Inner Demons

Chapter 181: No Need to Thank Me

But she didn't understand these things. She did understand Daoist Arts.

Qingfuzi couldn't help but frown. "Daoist priest, there's just one thing... When we write true Talismans, every stroke is filled with Spiritual Power. This Spiritual Power is our own Spiritual Power. Then those strokes combine to form a true name, which then forms a small formation. The Spiritual Power circulates in the formation, and it is a self-sustaining cycle that then draws Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the surroundings. This is what a useful Talisman is."

"However, he... painted one stroke here and one stroke there. I don't know painting Daoist Arts. But since you said it has some similarities with the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law, it should be similar to the art of Talismans. So, if those marks and imprints are not connected, the Spiritual Power can't form a formation... How can the painting work?"

Yue Yunzi squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, as if he was looking at "Yazi."

"So this is precisely... the brilliance of that Dragon's Son. Sigh, there is such a person among the demons, and we only knew that he was cruel and violent! If he were not a demon, if that Qingliangzi had his strategy and wisdom, sigh..." He sighed repeatedly. "This demon... I must kill him now. Such a Yazi must not live in this world, let alone live beside my bed!"

Qingfuzi listened to his sighs quietly.

When he was done sighing, he said, "So this is a plan that kills three birds with one stone. Wish power."

"The Talismans we write are filled with Spiritual Power, so they are useful. To put it more simply, there are two basic conditions for a Talisman to work."

"First, every stroke must have Spiritual Power. The Spiritual Power in the strokes has two functions. It guides the Spiritual Power to circulate after the formation is complete, and it also ensures that this stroke is not a casual stroke from an ordinary person, but a Daoist Art."

"Second, this Talisman must also have sufficient Spiritual Power to 'immerse' the words and paintings in the entire Talisman in Spiritual Power. You don't know this. Do you know why?""Because cultivators below the Illusory Realm cannot control a large formation and only need to write on the Talisman. The Daoist Orthodoxy's Talisman specifications are made to accommodate you. And by only writing on a conventional Talisman, the second condition is easily met. This world is filled with Spiritual Power. In fact, the Talisman you write is already 'immersed' in Spiritual Power, so you don't need to consider this extra problem."

"But above the Manifestation Realm, a cultivator can do another thing. They can create a large formation. Just like what Yazi is doing, using the land around Weicheng as paper to create a formation! This is a great feat for a cultivator."

"He and that Painting Daoist personally dug the canal. In reality, they were personally injecting Spiritual Power into the canal. That satisfies the first point. Every stroke has Spiritual Power injected into it. After this, you can also pay attention. No matter whether they build a bridge or pave a road after this, that Yazi and that Painting Daoist will definitely do it themselves. Every road and bridge is a stroke they have planned and designed!"

"As for the other projects that don't require them to do it themselves, they are undoubtedly Illusions. The real and the fake are mixed. This is the method that Dragon's Son usually uses. The cunning and caution of this Yazi... are truly rare in this world."

"Then... the second point? The Talisman, or rather, the painting, needs to be 'immersed' in Spiritual Power?" Qingfuzi seemed to be captivated. In reality, compared to scheming, what she was truly interested in was these things.

The profoundness of Daoist Arts.

"This second point, hehe. This is precisely what I wanted to talk about." Yue Yunzi praised. "If I were to create a large formation, the best choice would be this city of Weicheng. Weicheng has a population of three hundred thousand, and the yang energy is abundant. With a little bit of a method, it can be transformed into Spiritual Power. In that case, with Weicheng as the scroll, this Talisman will be 'immersed' in the Spiritual Power converted from the yang energy of the three hundred thousand people in Weicheng."

"But this Yazi... hehe, he is truly a hero. He will only use this city of Weicheng, which is filled with abundant yang energy, as the finishing touch and the eye of the formation! Then where does the Spiritual Power for the even larger scroll that includes the farmlands around Weicheng come from?" Yue Yunzi stood up as he spoke. "Hehe, it comes from the faith and wish power of those farmers and villagers!"

"The wish power may not be enough now. But don't forget that creating clouds and rain is a Dragon Clan's specialty! At that time, that Dragon's Son will ascend the platform of the Divine Dragon Cult and shout, and rain will come. The farmers, who are worried about their bean seeds, especially since they will starve to death if this year's harvest is poor, will have such strong faith and wish power!"

"The great formation will be complete!!"

