Inner Demons

Chapter 50: Experiment (3)

"Another example is when you write a character or recite a passage. You pick up the brush but forget the character, or forget how to start reciting – this is because the memory is hidden. At this point, I write a stroke for you to see, or give you a hint for the opening line, and you immediately say, 'Oh, I know!' This is me guiding out your hidden consciousness."

"For instance, there was a sad event in the past, which you slowly forgot and stopped thinking about, keeping it hidden in your heart. One day, when you are in high spirits, I suddenly bring up that event to you. You remember it, and your mood instantly shifts from high spirits to sorrow and sadness. This is me guiding out those hidden things in your heart with just one sentence, and with just one sentence, I change your emotions."

"Do you understand the relationship between consciousness and subconsciousness?"

Old Daoist Liu was gradually becoming interested. Every sentence Li Yunxin spoke was a gateway to a new world for him. At this point, he no longer wondered why the other party was saying these things, or how he had killed Prefect Li; he only focused on understanding his words.

He nodded: "I understand, I understand some of it."

"Then let's talk about Li Yaosi." Li Yunxin suddenly changed the subject. He looked at the table, put down his chopsticks, and reached out to tear a chicken leg from the whole roasted chicken, which was emitting an enticing aroma. "That night, a great demon came to his house – that was during the thunderstorm ten-odd days ago, when the main hall was struck down."

"Ah?" The old Taoist was deep in thought when he heard "great demon" and was startled.

"I imagine you've never seen a great demon before. Perhaps not even a demon. But I'm familiar with them." Li Yunxin looked at the chicken leg, took a bite, very forcefully, watching the golden chicken skin stretch and tear under his teeth. "I saw that demon. How I knew this can actually be inferred from many details."

He had befriended A'Ze. Being a master of manipulating people's minds, he easily gained the other's trust. With a few hints and guidance, he learned many details of that night.

Thunderstorm, young man's laughter.It wasn't that Li's mansion had no young men, but no one from the household would laugh so unrestrainedly at night. It was an outsider.

When Li Yunxin was being pursued in the ruined temple, it was also a thunderstorm. He had also heard a man laugh.

The voice was very pleasant.

A'Ze said he saw the embers of a bonfire the next day in the other half of the house that hadn't collapsed.

On the night Li Yunxin was in the ruined temple, the great demon Young Master Nine ate people, and also lit a bonfire to roast and eat.

Captain Xing's wife and children were also eaten on a thunderstorm day.

Because of these clues, he suspected it was Young Master Nine. Then, he spent great effort to hypnotize A'Ze. He imbued him with many abilities and instincts he didn't originally possess, and from Li Yaosi, he obtained more information.

In fact, this wasn't difficult either – a hypnotized A'Ze couldn't punch through steel plates bare-handed. He was still himself, but he would pay attention to more things – for example, Prefect Li's smile, a wrinkle on his face, a fluctuation in his tone, all would be faithfully and completely recorded by him and then relayed to Li Yunxin.

He felt as if he was just chatting with Young Master Li each time, but in reality... each time he "chatted," he brought back a massive amount of information.

Eventually, Li Yunxin understood the whole story.

It was indeed Young Master Nine that night.

Young Master Nine passed through Weicheng that night. He descended from the sky with a thunderstorm, hungry for a late-night snack. Li Yaosi was in the main hall that night. Not wanting to die, and coincidentally Young Master Nine also disliked him, he called his two beautiful concubines. He offered them to Young Master Nine, who killed them, lit a bonfire, and roasted them for food.

After Young Master Nine left, Prefect Li's fear, having encountered a man-eating demon for the first time, was imaginable. So he exhausted his family's wealth to invite two cultivators to protect himself.

"...So I used A'Ze as my mouthpiece to make him temporarily forget about encountering Young Master Nine that night." Li Yunxin threw the chicken leg bone onto the table, picked up a towel from the copper basin of warm water at the table's edge, and wiped his hands clean.

"Such a big matter... how could it be forgotten?!" Old Daoist Liu exclaimed involuntarily.

"Why not?" Li Yunxin smiled at him. "Some people are so busy they forget to eat, or even burn their hands with a cigarette butt. Why can't they forget other things? Especially when they're being guided and hinted at?"

"For example, you. The waiter who brought us food earlier, was actually one of Yin Pingzhi's subordinates who had been monitoring our house a few days ago. You already felt he looked familiar when he came in a few times, didn't you! Now, he's just outside the door curtain, aiming a crossbow at you—"

At this point, a gentle breeze blew, and the door curtain stirred.

