Inner Demons

Chapter 155: Yazi

However, even Li Yunxin probably didn't understand the gravity of the situation as clearly as Yue Yunzi did.

This was the first time in nearly five hundred years that True Realm cultivators from the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect had died in battle—three at once, plus one from the Profound Realm.

And it was the first time in nearly one thousand four hundred years that an emperor's soul had been empowered by the people's will to become a Ghost Emperor.

The thing that cultivators had worried about for thousands of years had finally become a reality. Even with preparations, they still felt terrified when faced with such a tragic outcome.

But the cultivators couldn't think of a better way to solve this problem. Constrained by the social environment and productivity levels, it seemed there was no better method than having an emperor rule the world. It was precisely to avoid a terrifying event like the Li Kingdom emperor's transformation that the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect had always prevented the emergence of a more powerful, unified dynasty—the Li Kingdom was already the limit of what they could accept.

But looking at it now...

It seemed this limit had to be changed again.

But no matter how it changed, there had to be an emperor. Of course, the cultivators didn't want emperors—in fact, every human emperor was a potential terrifying demon. However, the Celestial Beings—the Celestial Beings who had passed down the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law in the beginning, had instructed the cultivators of the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect to "shepherd the myriad people and protect the way of humanity."

A long time ago, some had thought this was just high-sounding rhetoric—just like how mortal emperors demanded their officials be honest and incorruptible. So, they "tested the law with their own bodies"—out of self-interest, they caused turmoil in the world. More than ten countries were embroiled in warfare for a century, tens of millions of people were displaced, and hundreds of thousands died in the chaos.

And so, for the next thousand years, there was no further word from the Celestial Beings. In that era, the teachings of the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect had not yet been fully passed down, and many more profound aspects of the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law were still awaiting divine revelation from the Celestial Beings. Therefore, during that millennium, the realms of cultivators stagnated, and many high-level cultivators, having reached a bottleneck with no method to break through, suffered qi deviation, their cultivation dissipating as they died.That extremely severe punishment nearly caused the lineage of the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect to be severed. It wasn't until a thousand years later, when the world's population had gradually recovered to pre-war levels, that the revelations from the Celestial Beings came again.

Thus, the cultivators knew it was not a joke—shepherd the myriad people and protect the way of humanity.

Therefore, from that time on, while there might have been cultivators who killed mortals in private or committed crimes, no one dared to cause large-scale turmoil ever again.

And the Great Qing Dynasty's conquest of Ye hundreds of years ago was also because several generations of Ye emperors had been fatuous and the people lived in misery. Moreover, the Emperor of Ye had offended the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect. Subsequently, heroes rose up from within the country—the cultivators were merely following the general trend of the world.

The Celestial Beings needed this world to be prosperous and populous—they didn't even care if a single person killed hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.

As long as the foundation of this world was not damaged and the general trend of the world was not obstructed, they would not personally punish anyone.

Therefore...

There still had to be emperors.

In fact, it wasn't just emperors that the cultivators had always been worried about. Li Yunxin had asked Lingkongzi a question—a question that the cultivators also pondered.

An emperor's soul, empowered by the people's will, instantly becomes a demon. And those famous great demons in the mortal world—like the Dragon's Son, Yazi—who among the secular world didn't know what an incredibly bloodthirsty and brutal monster that was?

In many places, when a child cried at night, just saying "Yazi is here" would instantly stop the crying!

Such great demons, as the world's population grew in the future, would become as powerful and tyrannical as that Ghost Emperor.

Human cultivators always had limited aptitude for practicing Daoist Arts. Although their numbers would gradually increase, their prospects were predictable. But those demons... Innate Great Demons, postnatal great demons, and great demons born from the power of will, would all flourish as humanity flourished.

Yue Yunzi knew the thoughts of the Two Saints, and he also knew the thoughts of the high-level cultivators.

This time, Liu Ling's killing of the Dragon's Son was, in fact, a test.

That Ninth Dragon Son was not particularly strong, but his status was extremely special. By killing it and having the Daoist Orthodoxy subdue the Wei River, they would see the demons' reaction.

Human cultivators and demons had coexisted peacefully for tens of thousands of years. Now... it was indeed time to do something.

And this time, with the Emperor of Li becoming a Ghost Emperor, four high-level cultivators falling, and one having his cultivation destroyed, in Yue Yunzi's eyes... it was the clearest possible beat of a war drum.

The Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect would not tolerate such a loss. The Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect would certainly retaliate.

The report said that when the Ghost Emperor fled, its yin soul dharma body was already in tatters, on the verge of dissipating. But it still had numerous followers. The hundreds of millions of citizens were sustaining its life drop by drop, and given time, it would surely recover its strength.

