Inner Demons

The Evil King was slightly stunned, then frowned: "How can one personally witness that? I only remember it—events from over two thousand years ago, no one could have personally witnessed them."

"Then what about you?" Li Yunxin asked gently, "It is said a Pangolin dug through a great mountain to release you. You are a great demon, so before you achieved the Dao (enlightenment), do you remember yourself? What were you before?"

The Evil King was blank for a moment: "What?"

"I mean, for example, your true form was a scorpion. You achieved the Dao and became a spirit, transforming into human form—do you remember what happened before you took human form?"

But the Evil King was blank again for a moment: "What?"

The tone and expression were identical to a moment ago.

Li Yunxin stared at him, remaining silent for a while, realizing what was going on.

This was... a background story. The Evil King and that Old Devil Fulu were demons who had been created. They remembered "their own origins," but if asked about anything before that...

They "crashed."

Lady Sanhua's current body was also created by him. But the difference between her and them was probably that the soul possessing the body was not created—which is why she didn't exhibit this kind of situation, right?

He stopped asking and just told the Evil King to continue.

Sure enough, the blank look on the great demon's face vanished. He continued his story.

"After the Old Devil Fulu nurtured his seven sons, a great event occurred one day. A Pangolin achieved the Dao and, by its nature, loved to tunnel around underground. Later, that creature befriended the Old Devil Fulu and came to visit me with him. The Pangolin was restless and burrowed deep underground again. As a result of this burrowing, a disaster was unleashed—"

The Evil King frowned slightly as he spoke, as if those events had truly happened and were vivid in his memory: "It dug up this thing."

He pointed to the gigantic skeleton behind Li Yunxin: "This creature is the Primordial Flood Old Devil, which was originally lying dormant underground. It was awakened by the Pangolin, emerged into the world, and wreaked havoc. Our struggle against it left us constantly on the back foot, living precariously. The Old Devil Fulu's seven children were also captured by him, placed in an elixir furnace, and refined into a magical treasure."

"Alas, if it had refined them into a magical treasure, what a terrible thing that would have been?" The Evil King sighed and said, "The Old Devil Fulu also possessed a treasure, called the Seven-Colored Lotus Pod. He and I snuck into the Primordial Flood Old Devil's lair and sacrificed the Seven-Colored Lotus Pod—the lotus pod sucked in his seven children, instantly transforming into a towering mountain that directly suppressed the Primordial Flood Old Devil underneath!"

"The Old Devil Fulu's magical treasure was intrinsically linked to his life force and knew its lifespan was also drawing to an end. So, it transformed again into these countless iron vines, further binding the old devil. Thus... we managed to exterminate him!"

Li Yunxin listened quietly. After thinking for a moment, he said, "But this thing is so huge, yet there are no records of it. People have been living in this vicinity for two thousand years. Yet, there have never been any related legends in the mundane world. Is this event... also something you remember?"

The Evil King stared: "Of course I remember it! Of course, it's true!"

"But according to you, the Old Devil Fulu's seven children were sucked in and transformed into a mountain to suppress the Primordial Flood Old Devil. How are they doing well now?"

The Evil King sighed: "Naturally, they drilled out of the mountain after the suppression."

He raised his hand and pointed above: "My Trapped Sky Mountain was once the mountain they formed. When they came out, the mountain became hollow inside. It's a pity. They don't know the truth of the past. I also don't wish to tell them, and now they actually believe that I harmed the Old Devil Fulu."

Li Yunxin stared at him for a while, realizing that what this one was saying was heartfelt.

He stopped asking further—because he was genuinely afraid of finding out something bad.

At this point, he felt like he understood some things.

The massive dead bones behind him were certainly not dug out from underground by a Pangolin as the Evil King claimed. According to the "background story," the one dug out was the Evil King. But the Painting Saint seemed to have fine-tuned the narrative through other means.

Li Yunxin believed that the Painting Saint created all these seemingly pointless things here just to suppress these dead bones. First, suppress them, and then create some demons to guard them. As for why there are "background stories" and false memories...

He felt that this might be a key point. It was the key point of this entire matter, and also the key point of his own current Dao of Painting cultivation.

Based on his current thoughts, it was probably related to things like Vow Power. However, he now dared not make casual conjectures or deduce the intricacies of it—because that painting had truly shaken him. He used to think he was a genius, with extremely high ability and comprehension, and that his understanding of the Dao of Painting was among the best of his time. But after seeing the Painting Saint's remains just now, he realized he was nothing more than a frog in a well.

It was precisely for this reason that he stopped asking.

But the problem was that even if this Evil King was "created," he was still a great demon with extremely high cultivation.

