Inner Demons

Chapter 37: Supreme Indifference

He carried Old Daoist Liu into the house and settled him, estimating he would wake up around dawn. Then he sat by his side, lost in thought for a while.

As a former psychologist, he knew his current state was abnormal. He was anxious.

Things were going smoothly in this phase, but there was still one or more major crises brewing.

Young Master Nine might come looking for him. Not a good thing, he might die.

Bai Yunxin might come looking for him. Also not a good thing, he might also die.

Currently, Bai Yunxin had gone to find Young Master Nine. The good outcome would be... perhaps two great demon lords would fight, eliminating one. Li Yunxin still remembered Bai Yunxin's reaction that night... that wasn't what you'd expect from someone who "heard about an old friend's whereabouts."

The bad outcome was if both of them came together—he could barely imagine such a scenario.

Actually, besides that... the Lucid Jade Slip.

He might not have seen it, but he knew Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect had various miraculous methods. Three Sword Sect School Head Disciples had already given him a massive headache, not to mention that above the Schools were Grotto-heavens. Those three "Head Disciples" who were so influential in the secular world probably only amounted to the role of grassroots civil servants in towns within the entire cultivation world...

If it were truly discovered that the Lucid Jade Slip was in his hands, and the entire cultivation world came to snatch it, he would absolutely not be able to keep it. He might even lose his life.Secular people always liked to regard high-level cultivators as "Immortals," but they didn't know that Celestial Heart Orthodox Law contained the word "heart," and it was the heart that was cultivated. But it was not the "compassion" rumored by ignorant secular people, but "Supreme Indifference."

Cultivation has five realms: Profound, True, Manifestation, Illusory, and Intent. When one reaches the Manifestation Realm, one must focus on cultivating the heart and emotions. To advance further, to the True and Profound realms, there are even more inner demon tribulations awaiting them. To overcome those tribulations, one must forsake emotions. The fewer emotions one has, the fewer tribulations one faces.

When all human emotions are discarded, one reaches the "Supreme Indifference" realm, beyond the five realms of Profound, True, Manifestation, Illusory, and Intent. At this point, both the Spiritual Soul and physical body are tempered to be incomparably formidable, allowing one to ascend to immortality in broad daylight.

But... this is just theoretical.

Because it has indeed been almost three thousand years since anyone ascended to immortality.

Li Yunxin didn't know what the true experience of the "Supreme Indifference" realm was like, although due to his special experiences in his previous life, he could slightly understand some aspects.

However, he could definitely know that those with higher cultivation would have less "compassion." It wasn't that they were great villains—in fact, even the emotion of "doing evil" had to be discarded. They would simply become emotionless. Like machines, calculating all gains and losses to achieve the optimal solution. As for whether they would harm others in the process of achieving the optimal solution, that was not something they cared about.

Because sympathy is also an emotion.

Sometimes Li Yunxin would wonder what kind of state that was. Reaching that realm, possessing the power to move mountains and fill seas, yet without the seven emotions and six desires...

What was the point?

In any case, if those people targeted him, he would probably suffer greatly.

Those people must have been searching all along. That's why when the thunder storm came, someone showed up not long after.

That thunderstorm was also a mystery. And his parents could carry this jade slip, living in seclusion for over a decade without being discovered—thinking about this, he also found it unfathomable. But such "unfathomable" parents were struck dead by a thunderstorm overnight.

Whenever he thought of this, he felt a chill run down his spine.

What level of existence was targeting him, and was it still targeting him now?

But at least he knew he still held a trump card.

Without him, those people couldn't open the jade slip.

No matter how great their divine powers, no matter how clever they were, no matter how knowledgeable they were, they couldn't open it.

Because that was something people from this world couldn't do.

Li Yunxin sighed and rubbed his face hard. Outside, the chirping of insects began, and the bamboo leaves rustled in the gentle breeze. He picked up the packet of soy-sauce beef again, picking and eating it piece by piece, and walked out the door.

He needed to make some preparations.

The demons and cultivators of this world were indeed powerful, but... he had other things that those people didn't understand.

Inner demons were the most terrifying.

On the same night, a street away, in Qiao Duanhong's bedroom in the Qiao Family, a single lamp flickered like a bean.

He hadn't died, but he hadn't woken up either. He lay on the bed in the large room like a broken puppet, emitting a strong medicinal scent.

His wounds were covered with herbs and hemostatic powder, then bandaged by someone with unprofessional hands. His cheeks were sunken, his eyes tightly closed. If not for the occasional rise and fall of his chest, he would be indistinguishable from a corpse.

An old servant watched over his bed, his white hair disheveled, as if it hadn't been combed for days.

The old man's face was etched with deep lines, one eye was blind, showing a cloudy white. In his hand, he clutched a washcloth. The part he clutched was still damp, but the rest was dry. This meant he had been sitting there for a long time, or rather... had fallen asleep leaning against the bed.

It wasn't until an hour later, when the sound of the night watchman's gong drifted into the room from the back street, that the old man suddenly awoke, raising his eyes to look at Qiao Duanhong.

Still not awake. He reached out to touch the man's forehead, which was still terribly hot.

The old man struggled to get up, washed the cloth in the copper basin by the bed, replaced it, then walked to the door and pushed it open.

The sound of the door opening startled the two young servants guarding outside.

The old man sighed: "You two, you've slept all night. Has the medicine been brewed?"

The two young servants wiped their drool and exchanged glances: "Going now. Master Meng, don't worry."

Then the two hurried away, whispering as they walked, and glanced towards the West Courtyard.

There were voices in the West Courtyard, laughing. Men and women, and voices rising and falling. The spring night wind blew the scent of wine from that direction—they were drinking outdoors in the courtyard.

The old man, stooped, looked towards that side with his single remaining eye, then closed the door again.

He knew those two young servants wouldn't go brew the medicine. There was no medicine left to brew. For the past two days, he had used his own money to invite a doctor for the Eldest Young Master. But he didn't have much money to begin with, and now it was all used up.

Those two shameless women and Qiao Jiaming wouldn't care either. Not only wouldn't they care, they only wanted the Eldest Young Master to die naturally. Everyone in this Qiao Family mansion, over thirty people, originally depended on this escort agency for a living. Now, the Eldest Young Master had led people on this escort mission, and they were all lost. Only he himself returned, his life unknown.

In the old man's thoughts... sometimes he would even think...

It would have been better if the Eldest Young Master had died there.

If they had all died together, this family might not be like it was now, and the Eldest Young Master wouldn't have to lie on the bed... listening to those two shameless women and that scoundrel enjoying themselves.

Back then, the Eldest Young Master's original wife, Qiao Wen Shi, she was a good woman... too bad she died early. Only left a daughter, who was now also mad and locked up in the back. A daughter... after all, she was a daughter. He, the old man, couldn't attend to her for now.

Only the Eldest Young Master was to be pitied. He had watched the Eldest Young Master grow up since childhood, back when he was an escort. In the thirteenth year of Guangyuan, he encountered bandits on the road, and he took a sword and a saber for the old escort chief.