Inner Demons

Chapter 183: He Is Just a Child

Building bridges, paving roads, and digging irrigation canals are not things that can be done in a single day, but both Li Yunxin and Yue Yunzi only needed a beginning.

By the 16th day of the sixth month, things were more or less finished.

Or rather... they had just begun.

From the 22nd day of the fifth month, when the people of the Divine Dragon Cult entered the city, to the 16th day of the sixth month, when the main temple of the Divine Dragon Cult on Taoxi Road was about to be completed, twenty-five days had passed. Outside Weicheng, sixteen irrigation canals, nineteen roads, and six bridges were under construction. In addition, twenty-four temples were being built at various locations.

In any country in the world, these would be enormous projects. However, both sides knew that these things might not necessarily be completed, and the people who were grateful and felt that a great blessing had descended were actually just pawns. Both sides were using them, but not for their sake, only for their own.

At the same time, in these twenty-five days, thirty-six low-level Taoist priests were killed.

Twenty-one died at the hands of the Divine Dragon Cult. The other fifteen gradually realized that something was wrong—because their companions were killed by a demon, and the Enlightened Master Yue Yunzi repeatedly told them to be patient. The demon kept attacking, and they had almost no means of self-preservation—these cultivators, who had previously held themselves in high regard, finally lost their arrogance and suspected that Yue Yunzi had ulterior motives.

Fortunately, they still had some sense—they didn't confront Yue Yunzi directly but chose to flee Weicheng in separate directions one night.

But within half an hour, these fifteen fleeing people were killed one by one by Yue Yunzi's clones in different places, and their souls were scattered.

Therefore, on the evening of the 16th day of the sixth month, in that other manor of Yu Manor, Li Yunxin met Yue Yunzi again.The Enlightened Master seemed to be very satisfied and didn't even use a spiritual soul clone, but visited in his true body.

At this moment, he was truly a lone wolf in Weicheng. The entire Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's Weicheng residence was left with only himself—the strange deaths of the cultivators had scared the wits out of the servants who knew a little, and they had all fled to White Heron Island.

And Li Yunxin had nearly ten thousand followers in Weicheng, with more than five hundred people coming to the main temple every day to worship—although many of them were there because the main temple often gave out small statues of Chiwen made of silver foil.

When they met again that night, Li Yunxin was still leaning lazily in a rattan chair, looking at Yue Yunzi. "All your people are dead, and you still dare to come and see me so brazenly."

Two flower-turned-boy servants moved a seat for the Enlightened Master, allowing him to sit across from Li Yunxin. Then Yue Yunzi said calmly, "They didn't accomplish anything while they were alive, but they are more useful dead. I have come to discuss the completion ceremony and the worship of the heavens tomorrow."

"It's the worship of the True Dragon," Li Yunxin snorted.

"Mm. The worship of the True Dragon." Yue Yunzi looked at him. "I hope you can bring rain when you ascend the altar tomorrow. This will increase your power, and secondly, it will make your followers more devout, and you will have more believers. Weicheng is the center of the Hejian Region of the Great Qing Dynasty. A torrential rain that saves the people from a natural disaster will be a miracle in the Hejian Region. The news spreading from Weicheng to all directions will be much more credible than spreading from some poor and remote village."

Li Yunxin frowned and looked at him. "You would be so kind?"

"It's a mutually beneficial matter," Yue Yunzi said. "You will be the first Yin Spirit to publicly appear and display divine power on a large scale in a large city. This way, the Daoist Orthodoxy will realize the seriousness of the matter. Then I will report the news of the cultivators being killed. After the reprimand, I will inevitably be the one to remain in charge of Weicheng."

"Then the Daoist Orthodoxy will send truly capable cultivators—not those useless ones from before. At that time, you will have to leave Weicheng, but your deeds will have already been spread by those believers. Even the Daoist Orthodoxy and the government will not be able to erase the thoughts hidden in those people's hearts—essentially, you will not have suffered any loss. We will both have gotten what we wanted."

"Sounds great," Li Yunxin yawned. "Then it's settled. You may leave."

Yue Yunzi did not leave. Instead, he sat upright for a moment longer.

"Lord Tongtian should not be this kind of person. Is Lord Tongtian trying to provoke me?" he asked.

Li Yunxin glanced at him sideways and ignored him.

"Peaceful coexistence is beneficial to both of us," Yue Yunzi reiterated earnestly. "If someone else came to Weicheng, they might not stand by and do nothing. I am Lord Tongtian's best choice."

Li Yunxin waved his hand impatiently. "Alright, alright. I get it."

