Inner Demons

Chapter 16: Very Fragrant

In the night, a small black donkey walked along the road. A pretty girl sat on its back, with a maid sporting two topknots walking in front, carrying a small package with a blue background and scattered white flowers, and holding a lantern.

The black donkey was exceptionally well-fed, its coat gleaming. When it walked, its white chin was raised, and the two small copper bells on its chest jingled, echoing far into the night.

Upon reaching a gentle slope, the little maid kicked something, and with a frown, she softly let out a surprised sound.

She was wearing a pair of thin cloth shoes, and the object she kicked was sharp and hard, hurting her foot. The maid, with her delicate eyebrows furrowed, lowered the lantern to illuminate the area, and discovered it was a knife. She looked further into the distance, then turned to the person on the donkey's back and said, "Oh, Miss, look!"

The light of the lantern illuminated the surrounding area. There were scattered weapons on the ground, and the burned framework of a large cart. Several carts leaned askew on the gentle slope, and large patches of the green grass had been scorched.

The young lady on the donkey's back tilted her head to look at the ground and raised a hand to cover her mouth: "Oh my."

She had a pair of bright black eyes and a fair complexion, which seemed to emit a clear glow in the night. Her hands were slender and delicate, truly the hands of a young lady from a prominent family who did not venture out of her boudoir. However, her black hair was tied back behind her head, with only a small wooden hairpin - this attire did not resemble that of a young lady.

"This is... this is..." the young lady on the donkey's back said softly, "Did we encounter bandits?"

The maid pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and nodded firmly: "I suppose so."

The young lady on the donkey's back covered her chest with her other slender hand, her delicate brows furrowed: "Then wouldn't many people have died?"The maid waved her hand: "No, no, Miss, look, there are only weapons on the ground, no bloodstains. Perhaps the people are fine."

"I haven't encountered something like this before, I want to go and see." The young lady glanced at the distant patch of forest - tall trees merged into a continuous expanse in the night, like countless hazy, towering demons, rustling in the night wind.

The little maid sighed in distress, looking up at the girl on the donkey's back and counting on her fingers: "Oh, Miss. A few days ago, you said you hadn't seen a monkey show, so we ran for two days to see one. Then you said you hadn't heard storytelling, so we listened to 'Legend of the Dragon King' for a day and a half in the teahouse. The day before yesterday, you said you wanted to eat Hubing, so we waited another day for the Hu merchants in Hui City. But Miss, you still want to go to Weicheng to see the Lantern Festival, we're going to miss it!"

The young lady thought for a while with some difficulty, then sighed: "But it smells so good."

The maid's eyes widened: "Hmm?"

"Towards there, there's a very fragrant smell." The young lady lightly patted the donkey's rump, and the little black donkey trotted a few steps into the wild field by the roadside. Then the young lady sniffed, raised her slender hand, and pointed towards the distant forest: "It's over there, the scent went over there."

The maid rubbed the topknot on her head in distress: "Miss, ah..."

"Let's go see," the young lady smiled slightly, revealing a set of small, fine, snow-white teeth.

The little maid couldn't refuse her young mistress, so she had no choice but to carry the lantern and walk into the overgrown grass.

In the dark wilderness, two people and a donkey, with a small, bean-sized light in front. Slender figures moved through the crazy grass that was nearly as tall as a person, mixed with the maid's complaining voice: "I knew it, I should have told the master."

She parted the tall grass, muttering and complaining: "I thought secretly running away with Miss would mean good food and fun things. But what happened? Everything Miss likes, I've already gotten tired of. If you ask me, Miss, you shouldn't be like this, running around here and there. The most fun things are in Capital City! Otherwise, we should go towards the Vast Ocean, I heard that over there—"

The young lady was neither angry nor annoyed. In fact, it seemed she hadn't heard a single word the maid said - she was staring with wide eyes into the forest.

The two walked for two quarters of an hour when the maid suddenly stumbled.

This time, she looked down at the ground and jumped up like a cat: "Oh my shoes!"

Under the light, her embroidered shoes with a green background and delicate floral pattern were largely stained. Black blood, semi-dry, gooey, was smeared on the upper.

A man's corpse lay face down in the grass, holding a broken tree branch in his hand. Blood flowed from his neck - a finger-width wound at the throat, cut perfectly straight.

Seeing this, the young lady was also startled. She gently covered her mouth again: "Oh, I just bought these shoes yesterday."

Then she looked at the corpse again: "See, I said someone would die."

The little maid's face was bitter, and her voice was almost on the verge of tears: "Miss, let's go back - there must be many more ahead!"

The girl on the donkey's back glanced into the forest, then pursed her lips and smiled: "I can almost smell him. Let's look a little longer."

So, mistress and servant followed the faint scent of blood, continuing into the forest through the waist-high wild grass.