When he said this, Yue Yunzi could no longer hold back the excitement in his heart and suddenly raised his arms. The spiritual energy in the room suddenly swirled, and the wind blew. All the doors and windows opened at the same time, and the sunlight outside the house instantly filled the entire room.

And this Yue Yunzi had figured out all the key points. He burst out laughing.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"What a hero of a demon, Lord Tongtian!"

"This is worthy of being my opponent, Yue Yunzi!"

"Since you have the guts of a dragon and a tiger, I also have the heart of a zither and a sword! I will let you... die a spectacular death on that day!"

"Hahahahahahahahaha!!"

Qingfuzi stared at Yue Yunzi blankly... not quite understanding what he was talking about.

...

...

At the same time, Yue Yunzi was not the only one laughing out loud.

There was also Wang Sheng, the one who opened a stationery store in front of the ruined palace square on Old City Street.

His official wife was the illegitimate daughter of the Yu Manor's Fourth House. According to Li Yunxin, "her looks and personality were not good." But someone like him would not have been able to marry into a high-class family. The Wang family and the Fourth House's master were still on good terms when his family was not yet in decline. But by the time of his father's generation, his family was not just in "decline," it was "collapsed."

But the Fourth House's master was planning to recommend a family member to take the filial and honest exam in the Weihe Prefecture, which happened to be a good opportunity for him. The Yu Manor's master was a man of his word and did not despise the son of an old friend who was poor, which was a good reputation.

Afterward, Wang Sheng was always unsuccessful. His wife, who was a noble lady from the Yu Manor, even had to sell her dowry to support their household.

Until one night, he met a "strange person" in his stationery store in front of the ruined palace square.

The strange person gave him the formula for a "black medicine."

It was also his sudden enlightenment and good fortune. He actually succeeded after tinkering for a few days.

However, even if he succeeded, it would not be of much use in his daily life. But soon, it was said that the Yu Manor wanted to help the Divine Dragon Cult build bridges, pave roads, and open mountains. Wang Sheng knew that his black medicine had great power. He also remembered that the "strange person" had said before he left that night, "In a few days, you will have an opportunity to show your skills..." So he didn't care about the origins of the strange person or what he wanted him to do.

He shamelessly went to the Fourth House's mansion, made a fuss, and finally met the steward. He told him about his matter.

It was naturally impossible to just say it with words. It was a good thing that the steward had watched his wife grow up. Although he didn't like him, he still felt bad for his lady. He frowned and went with him to "see" for himself.

Then he ran back to the Yu Manor with wide eyes and told their master about it.

How powerful was this "black medicine," which was the "black gunpowder" formula that Li Yunxin gave him?

It was actually not that powerful. It was not even as convenient as a skilled stonemason quarrying according to the traditional method. However, in this matter of the Yu Family's cooperation with the Divine Dragon Cult, everyone wanted to contribute and gain Yu Qi's favor. Furthermore, it was a good thing to get on good terms with a budding sect. It was said that the Divine Dragon Cult had a powerful expert from the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's Weicheng station behind it.

The master of the Fourth House, Mr. Yu, was worried about how to please his brother. Now, his cheap son-in-law, whom he had long forgotten, had brought him a good opportunity. He was overjoyed.

He called him to his mansion, talked to him, asked him to explain everything, and asked for the formula.

At this point, Wang Sheng had learned to be smart. He said that he would not hand over the formula even if he died.

His father-in-law had no choice but to tell him to see the patriarch, Yu Qi, the master, with him tomorrow.

This was a great fortune for Wang Sheng.

It was on such a morning that Wang Sheng was planning to go out. He was going to see his father-in-law, the master of the Fourth House, and then go to see the most powerful person in the entire Yu Family.

The day before yesterday, he had seen his father-in-law and received some money. When he came back, he bought three jin of meat and stewed it until it was fragrant in the pot. The three of them, Wang Sheng, his wife, and the maid who was also his concubine, were so full that their stomachs were round. They kept saying that they would never eat meat again in their lives.

But when he woke up this morning, his stomach was empty, and he had long forgotten about the greasiness of last night. He heated the meat soup and meat scraps, cooked a pot of white rice with a heavy heart, mixed it with the lard from cooking the meat, and ate it ravenously.

Wang Sheng was so hot from eating that he unbuttoned his clothes and walked to the eaves in front of his door. He looked at the rising sun and thought about the wealth that was about to come. His heart was filled with heroic pride.

When his heroic pride was high, he felt inspired to write a poem. But after holding it in for a long time, he couldn't come up with a single line. He simply burst out laughing, feeling extremely happy. His life was finally going to turn around!