But Yue Yunzi still didn't leave. He stared at Li Yunxin carefully for a while, frowning. "Lord Tongtian's aura... seems to have weakened. Were you injured and your realm dropped? Tomorrow is a big event, you must not fail."

Li Yunxin closed his eyes and was silent for a while, only spitting out four words: "Dragon Clan Secret Technique."

Yue Yunzi smiled gently and finally wrapped himself in a clear light and flew away.

Three breaths later, Old Daoist Liu walked out of the room and sat next to Li Yunxin.

Li Yunxin let out a light breath. "He's going to make his move. He came tonight to sound me out."

Old Daoist Liu just let out a low "Hmm."

Li Yunxin waved his hand, as if chasing away a mosquito. "We'll settle everything tomorrow."

Under the silk tree in the courtyard, a petal of the silk flower trembled slightly—and then all the petals fell off in an instant.

...

...

The 17th of the sixth month was a rare overcast day. The sky was iron-blue, with heavy clouds pressing down. There was not a single breeze, and from the morning on, it felt like a giant steamer.

But the people in Weicheng didn't feel annoyed. This was because the overcast clouds meant that rain might be coming. Although many people in the city didn't do farm work, in this day and age, there were no real "city people"—everyone knew something about farming.

In addition, today was the day the main temple of the Divine Dragon Cult was completed, and everyone was happy.

It wasn't that everyone was a believer, but they knew that the Divine Dragon Cult was very generous and had the Yu Manor's backing. They were given money on a regular basis, so how could they be left out on a propitious day like this?

So from early in the morning, people came with their families to Taoxi Road to get a good spot.

The main temple was not a single altar, but a temple. But this temple could no longer be described as just a "great temple."

The foundation was laid deep and the platform was built high.

According to Li Yunxin's unique taste, there were forty-nine steps of white marble leading up to the platform—if a person with a bad body fell from this high platform, they would surely die.

The platform was large, paved with bluestone slabs. The entire courtyard of Old Daoist Liu's Dragon King Temple was now just a single main hall on this platform.

The main body of the temple was covered with yellow glazed tiles, looking magnificent. On a sunny day, it would even be reflected with golden light. Many people swore that looking at this Divine Dragon Temple was like seeing what the ruined palace in Weicheng looked like before it was burned during the Daye Dynasty—even though their great-great-grandfathers were not yet born when the Daye Dynasty was destroyed.

However, this was actually true—Li Yunxin had people build it according to the imperial palace of his world.

It was just on a smaller scale, with only one main hall.

It was also thanks to the Great Qing Dynasty's preference for white. He used some golden yellow glazed tiles, which was not a violation of the rules, so no one bothered him.

The people who came early were waiting at the foot of the platform of the Divine Dragon Temple. When the auspicious time came, the Divine Dragon Cult Master would sacrifice to the True Dragon on the platform, and perhaps a lot of gold and silver would be scattered.

Some people thought they came early, while others didn't leave last night. The weather was cool, and they slept on the ground in their clothes. When the sky got brighter and hotter and they couldn't sleep, they started to chat. The topics were all about the strange stories of the Divine Dragon Cult. For example, someone had seen the Divine Dragon Cult Master emit a golden light from his palm and split a large mountain in half with it.

Actually, the people who said this didn't really believe it, and the people who listened didn't really believe it either—it was like those folk tales, where someone meets an immortal, or someone is called by the Yama King to be a Judge of the Mortal World.

However, the people of Weicheng had experienced a few strange things. Although they didn't believe it wholeheartedly, they held an extra bit of reverence in their hearts.

As more and more people gathered, the rumors about the Divine Dragon Cult Master also increased.

After a morning passed, approaching noon, the Divine Dragon Temple was almost completely surrounded by a crowd—there were thousands of people.

Thousands of people, not standing in dense rows. They were scattered casually on the ground, and even the Taoxi Road, which was half demolished and not yet rebuilt, couldn't hold them all. The crowd extended all the way to the Willow Main Street outside Taoxi Road.

With so many people, small merchants and vendors also came, selling food, toys, and various trinkets.

Since they were waiting anyway, they took the opportunity to eat something and look at some trinkets.

As a result, the entire Taoxi Road became bustling with noise. Some other people in the city who didn't plan to come heard that there seemed to be a market there today and came to join in the fun. Some farmers who had come to the city saw the scene, and after asking around, they rushed back home.

What for?

To prepare their goods and go to the market.

Commerce was not very developed in this era. Many things that the farmers around Weicheng needed were difficult to get even in the shops in the city. The things that the farmers produced themselves also didn't have a suitable place to be sold.

