin, Old Daoist Liu, and the unconscious Shi Kuizi remained.

At this moment, the look of joy on Li Yunxin's face faded. He first walked to Shi Kuizi's side to examine her carefully, then closed his eyes to think for a moment, and turned to Old Daoist Liu: "She's not completely gone yet. I have some methods and Talismans here to stabilize her life force. If you use them, she won't wake up but won't worsen either. If you are willing, I can try it, and perhaps we will have a way in the future. She is a mortal without much foundation... it would be easier if her cultivation were deeper."

Old Daoist Liu nodded silently.

Li Yunxin then composed his face and seriously drew in the air, using a golden light to stabilize the woman.

Then he stood up, looked at Old Daoist Liu, and sighed: "I'm truly sorry. It's all because of me."

The old Daoist was not as joyful as before. Several words reached his lips but couldn't be spoken, and finally, he just said, "Alas. It's nothing."

The two of them were silent for a while. Old Daoist Liu then looked at Li Yunxin again: "Has something been going on recently?"

Of course, a lot had been happening recently, but Li Yunxin knew what he meant. The old Taoist priest had listened to him talk about "Heartology," and although it had only been a little over a month, he had gained some understanding.

He felt that Li Yunxin's mood was somewhat strange, not the same Brother Xin as before.

Li Yunxin was slightly startled, then gently smiled: "Your eyes are still sharp. Something is going on. But it's an internal reason for myself, and it has nothing to do with others. I should be able to fight it out in my mind—at most, I'll hypnotize myself."

He spoke lightly, but Old Daoist Liu knew that things might not be so simple. However, he also knew that Brother Xin did not want to discuss this topic further, so he stopped.

"It's about other things. There were too many people just now, so I couldn't say." Li Yunxin reached out and conjured a Talisman, and an invisible force immediately enveloped the two of them. He waited for a short while before continuing, "That Young Master Yu from the Yu Family, he doesn't seem like an ordinary person to me. So it's a good thing that he wants to leave; I don't have the energy to solve mysteries right now. As for those on our side... San Hua."

He looked at Old Daoist Liu: "You know how I met her. That night at the Temple of Lady Sanhua, I knew that a highly skilled person had created her true form before, and the technique looked like it was from the Painting School. But she says she can't remember anything—her cultivation is higher than Sheriff and Shan-ji, but look at how Sheriff speaks. If you don't look closely, you would just think she's an ordinary woman."

"San Hua is too different. Now I found a body for her, and she still speaks in the same way, incoherently. I don't think this was her former manner." Li Yunxin paused, "And that night in the alley—she killed two Taoist priests of the same realm. They weren't amateurs; she must have often fought before, and her experience might even be richer than yours and mine. But if you ask her again, she still says she can't remember."

Old Daoist Liu was surprised. He thought for a long time and said, "Brother Xin means... but I don't see any malice in her."

"I don't see any either. I don't mean what you think." Li Yunxin squinted his eyes and looked out the window, "But I don't feel settled. Right now, I don't know Lady Hong's intentions, and I don't know what San Hua's past is like. The only person I can trust is you. The matter I mentioned before will be carried out soon—but I hope you can watch over these people here. Their original intentions might not be malicious, but I'm not sure if there are things even they themselves don't know about. Once we get through this crisis, I will definitely clarify these matters." (To be continued.)

Old Daoist Liu then knew that this was a heavy trust Brother Xin had placed in him. He nodded solemnly but still added a sentence: "I believe there won't be any problems."

—San Hua and the four demons spent the last phase in Weicheng with them. At that time, even Old Daoist Liu didn't know if Li Yunxin could get past Yue Yunzi, but those five demons never wavered in their loyalty. Because of this, Old Daoist Liu really did not want to see Li Yunxin's worries come true.

He knew Brother Xin liked to speculate with the greatest malice about people's intentions, and he was trying to act in the same way. But ultimately...

He still hoped that there would be more beauty in this world.

Li Yunxin smiled at him and said, "Then I'm going to get things done."

Then, like San Hua, he drifted out of the window—

At this moment, the eastern sky was turning a grayish-white.

Li Yunxin flew through the air, traveling three miles before lowering his body and landing on the water. He drew in his breath and let out a low shout: "Come!"

A moment later, a person emerged from the water, which was the blind demon, Li Shan, with the mung-bean eyes. Earlier, when Li Yunxin went to find Bai Yunxin, he told him to find his own way to survive. Unexpectedly, this Li Shan had not fled. Although he only appeared after the matter was settled, it showed that he had been secretly following him all along. He didn't expect demons to have too much courage and loyalty, so Li Shan's actions already qualified him as a "usable subordinate."

Therefore, he instructed him on a few matters, telling him to gather the demons in the lake. Now, seeing him emerge from the water with a hint of joy on his face, he knew things had gone smoothly—almost all the major demons in Dongting had been wiped out by him, so the minor demons would naturally obey orders.

Li Yunxin listened to Li Shan briefly explain the situation in the lake, and he formed a plan in his mind.

According to Li Shan... that Bai Yunxin and her maid had been wandering around the lake.

This made Li Yunxin slightly surprised.

Bai Yunxin wanted to take the Dragon Soul, and he couldn't very well say, "Then let me have a look too." Therefore, he only thought that when the Dragon Soul was stirred, a supernatural phenomenon would surely occur in the lake. It wouldn't be too late for him to go and see then. He didn't know where the Dragon Soul was, but since Bai Yunxin had come, she must know.

But now, hearing Li Shan's words—Bai Yunxin also had no clue?

In his plan, Bai Yunxin taking the Dragon Soul was an important step, and nothing could go wrong. Therefore, he decided to have a good talk with her.

Although the water creatures in Dongting didn't have deep cultivation, they were the local inhabitants of the lake, and their news was better informed. Li Yunxin asked Li Shan and learned roughly where Bai Yunxin was at the moment, so he rode the clouds and fog directly towards that location.

As the sun began to rise, he finally found Bai Yunxin's traces.

She and her maid were stopped on a small island in the lake, and a black donkey was pacing and grazing among the grass and trees. The two demonesses had spread a blanket on the grass, and on the blanket were some foods they had found from somewhere, and they were having breakfast—like ordinary young ladies and their maids out for a spring outing.

Li Yunxin found her manner very interesting, and he increasingly felt that this demoness was also a remarkable person.

But now was not the time to enjoy such leisurely pleasures.

He descended from the cloud and stopped about four or five steps away from Bai Yunxin, asking her straight away: "Miss Bai, weren't you going to take the Dragon Soul? Why are you touring the lake instead?"

Bai Yunxin glanced at him and didn't speak, slowly biting a piece of pale green Mung Bean Cake in her hand. The maid glared at Li Yunxin: "My mistress's business is none of yours."

"After all, we are comrades and friends, so appropriate concern is necessary," Li Yunxin slowly walked closer to them, watching Bai Yunxin while also slowly sitting down at the other end of the blanket—

The maid looked very unhappy, but seeing that her mistress didn't say anything, she just let out a "humph."

Li Yunxin reached out, picked up a piece of Mung Bean Cake, and took a bite, putting it into his mouth.

Then his expression changed—he had never eaten such a terrible thing, and he didn't know which small vendor had roughly made it.

But Bai Yunxin could actually eat it. Not only could she eat it, but she continuously ate two pieces. Then she stopped, wiped her hands with a white handkerchief, and said to the maid, "Where did you buy this?"

The maid thought for a moment: "It should have been in Ping City, right? Mistress, do you still remember? It was the High Sacrifice Festival that day, and we went to the night market. We saw a young girl selling this, and you said you hadn't tasted it, so you bought a lot."

Bai Yunxin thought for a moment: "Oh. This is terrible. Next time we go, find that young girl for me."

Then she looked at Li Yunxin: "What are you doing? Do you want the Dragon Soul too?"

Li Yunxin smiled: "I don't want the Dragon Soul, but I need your cooperation on a few matters. Also... there are some questions that have been in my mind that I want to ask you—they've been hidden for a long time."

Bai Yunxin frowned and thought for a moment: "What do you want to ask?"

"The matter of the Ghost Emperor," Li Yunxin said, "That Emperor Zhaowu of the Ye Dynasty. He was a mortal when he was alive... how did you come to owe him a favor? This is baffling. It's been bothering me greatly."

The little maid suddenly covered her mouth and laughed softly. Her gaze towards Li Yunxin, which had been somewhat anxious, now turned into schadenfreude.

Bai Yunxin, however, looked calm: "You want to know about this?"

Li Yunxin looked at the sky: "Anyway, we have nothing to do for the time being, so why don't we chat and deepen our friendship? Once this knot in my heart is untied, I can also tell you other things. It wouldn't be good if I knew nothing about you, only to discover in the end that you are also connected to the Daoist Orthodoxy."

