Inner Demons

Chapter 164: A Visit to the Door Share Comments

Weicheng, Liuhe Prefecture, Taoxi Road, had more than half collapsed. It was full of broken walls and ruins, with green weeds growing wild.

Normally, such a place shouldn't exist in the urban area of a world-renowned city, but it had now been desolate for a month—with no one paying it any mind.

This was because half of the properties on this half of the street belonged to the former Prefect, Lord Zhao, who had already gone to the capital to plead guilty. Although Lord Zhao had been rebuked by Fairy Lingkong of Langya Grotto-Heaven and intended to resign…

It was said that Fairy Lingkong of Langya Grotto-Heaven had also died.

Now the fairy might be dead in Weicheng, and Lord Zhao and the three Prefectural Governors had all gone north…

For a time, no one really knew what to do with Taoxi Road.

Of course, the common people didn't know about these things. Only the powerful and wealthy families in the city were aware.

But from the night after the “Dragon King’s Manifestation” until now, a full thirty days had passed, yet there was not a single bit of definite news.

People knew that a miraculous event had occurred on Little Hun Street a few days ago.

The shopkeepers on that street swore that on that night, they all saw a divine being in red helmet and armor telling them to leave quickly, as a master would be vanquishing a demon there. Afterward, the Yu Family’s young master said that it was a righteous act performed by a master of the Divine Dragon Cult.People thought about it carefully and felt that it was indeed so—the Divine Dragon Cult worshipped the Dragon Crown Prince. Since they were under the Dragon Crown Prince, those divine beings wearing red helmets and armor, weren't they just shrimp soldiers or crab generals!

—No one bothered to think further that shrimp and crabs only turn red when cooked.

People also knew that a cultivator from the Daoist Orthodoxy had come to the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's Weicheng residence. They also knew that Qiu'er from the residence had died on the street. They had intended to send family members to find out who had come, but now not a single word could be pried out.

So they wondered again—the Daoist Orthodoxy’s Grotto-heaven was a veritable immortal realm in the eyes of the secular world.

The people who came from there were all Immortals.

Since Immortal Lingkong had died in Weicheng, why… was there still no movement?

The newly arrived cultivator didn’t seem like a big shot—although Fairy Lingkong hadn’t alarmed anyone when she entered the city, at the Treasure Blossom Assembly, she had publicly rebuked four court-appointed officials. What grandeur that was!

But this one… said nothing and did nothing. It truly made it difficult to understand the Daoist Orthodoxy’s thinking.

And on the side of the imperial court… everyone with some insight in the city knew that the emperor and the Zhao Family now ruled the world together. The great Artificer of the dynasty had died in Weicheng under unclear circumstances. At any other time, in any other place, it would have already turned the world upside down. But in this Weicheng…

People had almost forgotten about this matter.

—Because this Weicheng was under the jurisdiction of the Zhao Family. But now, neither the Zhao Family nor the imperial court had made any move—there was no news of the court passing down a sentence, nor of a new official taking office.

The official from the neighboring prefecture who was temporarily in charge of Weicheng was unwilling to take this hot potato. He had only shown his face twice in over thirty days to give some instructions. He cleared out the prefecture’s silver vault… had his attendants haul away three carts of heavy chests, and then never came back.

So only the remaining Chief Secretary, the Assistant Prefect, and other officials were left to maintain the operation of this world-renowned city of several hundred thousand people—naturally with the help of the city’s prominent and noble families behind the scenes.

It was precisely because they knew of these complex internal affairs that when a group of people appeared on the ruins of Taoxi Road and began to clear the area of the Dragon King Temple, all the prominent families who knew of this were shocked—whose work was this? Had they received someone’s permission? Had some major event that they were unaware of occurred?

So people went to inquire and investigate.

Finally, a piece of news was brought back…

Those people were from White Heron Island.

They were all believers of the Divine Dragon Cult.

On White Heron Island was Egret Town, and in Egret Town, of the hundred or so households, more than three hundred people were believers of the Divine Dragon Cult. And scattered around the Yeyuan Forest were more than a dozen villages and towns, with about a thousand believers as well.

These thousand-plus people who believed in the Divine Dragon Cult were not the type to be believers one day and worship another god the next.

Following what Li Yunxin said, twice a day—no matter what time—they had to be in a place with water vapor, such as by a river or a lake. For those inland, a scoop of water would also suffice—and chant two phrases: “Divine Dragon Cult Master enjoys eternal blessings, longevity equal to the heavens.”

And it was repeatedly emphasized: twice a day, no more, no less. Any more, and the Vast Sea Chiwen Dragon Crown Prince would be annoyed and get angry. Any less, and the Dragon Crown Prince would feel disrespected and also get angry.