The copper bells on the little black donkey's chest jingled, echoing far into the night again.

Li Yunxin held his breath, pushed aside a clump of branches in front of him, and saw the swordsman holding the sword. This one's skill was not as good as the previous two. Not just in swordsmanship, but also in the use of Talismans.

Chisongzi and Kangcangzi could both use Talismans after their Qi Sea was sealed. Before those things were destroyed by his design, they played a huge role - including but not limited to tracking, stealth, and restoring stamina.

The current swordsman was not as skilled as those two. The six of them split into six groups to kill, quite confident in themselves. But Li Yunxin was equally confident.

He thought that someone distracting the pursuers would allow him to escape calmly, but now the people from the security agency seemed to have brought him some trouble.

A man and a woman were frantically fleeing in this direction, appearing to be Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu. The forest was very dark, with only fragmented moonlight filtering through the gaps in the branches, barely visible. But Qiao Jiaxin's unique girlish scent and slender silhouette allowed Li Yunxin to recognize her.

The two had already tried their best to slow their movements and lighten their breathing, so as not to attract attention. But the pursuer seemed to be more skilled in this regard than they were - the swordsman was now only a step away from Li Yunxin, his footsteps firm and light as he approached the two. Li Yunxin estimated that the swordsman would launch an attack when the distance between them was five steps - he had seen the swordsman kill that way an hour ago. Within five steps, the thin sword was as fast as a bolt of lightning. He could clearly see the opponent's intentions and movements, but his body, without spiritual energy support, couldn't cope.

Fortunately, he had practiced Water Cloud Strength since childhood. When it came to holding his breath and concealing himself, he was quite adept. Otherwise, he would probably have died at the hands of those two Taoist priests long ago, and wouldn't have lived to this moment.

He looked around, hoping to find something, but found nothing.

There should be someone nearby...

Otherwise, what was that female ghost just now?

As soon as the female ghost appeared, everyone by the bonfire was startled. Taking advantage of the ghost moving towards the swordsmen and their momentary disarray, the security agency people ran for their lives. They had thought the fierce ghost could hinder them, even scare the swordsmen away or kill them.

Who knew that in the end, with just one sword stroke, the female ghost disappeared.

If Li Yunxin hadn't done something similar, he would almost suspect it was someone using the Dao of Painting Illusory Realm to scare people, just like he had before.

But by this time, several of the security agency's people had already died, and the "master" had yet to appear.

The swordsman was now seven steps away from the two.

At this moment, Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu, thinking they were temporarily safe, began whispering, completely unaware that they had become prey.

But fortunately, it was this conversation that saved their lives.

Because Li Yunxin heard Miss Qiao whisper—

"Fourth Brother, do you think Father and the others escaped?"

Qiao Sifu probably didn't have the mind to answer her, or simply didn't know what to say.

So Qiao Jiaxin muttered to herself again: "I wonder how he is... I hope he escaped too."

Li Yunxin sighed in his heart.

It seemed that what he had done before had reshaped his image in this girl's heart. This seemed to be the first person in this world, besides his parents, who showed him sincere yet baseless goodwill.

So this matter... was very troublesome.

If he hadn't heard those words, he might have gritted his teeth and hardened his heart, letting the swordsman kill the two and leave, and then he would quietly retreat.

But at this point, he felt that he probably couldn't do that.

This wasn't a matter of morality or sympathy. It was because if this girl were to be killed in front of him immediately after saying such words...

He would feel unsettled.

The night wind rose again, and the leaves in the forest rustled. Li Yunxin took out his brush from his sleeve.

This brush had been with him for nearly ten years, its tip still sharp, round, and firm, indicating it was no ordinary item. But for him, it was simply easy to use, even less attractive than a twenty-five-yuan Taobao brush from his era.

He couldn't create the kind of Painting Formation he had just now, but he could still scare people. The most important quality of an Artificer was keen observation. Fortunately, in both his past and present lives, he was a guy who liked to stare at objects or people in a daze.

You first have to clearly see his spirit and energy. You have to see the flow of spiritual energy within him or her or it. As the saying goes, the Great Dao is formless, but heaven and earth have spirits - even a table has spiritual energy within it.

Discern its essence, then paint it with paper and brush, and it will have countless connections with his will and Spiritual Soul, forming a phantom image. In his parents' words, this was indeed the most basic entry method for Artificers, yet in this mundane world, it was already an incredibly advanced Immortal art.

He had previously painted Young Master Nine's image, and thus Young Master Nine sensed it and came to his rescue.

Now, to save Qiao Jiaxin, he had to use this method again.

His technique, honed for over a decade, was almost instantaneous. The paper was hidden in his sleeve, his wrist turned, and his fingers moved so fast they left afterimages, a small figure leaping onto the paper.

The swordsman took another step, now only six steps away from Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu.