Inner Demons

Chapter 194: The Trump Card

The one who appeared was none other than Kun Wuzi, just half an hour after they had parted ways.

As soon as the Profound Realm Taoist priest's clone appeared, he immediately spoke, "Tell me about Tongfu and Liu Ling."

He spoke in a hurry, as if afraid he would change his mind and only wanted to blurt it out so he couldn't take it back.

Li Yunxin smiled.

In the end, this Taoist priest could not resist the temptation.

The first time he refused to listen was because the matter concerned "the Two Saints." Anyone would be terrified of two old monsters who had lived for three thousand years. As soon as he heard it was a private matter of the Two Saints, he refused without a second thought.

But... precisely because it was a private matter of the Two Saints, who wouldn't want to know? A master of the Great Accomplishment Profound Realm must have survived many calamities, but Li Yunxin thought that curiosity must still exist. Curiosity is just a narrow expression of the will to survive; as long as he was alive and rational, he would inevitably be curious.

Therefore, at this moment, the Profound Realm Taoist priest did not ask about the Two Saints, but instead asked about Yue Yunzi and Lingkongzi. He was deceiving himself, and Li Yunxin was willing to help him deceive himself.

—Otherwise, how could he get him to work for him?

A Profound Realm Taoist priest. What a rare opportunity and resource!He let out a light breath, still sitting on the rooftop, and said, "Cultivators speak of karma and cause. I told you so much before because I had killed Yue Yunzi and didn't want to start another conflict with you. When I was in the sky, this matter was not yet finished, but now that I'm on the ground, it's already over."

"Now you've come to me to ask me these things—if you really want to know, my information cannot be given away for nothing."

Kun Wuzi looked at him. "I am a cultivator of the Great Accomplishment Profound Realm."

"Cut that out, my friend," Li Yunxin said, unconcerned by his words. "You're of the Great Accomplishment Profound Realm, and I've just entered the True Realm. But what was the outcome? In the sky, you should have killed me, but you didn't. Now you've come to the ground to ask me questions—everything is your own choice."

"If you still only focus on things like realms and power, thinking they can decide everything, and insist on looking at me like a child, then we have nothing to talk about. Why don't you just go kill people and steal treasures? Wouldn't that be simpler and more direct? But the problem is that in this world, brute force can't solve all problems. In fact, it can only solve very few."

The sect master of the Grotto-heaven had not heard such words—being lectured by a fifteen-year-old "child"—for a very long time.

But after a moment of silence, Kun Wuzi, instead of getting angry, laughed. "If you were to cultivate, you would be even more stunning and brilliant than Liu Ling. It's a pity you've become a demon. Fine, answer my first question then."

"Yue Yunzi was looking for the Lucid Jade Slip," Li Yunxin answered immediately. "But the information seems to have come from another source."

The sentence was cryptic, but it was enough for Kun Wuzi to understand that Lingkongzi was also looking for the Lucid Jade Slip. This also meant that the Two Saints were secretly searching for that item.

"The Lucid Jade Slip." Kun Wuzi seemed to be no stranger to this name. He repeated it in a low voice, then looked up. "That thing is in your hands."

"First, tell me who my mother, Shangguan Yue, is," Li Yunxin asked back, not answering the question.

The heavy rain was still pouring down, but this question made Kun Wuzi slightly stunned again.

"You..." The centuries-old Taoist priest hesitated. "Your... your parents didn't tell you?"

"Never."

"Sigh." The old Taoist priest sighed. "Ask me about something else."

His words and the way he spoke created an illusion for a moment—as if this was not a Profound Realm cultivator who could very likely kill Li Yunxin, but merely an old man who didn't want to talk about a certain topic. This attitude slightly surprised Li Yunxin, but it was also within his expectations.

In the sky, when he mentioned his father, Li Chunfeng, Kun Wuzi's eyes only showed surprise. But when he mentioned his mother, Shangguan Yue, the astonishment was mixed with a hint of fear. Anything that could make a Profound Realm Taoist priest feel fear must be a big deal, and he had never expected the other party to actually answer him.

He only said it to make him refuse, so he could make another request. This way, he might accept a slightly excessive request.

So Li Yunxin smiled and said, "Then accompany me to see an old fellow."

