Inner Demons

Chapter 102: True Name of the Secret Law

For the next three days, Li Yunxin only did a few ordinary things.

He walked through the streets and alleys of Weicheng, talking to people. Most of the conversations were about strange tales and the scenery of the Qing Kingdom. As if he wanted to take a good look at the world he hadn't seen enough of before dying.

And because of that night, he already had a reputation in Weicheng's "high society," so when passing by wealthy households, he would walk to the door and tell the doorman, "I am Li Yunxin."

Some sneered, not knowing who he was, so he would just walk away.

Thus, when the master of the house found out later, they would rejoice that their doorman didn't know that person and hadn't announced him—who would want to be associated with an enemy of Langya Grotto-Heaven?

Some doormen had heard their masters mention this person, knowing he was a formidable and ominous figure, so they hurriedly reported. Thus, some claimed illness or absence. Li Yunxin would also just walk away.

Some, ultimately timid, braced themselves and welcomed him in.

Li Yunxin would sit down, eat something, and then paint a picture. When he took action, it was naturally at least a Masterpiece.

Once painted, he left it for the family, asking only for a hundred ounces of silver to be sent to the Dragon King Temple.

Those who didn't see him the next day regretted it endlessly when they heard about this—because they also heard that previously, Li Yunxin had been chatting amicably with Fairy Lingkong on the street. They realized he might feel he was leaving Weicheng and wanted to leave some fortune for Old Daoist Liu. And his relationship with that fairy didn't seem that bad.

So they scolded their doormen severely, instructing them that if they saw Li Yunxin visit again, they must announce him.

Unfortunately, Li Yunxin's route in Weicheng was erratic, and his intentions were unpredictable.

For example, at noon the next day, walking by the Willow River, he suddenly told someone "the sunlight here is good," so he squatted by the riverbank and used an ordinary small wolf-hair brush to paint on a bluestone slab.

As soon as he put pen to stone, the seemingly soft wolf-hair brush tip carved marks directly into the stone slab—such a miraculous event naturally spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred. So half the street came to watch, watching this "martial arts expert" draw strange pictures—he drew circles one after another, and many lines near the circles, saying it was the sun.

But after painting for only a while, he threw the pen away, said it was boring, and walked off.

Lingkongzi knew about these things and personally visited those families to examine the paintings Li Yunxin left behind. She found they were indeed "ordinary" Masterpieces.

Much more brilliant than worldly painters, but nothing worth suspecting.

Then she went to see the "sun" Li Yunxin carved by the river. That was indeed an unfinished "painting," without even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.

After investigating all the traces he left, Liu Ling gradually felt relieved.

Li Yunxin seemed to genuinely just want to leave some things in this world and prepare for his funeral. She was surprised by Li Yunxin's behavior, but not to the point of incomprehension.

She just felt that he turned out to be such a person—who would really be good to a worldly old Daoist, would be sad for the death of a little girl, and would sacrifice his own life because he "betrayed friendship."

He really, truly, was a very interesting person.

Pity he was going to die.

Liu Ling began to occasionally feel flustered and lost.

This wasn't the result she wanted. At first, she just wanted to kill this person, get the Jade Slip, and return to the mountain. Later she found him interesting and wanted to take him back to the mountain.

Might not necessarily die... maybe just cripple his cultivation.

But Langya Grotto-Heaven was a good place; worldly people without cultivation could also live long there.

Just didn't expect...

He actually planned to die here.

Hmm... actually can't be sure. Just felt something... wasn't quite right.

She at least had to see him die with her own eyes to be at ease.

Thinking of this, Liu Ling sighed slightly again, waving the talisman-covered magic brush in her hand once more. Every time she waved it, golden light emerged from the void and then flashed away.

It is said that there was originally no writing in this world. But the Celestial Beings created the Celestial Sphere, and created all things in the world. After creating all things, they created humans. Humans asked the Celestial Beings what those things were. The Celestial Beings explained one by one, but humans couldn't remember them all.

Therefore, the Celestial Beings extracted the rules from various things, simplified them into characters and patterns, and taught them to mortals.

Thus, there were Daoist Orthodoxies and Painting Schools.

When secular people wrote, it was just writing. But when Daoists wrote, they wrote the Secret Names of the Laws of Heaven and Earth and All Things, writing the Great Dao Rules of Heaven and Earth and All Things.

If the Painting School painted spirits, the Orthodoxy wrote principles. Principles were simpler and more direct compared to the Painting School's spiritual energy and realization. It was this simplicity and directness that achieved the Daoists' astonishing destructive power.

And now, the characters Lingkongzi wrote in the void were absolutely incomprehensible to secular people. And even if they accidentally saw them... they would die instantly on the spot.

Because she was writing a Secret Name of the Law of a thing handed down by the Orthodoxy—

Name: Death.

The first and only kind of Law Mantra that a peak Manifestation Realm cultivator could master—Death Curse.

Cutting off the opponent's Qi mechanism, vitality, and all Karmic connections with this vast world. If the cultivation base was far above the opponent, just one character could instantly take their life. Against a tyrannical demon like a Dragon Son, even if one character couldn't kill instantly, an array could be set up with this character.

Death was not just death of life and death.

Vegetation withering and Karma being cut off was also called death.

Once this array was formed, it could temporarily cut off that Dragon Son's fortune and Karma. Once entered into this array, there would be no return.

She wrote like this for a total of forty-nine counts before stopping her pen slightly wearily, letting out a long breath.

Then she closed her eyes to regulate her breath for a while, walked to the window to look at the sky outside—it was already dark. In the courtyard where she was, the vegetation cast mottled shadows.

After looking at these shadows, she said: "Come in. Speak."

Congyunzi, the Daoist of the Supreme Purity Elixir Cauldron Sect, then pushed the door open from the outside. But he stopped after walking two steps inside the door: "Replying to the Fairy... That Li Yunxin today, just like the previous two days, went everywhere painting. Except at noon on the street... caused a small disturbance."

Liu Ling turned her face slightly: "Small disturbance?"

“Uh... actually it wasn't caused by him.” Congyunzi thought for a moment and said slowly, "Today I secretly followed him to Changmen Street, just when the market opened. Fairy may not know, in the middle and end of every month, the villagers nearby come to Weicheng's Changmen Street for the market. At this time..."

“No need to explain, continue.” Lingkongzi listened while walking slowly in the room, her slender hands gently brushing over everything beside her. When she touched a bunch of dripping green grapes in the fruit plate on the table, she brushed them gently. The grapes fell clattering onto the porcelain plate, leaving only a branching stem.

She picked up this stem, fiddling with the tender green soft broken stalk on her fingers, whispering to herself: "Today... should be his last chance. Ah..."

“That Li Yunxin also arrived at Changmen Street today. He set up a stall on the street, saying he would paint portraits for fun.” Congyunzi continued, "He painted some portraits, didn't use any spiritual power. I had people intercept those who took his paintings after they walked away to check the portraits—they said they were indeed ordinary ink wash paintings, done casually."

“But in the afternoon, he created a Precious Scroll for a beggar.”