Inner Demons

Chapter 159: Your Heart is Like a Rock Share Comments

Then she saw the man at the other end of the small boat freeze slightly, staring straight at her, as if trying to guess her thoughts.

Lady Hong remained silent, just tightening her arms slightly—as if this would protect her better and prevent people from seeing through her.

But she still kept her eyes fixed on Li Yunxin.

After a long while, she heard her dear Li say in a low voice, “You have already rejected me. I… right now, I am only thinking of revenge for my brother.”

He glanced at Lady Hong, quickly avoiding her gaze. “Matters of love… matters of love, who doesn't have them? It's just that… to think about those things now would be unrighteous.”

“So you do care a lot,” Lady Hong sighed slightly, but her voice was quickly carried away by the wind. “What I want, who could possibly know? In fact, what I want is so simple.”

She turned her gaze away and patted the side of the boat with one hand. The boat then stopped.

By now, the two had been speeding into Dongting Lake for three-quarters of an hour. Looking around, there was nothing but the night sky.

The small boat and Dongting seemed to be contained in a barrel with the sky as its walls. A circle of sky was etched with clouds gilded silver by the moonlight. The brilliant sea of stars was inverted above their heads, reflected on the surface of Dongting—

The sky and sea were boundless, and a single boat was lonely.Once the boat stopped, the sound of wind and waves also ceased.

Lady Hong stood up, standing at the bow. She looked at the vast Dongting Lake and said wistfully, “Look at this thousand-mile Dongting. To mortals, it is vast and boundless, magnificent beyond compare. But to me, to my Lord Father, it is just a cage.”

“This Dongting is several thousand miles in circumference, almost like an ocean. But my Lord Father's true form is three hundred zhang long—if he revealed his true form, he wouldn't even be able to swim freely in this Dongting.”

“My father was born in this Dongting and attained the Dao three thousand years ago. Two thousand years ago, he was trapped in this lake. Although I have not lived for long, I can already understand my father's suffering. He takes pity on the aquatic creatures of this lake and has not revealed his true form for a thousand years. The sentence he used to say to me most often was—”

“‘If I could swim freely in the vast ocean, I would have no regrets in this life…’”

Li Yunxin did not speak. He just rested his hands on the side of the boat, watching as Lady Hong, with her back to him, looked like a fairy of the lake in the night.

He knew one thing in his heart.

When humans die, when spirits die, they leave behind souls. And these souls are incomplete, their minds lost. Even if they later become Ghost Cultivators… they still have obsessions.

That great general of the Jinwu Guard from the former dynasty, Diwu Boyu, claimed that he had no attachments when he died and thus no obsessions—that was just his wishful thinking.

He must have an obsession; it was just that he and Li Yunxin had not yet noticed it.

This Lady Hong was no exception. She must also have an obsession.

Obsessions are the greatest weakness of Ghost Cultivators. Obsessions cause them to lose their basic judgment when facing many things—once a factor related to that obsession appears, their attention is immediately drawn and pulled, and they become muddled.

If it were really true that “one can have no obsessions if one has no attachments at the time of death”—then what was the point of human cultivators seeking longevity? They might as well all die and cultivate the Divine Dao.

Previously, Li Yunxin could not see Lady Hong's obsession. She… was too much like an ordinary woman.

Except for a certain “cruelty” common to demons.

But this cruelty, in Li Yunxin's view—a woman lovingly watching her child play in the courtyard, speaking softly with her mother-in-law about household matters, while simultaneously chopping off a rooster's head with a single stroke—

Was this not a demon-like cruelty?

So this Lady Hong was still very normal.

However, right now, Li Yunxin believed he was slowly figuring out where her “obsession” lay.

So he listened quietly in the sound of the water, on this nighttime Dongting, as the woman in red continued to speak.

“Do you know how I offended your friend?” Lady Hong turned around and smiled slightly. “Before, I was just a red carp who had attained the Dao. My mother was a human, but I was born with my Lord Father's heritage. I was born with a demon body of the Illusory Realm. In this Dongting, no one dared to defy me.”

“Although I am unworthy, I also know how powerful that Dragon's Son is—a great demon close to the True Realm, and with a dragon's body. How could I… go to the Wei River to provoke him? And even if I wanted to go to the Wei River, I couldn't get out.”

“My Lord Father is imprisoned in Dongting. I have his bloodline, so I am also imprisoned. That's why I say this vast Dongting is just a cage.”

Li Yunxin thought for a moment and asked softly, “Who has such great power?”

“I can't tell you now.” Lady Hong smiled slightly, but her gaze towards Li Yunxin became increasingly gentle—this was completely different from the woman of the past two days.