And that second son of the Dragon, Yazi, was also severely injured... and had fled south.

Fled south...

In the afternoon sunlight at the Weicheng residence of the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect, Yue Yunzi slightly narrowed his eyes.

South of the Ye Kingdom was this Qing Kingdom.

The Ghost Emperor could almost be said to have escaped capture—the Two Saints would not leave Spirit Mountain for such a matter.

This meant that once it recovered its strength, there would be another Profound Realm great demon in the world.

There were already enough powerful demons; the high-level cultivators were not happy to see this result. So, since one had been added... one must be eliminated for the world to be at peace.

For example, that second son of the Dragon, Yazi—Yazi, who was currently weakened by his injuries.

The cultivators could not find Yazi now, nor could they find the Ghost Emperor.

But he, Yue Yunzi... seemed to have some clues.

For example, the person who killed Qingliangzi last night.

For example, that... Divine Dragon Cult.

This was a remarkable achievement.

And there were vacancies for School leaders in two Schools of the Daoist Orthodoxy.

Although he was not the one with the highest cultivation, if he accomplished this, he would be the most capable.

The accomplished master let out a light breath. The shock and fear that had arisen last night from certain associations were all gone.

He decided not to wait any longer. He needed to find out if the person behind that Divine Dragon Cult was indeed... the one he imagined.

...

...

By the time night fell, Li Yunxin had already done many things—all because of Qian Sanniang's single word, "disaster."

Excluding the still-confused departed soul of Qiao Jiaxin, the remaining four usable demons were being run ragged by him. At times like this, he would have a lot he wanted to say, but right now, there was really no one to talk to.

So he felt a little nostalgic for the days he spent with Old Daoist Liu—Old Liu was an excellent listener, and every well-timed compliment and gasp of amazement made him feel so satisfied. Such a person was truly rare and hard to find.

He had to... find some time to get this done. Li Yunxin sat on a bluestone by the Liu River in the city, watching the crowd come and go on the street while thinking, sooner or later, he had to explain his situation clearly to Old Liu. He hadn't been willing to talk before because the situation was unclear, and he was afraid of getting him too deeply involved. But at this juncture, once he had clarified a few things...

The plan could be fully set in motion.

This was the end of Weicheng's Old City Street.

During the former Great Ye dynasty, there were posts for the imperial guards starting from here. A few hundred meters ahead was the wide palace square, and further north was the front gate of the Ye dynasty's Violet-Gold Palace—the Violet Qi Gate.

But now, looking north into the night, the once majestic Violet Qi Gate had collapsed, leaving only tall ruins like giant beasts in the deepening twilight. Behind it was a vast area with no human sounds and no lights. Even the chirping of insects and the presence of vegetation were scarce.

This was because after Weicheng was conquered and the Violet-Gold Palace was burned down, experts from the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect had set up a formation here—confining the soaring resentful energy of the dead within the palace, to be slowly dissipated by the yang qi and earth qi of Weicheng. Therefore, let alone insects and plants, even a person who stayed in this ruined palace for a few days would be afflicted by that resentful energy and fall gravely ill.

Li Yunxin sat at the very edge of the inhabited part of the Old City Street—opposite him was a shop that sold writing brushes and supplies. When he first walked here and saw this shop, he was surprised—why would anyone sell stationery in this godforsaken place? But he quickly figured it out.

The discontented scholars of the current dynasty were fond of coming to the end of this Old City Street, to that desolate palace square, to use the past to criticize the present.

And scholars, after drinking some wine and getting sentimental, would want to write poems to leave their names behind.

So they needed brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

This shop was truly making money in an unorthodox way.

However, with the recent series of strange events in Weicheng, and since gentlemen strongly believe in not standing under a dangerous wall, this shop's business had been quiet lately. But the shop owner had not closed for the night—it was almost midnight, but the lights were still on inside.

An old shop, with a white paper lantern hanging by the door, casting a soft glow.

Because it was a hot summer, the window shutters were not up, only the door was closed. Inside, there was the faint light of a candle, and occasionally, the silhouette of the shopkeeper could be seen on the window paper. It was unclear what he was busy with.

But there was also the faint shadow of smoke.

Next to the shop was a large willow tree, with darkness on both sides. There were a few scattered people on the street, also heading home.

Li Yunxin chewed on a green plum, his brow furrowed from the sourness, as he watched the person in the shop.

He was halfway through the plum when the person he was waiting for finally arrived.

An armored warrior with a ferocious face, riding a large horse, emerged from the darkness and came to a stop in front of Li Yunxin.

