Inner Demons

Chapter 174: The Blade, The Black Saber Share Comments

Although Lady Sanhua's words were erratic, she was not confused about important matters. Hearing Li Yunxin say this, she immediately yelled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Ah! A good thing?! Hmm? What good thing? Eek, is it a body? A body? Hmm?"

Li Yunxin smiled slightly. "Yes. It's a body."

Perhaps she was too excited, too happy, too surprised. After hearing his words, Sanhua fell silent instead.

Li Yunxin was silent for a while and continued to speak on his own. The cat spirit's long eyelashes fluttered, and she quietly came over to massage his legs. Her two little white fists were like small white jade pestles, kneading him comfortably.

He let out a comfortable sigh. "Back then in the Yeyuan Forest, if it weren't for you, I would probably have lost my life."

"That night you saved me, and I promised you that in the end, I would give you a result and a place. I also told you some rules. Do you still remember?"

Lady Sanhua spoke at this moment. Her voice was still sharp and thin, but it was uncharacteristically not erratic.

"Oh, my... First... Do not harm a person's life."

"Hmm... Second, do not marry a human!"

"Third... eek, have a good moral compass! Hehe...""You remember very clearly." Li Yunxin nodded in approval. "You have also done very well and have been very obedient. You have passed the test for now."

"A Painting Daoist can give you a body. A Manifestation Realm Taoist priest can turn illusion into reality, and a True Realm Taoist priest can turn a spirit back into a genuine form. But the turning of illusion into reality by a Manifestation Realm Taoist priest is ultimately a rootless weed. If the original painting is destroyed, the genuine body will also be gone. A True Realm Taoist priest can use a part of your Spiritual Soul and spirit to turn into a genuine body, but since the spirit and Spiritual Soul are consumed, your consciousness will, of course, also be damaged."

"That's why I've always told you to possess a painting or a golden statue; I didn't want to use these two methods on you. Because I wanted to get you something better."

"I thought about it for a few days, and I think I've come up with something." Li Yunxin said. "Although it is a method that I think should be safe and feasible, there are still risks. And once this method works and you get a genuine body, you will have to help me do a few things—kill a few people. This, I need to ask you. Will you do it?"

The four spirits in the room all turned to look at the golden statue on the incense table. Qiao Jiaxin's soul turned her face and also "stared" at it, seemingly a little envious.

But Sanhua took a moment before saying, "Killing people... eek... oh, my, the King told me not to harm a person's life, oh, my..."

"Oh. They are not people, they are cultivators and Taoist priests." Li Yunxin spread his hands. "It doesn't count as breaking the rule."

Sanhua immediately yelled with joy. "Eek? Hehe, that's good, that's good, hehe, kill them, give it to me quickly!"

"Okay." Li Yunxin reached into his fan and took out a scroll of painting paper.

Then he stood up and with a flick of his hand, the scroll opened with a whoosh.

On the painting was a familiar figure.

Then he frowned slightly, brought his fingers together, and shouted, "Go!"

The painting immediately gave off a blue light, and a figure slowly formed in the blue light. Li Yunxin shouted again, "Possess her body!"

A gust of ghostly wind immediately arose in the hall. Sanhua's invisible spirit body pounced fiercely onto the figure!

In another moment, the figure solidified.

Li Yunxin stared at her for a while and asked, "Are you still there?"

"Oh, my... I'm here..."

It was indeed still Sanhua's voice. But she just stood there, not daring to move, as if she was afraid that without Li Yunxin's instructions, she would ruin her new body by moving randomly.

Li Yunxin let out a light breath. Then, while staring at her, he slowly—tore the scroll in his hand to shreds.

The figure was still there.

He then pointed at the pile of torn paper on the ground, and the paper scraps immediately turned into ashes—

The figure was still there.

Li Yunxin's face was complex as he stared at "Lady Sanhua" for a while longer, and he finally let out a long breath. "As expected."

For Painting Daoists, Manifestation Realm meant "turning illusion into reality."

In the Illusory Realm, you could create "illusions" to scare people, just like when he used the illusion of Young Master Nine in the forest to scare Captain Xing and gain an opportunity to escape. But that illusion could be seen but not touched; it was just light and shadow.

In the Manifestation Realm, you could paint on paper and summon a real physical form.

