Inner Demons

Chapter 19: A Favor

When he was a child, his father and mother, believing he was not yet sensible and still a child, used to tell him many stories. Most were about spirits and mountain ghosts, just like the stories villagers would tell children on summer nights, fanning themselves under the big tree at the village entrance.

But Li Yunxin knew his parents' stories were true. Many details corroborated their accounts – they were people with stories. So he also knew what kind of background these spirits had.

The Great Dao is formless, and heaven and earth have spirits. Since there are spiritual beings, even a stone or a chair can, by chance, develop sentience and cultivate a spiritual body.

The most common are naturally those creatures close to humans. Humans are inherently the spirit of spirits, with early-developed sentience and knowledge of etiquette and moral teachings. After being close to humans for a long time, some, by a stroke of luck, also developed spiritual intelligence. Or those who lived long in the wilderness, heard true scriptures near temples and Daoist temples, and absorbed incense, also easily became spirits.

But becoming a spirit, developing sentience, and understanding some worldly affairs do not necessarily mean understanding human nature and human hearts.

An infant thrown into a wolf pack might still become a humanoid beast, let alone a creature originally of a different kind.

Some spirits, having cultivated some power, still could not shed their bestial nature, committing evil deeds, even being greedy and devouring humans. Other spirits wielded supernatural powers and magic, confusing human minds and disrupting human morality.

There were also those who understood rules and focused solely on cultivation, but they were rare.

Therefore, when Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect disciples traveled the world undergoing tribulation, they would also eliminate those spirits. This was a merit.

Li Yunxin's parents were open-minded people, but they didn't have much affection for those creatures either – asking if they had ever harmed the villagers before eliminating them was already a rare tolerance.But Li Yunxin himself was... actually very interested in these things. In his era, who hadn't fantasized about the love between a scholar and a fox fairy? Reading with a beauty by his side, adding incense at night, how many literati and poets yearned for it.

What's more, his parents told him that spirits loved Painting Daoists the most.

A Manifestation Realm Painting Daoist already possessed the supernatural ability to bring paintings to life. For a spirit that had cultivated a spiritual body but had no physical form, and could only possess something, a benevolent act of giving it a form would be an immense blessing, comparable to rebirth.

Therefore, Li Yunxin initially felt that this spirit should have instinctively sensed the unique spiritual energy generated by the Painting Formation, and then acted according to its instincts and preferences, intending to help him.

It could create a Female Ghost illusion and a Ghost Wall, which showed it had some abilities. Although such minor tricks were insignificant in front of Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect disciples, they were enough to deal with ordinary people – even swordsmen who had taken potent pills and spurred profound internal energy at the cost of their life.

But...

This spirit actually knew "Painting Daoist"?

Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect disciples wouldn't kindly tell it about this. And since the fall of the Painting Saint two thousand years ago, even the term "Painting Daoist" had almost disappeared in the mundane world.

It must have a story behind it.

And judging by its eccentric speech and disjointed words, it must have understood some human affairs, but not necessarily all human etiquette and morality.

What are the Three Sacrificial Animals? Cattle, sheep, pigs – the highest standard for imperial sacrifices, also known as Grand Sacrifice. This silly demon actually asked him if he brought Three Sacrificial Animals.

Indeed, it was a silly demon that only half-understood worldly affairs.

Li Yunxin smiled, reaching out to touch the clay sculpture: "Just a small cat demon, but with quite an appetite."

The temple suddenly fell silent. After a while, Li Yunxin heard it say: "Huh? Cat demon? Oh, I'm not a cat demon, hmm? I'm Lady Sanhua. Oh... Lady Sanhua, how dare you! Eh? How do you know I'm a cat demon? Tell me? Huh? I'm Lady Sanhua!"

"Your title... Lady Sanhua, isn't that just a calico cat? And you talk like you're crazy – the entire species is crazy, isn't it just cats?" Li Yunxin pouted, "Little cat demon, you want meat, you want incense, that's easy to talk about. But you have to help me deal with that person outside first. Was the Female Ghost before made by you? It was well done. But I can teach you something even more fun."

A few breaths had passed since Li Yunxin walked in, and the swordsman should have arrived.

But the other party probably didn't dare to chase him inside. What had happened before was enough to make him realize that this youth was different from the people from the escort agency and was an opponent that had to be dealt with seriously – if he decided to kill, he had to make sure he killed him.

He poked his head out and saw that the swordsman had indeed rushed out of the forest. But he looked startled and hesitant at the sudden appearance of a dilapidated temple in front of him, pointing his rapier diagonally forward before slowly walking towards the temple entrance – using an extremely cautious, seemingly intricate inner martial arts footwork.

But this made him look like he was breakdancing.

"Hmm? Fun? Oh, good, good! Hmph, no Three Sacrificial Animals, this Empress... hmm? First, give me a... hmm... a body? Eh, this Empress will help you again, hmph... what's fun? Hmm?"

Li Yunxin suddenly felt a breeze around him. The wind swirled past him, kicking up a small cloud of dust on the ground.

This should be the spirit's spiritual body.

Spirits cultivate magical power and sentience, but they don't have the same body-tempering elixirs and techniques as humans, so their bodies will naturally die. When the body dies, the divine consciousness remains, becoming something akin to a ghost after a human's death – this is the spiritual body.

This little cat demon was quite bold – not attached to something rich in spiritual energy, its spiritual body wandered about. If a lightning bolt happened to strike nearby at this moment, its soul would be scattered.

"Silly cat. That person wants to kill me. If you don't help me deal with the immediate problem first, how can I help you deal with the aftermath?" Li Yunxin leaned against the crumbling door, staring at the swordsman. "That idiot just killed a girl, and I'm very annoyed, I want to kill him. You help me kill him, and later I'll draw a portrait for you to attach to. Find any temple to enshrine it, and you'll receive incense. Whether you can achieve true enlightenment after that is up to you."

The cat demon purred: "Eh? Incense? Oh, good, good. Hmm? No, hmph, first, give me a body, hmph..."

"You fool!" Li Yunxin frowned and cursed softly, "A mere spirit, daring to negotiate with me?! Don't you know I'm a Painting Daoist?! Fortune is right before you, and you don't know how to cherish it? Hmm?"

The cat demon was silent for a while: "Oh... oh, ah... then tell me... something fun, hmm..."

The voice was aggrieved, like a kitten that had been smacked and had its ears flattened. It also sounded like a child begging for candy but getting hit instead.

But spirits are inherently like this, different from humans after all.

Li Yunxin frowned again and whispered, "I ask you, can you..."