Inner Demons

Chapter 119: Welcoming the Lord at Night

By the time the sun slanted west, Li Yunxin was already standing by the street.

Du Zishe's current residence was just one room and one courtyard, and the courtyard was only enclosed by a bamboo fence with a low bamboo gate.

Some flowers and plants were originally planted along the fence, and now they were in full bloom. But they were poorly cared for, and the wild grass grew even more lushly than the flowers, drowning the clusters of red and yellow blossoms.

Just as Li Yunxin had expected, a considerable number of people had already gathered here.

In this era, people had few forms of entertainment, so they were naturally curious about such things. Logically, after the great demon had caused such a ruckus in Weicheng a few days ago, people should have been in a state of panic. But it seemed that precisely because the demon's rampage was so extreme, when the news reached the ears of the people in Egret Town, it no longer sounded real—what with the Dragon King's true form appearing in the sky, a white crane as large as Weicheng appearing at night, and an entire street being destroyed…

It was just too bizarre.

People were more willing to believe that the firelight that night was a mountain fire, and that the street was destroyed by an earthquake.

Li Yunxin could well understand this mentality. It was a rather common psychological phenomenon—unless a view or belief was strong enough to completely shatter people's original cognition, it would only make people more stubborn and reinforce their original ideas.

—Who would be willing to believe that such a terrifying demon truly existed in the world, and right beside them?

Therefore, for the people of Egret Town, which was a hundred li from Weicheng… the story Du told was the truly interesting thing.Right now, Du Zishe was standing in his courtyard—having spent a great deal of money to buy an incense table and candles, which he had set up in the yard.

On the table were a pig's head, a sheep's head, and a whole chicken. There were also three meat dishes and three vegetable dishes, and three cups of wine. A bowl was filled with white rice, and three tall incense sticks were stuck in it.

When the sky grew darker, he lit the candles—the green smoke curled up, the candlelight was faint, and a truly solemn atmosphere was created.

There were about thirty or forty people on the street, gathered outside Du's courtyard, watching him. They just sneered at him for having read himself into a state of foolishness.

Li Yunxin stood outside this crowd under an old pagoda tree, watching Du.

He wasn't bad-looking. Because he didn't work in the fields, his skin was fair. He had no calluses on his hands, so one would imagine it would be comfortable to be touched by him. He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a high nose bridge. His lips were a bit thin, and his eyebrows were a bit close together. A fortune teller would say he was petty and mean.

But in the eyes of a girl, this appearance was indeed handsome.

Li Yunxin raised his hand and wiped his forehead.

The people on the street were all surrounding one person, like stars around the moon. The man was in his forties, wearing a yellow crown and a large cloak, and holding a horsetail whisk. He stood on the street with his belly stuck out, looking into Du's courtyard.

From the people's words, Li Yunxin knew that this man was the Temple Keeper of the Three Rivers' Mouth Dragon King Temple, with the Daoist name Kunyangzi. Among the people who had come today, he was probably the one most pleased to see Du Zishe make a fool of himself.

Because when Du Zishe had spent three taels of silver to ask him to perform a ritual, Kunyangzi had only said that it was a malicious ghost and that he "might not be able to fight it, but he would try."

This was a common trick of secular Taoist priests—it couldn't even be called a "trick." They had not received the true teachings of the Daoist Orthodoxy or Sword Sects, but had learned some unorthodox magical arts. They didn't know the mysteries within. They only relied on what was passed down orally from their ancestors, thinking "it should be like this" and "it should be like that." When they performed their magic, sometimes it worked, sometimes it was completely useless, and they would just say they "couldn't win the fight."

But Du Zishe, having had that dream from Lord Dongting, said that Temple Keeper Kunyangzi was unskilled, having mistaken the noble daughter of a divine being for a harmful ghost, nearly causing him to miss a good karmic opportunity.

Therefore, this Kunyangzi stood outside Du's gate today, watching him coldly. When some idlers came up and asked him if tonight's event was real or fake, he just sneered and said nothing. The idlers couldn't get an answer. Then a woman came to ask him. He didn't answer either. The woman got angry and made a gesture to pull his robe, saying some vulgar things like "Is this Taoist priest's face so unlucky because his lover didn't serve him well last night?"

The group of idlers laughed and jeered from the side. Kunyangzi glared at the woman. The woman only made more of a scene. He had to retreat a few steps in embarrassment and say, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you."