When he painted a "Green-Armored Swordsman" outside Lady Sanhua's half-collapsed temple in Yeyuan Forest to kill the villain, it was a Manifestation Realm technique. But at that time, although he had barely entered the Manifestation Realm with Lady Sanhua's Spiritual Power, the Sword Cultivator he summoned quickly disappeared upon contact with human blood, a substance of extreme yang.

However, when you were at the peak of the Manifestation Realm and drew a proper painting, you could indeed summon a physical form that was not afraid of "extreme yang substances."

But in fact, there were limitations and rules.

Otherwise, a Manifestation Realm Taoist priest could just draw and draw every day and paint an entire army by himself.

The ability and power of the thing summoned in the Manifestation Realm actually depended on two points: you couldn't summon something that already existed. For example, if a Manifestation Realm Taoist priest painted a Young Master Nine, and that Young Master Nine genuinely existed, he could not be summoned.

Li Yunxin guessed that this was probably related to the "void" of this world, which the Black and White Yama Kings had talked about.

And if you painted something that you had imagined but was also widely believed by the public, its power would be a bit greater.

For example, if the people in a certain place all believed that there was a mountain deity on the mountain, and they described its appearance in detail, and this wish power was not enough to create a Yin Spirit, then once a Manifestation Realm artifcer painted it, it would probably indeed be a mountain deity.

If you just created something out of thin air, for example, painting a person named Zhang San, then it would just be a person named Zhang San. An ordinary Zhang San would not have any "hidden attributes" like being "highly skilled in martial arts" or "wise as a demon."

However, there was still one limitation. This kind of mysterious technique was essentially subtly related to the "void" and "wish power."

When a Manifestation Realm artifcer made a painting and summoned a person, he was actually using a technique similar to faith and wish power, supplemented by Daoist arts, to forcefully "create" a Yin Spirit in a sense. This process was very exhausting and would consume the Painting Daoist's cultivation.

Once the foundation of this Yin Spirit—the painting—was destroyed, the Yin Spirit would also be gone.

Once this Yin Spirit was brutally killed by an external force, the Painting Daoist himself, who had a subtle connection to this Yin Spirit, would also be harmed.

So, using a summoned Yin Spirit from the Manifestation Realm to fight was actually using the Painting Daoist's life to fight. Unless it was a critical moment, no one would be willing to use their life and cultivation to play around.

But Li Yunxin had just destroyed the scroll.

And the figure was still there.

This was a successful attempt he had made in recent days, combining his experience of taking over the Chiwen deity's position. It was indeed possible.

As for the reason, the only one he could think of at the moment was that in another world, this figure...

Still had a wide following of believers!

Therefore, it could be preserved!

This was a long-term solution.

Thinking of these things, he saw that Qiao Jiaxin, who was possessing the clay statue, was "staring" at him. He didn't know if she understood, but Li Yunxin still shook his head slightly. "It's not possible now. With just this one painting, I have already regressed to the middle stage of the Manifestation Realm. Little girl, you... will have to wait a little longer. Alas, it is also a good thing to receive a lot of incense wish power and cultivate your own Spiritual Soul to form a genuine body..."

Then he looked at Sanhua, who was still not daring to move. "Now I ask you—"

...

...

Li Yunxin stayed in the courtyard for a full hour. It was already noon when he came out.

Old Daoist Liu looked at his expression but couldn't make anything out. He had a stern face when he went in, but now his expression was a bit calmer.

Li Yunxin walked up to him. "Let's go."

Old Daoist Liu turned around and gave a few instructions to the cult members guarding the door, then hurried to catch up with Li Yunxin.

It is said that as soon as the two of them left, the people at the door immediately went into the hall to see.

There were chicken bones all over the floor, and the cups and dishes were in a mess.

"They really came for this!" a strong, burly farm woman said indignantly. The next moment, her tone suddenly became gentle again. "I just feel bad for my Sect Master Liu..."

Meanwhile, as Li Yunxin and Old Daoist Liu were walking on the street, they saw a little person.

The two of them had originally planned to go to the Wood South Residence for lunch.

They turned into a narrow alley, and Old Daoist Liu was just about to ask Li Yunxin how things had gone when he heard a "knock, knock, knock" sound, as if a bamboo board was hitting the Bluestone slab road.

So he turned around and saw it.

It was the kind of small bamboo doll sold by street vendors. It was crudely made, and the bamboo was not yet fully dry. If it were placed in the house for a few days during rainy weather, it would crack and become moldy. But now, this palm-sized bamboo doll was lifelike. It hopped and skipped on its bamboo stick legs to Li Yunxin's front and gave a bow.