Kun Wuzi looked at him in surprise. After a while, he shook his head and laughed. "This humble Taoist not killing you for the time being is already a great concession. You should know that in your hands, you hold the lives of twenty-five low-level cultivators of my Daoist Orthodoxy, the life of a Manifestation Realm cultivator, and the life of a True Realm cultivator. And now you want to borrow my influence? You want me to go with you to see the Emperor of Ye? This matter—"

"Those twenty-five people are on Yue Yunzi's head, not mine. And it's not to see the Ghost Emperor," Li Yunxin said seriously. "You're also interested in the Lucid Jade Slip, but it's no longer on me. You also know that the Lucid Jade Slip spent some time with the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Sect, but none of you could open it."

"Can you?" Kun Wuzi narrowed his eyes at him.

"I can," Li Yunxin said without hesitation.

"That's something the Two Saints couldn't even do. This humble Taoist finds it hard to believe you're not just boasting."

"You also know it's something the Two Saints couldn't handle. So the question is—is the person who created the Lucid Jade Slip really so much more brilliant than the Two Saints that they had no way to deal with it? That's obviously impossible. The answer is that the Two Saints haven't found the right method, but I have a way." Li Yunxin stood up. "Accompany me to see the Lord of Dongting. I want to get a person and some things from him."

"It's with the Lord of Dongting?" Kun Wuzi's eyes slightly lit up. He naturally didn't think Li Yunxin would easily hand over the item, but he also didn't expect to learn of its whereabouts so easily. He had thought it would require threats, enticement, and bargaining.

"There's nothing to hide, it is indeed with him." Li Yunxin stood up and looked at Kun Wuzi with a serious expression.

"But first, from this moment on, I hope you can truly understand one thing," Li Yunxin said in a deep voice. "I know how to unlock the Lucid Jade Slip—this is my trump card. Now that I've told you, you can make good use of it. I don't care what complexities exist within your Daoist Orthodoxy, but judging by Yue Yunzi's actions, from the perspective of human desire, and from your reaction today, it's definitely not all peaceful."

"You first refused to hear the Two Saints' secret, then you went back on your word. That means a certain desire in your heart has overpowered your reverence for those two. So, if you don't go back to the mountain and excitedly run to the Two Saints to claim credit, you can't deny that my trump card holds immense significance for you."

Kun Wuzi smiled.

But Li Yunxin did not smile. He stood on the rooftop, opposite Kun Wuzi, and continued, "You should know that the me now is not the me who was being chased down, nor the me who was hiding anonymously in this city. I am now the Wei River Dragon King, a great demon of the True Realm. I have control of Weicheng and have a Ghost Emperor as a friend. I am also the Dragon's Son, in possession of a secret that even the Two Saints want to know. This Weicheng and Wei River will be my lair, and I even know Daoist Arts."

"Thinking about it this way, how do you see me?"

The smile on Kun Wuzi's face finally faded away. He contemplated for a moment, then let out a light sigh. "We can't be allies. In fact, for this humble Taoist to be talking to you like this right now is already a great violation of the world's conventions."

"I never hoped to be friends. I'm just saying—you should treat me with caution," Li Yunxin pointed to the northwest. "If we succeed in this matter together, it will be a good start. Even if we have to fight and kill each other in the future, at least before we suffer mutual destruction, we can each get what we need."

"...Mutual destruction." Kun Wuzi smiled and shook his head. But in the end, he said, "This humble Taoist will accompany you once."

...

...

By the time they reached Dongting Lake, the rain had subsided a lot.

Misty rain over Dongting.

This reminded Li Yunxin of the first time he met Lady Hong. There was no misty rain that night, but... it was similarly humid and misty.

And the second time, on a sunny day, when he talked in the wooden pavilion by the lake and listened to the cicadas.

He stood in that wooden pavilion for a while, then let out a low sigh.

The Profound Realm cultivator didn't know why he was sighing, but he also took a look at the thousand-mile-wide Dongting Lake, gazing into the distance. "If Ling'er can be retrieved, this humble Taoist can also—"

Li Yunxin gave him a strange look. "The person I want isn't her. You'll have to handle Liu Ling yourself—I've already told you she's here. She tried to kill me before, and I'm not that magnanimous."

He sighed again. "I want that old man's daughter."