Inner Demons

Chapter 24: It Glowed

The little maid's mouth full of tiny teeth bit off the head and flying swords, as if biting into a melting chocolate ball. This scene reminded Li Yunxin of a line from a novel he had read in his previous life—"How can you just pick it up and eat it?"

And Huainanzi, no matter how one put it, was the "personal disciple of the Lingxu Sword Sect's sect master." This title sounded like a minor character, and indeed he had become one, but Li Yunxin didn't for a moment think that Huainanzi was a mere small fry in this real world he found himself in.

This meant that the master and servant were indeed terrifyingly powerful demons.

Perhaps... even stronger than Young Master Nine.

He gently exhaled, tilted his head, and smiled: "That way certainly doesn't taste good. I've seen a rather interesting way of eating. That one first tears it apart, then roasts it slowly over a fire—"

The little maid blinked when she heard this: "Huh? You're not afraid of us? Miss, this person isn't afraid of us!"

Miss Bai Yunxin pursed her lips and smiled: "So he's quite fun. Well, tell me, what was the one you met like? Have you met other demons?"

"Ah... I guess it was a demon. I didn't see its exact appearance, only that its eyes were huge, as tall as me, and it had scales on its body, saying it was Young Master Nine..."

Actually, Li Yunxin really wanted to figure out what kind of demon Young Master Nine was, if he was a demon. He used to be a modern person and watched TV shows. Back then, he loved guessing the original forms of monsters. Even now, though he had gone through adventures himself, that bit of curiosity hadn't faded.

Moreover, neither his past self nor his current self was a truly "normal person." When it came to the mortals and demons of this world, sometimes, thinking about things from before, he always felt that he was actually more... familiar with demons.He felt that this "Bai Yunxin" seemed so powerful... perhaps great demons were familiar with each other—it's not impossible that she happened to know Young Master Nine.

But after he finished speaking, he noticed that the expressions on the little maid and Bai Yunxin's faces gradually became strange.

The two of them exchanged glances, and then even Bai Yunxin, who had always seemed calm and composed, began to breathe slightly more rapidly.

"He... where did you see him?" Bai Yunxin narrowed her eyes, her face leaning slightly forward, staring at Li Yunxin.

Her posture was very strange, Li Yunxin found it familiar, yet he couldn't remember where or when he might have seen it.

But he noticed that there was no longer any smile on the demon's face. It was replaced by a desperate longing—even more intense than when she smelled his scent.

If his past experiences and knowledge weren't deceiving him, he felt it was a kind of hunger for food.

"Ah... in... Qinghe County?"

"It's him, Miss!" The little maid's eyes widened, jumping with excitement, "Little Jiu, Little Jiu, Little Jiu! It's Little Jiu!"

"It's Little Jiu..." Bai Yunxin seemed to realize her gaffe, shrinking her neck back, once again becoming the seemingly quiet and delicate young lady. However, Li Yunxin noticed her throat moved, as if swallowing something.

"Well... then I won't go to Weicheng with you, Li... Yunxin. Hmm, that's a good name. You see, I have a name called Bai Yunxin." Bai Yunxin leaned closer to him, took two more gentle breaths, and said, "When I find Little Jiu, I'll come find you again."

"You can't hide from me, you know. Hmm... like this."

She reached into her sleeve, felt around, and with a slight pull, drew out a shimmering silver small sword.

Actually, calling it a sword wasn't quite accurate—this slender weapon was two fingers wide, looking more like a straight blade with a pointed tip, but with one side fully sharpened and the other side half-sharpened. It was a weapon that could stab and hack.

The blade was a meter long, almost without a guard, only a white, smooth, and long hilt.

"Here, take this," Bai Yunxin said, "If you hold it, I can find you."

Li Yunxin extended both hands and immediately took it: "Okay. I'll wait for you in Weicheng, but you can't not come."

Bai Yunxin pursed her lips and smiled: "You... if you run away, I'll eat you."

Then she suddenly spread her arms. Her sleeves immediately became wide, almost covering her entire body. A strong gust of wind suddenly gathered in the forest, accompanied by a clear, sharp shriek. Then Bai Yunxin's two wide sleeves transformed into a thick mist, rising straight into the sky with the strong wind—

A few seconds later, only Li Yunxin and a sword in his hand remained in the forest.

He stood there for another dozen seconds, confirming that the mistress and servant, and the black donkey, had all ascended into the clouds, then let out a long sigh of relief and bent down slightly to rub his legs.

His legs were numb, almost cramping. Sweat soaked his clothes, and now with the cool wind blowing, he felt irritable and damp, as if he were about to get sick.

What the hell. In just over ten days, he had encountered two great demons!

He glanced at the sword in his hand, frowning slightly. He didn't know why that Bai Yunxin thought he "smelled good," but he knew this sword was no good thing. Perhaps that demon would use it to find him later.

He didn't believe for a second in the "liking" and "goodwill" the demon showed him. Because he knew, in reality, he understood the mentality of those demons very well—the mentality of having a human appearance but never truly considering humans as their own kind in their hearts.

So he bent down and forcibly plunged the sword into the grassy ground.

The sword was astonishingly sharp and sturdy; it penetrated the ground effortlessly, hilt and all—during which Li Yunxin felt a slight obstruction, likely hitting a rock. But, the sword tip seemed to easily cut through the stone in the soil.

Then he patted the back of his head and said, "Hey, come out."

Spirits possessing a body mostly attach to the Mud Pill Palace in the head. The Cat Demon had been curled up inside him for so long without making a sound, likely scared out of her wits by the great demon Bai Yunxin.

After a few breaths, he heard Lady Sanhua say: "Huh? They're gone? Ah... scared me to death, one peck, oh, scared, dead! Alas, my good body, alas, I can only use it like this, alas..."

The voice gradually faded. The next moment, Li Yunxin found Qiao Jiaxin's corpse, lying on the ground, standing up again.

Only this time, it was gruesome. To describe it as disemboweled wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Li Yunxin frowned: "It's better to let her rest in peace. She's already like this, you can't just walk around like this, you'll scare people."

But the Cat Demon seemed to have an unusual obsession with this body. She shook her head in dissatisfaction, covered her belly with her hands: "Scared! Clothes, wear clothes, huh? Then it'll be fine, wear clothes! Humph, how dare you, this is this empress's Dharma body, ugh... huh? What's that? Hmm? What is it? Hmm?"

She released her hands from her belly, her attention completely drawn to another object. Then she reached out with blood-soaked hands to grab Li Yunxin.

A cat like this was cute, but a female corpse was not.

Li Yunxin frowned and reprimanded her: "What are you doing?!"

The Cat Demon was startled, awkwardly retracted her hand to cover her belly, but her gaze was fixed on Li Yunxin's chest and didn't move: "Huh? What's this? Hmm... oh, this is fun, oh dear..."

It was then that Li Yunxin noticed his chest glowing.

There was moonlight in the forest, but it was still night, and not a full moon. So, it was still very clear to see a soft white light emanating from beneath his clothes on his chest.

A square light, the size of a palm.

Li Yunxin was startled and quickly reached into his chest to take out the object.

It was a crystal-clear Lucid Jade Slip, now a soft milky white. It seemed to be filled with light, yet contained and not diffused. On one side of the jade slip, on a white glowing background, a row of...

"Characters" appeared.

And below that row of "characters," a slender black dot was continuously pulsating.

Li Yunxin stared at the line of characters, stunned.

Then he raised his hand and rubbed his eyes hard, then looked at the line of characters again.

Maintaining an extremely strange expression on his face, he stood blankly for a few minutes before finally opening his slightly trembling lips—

"Holy... crap."