Then it asked, "My master sent me to ask Lord Tongtian how he has considered the events of last night?"

Li Yunxin cocked his head to look at the little person and smiled darkly. "Your master is rather interesting. Is he in such a hurry to kill a fellow cultivator?"

The bamboo doll bowed again. "My master sent me to ask Lord Tongtian how he has considered the events of last night?"

Li Yunxin was slightly stunned and snorted coldly. "Pah. So it's a piece of junk. Hehe... Are you looking for death? Even if your master didn't say anything, this Lord would still be going on a killing spree!"

After saying this, he didn't wait for the little person to bow again and stepped on it, crushing it to pieces.

Then he looked around and saw a sparrow on the wall on one side of the alley, cocking its head and staring at him with two black bean-like eyes.

Li Yunxin looked at it for a while, then snorted again and pointed at it. "If you want to kill me, then I'll kill for you. But for every person I kill, you must do one thing for me!"

The sparrow chirped twice, flapped its wings, and flew away.

So in the afternoon, news came out from the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's Weicheng station.

The cultivators began to act.

However, this "action" was more like a game to them, something they would absolutely never condescend to do before: showing off some shocking magic tricks in the city and among the believers, but not so clever that they couldn't understand them.

Then, they would persuade the people that the Divine Dragon Cult was an evil cult and that cultivating the Dao was the right path.

More than one cultivator thought this method was clumsy.

But they tried their best to do it because they had finally learned a shocking secret.

Lord Tongtian, the Dragon Two son Yazi, who had disappeared in the Ye Kingdom Tongtian Marsh last month and whose cultivation was almost destroyed, was none other than the cult leader of this Divine Dragon Cult, and he was trying to restore his Dharma body through the good wishes of his believers!

In normal times, these Intent Realm and Illusory Realm cultivators would never want to get involved in such a matter. But this time, it was their former master and old friend who had secretly gathered them and told them that the Dragon's Son Yazi was extremely weak, with only the cultivation of the Manifestation Realm.

And since he planned to rebuild the path of good wishes and search for a Dao Heart, it was a great opportunity to kill him.

That Yazi had gathered a group of spirits and started the Divine Dragon Cult, and the first thing the cultivators had to do was cut off his source of wish power. Once that was taken care of, the Head Seat of the Vinaya Hall of Langya Grotto-heaven, the Accomplished Master Realm cultivator Yue Yunzi, would kill him!

And by then, such a great deed would be a part of everyone's accomplishments... Who wouldn't be tempted?

For these low-level cultivators, even if Yue Yunzi told them not to tell their fellow cultivators, they wouldn't say a word, even if someone asked!

They were afraid that more people would share the credit!

However, Daoist Orthodoxy cultivators, just like Sword Cultivators of the Sword Sect, were more skilled at fighting. It was truly a difficult task to ask them to demonstrate their divine powers, especially to these ordinary people, without being too shocking so as not to "alarm that Dragon's Son Yazi."

In addition, the Divine Dragon Cult members seemed to have been possessed by some evil. Or rather, ignorant people were just so foolish. They kept saying that Daoist Liu of South Mountain had been worshiping the Vast Sea Chiwen Dragon Crown Prince, and his hair had turned from white to black in just over a month. And the Divine Dragon Cult hadn't taken a single penny from them and often provided relief. How could there be such an evil cult in the world?

Because of this, in the few hours from the afternoon when the cultivators received the news until the evening, almost everyone's efforts were in vain.

Cultivators were patient. But this patience was for cultivation, not for mortals. If Yue Yunzi hadn't strictly ordered them not to harm anyone, some cultivators who had not passed their Killing Tribulation and whose Dao Heart was not stable would have already started a massacre!

So some people planned to think of other ways.

To disperse this Divine Dragon Cult. Inciting people's hearts was not something cultivators were good at, but fighting and killing were always more familiar to them.

These days, they all knew that this Divine Dragon Cult had a commanding elder and a young man who was called the cult leader.

What a joke... The real cult leader was Yazi. How could the Dragon's Son swagger around in the marketplace? So he must be a puppet.

If they killed the puppet and the commanding elder, wouldn't the cult members scatter?

Then Yue Yunzi Master would make a move...

The great deed would be done!

The first to come up with this brilliant plan were an Illusory Realm cultivator and an Intent Realm cultivator.