Inner Demons

Chapter 6: The Human Heart

"Interesting. How did you do it?" Young Master Nine waved his hand, flicking off a little blood from between his fingers. "I know every word you said matched his breathing rhythm, and you nailed the last three counts. But... how did you do it?"

Li Yunxin touched his neck. The wound wasn't very deep.

He spread his hands: "I told you not to kill me."

Young Master Nine sneered: "You little thing, trying to negotiate with me. Don't you know I should be angry?"

"I'm not negotiating. I'm begging you," Li Yunxin said. "There are plenty of people to eat, but not many as interesting as me."

"Actually, it's quite simple. Everyone feels fear and everyone has courage. One person fighting a tiger is certainly afraid, ten people fighting a tiger are less afraid, and a hundred people, it becomes entertainment. The tiger is still a tiger, but the thoughts in your mind are different. In fact, I was preparing from before – I wanted him to talk about his family, wear out his patience, and it was night. In such circumstances, people easily get agitated. It sounds simple, but every word and phrase had to be carefully chosen, slowly guided and hinted. In the end, you're right, I matched every word to his breathing rhythm, and gave him a command on the last one-two-three, telling him to go, giving him no chance to think. He had been hinted at by me before and was now following my rhythm, everything came naturally."

Young Master Nine thought for a moment: "Sounds pretty easy."

"But it's hard to do," Li Yunxin said. "Ordinary people can't do this without systematic training. So you see, how interesting I am."

"Interesting, yes, but..." Young Master Nine frowned, appraising him with his pale yellow eyes in a malicious way. "So now that I find you interesting and don't want to eat you, is it also because you did that?"

Li Yunxin spread his hands and smiled honestly: "Perhaps. But what does it matter... you're so strong. You're so strong, killing people is like playing, even if I'm a schemer, I can't harm you. So..."He said sincerely: "Don't eat me, okay?"

Young Master Nine looked at him, thought for a while, and then burst out laughing: "Okay."

"But what is a schemer?"

"Uh." Li Yunxin thought for a moment. "...It's something like a martial arts manual, like, it's the secret manual of my skill."

"I have heard of 'Chu Shi Biao' and 'Fa Zhou Biao'," Young Master Nine didn't seem interested in these things and waved his hand. "You owe me a life. Hmm, you owe me a life."

He repeated it, seeming to find the phrase novel and interesting, and even laughed to himself: "I'll come find you when I'm bored. If you make me bored too, I'll eat you."

After saying that, a cloud of mist suddenly appeared out of nowhere. His large sleeves unfurled in the mist, the cold gleam of scales flashed, and the mist ascended into the sky, disappearing into the night.

It wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that Li Yunxin truly exhaled.

"One day, two days, three days, four days... nine days. Hmm." He leaned against the tree, slowly recovering his strength, and muttered to himself, "These are the things that have happened. It seems I'm about to embark on a magnificent life."

Nine days ago, he was still in Ding Province. In a mountain village in Ding Province.

It was midday that day, and he was taking a nap in a rattan chair under a tree in the courtyard, with sunlight filtering through the leaves, creating round patches of light on his body.

His parents had passed away a year ago. He felt sad about it. Even two strangers, if they cared for him meticulously for twelve years, would evoke an unbreakable attachment, let alone his genuine "birth parents."

Therefore, although he always felt that he shouldn't spend his entire life ignorantly in this mountain village, he temporarily stayed. The custom in the Great Qing Dynasty was to mourn for three years after the death of parents, and for him, this time was originally too long, but in the current situation, it seemed not unacceptable.

He was only fourteen. Although he looked like an eighteen or nineteen-year-old youth due to his upbringing that strengthened him, he hadn't yet decided what he wanted to do.

Just like some histories he was familiar with from another world, the Great Qing Dynasty had scholars. In the eyes of worldly people, studying and becoming an official was the highest path, and everything else was considered minor. But his parents seemed to have a transcendent sense of superiority regarding studying and becoming an official, never really considering this "path to advancement."

Although their family of three was the recognized and only scholarly household in this small mountain village, Li Yunxin knew from a young age that the path his parents had once walked was probably more mysterious and unpredictable than studying and becoming an official.

He had dabbled in classics, history, philosophy, and miscellany, but hadn't put his heart into it. He was more interested in a trick his father had once shown him – when he was two years old – turning paper into salt.

However, once his parents thought he would start remembering things, they never again displayed such "supernatural powers."

He thought perhaps his parents intended to tell him a heart-pounding secret when he was older, so he wasn't in a hurry. His temperament wasn't that of a teenager; even if he couldn't achieve a tranquil mind, his experience of living another life allowed him to remain calm.

He just didn't expect that last spring, both of them would suddenly die.

Li Yunxin remembered it was a stormy night, and he was sound asleep in the west room. Exploding thunderclaps startled him awake, and when he looked out the window, the world was a vast expanse of white, the lightning illuminating the room in vivid detail. The rumbling thunder lasted for about two quarters of an hour. When he fell asleep again and then woke up, he found his parents in the east room had become two charred remains.

