Inner Demons

Note: This chapter may cause physiological discomfort. Reading may affect the dining experience.

The Evil King old Demon occupies Stone Forest Mountain and Nine Bends Gorge. But his influence actually covers an area of a thousand miles around, making him one of the most prominent great Demons within the Qing Kingdom.

Therefore, his "laws" are very strict. All the Demon Kings who come here for the meeting cannot just swagger into Trapped Sky Mountain—they must be thoroughly inspected before being allowed to enter.

This inspection is not to check for anything else, but to verify their true identity, to see if they are genuinely a Demon King or someone disguised as one. This was not the Evil King’s idea, but Seven-Segment Brocade’s—she was afraid that some people from the Daoist Orthodoxy might sneak in and cause trouble.

The item she used for the inspection was the Evil King's magic treasure, the "True Eye".

It is said that the appearance of this True Eye was well known to the Demons in Trapped Sky Mountain. Although the Evil King could not let every little Demon hold and play with it, he did not treat it as a forbidden item. This was because the magic treasure was very large, and it could genuinely only be used to distinguish between true and false.

But why such an item became the Evil King's famous "magic treasure" is a mystery that few people know.

On this day, Seven-Segment Brocade was guarding the only entrance to Trapped Sky Mountain, sitting on a large chair covered with a tiger skin. She was surrounded by dozens of Demon soldiers for crowd control, verifying the identities of the Demon Kings one by one.

The Demon Kings arrived sporadically, and Seven-Segment Brocade waited quietly.

However, both Seven-Segment Brocade and the little Demons around her had long been tired of this scenery. Thus, she leaned back in the big chair and sunbathed, and the little Demons were also lying or leaning, basking lazily in the sun around her—to an outsider looking from afar, they might have looked like a young woman enjoying family happiness with a group of her children and grandchildren.

Only when a Demon King approached from afar would the little Demons jump up with renewed energy. If it was a great Demon, then so be it. But if it was a minor Demon King from some place, they would first swarm up to search them. This "searching" was actually "scrounging"—taking everything they found appealing, and only then would they be brought to Seven-Segment Brocade for interrogation.

Those minor Demon Kings feared the Evil King's might, so they dared not argue with these Demon soldiers and simply swallowed their pride. After being thoroughly searched, they would approach Seven-Segment Brocade—

This was when the "True Eye" was used to verify their identity.

The "True Eye" was very large, about six feet long and three feet wide. When stood upright, it was taller than a person.

It looked like a massive iron plate—and it was indeed an iron plate. The Evil King used two iron plates as the casing to wrap the treasure inside. But there was a small hole in the iron plate—about the size of a thumb tip, revealing a black dot.

If any person with a basic understanding of writing were to look at it... they would think the black dot was actually an ink mark.

But the "Eye" in the name of this magic treasure, "True Eye," refers to this object.

When the Demon King came close to Seven-Segment Brocade, they were told to look at the iron plate—at the black dot on the iron plate.

After looking, they were asked what they saw. The one who answered correctly was the genuine article; the one who answered incorrectly was an impostor.

So far today, sixty-three Demon Kings had arrived, and no one had been found to be impersonating another. And those Demon Kings were also unlikely to realize that this was the Evil King's famous magic treasure—who would casually take out a magic treasure and prop it up on the ground?

It was past noon when another person was seen walking slowly from a distance.

This person looked like a scholar, dressed in white. He walked at the edge of the heat-shimmering horizon, and his figure appeared distorted due to the twisting air. Great Demons attending the meeting all brought Demon Generals; only minor Demon Kings of no consequence came alone. Looking at his attire, it was obvious that he was accustomed to interacting with humans.

Great Demon Kings who occupied mountains and wilds would not dress like this—they were wilder and more rugged. This wildness and ruggedness included, but was not limited to, using human bones as decorations, being naked, and applying various oils and paints.

But someone dressed like him implied closeness to human towns. Being close and not yet killed by Taoist priests or Sword Cultivators meant either that they were so powerful that the opposing side was helpless, or they were simply content to be a "good person." The Demon soldiers generally believed this one belonged to the latter.

It also meant he would have many good human possessions.

Human possessions were rare—there was only one Dingyi City near Stone Forest Mountain. The people and goods in that city were for the Evil King to enjoy, so they had no such fortune. So they jumped up again, rubbing their fists and palms, ready to scavenge some benefits from him.

When the person approached unhurriedly, Seven-Segment Brocade finally lifted her eyelids and glanced at him.

After this glance, she was slightly startled, then sat up straight, staring at him carefully.

The Demon soldiers also saw him clearly and were all stunned.

