Inner Demons

Chapter 184: Yazi

He first picked up his chopsticks, lifted the bowl, slurped a mouthful of the oily soup, and let out a satisfied sigh. "The first time? The first time was the day after that wildfire started on Yeyuan Mountain. I remember it clearly—that day, everyone said that a wildfire had started on the mountain, and there must be a lot of birds and beasts burned to death. It would be good meat to go and pick them up."

"I also thought it was a good thing, so I got up early and was going to Yeyuan Mountain. But as soon as I left the house—my house is near the water—I saw a young man in white clothes standing on the bank of the Wei River estuary, looking into the water from a distance."

"I saw that he was wearing the clothes of a wealthy family, and I also heard about the things in Weicheng, so I thought that maybe his family had suffered a disaster in the city and he was feeling suicidal and wanted to jump into the river, so I quickly went over to talk him out of it."

"But before I could, that young man turned around and left. I looked at his face, hey, I'll never forget it—he was so handsome. He had the face of a young master, not a person who does work like us. Now that I think back to that time, I'll definitely never forget it—how many times in a lifetime can you see such a handsome person?"

"Sigh, and later—"

"You didn't remember incorrectly, sir?" the vendor asked him calmly.

The passerby was called "sir" for the first time, and it was by a vendor selling Sour Soup Dumplings. He was stunned for a moment. But the astonishment quickly vanished, and he soon sighed with a bitter smile. "I couldn't be wrong. Why couldn't I be wrong? That day, a group of us traveled for a whole day to get to Yeyuan Mountain, but what happened? That mountain fire, good heavens!"

"Within fifty feet, you could be roasted alive. Birds and beasts burned to death? Bullshit! They were all burned to charcoal! How could I have remembered this wrong? It's something that only happens once in a lifetime—"

The vendor suddenly fell face down on the table. His forehead hit the tabletop, making a bang.

The passerby was startled, but a breath later, the vendor shook his head hard and opened his eyes. He first looked around blankly, then felt a splitting headache. He didn't know what had just happened, or why he had come to sit across from his customer.The passerby from White Heron Island was a little confused, not knowing what kind of act this person was putting on. The vendor was also confused, feeling as if his body was empty and hollowed out. The two of them stared at each other for a while, neither of them understanding what had just happened.

But someone already understood.

A ghostly shadow spun through the crowd and went straight to the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's residence.

And at a corner of an alley on Willow Street, a horse-riding general with a ferocious face stared at the ghostly shadow for a while, then pulled his horse's head and silently disappeared into the air.

A quarter of an hour later, a passerby who happened to be passing by the entrance of the Shangqing Elixir Cauldron Sect's residence stopped, shivered slightly, then turned around stiffly, pushed open the black lacquered door of the residence, and walked straight toward the main hall.

On a normal day, the two residences in Weicheng were even more dignified and mysterious than the Prefectural Office. At this moment, even though the people had left, the lingering power remained—they didn't even need to be locked.

This passerby walked all the way to the front of the main hall and saw Yue Yunzi sitting in the hall.

The Enlightened Master looked up slightly, then closed his eyes again and sat in meditation.

"In another two quarters of an hour, it will be the auspicious time," Yue Yunzi said calmly. "I will kill that Dragon's Son today. You don't need to give me any more suggestions."

The possessed passerby was a young servant boy with a green hat. A fuzzy beard had just grown on his lips, and he had a few freckles on his face. He looked like a half-grown child.

But at this moment, this child spoke to an Enlightened Master in a solemn and serious voice. "You are mistaken. That is not the Dragon's Son, but Li Yunxin."

Yue Yunzi did not open his eyes. "He transformed into Li Yunxin's appearance and called himself Li Yunxin. I know all this. I am thinking about something—distinguished guest, do not bother me if you have nothing to do. After I take care of this matter, we may be able to cooperate in the future—but do not make me dislike you."

The servant boy looked at Yue Yunzi and said seriously, "It's not that kind of Li Yunxin. It's the only son of the couple Li Chunfeng, the genuine Li Yunxin. He is not the Dragon's Son, but just Li Yunxin."

"On the night the Ninth Dragon Son Chiwen died, he did not die."

Yue Yunzi opened his eyes.

And then frowned slightly.

"Hmm?"

The servant boy took a step forward. "To prevent you from making a mistake today, I have been gathering a lot of information in the city during this time. And today, I got the last piece of evidence."

"The night the Ninth Dragon Son and your sect's cultivator Lingkongzi fought was the nineteenth of the fourth month. And Emperor Li's death was also on the nineteenth of the fourth month. Three hours later, on the twentieth of the fourth month, Emperor Li became a Ghost Emperor."