After searching for clues for nearly a month in sorrow, he came to a conclusion.

It seemed to be an accident.

Such a thing at that time might seem horrifying, even leading to unpleasant associations, but it was not uncommon in the era he had once lived in. For example, some people would also be hit by ball lightning or struck by lightning and die that way.

The discussion generated in the village did not last too long. After all, his parents had been kind to others during their lives, and the villagers had received many benefits.

Li Yunxin once felt a slight unease, thinking that things might not be so simple. But a year passed, and that unease slowly vanished like smoke.

Until that afternoon, two Taoist priests arrived outside the gate.

This was the first time Li Yunxin had seen Taoist priests. He knew that these kinds of people had some magical abilities, so he felt a strange sense of closeness. Because he also knew that his parents were not ordinary people. Even he himself had some tricks.

The Taoist priests looked to be eighteen or nineteen, their moustaches still soft. Their faces were kind, and they wore blue Taoist robes. They said they were traveling through the area and the villagers told them his house had empty rooms and was quiet, asking if they could stay and offering money as compensation.

Li Yunxin had grown up in this village and learned about the outside world mostly from his parents. While his parents were indeed knowledgeable and experienced, he hadn't really interacted with people from outside, let alone young people like these two, who seemed to be around his age.

So at that time, he was indeed very happy.

On the third day, he and the two Taoist priests chatted under the tree in the courtyard, eating pine nuts harvested last winter. The pine nuts were in a small basket, which was placed on a square wooden table. The corners of the table were casually adorned with cloud patterns, giving it a unique charm.

The two Taoists were named Chisongzi and Kangcangzi. These names fit the current situation perfectly, and the three of them couldn't help but laugh and chat.

"So you two Daoist Masters were originally in Xiangzhou, and came out for training."

Chisongzi smiled: "We can't be called Daoist Masters, we two have not yet achieved the Dao. Training is true, though. One must know that cultivating the Dao first cultivates the heart, and cultivating the heart is actually cultivating the soul."

When his parents were alive, they didn't specifically mention this aspect, so Li Yunxin only knew the facts but not the reasons behind them. He humbly asked for guidance: "Cultivating the soul... how does that work?"

Chisongzi glanced at Kangcangzi, stroked the fuzz on his lip, and smiled: "It seems little brother is also a person seeking the Dao, so I'll explain."

"Everyone has a soul, strong or weak. We Dao cultivators need to mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for our own use, so our souls must be strong. Only with a strong enough soul can one wield great magical power and extract the essence of heaven and earth. As for the method of cultivating the soul, hehe, it actually sounds quite simple—it's Transcending Tribulation."

"...Transcending Tribulation." Li Yunxin was stunned.

Chisongzi smiled: "It's not as scary as it sounds. The Great Dao is formless, the Highest Forgets Emotions. In fact, ordinary people are also Transcending Tribulation, most of them are undergoing the tribulation of emotions. Look at those brave and pugnacious people in the market, who fly into a rage and turn red in the face at the slightest disagreement. Then look at those talented scholars and beautiful women, who generate hatred from love and are wounded by love – they can never escape the seven emotions and six desires. But we cultivators, we cultivate the Celestial Heart Orthodox Law, we comprehend the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. If our souls are not strong enough, we will always be moved by external things, so how can we achieve purity of mind and insight into all things? Perhaps if our thoughts waver while casting a spell or subduing a demon, it will backfire on us."

"Hmm... so a strong enough soul means not being moved by external things or by one's own sorrow, and forgetting emotions, right?"

Chisongzi's eyes lit up: "Little brother is so intelligent, that's exactly right. That state of forgetting emotions is precisely the realm we cultivators dream of. So to cultivate the soul and abandon the six desires—you first need to know what those seven emotions and six desires truly taste like."

"Most people know, right?"

Chisongzi shook his head: "No, no. For example, love. There is love between men and women, either joyous or sorrowful. The joyous ones are willing to sink into it, not seeking liberation. The sorrowful ones, who haven't yet felt profound pain, still have hope. These two, even if they know what love tastes like, cannot transcend the tribulation."

"It's only when you've been joyful and sorrowful because of love, when it reaches its peak and then declines, when you're tired and sick of it, that you'll understand that love is nothing more than this. From then on, you'll let go of it in your heart, and you'll find peace."

Li Yunxin peeled a pine nut and nodded: "Oh. It's like eating until you want to throw up, and you don't want to eat anymore. But, I think there are many kinds of emotions. For example, liking a kitten or a puppy is different from liking a woman. The sadness you feel from losing money is different from the sadness you feel from being slapped. With so many kinds, how long would it take to go through all the tribulations?"

"Alas. That's why life is short." Chisongzi sighed, looking up at the sky, his eighteen or nineteen-year-old face surprisingly mature. "Therefore, we Dao cultivators must first seek longevity to better undergo tribulations. Of course, if someone has a fortunate encounter and obtains..."

He glanced at Li Yunxin: "If they obtain a famous scroll from an ancient master, it becomes much easier."