“Therefore, it was actually my father who wanted me to deliberately provoke the Dragon's Son. And I have been in this Dongting for two hundred years, unable to step even one zhang from the lake's edge… I really wanted to go see that Egret Town, to see if those creatures called humans truly live as they do in my father's stories.”

“So I had my cultivation destroyed by the Dragon's Son and became a red carp. I suffered a bit, but in the end, I became this Ghost Cultivator. I didn't know before if doing this could really bypass the restriction… but now it seems it has worked. I have become a Ghost Cultivator. I can leave Dongting, I can go to White Heron Island, and I can also do some things for my father.”

Lady Hong smiled, looking at Li Yunxin. “But my dear Li should know that we Ghost Cultivators all have obsessions. My dear Li's obsession is revenge for your brother. Or rather… you are obsessed with emotion.”

“And my obsession…” As Lady Hong said this, she slowly sat down.

Her feet were outside the boat's edge. With a single flick, she kicked her pair of embroidered shoes into the water. A pair of snow-white, lustrous jade feet dipped into the lake water, stirring it gently.

The ripples spread outwards. Lady Hong stared at the ripples for a while, then propped herself up with both hands on the side of the boat, her body leaning back slightly. She turned her head to look at Li Yunxin. “When I was a demon, I often listened to a person read by the lake. I listened to the sound of his reading. The sound of reading is very pleasant.”

“My dear Li, did you study before you died?”

Li Yunxin’s gaze was gentle, and his voice was gentle too. He smiled faintly. “My parents died, and my family was poor. Before I died, I only studied elementary characters and their meanings; I never read the classics or histories.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but it sounds very nice.” Lady Hong smiled slightly. “In the past, Du Sheng also said things I didn’t understand but that sounded nice. But now he doesn’t remember… he is a mortal, after all. As a ghost, he is even more muddled.”

“Then… my dear Li. Can you compose poetry?”

Li Yunxin shook his head and smiled. “I can copy poetry.”

Lady Hong blinked happily—at least at this moment, she was like a truly beautiful young girl. “My dear Li, copy a poem for me to hear.”

“Alright.”

Li Yunxin closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the misty water vapor above Dongting.

Then he recited in a low voice—

“The west wind ages the waves of Dongting,

In one night, Lord Xiang's hair grows white.

Drunk, I don't know the sky is in the water,

A boat full of clear dreams presses upon the Milky Way.”

He recited this poem with an ancient rhythm, long and mournful.

And after he recited this poem, that Lady Hong did not speak.

She stared blankly at the water's surface, then closed her eyes again. She was silent for a long, long time before turning her head to smile at Li Yunxin. “It sounds so beautiful. My dear Li, who is Lord Xiang?”

Li Yunxin smiled gently, tapping his palm with the folding fan in his hand. “Look at this fan of mine, I bought it from a shop on the street in Weicheng. Are there spots on the fan's ribs, like teardrops?”

Lady Hong's beautiful eyes widened as she looked closely. She hummed in agreement.

“So these fan ribs are made of tear bamboo.”

“Legend has it that a long, long time ago, there was an emperor of the mortal world named Emperor Shun. There was also a river called the Xiang River. A monster appeared in the Xiang River and often harmed people. So that Emperor Shun went to the Xiang River to eliminate the threat.”

“His two wives waited for him for a long time but he didn't return, so they went to the Xiang River to find him. But they learned that after Emperor Shun killed the monster, he himself had also died. Emperor Shun’s two wives wept bitterly, and their tears splashed onto the bamboo, creating this tear bamboo. And the Celestial Emperor, moved by Emperor Shun's merits, appointed him as the water god of the Xiang River—that is Lord Xiang.”

“Ah… My father is the Lord of Dongting,” Lady Hong sighed softly. “Then my dear Li, do you want to be the Lord of the Wei River?”

Li Yunxin's eyelashes trembled slightly.

The moment he heard that last sentence, dozens of thoughts flashed through his mind. He quickly grasped a few, but then let them all go. Finally, he let out a very slight breath. He still smiled calmly. “I have never thought that far ahead.”

Lady Hong was silent for a moment, then she also smiled.

“That’s why I love listening to people recite poetry. After listening for a long time, you can get a taste of it. For example, I know that when my dear Li recited this poem, you were not happy at all, but filled with many sentiments.”

“My Lord Father feels that he owes me, so he wants to compensate me. I love the mortal world, I love the way men and women are together, so Lord Father wanted Du Sheng to accompany me.” Lady Hong looked at the ripples in the lake water. “I used to listen to people read by the lake, and it was him I listened to.”