He glanced at Du, who was kneeling properly before the table, and sneered again. "What Lord Dongting?"

"I, Kunyangzi, have presided over this Three Rivers' Mouth Dragon King Temple for fifteen years. My temple is a major temple near Weicheng. A few days ago, the Treasure Blossom Assembly in Weicheng was inviting people. They sent me an invitation too. But I had some business to attend to and was delayed—otherwise, I, Kunyangzi, would also be a guest of honor at Langya Grotto-Heaven."

Hearing him say this, although the people didn't know what "Langya Grotto-Heaven" was, they knew what a "Grotto-heaven" was, and they all let out a collective gasp of surprise.

The woman withdrew her hand and no longer dared to make a gesture to pull him.

Kunyangzi continued, "My great temple enshrines the Wei River Dragon King. What did that Du Zishe say? He said—that some Lord Dongting's daughter offended the Dragon's Son and was turned into a carp—ridiculous! I have worshipped the Wei River Dragon King for so many years, where have I ever heard of a Dragon's Son? And where did this Lord Dongting come from? I've never even heard of him!"

For a moment, the people were so intimidated by him that they fell silent. After a while, an idler timidly asked, "Perhaps it's just that you, Daoist Master, haven't heard of him?"

Kunyangzi shot him a look. "If it's a small demon who offended the Dragon King, how could he be spared? If it's a Daoist immortal, how could I not have heard of him? This thousand-li Dongting is the dragon palace of the Wei River Dragon King—which blind demon would dare to call himself Lord Dongting?"

Hearing him say this, everyone was convinced.

He said this loudly, and Du in the courtyard also heard it.

He had been sitting with his eyes closed, but now he slowly opened them, a strange smile on his face. He shook his head. "Taoist priest, since you are unskilled, you should speak less. When Lord Dongting comes to reward me tonight and hears what you've said, hehe…"

After saying this, he closed his eyes again. Kunyangzi didn't argue with him, just snorted coldly.

After they finished speaking, a night wind rose. The onlookers also gradually fell silent.

Since they had come to watch, they would naturally wonder, "Is this real?" Kunyangzi had said some things about the Dragon King and demons, which on the one hand made people have extra thoughts. As the night deepened and the weather cooled, and the night wind rose…

When they looked at the faint candlelight in the courtyard, the people fell silent for a moment.

It was at that moment that they heard a clear, pleasant male voice say, "Actually, I suggest you all go home, wash up, and go to sleep. It would be better."

This voice broke the brief silence, and everyone looked towards the source of the sound—they found a handsome "scholar" in a white robe. With just one glance, people knew he was an outsider.

Because if he were a local, or had been wandering around for some days, they wouldn't have forgotten him.

Because he was too good-looking.

This handsome young man held a folding fan with a handle of tear-streaked bamboo. As he spoke, he squinted his eyes slightly and looked to the west.

The small street in front of Du's house indeed led west, where there was a ferry crossing, but it was rarely used. Beside the small street was a patch of wasteland. Looking along the road, one could faintly see the reeds and calamus by the water's edge swaying gently in the night wind under the bright moonlight.

He was looking there.

The people followed his gaze and looked for a while, but found nothing.

Besides the reeds, calamus, water mist, and wind, there was nothing.

Kunyangzi stared at… Li Yunxin for a while, then frowned slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

Li Yunxin didn't answer him immediately, but took two more steps forward under the tree and looked carefully again before turning his head and smiling faintly. "What I mean is, everyone, if you don't leave now, you will die."

At such a moment, in such an environment, hearing his words, everyone was stunned. Kunyangzi's face changed, and he shouted, "What nonsense are you talking?"

But his demeanor, tone, and mannerisms didn't seem like those of a madman. This made people unhappy. The people on the street started to clamor, "What unlucky words are you saying, young man," "Why is your mouth so venomous," and some other, more unpleasant things.

But soon…

Another gust of wind rose. This gust of wind was strange—it clung to the ground, scraping along the small street, slowly blowing over—sweeping up a few broken leaves from the street, but the wild grass by the roadside didn't even sway.

Seeing this strange phenomenon, the people instantly fell silent.

They suddenly heard Du Zishe, who had been sitting upright in the courtyard, suddenly open his eyes and, as if possessed, dance around and shout three times, "Good, good, good!"

Then he knelt down again and said nothing.

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