Li Yunxin had previously created a river full of Sour Soup Dumplings on Long Gate Street—that was a market. Once or twice a month, people from all around Weicheng would go to Long Gate Street to trade with each other. This was called "going to the market."

Now, the ceremony at the main temple of the Divine Dragon Cult had not even begun, and a market had been created out of thin air.

In the past, the officials of the government might have managed this. But now, Weicheng was almost in a state of anarchy, and the Prefectural Magistrate had no time to manage this—he couldn't order those constables and officials around.

As a result, by noon...

There were already more than ten thousand people in the vicinity!

With so many people, the topics of conversation were always about the Divine Dragon Cult, and they gradually branched out to the Cult Master.

And then, gradually—

Someone said they had seen the Cult Master before.

When had they seen him?

It was a few days before the night the Dragon King displayed his power and burned down Yeyuan Mountain.

Coincidentally, there was also a vendor selling Sour Soup Dumplings in the market. When he heard this, he slapped his thigh in annoyance, gritting his teeth and stating with certainty, "That's him!"

At first, people thought he was joking and teased him. So the vendor told them the story of how that young man had painted all his Sour Soup Dumplings into the river. That incident was widely circulated in Weicheng, and people knew it wasn't a lie. Coincidentally, there were also customers who were there that day and confirmed the vendor's words.

The vendor also said that a few days ago, he had also spent some time with the people of the Divine Dragon Cult—because he heard they were generous and wanted to see if he could get some unexpected money. However, he didn't get any benefits, but he did meet the Divine Dragon Cult Master face to face.

—Wasn't it that same young Taoist priest?!

The matter would have ended there, just a story about how the Divine Dragon Cult Master had walked around in Weicheng before and done strange things, and was indeed a master, or perhaps even a True Dragon.

However, customers came and went at the stall, and the topic was brought up again and again—"Look, that guy selling Sour Soup Dumplings was once taught a lesson by the Divine Dragon Cult Master"—until a person who originally lived on White Heron Island and was in Weicheng for a few days to do some business also heard about this.

This person thought and thought, and finally realized that he seemed to have seen that young man in Egret Town before.

He had certainly seen Li Yunxin—almost everyone on White Heron Island was a believer in the Divine Dragon Cult. However, it was difficult to connect the Cult Master Li Yunxin with the passerby he had accidentally seen in Egret Town.

It was not until today, after hearing so much, that he remembered the Divine Dragon Cult Master's handsome appearance.

Originally, this person was planning to return to White Heron Island. But before leaving the city, he passed by Taoxi Road and, being a person who liked excitement, he came to take a look and get something to eat before continuing his journey.

At this point, he was almost done with his food, so he didn't say anything more—anyway, it was not that strange that he had seen the Divine Dragon Cult Master on White Heron Island. Everyone knew that the Divine Dragon Cult had started on White Heron Island.

However, just as he was drinking the last sip of soup in his bowl, slapping a coin on the table, and preparing to get up and leave, the vendor who was originally busy behind the cart suddenly spoke to him.

The vendor had been talking before. But it was just a face full of smiles, greeting and sending off customers, and occasionally chatting with people when he had a moment.

But just now, a cold wind blew past, and the vendor's body suddenly stiffened. Then he stopped what he was doing and ignored the new customers who were calling him. He just stared straight at the passerby from White Heron Island and said, "Tell me more."

As he spoke, he slowly and unskillfully scooped another full bowl of Sour Soup Dumplings from the pot and personally handed it to him. Then he also sat down at the table and said again, "I like to hear stories about him. Tell me more. What day was the first time you saw him? What did he look like?"

The passerby from White Heron Island naturally found it strange.

But the other party was just a vendor, a common person. And since everyone was talking about the Divine Dragon Cult Master, there was nothing to hide.

So he sat back down at the table because of the steaming bowl of Sour Soup Dumplings, and smiled. "Hey, about that—I'm not that hungry anymore—"

"It's a gift for you," the vendor said with a smile. "That person, you know, you heard people say it just now, I've had dealings with him."

"So I really want to know more about him. I think it's very interesting." The vendor's smile was like a mask on his face. Even the passerby found it a little strange, but he couldn't say what was strange about it.

A few other passing customers called out to him a few times. Seeing that he didn't respond, they walked away, muttering curses.

But the vendor didn't care. He just reached out and gently patted the passerby's hand. "Tell me."

This traveler from White Heron Island suddenly felt at ease and couldn't help but feel the urge to confide.