“But he has completely changed. He’s muddled, and all day long, he only repeats one sentence.”

“My dear Li is more handsome than him. And you speak more cleverly than him. The first time I saw my dear Li… in fact… I liked you very much.”

Lady Hong looked at Li Yunxin again, her eyes calm and clear.

And Li Yunxin also looked at her. “But… Lady Hong, a few days ago you—”

“Because at that time, although I loved you, I couldn't bear for you to suffer, and I was afraid my Lord Father would not allow it.” Lady Hong looked at him. “But now my Lord Father has told me that since it is someone I like, there is no harm in taking him in. My obsession, it is…”

Li Yunxin sighed in his heart. He knew this Lady Hong's obsession—

“—I want someone to love me properly,” Lady Hong's long eyelashes drooped slightly as she said softly, “Previously, I told you that there was still time to go far away and be a carefree Ghost Cultivator. Now… I will tell you again, my father is imprisoned in Dongting Lake and cannot get out. Your wish for my father to go to Weicheng to avenge your friend is also impossible—you can only wait, wait for a very, very long time, and perhaps then there will be a chance.”

“—Now that you know all this, I ask you again: are you still not leaving?”

Li Yunxin was silent for a moment. “I’m not leaving.”

He didn't want to leave because he wanted to confirm something, or someone. He also felt that this was a good opportunity to understand the Lord of Dongting.

If this Lady Hong really took him to the Lord of Dongting's lair…

He could learn more and make his plans more meticulous!

That Lord of Dongting might be a formidable demon, but he was not some low-level “Ghost Cultivator Li Yunxin.”

These days, the momentum of the Divine Dragon Cult was already quite formidable, and with the Nine Heavens Thunderflame he had triggered in the city the night before—the people in Weicheng were reminded of the great storm that Young Master Nine had created in Weicheng some time ago, and all said, “The Wei River Dragon King has shown his divinity again”—

So now he had broken through the Illusory Realm and returned to the Manifestation Realm.

As long as the Lord of Dongting couldn't see through him for a while, even if he was on guard against him and didn't use his full strength, he would be able to protect himself and could escape at any time.

So… don’t leave.

Lady Hong seemed to have known he would answer this way. She stared at him for a while, and a layer of misty vapor suddenly appeared in her eyes.

“You are so insistent.” A smile blossomed on her lips. “You… do love me after all.”

“…You two are so different.”

Li Yunxin sighed slightly. He knew that Lady Hong's obsession had taken over her mind.

But before he could ponder the deeper meaning of that sentence “You two are so different,” he saw Lady Hong suddenly lift her hand gently in the moonlight, revealing a section of her snow-white, lustrous forearm.

Then, her slender fingers danced lightly like water waves, her voice clear and melodious, as she softly sang a song with a strange tune—

“My lord is on campaign, his return date unknown—”

“The sun is setting, herding the clouds slowly—”

She sang these four lines three times repeatedly, then turned her head and smiled softly at Li Yunxin, whispering, “My dear Li, she is here.”

And so this Dongting Lake…

Boiled.

Clouds.

Large clusters of clouds.

Large clusters of snow-white, dense clouds rose gracefully from the water surface not far from them.

They were like a thick fog, or like puffs of green smoke. Every time a bubble rose from the bottom of the water and broke on the surface, a puff of white gas like this was released.

Then these clouds slowly rose, stopping a few dozen meters in the air, gilded silver by the moonlight.

Suddenly… it turned into a dreamy, fairytale-like world.

It was as if the sky above was hung with many, many large clusters from 520 novel network, and then…

Some white, four-legged animals rose from the water.

When those white, round animals came to the water's surface, the surface seemed to turn into solid ground. Hundreds of… these animals, walked back and forth slowly in a patch of water in front of them, and those clouds floating in the sky actually rose slowly from their heads.

Li Yunxin took a light breath in and let it out gently.

At a distance of a hundred meters, an ordinary person could not see clearly.

But he could see clearly.

Those animals… were people.

Hundreds of white, chubby people, naked, walking slowly on the water's surface on all fours. Wisps of white mist rose from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, eventually converging into the cloud clusters in the sky.

Those cloud clusters…

Were yang energy and essence.

Lady Hong squinted slightly, watching the scene in the moonlight, and sighed softly. “When I was little, whenever I had troubles in my heart, I would come to watch them herd the clouds. They say immortals dine on wind and sip dew, and demons like it too. But the taste of wind and dew is bland and plain, while human yang is sweet and rich.”

“When the moon is full, they come out of the white tree forest to herd the clouds. After a full month, they can be harvested.”