"On the twenty-second of the fourth month, five cultivators from the Daoist Orthodoxy failed to capture the Ghost Emperor after fighting for three days and three nights."

"On the twenty-eighth of the fourth month, the heavily injured Ghost Emperor broke into the Heaven-Connecting Sea and fought fiercely with the Second Dragon Son Yazi."

"On the twenty-ninth of the fourth month, Yazi went missing. Daoist Priest Yue Yunzi, more than one person said that after the twentieth of the fourth month—"

"That Li Yunxin was already active in the White Heron Island area."

"Sir, you said that the current Li Yunxin is a transformation of Yazi—on the twentieth of the fourth month, Yazi was still in the Heaven-Connecting Sea. If he had come to the Wei River and transformed into Li Yunxin at that time, how could he have fought with the Ghost Emperor?"

After saying these words, the servant boy said no more and just looked at Yue Yunzi.

The expression of the True Realm Taoist priest froze on his face, and he did not try to hide it. This loss of composure lasted for a long time—this meant that he was so focused on thinking about other things that he didn't even bother to manage his own expression.

After a quarter of an hour, Yue Yunzi let out a long, heavy breath with a grave expression.

He first stood up and paced a few steps. As he walked, he looked at the servant boy possessed by Linliang Zi, frowned, and said hesitantly, "How do I know that you are not trying to frame me—"

"You know this is a logical deduction," the servant boy said calmly. "Our common interests are greater than our common interests with Li Yunxin."

"But you are looking for the Lucid Jade Slip."

"We are looking for the Lucid Jade Slip as a secondary matter," the servant boy said in a low voice. "And as far as I know, the Lucid Jade Slip is no longer on Li Yunxin. The Dragon's Son Chiwen took it. After the Dragon's Son Chiwen died, his palace disappeared, so it can be concluded that it was taken by the Lord of Dongting—finding the Lucid Jade Slip from the Lord of Dongting, you are a better partner than Li Yunxin. And he is just a child."

"A child... but he also fooled me." Yue Yunzi sighed, already accepting Linliang Zi's words.

He looked up at the sky. "The auspicious time is coming."

Linliang Zi frowned. "What do you plan to do, sir?"

Yue Yunzi shook his head, but smiled slightly. "What to do? Hehe... Distinguished guest, do you know what a good plan is?"

Without waiting for Linliang Zi to answer, he walked toward the door and said in a loud voice, "A poor plan always has loopholes and can only be used to deal with dull and blind people."

"A mediocre plan is clever and meticulous, more than enough to deal with dull people. However, if it is used to deal with a smart person—if any step is not calculated correctly and a mistake occurs, the entire plan will lose control."

"And a superior plan leaves room everywhere, responding to all changes with no change. Let the wind and rain blow, I will stand firm—"

"Mine is a superior plan. So what to do? Just follow the plan."

Yue Yunzi stepped out of the door, the hem of his robe flashing past the door frame, and his voice was carried into the room. "Distinguished guest, wait here. After I take the head of that child Li Yunxin, I will come back to discuss our grand plan with you!"

...

...

"Where did you find this motley crew?" Li Yunxin frowned as he looked at a group of people setting up their gear on the white marble platform, the seven times seven forty-nine steps of the Dragon King Temple.

Gongs, drums, suonas, erhus, qiangdis, and other musical instrument performers. Men and women painted like demons and ghosts, wearing red and green clothes. A large pile of incomprehensible banners, fans, and ceremonial items, as well as some people in ceremonial robes that were neither ceremonial nor official—

At this moment, they were all busy with solemn expressions.

"Hmm... it's all based on the old system," Old Daoist Liu explained. "Servants, Dragon King's entourage, and so on. Brother Xin, look at that ceremonial official in red, that's General Crab—"

"Okay," Li Yunxin sighed. "So you're saying I'll have to give a speech in the middle of them later?"

"Yes. These ceremonial officials are imitating the two rows of officials in front of the Dragon King. Brother Xin will be in the main seat—hey? Where's the dragon throne? I'll go and hurry them up..."

As he spoke, Li Yunxin was not listening. He was looking elsewhere.

They were currently standing on the platform, under the red corridor of the main hall of the Dragon King Temple. The people below couldn't see them, but they could see an ocean made up of tens of thousands of people—it was a spectacular sight, with heads bobbing up and down.

But at this moment, Li Yunxin turned his head and looked back. Then he waved his hand. "No need. We probably won't be able to perform for long anyway."

