Inner Demons

When he woke up, Li Yunxin was in darkness and heard the sound of iron rings rubbing against each other.

He quickly realized the sound was coming from his own body—his hands and feet were bound, tied to something. He was lying on the cold stone floor, like a prisoner in a dungeon.

But he did not immediately get up or speak, but instead lay there with his eyes open in the darkness for a while.

This feeling was uncommon—not just being "captured" or "bound," but also the feeling of a person waking up from a dream, feeling soft all over, as if he had experienced a solid, long dream.

It must be said that he had not "slept" for a long time.

But having experienced it now, the feeling was not bad.

He then tried to break free, but failed.

This meant that what was restraining him was no ordinary object. Otherwise, if it were merely steel, it would be nothing more than spider silk in his eyes.

The objects on his body were probably not originally used to restrain him. He was currently in human form, and he could roughly feel that the iron chain links were massive, each ring the size of a sea bowl. This thing... would be perfectly suited for a whale.

A hole opened up somewhere in the extremely distant void above his head, which meant he was deep and vast underground. By the yellowish light, he made out the figure of the Evil King—the giant demon general descended from above, landing in front of Li Yunxin after a moment.

The Evil King actually held a lamp like a person. But the light of this lamp seemed to be enveloped by some invisible force; the light could not shoot out beyond five steps. Everything within five steps was clearly visible, but beyond five steps, it was still a deep, heavy blackness.

The Evil King landed in front of Li Yunxin and stared at him in silence for a while.

Li Yunxin tried to sit up—he succeeded.

Four thick iron chains were on his body, coming from somewhere in the darkness, almost burying him. The chains were pitch black, some links filled with mud, emitting a heavy moldy smell.

So he smiled: "This is no way to treat a guest."

But the Evil King clearly had no intention of engaging in a friendly exchange with him. The Great Demon General stretched out a hand, and one of the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll fell in front of Li Yunxin. The iron plate was stuck into the mud—the Evil King pointed at the iron plate and said in a deep voice: "Speak, how to use this treasure."

Li Yunxin raised his hands.

The Evil King frowned slightly, but still pointed a finger from a distance, and the iron chain restraining his right hand detached and quickly retracted.

But other sounds were heard in the darkness... sounding like the friction of iron chains and bones.

Li Yunxin temporarily ignored this sound. At this moment, his attention was focused on the iron plate in front of him.

He stood up with a little effort and pulled the iron plate over with one hand. Then he scratched at the seam between the two iron plates with his fingernail—the iron plates were pried open by him. Then his finger traced the seam all the way down... the two iron plates were separated.

Li Yunxin finally saw the true appearance of one of the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll, the Wu Song Angrily Beats Kitty Meow.

Then... his expression showed a moment of stunned blankness.

And then he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Because he remembered when he was a child, living in a mountain village, his parents had talked about this painting in a solemn yet ethereal tone. One of the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll—the pinnacle state achievable by Painting Daoists, a supreme treasure of the world, a relic of the Painting Saint with immense power.

But in reality... almost no one had seen what the Painting Saint's handwriting looked like—at least no one had seen it in the past thousand years.

At that time, Li Yunxin thought there were probably two reasons.

Firstly, the world said that the Painting Saint became a demon. Since he became a demon, it was natural that the things of the Great Demon should be seen as little as possible. The Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Sect would keep them hidden.

Secondly... it was said that a long, long time ago, when the Painting Saint was alive, he also did not easily show his handwriting to others. This point was easy to understand. A master of that level was always mysterious and unpredictable.

Previously, at the Weicheng Qionghua Tower, when Lingkongzi met Li Yunxin at the banquet, Li Yunxin created a Precious Scroll—the Pervert's Meal Painting.

At that time, Lingkongzi was moved and asked him if the Painting Saint was still alive and if he had any relation to the Painting Saint. And she said that Li Yunxin's style of painting was similar to that of the Painting Saint.

At that time, he didn't understand.

But now, at the moment when he truly saw the genuine work of the Painting Saint in this unknown dark room...

Many of his former doubts were answered.

...

Li Yunxin was silent for a while, not knowing how to express himself.

Because this painting was as tall as he was and half as wide as he was. Such a large painting...

The actual content was only the size of two palms.

It was like... something a five or six-year-old child just starting to doodle had scribbled crookedly with a brush.

There was a "person" in the painting. It should be a person... The body was a black line, and the limbs were also black lines. The hands were five short lines, and the head was a circle. Inside the circle were two smaller circles, with two dots in the middle—

This thing should be a person.

The person's posture was twisted and the lines were uneven in thickness, but it could be seen that he was bent over, raising his fist, about to hit something.

As for what he was hitting...

He was hitting a Kitty Cat.

That's right, it was a Kitty. The kind of white Kitty Cat that little girls of that time liked, with a pink bow on its head.

In fact... compared to that "person," the cat was painted excellently—at least at the level of a second-grader in elementary school.

The cat's two eyes were two blackened dots.

...They were the black dots revealed through the holes opened in the iron plate.