At first, people grumbled that this Dragon Crown Prince was too picky and hard to serve. But the Divine Dragon Cult would always give out little trinkets—for example, straw paper with some warning phrases written on it, small cloth bags embroidered with a dragon’s head, or even two or three copper coins claimed to have been blessed by the Dragon Crown Prince—

Not everyone got them, either. They were only given to a few people selected from among the believers who came to worship at a certain time each day.

They were all poor fishermen, mountain folk, and farmers. The people of Egret Town were wealthy and didn’t care for these things, but for others who might not be able to get a new piece of cloth for several years, these small items were attractive enough.

Therefore, even if they found it annoying, they would always go and take a look. Since they were looking, they might as well chant.

Slowly, they discovered the benefits.

For example, your family lives on Onion Ridge in the northwest of Yeyuan Forest. You occasionally go to Egret Town to trade game for some salt, and you suddenly hear about this Divine Dragon Cult. Since you’re heading back the next day anyway and are not in a hurry, you follow them to South Mountain to have a look.

As a result, you receive some small trinkets from the Divine Dragon Cult and learn about this rule.

After returning to Onion Ridge, one day you scoop up some water and mutter these two phrases. Others become curious and ask what these two phrases mean. So you explain the meaning of the words and also recount what you saw and heard on South Mountain.

Then you solemnly say that it can only be chanted twice a day—any more, and Lord Dragon King will get angry.

If some mischievous teenager asks, “Why do we have to chant it twice?”—you just frown, glare, and throw down two firm and confident words: Rules!

In a patriarchal society, “rules” are of the utmost importance. That boy would be so intimidated that he wouldn’t dare to ask again.

—This was a very prestigious thing.

This kind of prestige and satisfaction… was something that people from Li Yunxin’s era would find hard to imagine.

The Qing Kingdom was prosperous, and Weicheng was prosperous; Li Yunxin knew this. However, no matter how prosperous an ancient society was, it was still an ancient society. Around this prosperous Weicheng, what was the state of the people living in the villages within the Yeyuan Forest?

You probably couldn't find one literate person in a thousand.

Hundreds of people had never left the Yeyuan Forest in their entire lives.

It was only about a hundred or eighty li from Weicheng, which in Li Yunxin’s world was just a one or two-hour drive.

But in this world… there were hundreds of people, for generations, who had never left this hundred-or-so-li radius. To them, the Yeyuan Forest, or even Onion Ridge, Copper Ridge, whatever mountain, ridge, or village, was their entire world.

As for Weicheng? In their minds, it was almost in the category of a “neighboring country.”

The people in Weicheng might still know of the Li Kingdom’s Heavenly Emperor.

But those people in the mountains probably didn’t even know that the emperor of the Qing Kingdom had been replaced.

It was these kinds of people, who usually had little hope or novelty in their lives. But at least they were used to this life of having no upward mobility for generations—if Li Yunxin were confined in such an environment, he would probably go mad instantly.

Hunters go up the mountains to hunt and gather wild game, exchanging it for just enough money to get by. Farmers tend their small plots of land; with backward technology and low yields, if they can avoid starvation by mixing in wild vegetables and game, it’s considered a good life.

If they could really save up some more money and build a new house for their son, it would already be considered “making it” for that generation.

Every day, they worried about food—this was their only major concern.

What they saw and talked about were also the affairs of the village. Last month, the Niu family’s daughter-in-law woke up in the middle of the night to find a snake coiled on the windowsill?

This matter could be talked about for a whole month with unflagging interest. And seeing the Niu family again would also feel a bit strange—a snake is a small dragon. A small dragon coiled in their house at midnight, who knows if the child in the Niu family’s daughter-in-law’s belly is destined for greatness?

It was this kind of environment, these kinds of people… who learned about the Divine Dragon Cult and its strange rules.

Life immediately became fresh, novel, and different.

The followers… became mysterious and different in the village. And this rule, which was previously thought to be picky and hard to serve, became more solemn and serious, more like a “rule,” because of its ritualistic nature.

Probably everyone has experienced it—Li Yunxin had experienced it too—an ordinary person who was originally of low status in society and had toiled all their life. Once asked about some ancient “rules” or “legends” that only he knew, his originally dull and listless face would immediately light up with a different kind of radiance.

The whole person would immediately become solemn and steady. Then he would clear his throat, scan the crowd, and then leisurely say: Regarding this matter, there is a certain way of doing things—

Li Yunxin understood this kind of society, understood these kinds of people, and understood these kinds of rules. Therefore, many small details from his hand, in a very short period of time, caused the Divine Dragon Cult to spread rapidly and gather a large number of believers who had become genuinely devout for various reasons.