Old Daoist Liu was stunned for a moment, and followed his gaze. He saw Yue Yunzi walking toward them.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see the True Realm Taoist priest's expression—curious, slightly mocking, and a little puzzled.

"You should get out of the way."

"Okay." Old Daoist Liu didn't hesitate at all and walked away quickly.

Yue Yunzi didn't care about the Daoist's departure. His gaze was always fixed on Li Yunxin, who was wearing a flowing white robe. He stopped three steps in front of him and said, "You are not Yazi."

Li Yunxin was slightly stunned, then smiled. "You should remember. I never said I was."

"You are Li Yunxin."

He smiled again. "You should remember, I never said I wasn't either."

"Good, good, good." Yue Yunzi narrowed his eyes. "I was actually fooled by you, a child."

"From ancient times, heroes have come from the young."

Yue Yunzi snorted coldly. "Did you learn this sharp-tongued personality from your deceased father, Li Chunfeng?"

Li Yunxin was silent for a while and stopped smiling. "Just talk, don't bring up other people's parents—what, are you going to go and complain to my parents?"

Yue Yunzi also smiled coldly. "Hmph—"

"And you used to be a part of society, didn't you, and I heard you were an official. Is that right?" Li Yunxin interrupted him. "Then don't you understand the principle of not harming a person's family? A master has many ways to extract a confession from a mortal. Do you have to disembowel someone? Interview question—what's your mentality?"

Yue Yunzi was silent for a while, thinking that it was very unwise to argue with a young man—and not a young man transformed by Lord Tongtian—and that it lowered his status.

So he changed the subject and said in a low voice, "Where is Lord Tongtian? Are these your plans, or Lord Tongtian's plans?"

"No comment."

Yue Yunzi looked at Li Yunxin's expression and suddenly smiled.

"Good." He raised his hand and stroked his beard. "Your identity has been exposed, but you are not flustered and still have the upper hand. You are exactly like I was when I was young. I know you are acting this way because you are afraid... but there's really no need to be."

"Everything I said before still holds true. Since you are a person and not a demon, this matter is even easier to talk about. The Daoist Orthodoxy wants the Lucid Jade Slip, but I don't. On the contrary, I need a smart helper. However, whether you follow Lord Tongtian or me after today, I will not make things difficult for you—as long as you don't go against me."

"As for that Lord Tongtian... she's actually a dragon girl? That's interesting." Yue Yunzi shook his head slightly. "However, since she can disguise herself as your servant and perform this play with you, it shows that she is not a rude or dull demon. Things are still manageable."

"You are truly a smart person." Li Yunxin smiled slightly, turned his head, and looked toward the front of the hall. "The show is about to begin. We have plenty of time to talk. Look, the auspicious time has arrived."

As soon as he said this, the sound of the gong rang out.

The large gong was mounted on a thick wooden frame at the end of the steps, taller than a person. This was very similar to the large drums Li Yunxin had seen before, but for some reason, they were replaced with gongs in this world.

The ceremonial official in a big red silk robe used all his strength to strike it twenty-one times. The sound was deafening, making people's ears numb.

But this sound only caused the people in front of the temple to turn their heads slightly and stop what they were doing. More people were still continuing with their own business.

They had originally come to watch the show, but now this place had become a market—and what could be more lively than a market?

Yue Yunzi, who was walking slowly beside Li Yunxin, smiled. "This is not a good sign. You are still just a young man—it would be much better if that Lord Tongtian came out."

Li Yunxin stopped by the large gong and reached out to hold the still-buzzing gong. Then he turned to look at Yue Yunzi. "You are just afraid that we are up to something and want to see the dragon girl. She didn't go anywhere else, she's just waiting in the temple. If you want to see her, I'll call her out."

"I want to see her," Yue Yunzi said.

"San Hua, come out," Li Yunxin shouted without hesitation toward the inside of the hall.

At this time, the group of people on the platform, which Li Yunxin had called a "motley crew," was unhurriedly getting into position and lining up. In this era, there were no professional ceremonial companies, and many such jobs were done by opera troupes. Having seen many large-scale events, they were not easily intimidated.

They orderly arranged their positions, the actors wearing "civil and military official robes" stood lazily, and the musicians also sat down on the side.

They were just waiting for the host's command to start the music and get into character immediately.

To Li Yunxin, it seemed like child's play, but the people of Weicheng liked it very much. No one wanted to listen to a long and boring speech; they preferred to watch an opera troupe perform—it was said that there were famous actors from Weicheng on this stage.