Inner Demons

Chapter 132: Innate Great Demon

This fan was his "Traveling Palace". Before seizing the divine status of this Dragon's Son, Li Yunxin had prepared himself to own a strange and peculiar Traveling Palace, but when he woke up the next day, he found this fan with a tear-bamboo frame beside him.

However, this item suited his taste. It looked elegant and didn’t attract attention.

But now was not the time to care about this Traveling Palace…

The White Yama King had given him some of Cong Yunzi’s memories, and he realized that things… might be more complicated than he had imagined.

Some of his previous plans needed to be adjusted.

Cong Yunzi and “Taoist Priest Li” had known each other for over two years, often gathering for feasts.

This Dongting Jun was a great demon with a peculiar personality. He also enjoyed eating people, but he did so with moderation and regularity.

Every month, he would eat one person to satisfy his appetite, and he would also invite famous scholars from the area to eat with him. First, they would tell stories. If he was satisfied with the stories, they would then go to the central hall. His demonic arts were so powerful that he had actually managed to bewitch Cong Yunzi’s mind for two full years—the cultivator never knew he was eating human flesh.

Any slightly more astute cultivator would have long since noticed something unusual about Taoist Priest Li.

Li Yunxin tried to spend a few seconds contemplating Dongting Jun’s reasons for doing this—but quickly realized it was futile.The minds of demons and humans were different, after all. It was possible he truly had some objective, and it was also possible… he was just doing it for fun.

On that day, Cong Yunzi found Liu Ling’s body outside Weicheng. He tried every method to save her, but all were futile. Liu Ling’s Snow Mountain Qi Sea had already shattered; it seemed she had died from the dissipation of her powers. Her soul was not found and must have been taken by the Yama King.

Therefore, he brought her remains back to the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's residence in Weicheng and waited anxiously for someone to arrive.

Although he, a mere Illusory Realm cultivator, had no way and no right to stop Fairy Lingkong from doing anything, once someone from Langya Grotto-Heaven arrived, if they took their grief out on him, it would be more than he could bear.

He agonized like this for a day, then thought of Taoist Priest Li. So he instructed a few young attendants not to desecrate the fairy’s remains under any circumstances, and then hurriedly went to Jun Mountain.

Upon arriving at Jun Mountain and seeing Taoist Priest Li, he recounted the events and asked him what to do.

At this point… Li Yunxin felt something was strange about this matter.

That Dongting Jun seemed to show deep affection for the Dragon's Son. That night, when the Dragon's Son faced Liu Ling, the initial strike was already earth-shattering. It was understandable that the mortals of Bailuzhou were too far away to see it, but how could a three-thousand-year-old great demon not know about the terrifying spiritual energy fluctuations in Weicheng?

—Why didn't he go to help?

Afterward, Dongting Jun listened to Cong Yunzi's words and asked a few detailed questions. Cong Yunzi was not privy to the details, so he could only stammer and evade—although he had come to Taoist Priest Li for advice, he knew this matter concerned the secrets of the Daoist Orthodoxy. Though his mind was bewitched, he still had his spiritual sense, so how could he reveal everything?

—But it was precisely that bit of vigilance that doomed him that night.

After speaking with Taoist Priest Li and slowly calming down, Cong Yunzi realized that this Taoist Priest Li didn't seem to be of much help. So, he returned to Weicheng.

And Dongting Jun at that time… probably wanted to play the long game and slowly fish out the details. It was just that Li Yunxin’s appearance had ruined his plan.

Two or three days passed, bringing them to today.

Cong Yunzi discovered that Liu Ling’s “remains” had vanished.

As a cultivator, his first reaction was… someone had taken them, intending to refine them into a puppet.

Cultivators tempered their Spiritual Souls and bodies. Even after death, their corpses retained extremely high durability. For a cultivator at the peak of the Manifestation Realm like Liu Ling, even if her body were left in the open, it would easily remain incorrupt for a year.

Such a body was the best possible material for refining into a puppet.

The moment he thought of this possibility, Cong Yunzi felt like he was on pins and needles again—if he could think of it, how could the cultivator from the Grotto-heaven not think of it! Once they learned of such a possibility…

His life would truly be in danger!

Because the remains had disappeared from his residence!

Li Yunxin now knew these things.

He also knew that Dongting Jun had unusual feelings for the Dragon's Son.

He also knew that the feathered cloak was very important to Bai Yunxin. Then that great demon… probably hadn't gone far.

People were coming from the Grotto-heaven. The ones coming would certainly not be fools, and their cultivation would be at least above Liu Ling's.

True Realm. Or Profound Realm.

Cultivators at the True Realm and above were called Dao-achieving Masters, said to have already escaped the cycle of reincarnation and attained the path of freedom and long life. In the past, Li Yunxin thought this was mostly true, but now he felt that perhaps it was just that the Masters at the True Realm and above were simply… too hard to kill.

Even if the Black and White Yama Kings wanted to force them to die, it would require a great deal of effort.

Based on his limited understanding of the White Yama King—that fellow who seemed to hate trouble would be too lazy to get entangled with those Masters.