His wife, who rarely smiled, sat on the porch and watched him. She no longer frowned and scolded him for not doing proper things or for not finding a good way to make money.

The maid was tidying up the dishes in the hall. When she saw that the two were not quarreling, she also pursed her lips and smiled. She was planning to go and help her master put on his clothes and hat and send him out to the Yu Manor.

The small courtyard was not big. There was a clump of thin bamboo, two patches of wild grass, and two mother hens that were about to lay eggs in the courtyard.

And three people.

The next moment, Wang Sheng's laughter came to a sudden halt, as if he had been choked.

Then he turned his head sharply.

His wife looked at him in confusion and asked him what was wrong.

The maid also stopped what she was doing. When she saw Wang Sheng's suddenly wooden expression, she wondered if he had forgotten to prepare something.

Under the gazes of the two women, Wang Sheng did not say a word. He walked straight to the clump of thin bamboo in the courtyard. He reached out and snapped off a branch as thick as a thumb.

He then bent his arm and stabbed the branch directly into his neck.

His face was solemn and calm. He stared at his wife and turned his wrist, shaking it hard, so that the branch would go deeper and mess up his trachea, blood vessels, and esophagus.

Then he let go of the branch and fell to the ground with a thud.

Blood sprayed from his neck with a hissing sound.

His wife and the maid were stunned in place. They stared at him for a long, long time before they looked at each other.

The young lady from the Yu Family fainted without a sound, and the maid screamed for her life.

A gust of yin wind swirled in the courtyard and went out the door.

...

...

When this insignificant little interlude occurred, Yue Yunzi had already summoned some people and issued some commands.

Then he stood in the courtyard and could not help but laugh out loud three times. It was truly a joyous feeling.

He had actually met such an opponent, and a demon at that!

There were a few smart people in the Daoist Orthodoxy, but he would never treat them as enemies. At most, they were opponents. Such a situation might occur in the future when there was enough interest involved, but it was not now.

As for the demons, the great demons above the True Realm were all "key points." They were related to the Daoist Orthodoxy's overall plan for the world and could not be touched easily. And the great demons were all fools, at least in his opinion.

He, Yue Yunzi, had a natural talent but had no place to use it. He was not even as useful as those ordinary officials and military officers!

But now he had met this Yazi.

It was a perfect match. He could... try his best to unleash his maximum malice without any scruples. All his goals were to put the other party to death.

How enjoyable this was!

But it was just enjoyable. He would not have any inexplicable feeling of "cherishing each other."

An enemy was an enemy. In his opinion, there was no such thing as being "worthy of respect." If they were worthy of respect, then why not be friends? Was it because of interests or "no other choice"? For a True Realm cultivator, "no other choice" was an extremely rare thing.

Because he was one of the strongest in this known world of over a billion people, one of the less than a thousand people.

After the joy, he preferred to completely crush and defeat the other party.

How similar. This was the method that Dragon's Son used on Qingliangzi. And he also deeply loved this method.

What a lovely enemy.

Yue Yunzi looked in the direction where that Dragon's Son was in Weicheng, smiled, shook his head, and turned to walk back into the room.

Just then, a gust of wind swirled and rolled up a few fallen leaves on the stone ground of the small courtyard, blowing them to the feet of Qingfuzi, who was standing beside Yue Yunzi.

This female cultivator suddenly shivered.

It was extremely rare for a cultivator to shiver because they were almost no longer troubled by worldly illnesses. Yue Yunzi noticed this in the instant he turned around and asked one more question, "What's wrong?"

Qingfuzi turned around and looked at him calmly. "When will you kill that Dragon's Son?"

Her tone was calm and composed, very familiar. This was... the tone that Yue Yunzi also often used. The tone used by a person in a high position or a powerful person.

The True Realm cultivator immediately took a small step back when he heard this sentence. A layer of faint light appeared on his body. He sized up "Qingfuzi" and said in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

"You are very close to Qingliangzi. So, I am the same kind of person as him," Qingfuzi said calmly. "My name is Linliang Zi."

This sounded like a very strange Daoist name. But because it was strange, Yue Yunzi was slightly relieved.

Because Qingliangzi had mentioned two other people from the Mutual Aid Society to him. One was named Hailiang Zi, and the other was Liliang Zi. Both had very strange Daoist names.

Linliang Zi stated his identity and immediately returned to the main topic. He stared at Yue Yunzi with an unquestionable tone and reiterated again, "He must die. The sooner, the better."