Li Yunxin tapped the table firmly with his finger.

A thud.

Old Daoist Liu's eyes instantly widened, and he jumped up from his stool, staring fixedly at the wall by the window. But after two or three seconds, he came to his senses, looking at the door curtain in disbelief, then at Li Yunxin.

"Sit down. It's nothing." Li Yunxin smiled and waved his hand. "What did you see just now?"

But Old Daoist Liu took two quick steps, carefully lifted the door curtain to look, and then sat back down at the table, his face filled with disbelief and immense admiration: "Brother Xin, you... ah..."

"I just... I saw that waiter rush in from behind the curtain and shoot a crossbow bolt at me! Right over there... it missed, and stuck right into the window frame!"

"Hmm." Li Yunxin looked at him, "Before, you were curious about how I killed Li Yaosi, and your mind was filled with immense curiosity. What I said was novel to you, and you trusted me as a person, so you listened intently, completely following my consciousness."

"And while I was explaining, I used examples like acquaintances, things I'd seen, and that waiter more than once – Old Liu, this is the process of my guidance and suggestion to you. Through tone and posture, I repeatedly deepened the impression of these things in your mind."

"Once it was deeply enough ingrained, and you had also had some wine. I then spoke the words just now, when your concentration was most dispersed. At this point, the boundary between your consciousness and subconsciousness was already very blurry."

"Then, the final touch – I knocked on the table."

"That sound was the final straw. Because it sounded very much like a crossbow bolt embedding into wood, your mind quickly connected those surging subconscious thoughts, recreating a 'reality' that didn't exist – you experienced a hallucination. You saw what you just saw. But... you're in good health, so it doesn't matter."

"You see, that's how it happened. As for Li Yaosi—" Li Yunxin didn't give Old Daoist Liu a chance to exclaim, continuing, "I made him temporarily forget about that night. So, after the main hall was repaired, he would still preside over our trial there."

"But even though he forgot, I still spent several days constantly hinting and guiding him through A'Ze. I had A'Ze give him lightning-struck wood, saying it could ward off evil. In reality, it was to hint at the thunderstorm that night, deepening the fear in his subconscious. I had A'Ze give him fish to eat, reminding him of the demon Young Master Nine, also deepening the fear in his subconscious. And speaking of Dragon King Temple, the river, clouds and rain, further deepened his fear."

"I made him constantly guided and hinted at by me... just for the day of the trial."

"These past few days, he was already agitated. When he came to court and saw me, I used my tone and actions, combined with A'Ze's behavior in the preceding days, to complete the final guidance. At that time, due to anxiety and stress, he was also like you were earlier, at the critical point where consciousness and subconsciousness were mixed."

"So, I said that sentence. That sentence, I had A'Ze ask him 'Is this taste satisfactory?' when he was eating. Then in court, I said to him—"

Old Daoist Liu couldn't help but interject: "You said... you heard Escort Chief Qiao, by... the bonfire! Yes, the bonfire! Next to it, asking Miss Qiao, 'Is this taste... satisfactory?'"

"Yes." Li Yunxin smiled. "Bonfire, and taste. When that demon ate people, he likely asked how it tasted. That was the phrase I used to trigger him. And for good measure, I wore this undershirt."

"Grayish-green, fish-scale pattern. White outer robe... ensuring he would recall that night."

"Then, he indeed remembered. The fear he had suppressed for so many days, and which I had continuously reinforced, suddenly crashed into his consciousness. Everything surged up at once, and he, just like you a moment ago, saw the 'reality' created by his subconscious. Perhaps he saw a thick cloud gathering in the sky again? Lightning and thunder? That great demon charging towards him?"

"A fear of life and death. But not like the last time – this time the fear was ten, a hundred times more intense. So... his mind just shattered."

"This guy, heh heh. He had high blood pressure and fatty liver. Several generations of his ancestors died from fright – and he also had hereditary heart disease. A'Ze told me early on that Li Yaosi occasionally had chest pains."

"So, Old Liu, you weren't very scared just now, your body is good, you ignored it. But Li Yaosi... he had to die."

"Even in... well... any era, a post-mortem would reveal he died of sudden heart attack. It has nothing to do with me."

"You ask me how I did it. That's how I did it." Li Yunxin smiled gently, "Understand a person well enough. Then... their life and death are in my hands."