All these numerous factors tangled together, causing him to let out a deep sigh as he stood by the thousand-li expanse of Dongting.

He had originally planned to possess the Dragon's Son, then gather a wide following of believers, absorb their incense offerings, and become a majestic Wei River Dragon King. Then, he would use this demon body to cultivate the methods of the Painting School.

No one had ever said that a demon could not cultivate the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law. It was just that the unique origins of demons made it difficult for them to have the conditions for cultivation.

Demons were roughly divided into three types.

Demons like Bai Yunxin, the Golden-Winged Great Peng King, Young Master Nine, and the divine dragons were Innate Great Demons. They were already incomparably powerful the moment they appeared in this world. They inherently possessed demonic power and would grow stronger with faith and worship. But even if no one knew of them, they would not become weaker. They would also increase their demonic power at a slow rate over time—much like humans growing up.

Although divine dragons, great pengs, and the Dragon's Son were called divine beasts, in the eyes of cultivators, any being with awakened intelligence other than humans, cultivators, and Celestial Beings were all demons and yin-spirits.

Demons like Dongting Jun, on the other hand, were Acquired Demons. They originally had physical forms—birds, beasts, or fish. They gained intelligence through some good fortune and gradually cultivated into sprites and demons.

This category of Acquired Demons was far weaker than Innate Great Demons. After taking human form, they were often even killed by humans—because all their magical power was used for transformation, and they only knew some innate transformation arts. After taking human form, they were almost no different from humans, and they often had to revert to their original forms due to various taboos, greatly reducing their cultivation level.

All this was because these demons cultivated arts obtained from heterodox paths in the secular world. Since they were human arts, they were best cultivated with human meridians and acupoints… thus they had to take human form.

Only after cultivating in human form for a while and gaining some divine abilities could they show off their powers again and trick people into offering them some incense.

The vast majority of mountain gods, earth gods, and river gods in the secular world were of this type of Acquired Demon.

As for ghost cultivators, they were actually more or less the same. They needed yang energy, the power of faith and incense offerings, and cultivation methods. Their situation was just slightly more special.

The third type of demon was the most special.

They did not exist originally, being neither innate nor acquired—they were created out of thin air.

For example, due to some event, people in a certain place all came to believe in a certain mountain god. When this belief became firm enough, powerful enough, or widespread enough, or lasted long enough…

That mountain god would truly be created according to the powerful faith of these believers.

This type of demon relied entirely on the power of incense offerings to survive and was also the best at absorbing and converting the power of faith.

The stronger the faith, the stronger the demon—even far stronger than an Innate or Acquired Great Demon who received the same amount of faith. And the weaker the faith, the weaker the demon.

Once…

The last person no longer believed in him, he would also disappear from this world.

Li Yunxin’s method of using the yang energy of Weicheng’s three hundred thousand people to reshape his Spiritual Soul was probably inspired by this concept by some great figure of the past. That was why he needed a “void.” Without that void, he wouldn’t be able to exist for long.

And among these three types of demons, both Innate and Acquired Great Demons could cultivate the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law.

However, they first had to empty out their own demonic power—possessing only the cultivation realm, but no demonic power.

The principle was as simple as pouring out the water in a bucket before it could be filled with wine. But while the principle was simple… how many Acquired Demons would happen to obtain a cultivable Celestial Heart Orthodox Law right after transforming into human form?

And how many Innate Great Demons… would really dare to dissipate their own demonic power and start cultivating from scratch!

The world of demons… was a world of consumption and slaughter, even more so than the human world!

But Li Yunxin’s current situation was the best opportunity to cultivate the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law. He had reshaped the Chiwen dharma body, but he had little demonic power, making him an empty bucket.

Thus, he was very likely to become the world’s first…

Innate Great Demon to cultivate the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law!

This should have been a wonderful thing—in these few days, he had even effortlessly cultivated his Water Cloud Strength to the level of the Illusory Realm.

One had to know that when reshaping this body, he had designed and constructed every single meridian himself.

The clarity and flow of the meridians in his body now were on par with a peerless genius of the highest caliber!

But… there was a Dongting Jun.

And the matter in Weicheng had not yet been cleanly resolved.

If he wanted to make a grand display of his powers, cultivate the orthodox law, and absorb the power of faith, he needed a peaceful and comfortable environment. But right now, there were so many unsatisfactory things.

For the past few days, he had been walking back and forth between Weicheng and Bailuzhou precisely to sort out these clues. He wasn’t afraid of facing a crisis, only of facing a crisis he didn’t understand.

And right now, he felt he knew enough.

So it was time to make a move.

For example…

First, gather some power of faith and quickly become stronger. At least strong enough not to be casually killed by Dongting Jun, Bai Yunxin, or someone from the Daoist Orthodoxy.

Li Yunxin stood by the lake, let out a breath, and stretched.

Because he had figured out some key points and had a plan, his mood had improved slightly.

He couldn't help but smile slightly and mutter to himself.

“Then I’ll start a cult first.”

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