A person was pressed on a mountain of Kitty Cat and was poised to strike her with a fist. Below them was a piece of... probably a rock. The rock was on a small hill—the hill was represented by a semicircle. Next to it was something that looked like a tree, and in the sky, circles of lines were drawn with orange pigment... was that supposed to represent the setting sun?

"Wu Song Angrily Beats Kitty Meow," Li Yunxin sighed with emotion, staring at this piece, one of the "Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll," for a long time, truly not knowing how to evaluate it.

Now he knew why few people saw the Painting Saint's handwriting. And he also knew why the Evil King... sealed the painting with iron plates.

...He was probably embarrassed.

At the same time, he developed a strong skepticism about Lingkongzi's eye for art.

He thought that she had been mocking him at the time, not complimenting him.

The Evil King initially watched him with cold eyes, expressionless. But after Li Yunxin couldn't help but laugh, fell silent, and then laughed again, he finally yelled at him: "What's so funny?! This is the authentic work!"

Actually, Li Yunxin was able to understand the current psychological state of this Profound Realm Great Demon. So he forced himself not to laugh anymore and comforted him: "Alright, alright, I understand, I know it's the authentic work—hahahaha!"

The Evil King looked as if he had been insulted and was about to snatch the painting from Li Yunxin's hands. But Li Yunxin quickly grabbed the painting, tried to compose his expression within three breaths, and cautiously extended his Spiritual Power into the painting, trying to understand the flow of Spiritual Power within it.

Soon... his expression became serious and solemn.

He held the scroll, his eyes half-closed, his brow slightly furrowed. After remaining silent for a quarter of an hour, he suddenly raised his left hand and shook it, without saying anything.

The Evil King understood his meaning—at this moment, Li Yunxin looked like an extremely absorbed contemplative who had no time to think about the outside world. The other party wanted him to unlock the restraint on his left hand.

The Evil King hesitated slightly, then pointed his finger again.

The iron chain on the left hand also detached.

Then Li Yunxin switched the scroll to his left hand, and with his right hand, he formed a sword-finger, tracing along the humorous and naive lines, extremely slowly, little by little, following the brushstrokes in the void, as if every movement required all his strength.

In just two breaths of time, sweat was already pouring down his head like a fountain.

His finger first landed on one of the person's arms. That arm was only the length of one finger.

But... Li Yunxin's finger only traced half the length of the arm before falling weakly. He himself suddenly raised his head, panting heavily, as if his body had been pressed under ten thousand meters of deep sea for hundreds of years and had finally surfaced, able to breathe.

He stared at the Evil King, then at the painting, his face covered in sweat, murmuring in astonishment: "...How can it be... like this?"

When his father taught him the Dao of Painting and Calligraphy, he once said that paintings of extremely high artistic and profound conceptual realms should not be viewed easily by ordinary people or even low-level cultivators. Once someone forcefully attempted to comprehend them, the Spiritual Power in the painting could backlash, causing those with insufficient cultivation to pay a terrible price.

But Li Yunxin had never encountered the kind of treasure his father spoke of—until he saw this thing.

Ordinary paintings have clear pathways for the circulation of spiritual energy, like the meridians of the human body, leading everywhere. When he followed those pathways, there were always traces to follow.

But within this scroll... those pathways could hardly be called "lines" anymore!

Countless complex and indescribable circulations of Spiritual Power overlapped and intertwined, forming a dense and intricate space. If the traces he usually saw in paintings were "lines," then the "lines" in this one had already woven into "cloth."

He tried to find a "thread end" to follow, but even with all his concentration, he couldn't follow it far, and instead was quickly enveloped, almost sinking into it and suffering a backlash!

It was only then that he truly realized...

This was indeed the relic of the Painting Saint.

It was a Dao of Painting and Calligraphy that had far surpassed his ability to comprehend—every subtle circulation of Spiritual Power was integrated into this heaven and earth. This painting was no longer a mere painting, but had become a part of this world!

The naive lines on the scroll itself were merely superficial appearances.

The artistic realm of the painter was so high that... it had completely transcended the stage of needing to use images to represent concepts.

And the "casual" imagery on the scroll precisely demonstrated the painter's terrifying power.

Li Yunxin stood frozen for a long time, unable to speak.

At the Qionghua Tower, he had also playfully painted, creating that one meal painting. The Artificers present thought he was unconventional, but that "unconventional" painting was a Precious Scroll. Now, he also experienced the feelings of those Artificers at that time.

He himself back then... was truly, despicable...

What an arrogant Painting Saint!

Seeing his appearance, the Evil King widened his eyes and said in a deep voice: "What's wrong?"

Li Yunxin did not answer him immediately. Instead, he pondered for a while longer, then casually tossed the painting to the Evil King.

The Evil King was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected Li Yunxin, after personally holding this treasure, to return it with such a nonchalant attitude, without any reluctance.

"What exactly have you suppressed here?"

After two more breaths of time, Li Yunxin raised his head and asked him in a serious and solemn tone. (To be continued.)

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