Inner Demons

Chapter 101: Traveling Palace

Liu Ling started to grow fond of silence. Li Yunxin couldn't see her expression clearly, but he could sense an emotion in these silences that he was happy to see.

It was a while before she spoke again. "You truly don't cherish your life."

"Alas."

"Perhaps it's precisely because you're like this... that you became a genius."

"It's a shame. Originally..." She glanced at Li Yunxin. "Originally, if you had returned to the mountain with me, perhaps you wouldn't have had to die."

After walking a few more steps, they could see the city gates in the distance. By the side of the road was a rest pavilion for travelers to shelter from the wind and rain.

Liu Ling tugged on Li Yunxin's sleeve. "Let's rest for a bit."

She could already see the cold sweat on Li Yunxin's forehead and his deathly pale lips. Based on her experience, she knew this was no act.

Li Yunxin took a few deep breaths and slowly walked into the rest pavilion, sitting down on a long bench made of a few rough wooden planks.

Three women on a journey, carrying baskets, were originally sitting on the bench. Seeing the two walk in, they shifted to the side. Perhaps seeing that Liu Ling and Li Yunxin looked like a young master and lady from a wealthy family, they made way, leaving half the bench empty.But Lingkongzi did not sit down, only standing beside Li Yunxin.

She pressed on two acupoints on Li Yunxin's shoulder and said, "There are nine Dragon's Sons. Even a True Realm peak Taoist priest wouldn't be confident against those other eight Dragon's Sons. But this one is the ninth Dragon's Son, the weakest one. I am at the peak of the Manifestation Realm and I've brought a magic treasure. Against him alone, it's a sure thing."

"So he's that weak," Li Yunxin said in a low voice.

"Weak? Not at all." Lingkongzi shook her head. "This ninth Dragon's Son also has the strength of a Manifestation Realm peak. But for us cultivators, the words 'Manifestation Realm peak' encompass too many things. Cultivation methods, accumulated experience and techniques from predecessors, life-saving Talismans granted by the sect, and even magic artifacts."

"But for a Dragon's Son or a demon, reaching the peak of the Manifestation Realm is just about its own power. They don't cultivate methods, have almost no magic artifacts, and no sect. Relying solely on their innate demonic bodies and demonic power, they are already at the peak of the Manifestation Realm. Think about it—a mortal who is at the peak of the Manifestation Realm from birth. Not weak at all. On the contrary, frighteningly strong."

"If we were to meet by chance, I would surely die at his hands. Even a Taoist priest who has just stepped into the True Realm wouldn't gain any advantage. But now that I've had time to prepare and set up a grand Talisman array, once he enters, he can forget about ever leaving. As for two such Dragon's Sons... I could probably kill them too."

"But if you're talking about something stronger... how strong?"

The three women sitting beside them were now staring, dumbfounded. They looked at each other as if they had seen a ghost, then hurriedly got up and rushed away—perhaps they felt that this beautiful couple looked fine...

But why were they both out of their minds?

After the three women left, Liu Ling walked around to the other side and sat down on the bench.

A blade of wild grass grew beneath the bench, its shoot long and tender. Li Yunxin plucked the stalk and toyed with the soft, green, broken end between his fingers. Then he said, "He is a Dragon's Son, after all, known as the Wei River Dragon King. I don't know what you think, but I feel that near Weicheng, he is a living god on earth. Then he should have a dragon palace, right? Inside, could he have magic treasures and the like? Or... could he have friends?"

"...A dragon palace?" Lingkongzi's voice became strange. "How could he have any dragon palace? Oh... I can't blame you. No one has ever told you about this."

"If a great demon in charge of a territory has a traveling palace... that palace isn't something it builds itself. I mean, of course, it can build one itself, but that would be like an ordinary person building a house, of little use. A real traveling palace... how should I put it? You can think of it as something similar to a cultivator's Snow Mountain Qi Sea."

"For example, this ninth Dragon's Son, if he has many believers in the territory under his jurisdiction and obtains their incense and wish power, he can gradually refine his own traveling palace. Ordinary demons have this sort of thing too. Whether they are revered or reviled, they are always on someone's mind. As long as someone knows of them, this thing will be born."

"It doesn't have many other uses. Besides serving as a dwelling, one can hide inside it for protection. It can barely be considered... a magic treasure for demons..."

After hearing her explain so much, Li Yunxin realized that things were a little different from what he had imagined.

From the movies and TV shows he had watched, Dragon Kings naturally had dragon palaces—no matter how humble.

But he had never thought about where those things... came from.

Now he knew. They were "built with bricks and tiles" from the incense and wish power of believers.

For example, if a minor demon cultivated some power but no one knew about it, it would just be a minor demon.

If it did many good or bad deeds and the number of people who believed in or feared it grew, this incense and wish power, besides strengthening it, would also slowly give birth to something—a "traveling palace."

For instance, this minor demon might one day find a small wooden bucket the size of a palm next to it. It could shrink and hide in this bucket, making it hard to find, and could heal and catch its breath. And the damage this bucket could withstand was far greater than what the demon itself could endure.

Later, if this minor demon became a great demon with even more believers, perhaps this wooden bucket would become more resplendent and magnificent, and the furnishings inside would increase.

In short—this thing was an evolvable, pocket dimension.

But according to what Liu Ling said, Young Master Nine's current "traveling palace"... was definitely not yet large enough to be called a "dragon palace" that could "command myriad aquatic creatures and control the weather over millions of li."

Li Yunxin was dazed for a moment.

Because... it felt so out of place.

This thing... or rather, this rule... no matter how you looked at it, it seemed to have been artificially created??

No wonder that night when he asked Young Master Nine "Where is your traveling palace?", the demon had suddenly become enraged—so it really wasn't information that could be revealed to others!

—Besides, it seemed he didn't even have a "dragon palace".

What the hell. White Yama King had never mentioned this to him.

Perhaps he wasn't too clear about it either—now Li Yunxin was even more certain that the method of possessing a divine beast was not his idea.

But a sudden, sharp pain in his chest and abdomen interrupted his thoughts.

He let out a couple of muffled coughs, crushing the grass stalk in his hand until its juices flowed out. Another portrait... had been hung up.

He now had more Spiritual Power to use—almost half of what he had before being sealed. But he also knew clearly now that he was even closer to his power dissipating and his body dying.

He stood up and sighed. "Let's go. We've rested enough."

"I still want... to hear more about your life. I've lived in seclusion in the mountains since I was young, and I've always been curious about what it would be like if I... were more fortunate. If I didn't have to live in constant fear, worrying about whether I could survive, but was born in a celestial sect like yours..."

"What a happy life that would be. Alas... I hope my next life will be better."

Liu Ling hesitated for a moment, then said, "...Alright. I'll tell you."

And so she spoke to Li Yunxin all the way.

He knew some of what she said was true, and some was false. But it didn't stop him from gradually forming a picture in his mind, and an understanding of the state of the world.

In the end, the two parted at the crossroads where Liu Ling had first met Qiao Jiaming.

The sky was gradually turning overcast.

***