It stood in the light spilling from the window of the writing supply shop, but cast no shadow on the ground. As it approached, one could only feel a wave of chilly cold.

Li Yunxin nodded to him. "Good day, General Diwu. I have a question for you—how do you look so normal?"

Besides Old Daoist Liu, very few people could get used to his way of speaking.

This Yin Spirit on a tall horse, who called himself "Great Ye Weidu's Jinwu Guard Grand General Diwu Boyu," was no exception. The Great Ghost hesitated for a moment like a real, mentally sound person, before first cupping his hands in respect from his horse. "I was previously unaware of your identity as the Wei River Dragon King and have caused much offense. His Majesty has already punished me. I have come today to apologize."

He paused, then added, "This subordinate does not know... what the Dragon King means by 'normal'?"

Li Yunxin couldn't help but laugh. He pointed at him. "See, this is normal. Without looking at your appearance or knowing your identity, just from hearing you speak, I'd really think you were a person. Logically, you were only released after your Majesty returned to his throne. In your past life... from the looks of you, you were first killed, then burned—"

"That is indeed the case," the ghost of the Jinwu Guard Grand General replied. Though his face was ferocious, his expression was calm—which made him look even more like a person. "This subordinate was guarding the main gate of the Coiling Dragon Golden Hall in my previous life. When the Qing rebels attacked, this subordinate inflicted countless casualties, with bodies piling up like mountains. Later, the Qing rebels brought in bed crossbows and finally managed to kill this subordinate."

"Afterward, the Qing rebels killed the monarch in the Golden Hall and set fire to the Violet-Gold Palace, which is how I came to have this appearance."

"So," Li Yunxin pointed at him, "your Majesty isn't very normal. But you—you're clearly a ghost and should have a very strong obsession, so why are you so normal?"

"Dragon King, please be careful with your words. Do not speak lightly of the Hea—"

"His Majesty and I are sworn friends; he won't get angry," Li Yunxin waved his hand and glanced at the writing supply shop across the street. The window had been pushed open a crack, and the person inside was peering out, having apparently heard Li Yunxin speaking on this side of the street.

Diwu Boyu must have been an honest and loyal man in life, and he remained so in death. Interrupted by Li Yunxin, he fell silent for a moment. But he eventually skirted the topic and continued, "This subordinate fought to the death and did not retreat. I was the last to die for my country before His Majesty. The fall of Great Ye was not His Majesty's fault, not the fault of the battle, nor this subordinate's fault. This subordinate fulfilled my duty loyally; I have nothing I can't let go of. Therefore, I have no obsession."

"A rare, enlightened individual," Li Yunxin clapped his hands and stood up.

His white robes were rather conspicuous in the night, and with the moonlight and the faint light from the shop opposite, the person behind the window could see him clearly.

"Alright, let's get down to business." He rubbed his hands together. "Now that your Majesty has returned to his throne, I imagine all the old ghosts around Weicheng are under his control—how is the investigation of those two matters going?"

When it came to business, the former Jinwu Guard Grand General became even more serious. He remained on his horse and said, "Reporting to the Dragon King. Time has been short, so the information gathered is limited. But according to the reports from the registered Yin Spirits attached to the city gates, stoves, enchanted statues, and places where yin and yang qi converge, as well as the wandering ghosts with some cultivation in the city and the masterless spirits outside the city—"

"First, that Lady Hong, daughter of the Lord of Dongting, does indeed have a way to command certain Yin Spirits in the city. The Dragon King previously speculated that the Yin Spirits in the city stole the mortal remains of that female Taoist priest. This subordinate believes that can now be confirmed. His Majesty sent people to investigate secretly a few days ago—all the Yin Spirits that Lady Hong can command have now been recorded one by one."

"Well done," Li Yunxin praised with a smile. He paused, looking at the person in the shop across the street, and tapped his palm with his folding fan, shaking his head slightly. "That old fellow, the Lord of Dongting, is truly ruthless. That Qingliangzi told me that he and his pure-blooded relatives cannot leave within a ten-foot radius of Dongting for some reason—so he actually turned his attention to his daughter. First, he destroyed her cultivation and turned her into a red carp, then had her killed so her resentful soul could re-cultivate, allowing her to leave Dongting and run errands for him... I wonder if that Lady Hong knows about this."

"So, the Lord of Dongting knows about everything that has been happening in Weicheng these past few days?"

"He will only know what the Dragon King wants him to know," Diwu Boyu said respectfully. "The daughter of the Lord of Dongting only controls a few dozen wandering souls, all of whom are under His Majesty's control."

"Good, good," Li Yunxin clapped his hands lightly. "And the second matter?" (To be continued.)