This Demon King was truly strange—he looked too much like a human. It was not too odd that a more powerful Demon would look more human when transformed. But the stranger part was that he was not only human-like but also very handsome. Even if placed in a human town, he would definitely be considered a handsome man, right?!

This was indeed too rare among Demons.

He approached, his footsteps making a crackle, crackle sound on the gravel, and he bowed to the group of Demons with a smile: "I am here for the meeting."

Listening to him speak, he sounded even more like a human.

The Demons were so taken aback that it took a while for someone to ask him harshly, "Which mountain's Demon King are you? How come we've never seen you?"

The handsome man ignored the speaker, instead looking at Seven-Segment Brocade and smiling slightly: "I am of the aquatic race, formerly residing near the Dongting. I also have some soldiers and generals under my command. I went out on business some time ago, but unexpectedly, the Dongting was sealed, leaving me unable to return home. I heard the Evil King was holding an assembly of Demons here, so I came to see if I could find a post. Oh... back when I was in the Dongting, they all called me Debonair Jade-Faced Little Silver Dragon."

The Demon soldiers looked at each other when they heard his title, not understanding what it meant.

Seven-Segment Brocade, however, laughed: "Your title... is quite fitting. You truly look like a romantic scholar."

She thought for a moment and added: "Although you are not a local Demon King, judging by your appearance, your cultivation is not low. You are pleasing to my eye, so I will let you in, but you must not wander aimlessly after entering Trapped Sky Mountain, lest you get caught."

The "Debonair Jade-Faced Little Silver Dragon" immediately bowed in thanks, saying, "Thank you, Celestial Sister. My cultivation is not high, but I am in the Turning Illusory to Real Realm. I promise not to disappoint you."

The Demon soldiers originally intended to pounce, but seeing the current situation, they held back—they all knew that the snake Demon, Seven-Segment Brocade, was fond of handsome men. But which handsome man they had seen before could compare to this Little Silver Dragon?

Seven-Segment Brocade accepted his flattery with a smile and pointed to the large iron plate nearby: "Take a look at this."

The Little Silver Dragon stepped closer and looked, wondering, "What is this?"

Seven-Segment Brocade still smiled and looked at him: "Look into the hole in this iron plate, what do you see inside?"

The newcomer then found the hole, composed his expression, and stared intently at it for a while. After a good five or six breaths, he turned to look at Seven-Segment Brocade: "I see an eye."

Seven-Segment Brocade stared at him and asked, "What kind of eye?"

The "Debonair Jade-Faced Little Silver Dragon" thought for a moment and replied, "At first glance, it looks like a cat's eye. But looking at the fierce and sinister gaze, it doesn't seem like a cat. If you ask me, it's either a leopard's eye or a tiger's eye."

Seven-Segment Brocade then smiled again: "Good. You have insight—go in!"

The Little Silver Dragon bowed once more to Seven-Segment Brocade and stepped toward the entrance. The gate of Trapped Sky Mountain was a stone gate, opened at the foot of the mountain. It should have originally been a naturally irregular cave. Now, human or animal bones and skulls were used to decorate the cave entrance, serving as a facade.

Upon entering, one first walked through a deep, secluded passage. Although spacious, it was cold and damp, even dripping water. This was a stark contrast to the dryness and heat outside. After walking for about a quarter of an hour, he saw the light at the end and heard the sound from inside the cave. Just as he had anticipated... the sounds were a confusing mix, impossible to discern clearly.

Only Demons with deep cultivation spoke human language. Most low-cultivation Demons communicated through body language and primitive howling. But some Demon Kings, although highly cultivated, stayed with a group of small Demons—to whom would they speak human language? Over time, they also stopped liking to speak human words.

The sound he heard now was such a clamor, along with... a strong smell of blood.

—Li Yunxin frowned slightly.

He had originally thought that the Evil King, like the Lord of Dongting, was a super-great Demon and should be more human-like. Who knew that the scene here would be like this?

That smell of blood... although he couldn't tell if it was human or animal. But with a group of Demons gathered here, the answer was obvious.

He did not like this kind of feast at all.

So he sighed softly, took two more steps forward, and his vision suddenly opened up.

What he saw was a hollowed-out mountain body.

Looking down, plunging dozens of meters underground, was a frighteningly vast subterranean square. Looking up was an endless darkness—it turned out that this entire mountain peak was hollow, not composed of one stone chamber after another as he had surmised. He was currently standing on a "cliff," with narrow paths carved out on the left and right sides, tightly against the rock wall. These paths were densely packed, crisscrossing as far as the eye could see. Some led underground, and some spiraled along the rock wall to higher ground. Some doors opened into the rock face, likely leading to rooms—where the hundreds of Demons of Trapped Sky Mountain must reside.