He was originally here to harm him. But after seeing the painting, he changed his mind—and planned to trick him into handing it over. Now that he had learned so many things, his mind changed again—he no longer dared to take this painting.

Who knew what changes would occur if he took the painting away, or if that terrifying dead bone behind him would come back to life?

Who knew what terrifying thing that dead bone actually was?!

This world... had too many supernatural elements, and too many secrets. He used to have an immense sense of superiority toward this world. However, more and more events were slowly eroding his original playful mindset—he was gradually realizing that he seemed to be in the middle of a game.

And the players running this game were the most terrifying people in this world. They began setting up the game and competing a very long time ago. The visible and invisible, the audible and silent war began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, still unfinished. From birth, he was dragged into this game, and now he was becoming increasingly important in it.

But this also meant he was sinking deeper and deeper.

Li Yunxin sighed: "Alright. Maybe what you said is true. It sounds like you're not such a bad fellow. Let's make a deal: I'll teach you how to use the ancient scroll, and you let me go. How about that?"

The Evil King... blinked, and thought for a while. He was hesitating.

And the reason for his hesitation was Li Yunxin.

In fact, from the moment he met this great demon, Li Yunxin had been trying to influence him. It should have been futile—he didn't know the demon very well, and the other party was highly vigilant. However, later the Evil King sealed him inside the painting.

For a Painting Daoist... the painting was his home turf.

He was a successor of the Painting Saint's lineage. Although his realm and cultivation were worlds apart from that mysterious Saint, certain principles were always connected. When they spoke, he couldn't see any flaws in the environment, but it was different during intense fighting. The environment within the painting was materialized from the true essence of the painting. He and the Evil King ravaged that patch of Land God territory; the aura of the painting was consequently agitated—it had to repair the environment within the scroll, it couldn't remain in that desolate state.

And once the aura moved, there were traces to follow. For an ordinary Painting Daoist, finding the flowing aura in such a complex painting, and utilizing it and influencing it, would be as difficult as ascending to heaven. However, Li Yunxin was not one of those withered "Painting Daoists" who were kept by the Daoist Orthodoxy or the Sword Sect in the present day.

He found certain flow paths of Spiritual Power during the fight, and he utilized them.

In that place... utilizing them meant having limited ability to "control the world within the painting."

This was also the reason why he, a demon of the True Realm, could survive the full-force assault of the Profound Realm Evil King. But at the same time, he did something else—the thing he was best at. During the fight, he also manipulated the painting's aura to cause certain conscious-level influences on the Evil King, though it couldn't be done perfectly at the time.

However, planting a seed in the heart was enough.

When he woke up and found himself in the darkness, he was secretly pleased.

And when the Evil King appeared with a lamp—a dim environment, flickering light. These were two of his favorite factors.

In such an environment, facing someone who already had a seed planted in their heart, he could do a lot.

For example, right now.

If Li Yunxin had made this request an hour ago, the Evil King would have certainly scoffed and mocked him for wishful thinking. But now, the Evil King had hesitated for long enough.

—The "Dragon's Son" in front of him made him experience strange emotions. This emotion was gradually dissolving the hostility in his heart, making his will increasingly waver. He even wondered, what if he let him go?

This Dragon's Son looked gentle, and spoke gently... like someone who would keep a promise.

If he spoke nicely with him—he had no enmity with the Dragon Clan, so he might not harm him, and perhaps they could even become good friends. As for others, and other matters...

What did it matter?

So, the Evil King's eyes finally softened. He thought for a moment and spoke: "I originally had no enmity with you. If someone hadn't reported to me that you might come here to trick and harm me, we wouldn't be in this situation. You... if you can promise me not to spread the word about this ancient scroll, and at the same time teach me how to use this treasure, what would be the harm in me letting you go? Perhaps we can even become friends in the future, often drinking and having fun. That would be a wonderful thing."

Li Yunxin smiled and nodded: "Good. I promise you everything. But first, unlock my feet."

This time, the Evil King didn't hesitate. He pointed a finger from a distance, and the iron chains on Li Yunxin's feet were also unlocked.

So, he quietly let out a breath.

Those iron chains did have some trick to them—when he was locked up just now, even the flow of Spiritual Power in his body was not smooth. He really didn't know what they were made of—could they really be formed from the "Old Devil Fulu" after all!

But right now, he didn't want to pursue these matters—he just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

It had been nearly a day since he left Dongting; he had to return as soon as possible. Otherwise, "certain people" would become worried.

But right at that moment...

A low, rumbling sound, like muffled thunder, suddenly rang out above their heads.

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