Now, this first batch of nearly a hundred believers had entered the city one by one and then gathered on the ruins of Taoxi Road.

Among these people were stonemasons, carpenters, tailors, and bricklayers. There were also barefoot doctors, hunters, and even an old man who had been an accountant. Such a group of people had “insight,” “knowledge,” and strength.

Under the organization of a Daoist named Liu Gongzan, it only took them three days to quickly clear out a large area of ground, and they even sorted out some reusable stone and wood materials…

It seemed they were preparing for major construction.

Constructing anything requires a lot of money, mainly divided into labor and materials.

This group of people, who called themselves believers of the Divine Dragon Cult, did not seem to lack labor. As for materials—they had already boldly cleared out many usable materials from the ruins. Of course, these things were not enough, so their progress stalled.

About a hundred people set up temporary wooden sheds on the cleared land, living and cooking, talking and laughing, without anyone knowing what they were actually planning to do.

Some curious people went to ask, but these people only said that the cult leader had instructed them to wait.

This was not a good sign.

So many people gathered together, organized and orderly in their movements. If the Prefect or any of the four Prefectural Governors were still here, they would have been greatly alarmed and immediately dispatched officials to throw this group of people into prison first—a hundred or so people, not engaged in production, gathering daily to say things others couldn’t quite understand. If this wasn’t a rebellion, what was it?!

However, with the chief officials absent, the Chief Secretary and Assistant Prefect lacked the courage—they did not want to rashly offend the powerful family that might be behind this Divine Dragon Cult.

The other prominent and noble families in the city also did not want to step in and manage this matter—who knew which family in the city had gotten the approval of some noble in Jinghua to pull this off?

Because after some investigation, they all knew that this Divine Dragon Cult had great influence in the White Heron Island area. They had originally thought it was a scheme by some clever person to make money. But now they had brazenly come into the city, to a piece of land they didn't dare to touch, without greeting anyone, and just started doing their own thing!

According to the laws of the Great Qing Dynasty, what was a sect that was not registered with the government?

An evil cult.

And the one who could create such a massive evil cult must be an old hand.

An old hand would not be ignorant of the rules.

But now, he was precisely not following the rules.

If one were to ask, investigate, and look a little more carefully, they would realize that their previous thoughts were also wrong…

This Divine Dragon Cult… not only did it not extort money, but it would often provide relief to some poor followers!

Those who had wanted to understand more deeply immediately retracted their dispatched feelers as if electrocuted.

This was… winning the hearts of the people.

…Besides the Son of Heaven, what kind of person would think of winning the hearts of the people like this?

Who would still dare to touch it.

—And which family was so bold? To create this thing?!

For a time, all the prominent families in Weicheng were guessing, and the Yu Family was guessing too.

The master of the Yu Family, Yu Qi, was considered a “revival” patriarch. His family had been prominent for generations, starting as cloth merchants with only a single storefront, and gradually gaining some influence and scale. Then they tried to climb up the social ladder, and with the help of other forces, after ten generations of management, they finally had a say in Weicheng.

In Yu Qi’s generation, the family encountered a series of “disasters.” This Yu Qi was a shrewd and capable person, but his father passed away early, and he was only in his early twenties when he took charge of the family business.

No matter how smart a person is, without experience and knowledge, there are always some key points they can’t figure out.

And at that time, Yu Qi hadn’t figured it out. Thus, the Yu Family was in a precarious situation.

Fortunately, his son Yu Meng was born, and he was the reincarnation of a divine being. Time and again, he helped him overcome difficulties and make some connections, and only then did he realize that the “natural disasters” he had encountered back then were actually “man-made calamities.”

—This is how certain great figures do things. They can make you unable to survive with a casual move. If you discern their intentions and obediently cater to them, the sky will immediately clear. But if you can’t figure it out… then you’re an unenlightened fool, and it’s fine to get rid of you.

Now that the Yu Family had passed its crisis, Master Yu was no longer the Yu Qi who had just taken over the family and was ignorant of the ways of the world.

However, after learning about the movements of the Divine Dragon Cult in Weicheng over the past three days…

He had been frowning for three days straight.

Things… were not as he had originally thought.

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Author's Note:

When I was writing this chapter, I kept thinking, will someone feel that this update is "filler"?

For example, rambling on about mountain villages, the lives of mountain people, and so on.

But this is mainly to explain why the Divine Dragon Cult gained so many followers in just over ten days.

If this isn't explained clearly—suddenly a cult appears and has thousands of followers in ten days… that’s just nonsense. People aren’t NPCs; you can’t just click recruit and have them show up.

Actually, I should have written more about the operational methods during these days. But this is a light novel… so I won’t open up those side plots. (To be continued.)