Bai Yunxin sat up straight and looked at Li Yunxin: "This matter, huh. It's quite interesting, actually."

She smiled when she said this, and after the smile, her expression became calm again.

Li Yunxin felt she was trying to recall something.

So, he waited for a while. Then he heard Bai Yunxin speak calmly: "It should have been a few hundred years ago."

Lu Zhengyang, the last Emperor of the Ye Dynasty, was a handsome man when he was young. In a world like this, being an emperor was a top-notch job. Because the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Sect existed—the Daoist Orthodoxy hoped for peace, stability, and population growth in the world. Therefore, they were very reluctant to see dynastic changes.

Because of this reason, there had been almost no successful "peasant uprisings" in thousands of years of history—rebellions that initially formed a scale would be suppressed by the government troops, and once their power became too large for a single kingdom to suppress, either people from the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Sect would intervene, or neighboring countries would assist.

The relationship between kingdoms was also peaceful in this way—to launch a massive unauthorized attack was to be an enemy of the world's mystical sects.

Therefore, the emperors knew that their thrones were secure, that neighboring countries would not easily start a war, and they also knew that if they caused the people in their own country to struggle and suffer, they would be replaced... In such circumstances, both the emperor and the common people were relatively stable.

Therefore, this last Emperor Lu Zhengyang of the Ye Dynasty, when he was young, did not know what kind of fate awaited him. He thought he would live out his life enjoying extreme glory, just like his ancestors.

But things started to change one summer.

That summer was unusually hot, and the world suffered a great drought. The emperor therefore decided to go on an inspection tour to understand the hardships of the people—though it was mostly for pleasure.

When Lu Zhengyang toured to Goddess Mountain in Qingzhou, he discovered an unknown temple on the mountain. This temple had been hidden in the forest for a long, long time, and the temple name had been worn away, even the most knowledgeable scholars around the emperor could not deduce from the ancient texts in their minds who was worshipped in this temple and what its origin was.

This small interlude made the young emperor happy, so he ignored the obstruction of his attendants and walked into the temple.

He found a portrait inside the temple, a painting of a woman. Even though the emperor had countless beautiful concubines, he was still stunned when he saw the woman in the painting. The young emperor was captivated by her, and after staring at her blankly for a quarter of an hour, he sighed and said, "If I could share a bed with such a beauty even for one night, it would be worth exchanging my kingdom for it."

The attendants and the conservative scholars thought it was inappropriate for the emperor to say such a thing, but no one dared to spoil the emperor's mood.

After Lu Zhengyang said this, he ordered someone to take down the portrait worshipped in the temple and keep it with him.

An attendant went to take the portrait. But as soon as his hand touched the portrait, he saw the woman's face in the painting rapidly wither and decay, and soon the painting turned into ashes.

When the emperor ascended the mountain, the sky was clear and the sun was blazing. But at the moment the painting was destroyed, the sky suddenly changed, and a thunderous rainstorm broke out.

With the torrential rain pouring down, they couldn't descend the mountain.

The Ye Kingdom had been suffering from a great drought before, and now it was afflicted by a flood. Many rivers within the kingdom overflowed their banks, and the people were displaced, with countless dead and injured—it turned out to be a super rainstorm that almost covered half of the Ye Kingdom.

Lu Zhengyang then felt that something was wrong, so he hastily returned to Wei Capital—which is today's Weicheng.

After returning to the capital, he summoned the Taoist priests of Wei Capital and asked if such a disaster from the heavens was because the emperor had lost his virtue. The Taoist priests listened to the emperor describe the events of that day and only laughed, saying that it was not a proper deity, but merely a spirit from the mountains and wilds that had occupied a divine position and received some offerings. A torrential rain of seven days and seven nights was not something that kind of spirit could cause, and they told the emperor not to worry.

Although the Taoist priests of the Daoist Orthodoxy said so, the emperor was still uneasy.

So, he offered sacrifices to the Black and White Yama Kings.

The royal sacrifices were naturally generous. Coupled with Lu Zhengyang's unease, the offerings were even more generous—so even the Yama King was moved.

The White Yama King then appeared in the emperor's dream at night, saying that he would guarantee his throne to be secure and his kingdom to last long, so he could be relieved and not worry.

Lu Zhengyang was truly relieved after receiving the Yama King's guarantee and offered many more sacrifices.

For ordinary people, the Black and White Yama Kings were true deities, more mysterious and noble than the Immortals of the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Sect... how could he not be relieved?

Subsequently... the displaced people rose in rebellion. (To be continued.)

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