Currently, countless torches were burning in the underground square, which looked dazzling and brilliant at first glance. And this golden yellow was dotted with red, making the color scheme quite pleasant. However, this pleasure likely belonged to the Demons, not to any human being.

This was because there was a large pool in the square, and the liquid in the pool was red. Since there was no red wine in this world, it was clear what the red liquid was.

On the south side of the field, there was a row of large wooden cages crammed together, filled with people. Li Yunxin counted them roughly; there were probably a hundred people.

Dozens of Demon Kings had arrived, some with retinues. Plus the small Demons of Trapped Sky Mountain busy in the field, the two or three hundred Demons in the square did not seem crowded but were certainly not deserted.

And the little Demons of Trapped Sky Mountain were currently busy in an orderly fashion.

Some were lifting people out of the cages; some specialized in stripping clothes.

The old, weak, sick, and disabled were stripped of their clothes, their heads swiftly chopped off with a single stroke to drain the blood. After bleeding, specialized Demons would dismember and debone them, removing the skin, and sending the parts to the west side of the field to be steamed, fried, boiled, or roasted.

If the person lifted out was strong and sturdy, and a bit fat, they would also be stripped of their clothes. But their mouths would be gagged, and their hands and feet would be bound like pigs or dogs. They would be sent to the seating areas of the Demon Kings, where an incision would be made in their neck with a skewer, and they would be hung up like wineskins to bleed fresh blood for drinking.

Dozens of small Demons were cooking, frying, and roasting humans as ingredients, and screams were constant. But the Demons loved these screams, which saved them the need for songs and dances.

Other Demons serving dishes in a constant stream, or the Demon soldiers and Demon Generals brought by the various Demons, lost control when their masters were eating and drinking excitedly, and ran around the field—mostly running toward the piles of corpses.

In the southwest of the main hall, there was a large heap, piled with the human bones that had been removed, and discarded internal organs and offal. When Li Yunxin saw it, it was already as high as a small hill; he didn't know how many people had already been killed. Blood and various bodily fluids mixed together, overflowing everywhere, and the stench was overwhelming. But the little Demons loved this smell, gathering in groups of three or five—the bolder ones would steal and eat the coiled intestines, their mouths dripping with fresh blood; the less daring ones only dared to pick up bloody bones to satisfy their craving, but they also chewed them crisply and happily.

The small Demons of Trapped Sky Mountain would drive them away. But these little Demons were not creatures that could be reasoned with, and they often fought and wrestled, perhaps resulting in one or two deaths. The Demon Kings ignored them, instead watching and laughing heartily.

Li Yunxin... stood at the cave entrance, staring at this scene for a long time.

This was the first time he had witnessed such a sight.

He had seen Demons eating people before. He had seen Young Master Nine eating people, and the Lord of Dongting eating people. However... he had never seen so many Demons eating so many people.

At this moment, he wasn't quite sure what emotions were in his heart—whether it was shock, disgust, or fear.

He watched from above for a while and then noticed five people—yes, five "people."

But these five people were not locked in cages, nor were they bound, nor were they corpses.

They were five people, fully dressed, sitting around a stone table. The stone table was just below the entrance. If Li Yunxin hadn't walked a few steps forward and looked down carefully, he might not have noticed them.

The light in their area was dim; a torch was stuck in the rock wall only far away. A lot of wine jars were piled here, some taller than a person. These wine jars were lined up, nearly a hundred in number, forming a wall. Behind the "wall" were piled some bags, perhaps containing rice, flour, oil, or other miscellaneous items. And these five people formed a table in this pile of sundries, far away from the other Demons...

They were drinking wine and eating meat.

Li Yunxin narrowed his eyes and stared at them expressionlessly for a while—he happened to see a small Demon carrying a steaming pot enter, weaving its way through, and with a thud, placed the pot at the feet of the five people, said a few words to them, and then left.

Li Yunxin knew the soup in the pot was made of human meat and human bones, and it seemed the five people also knew it. But they knew, and they did not mind in the slightest. They laughingly scooped it out, grabbed it with their hands, and gnawed on it until their mouths were covered in oil. After a few bites, if they felt a little greasy, they would pick up a bowl and drink wine, and then continue eating.

The clothing of one of these five people was something Li Yunxin had seen two people wear before.

One was Captain Xing of Qinghe County, and the other was Head Constable Yin of Weicheng Liuhe Prefecture. Black official robes, square hats, with a peacock feather stuck in the hat.

These five people were one Head Constable and four constables.

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