Inner Demons

Chapter 73: Act One

After the two of them had changed, the sun had not yet set in the west. The old Daoist sat by the stone table, drinking cup after cup of tea.

In fact, he hadn't eaten lunch and had been flushing his intestines with tea since morning.

In the old Daoist's words, this Treasure Blossom Assembly was an "unprecedented grand event in Weicheng"—a great Artificer from Jinghua, the sole son of a family honored for generations, holding a Dharma assembly here, how could he lose face for his noble family!

They wouldn't even use the banquet at the main branch of Wood South Residence!

—It must be the top-grade banquet at Qionghua Tower!

One banquet, fifty taels of silver!

Old Daoist Liu had lived to this age and never eaten a banquet worth fifty taels of silver. No matter what... this time, he was going to feast!

Li Yunxin found his appearance amusing, but he could understand. He ordered wine and dishes from the Wood South Residence around the corner, set them on the stone table, and ate slowly.

He had not particularly enjoyed drinking before. But after coming to this world, he had grown to like it.

However, he still didn't like strong liquor, preferring only Wood South Residence's Mu Nan Chun Wine—in his opinion, it was about ten percent alcohol. It had a fresh fruit aroma and grain fragrance. He drank one or two liang at a time, using it to relax his nerves.Because he had been too tired lately.

Although he was staying in the courtyard, his thoughts, except when sleeping, had not stopped for a moment.

He was trying to make an important decision. This decision ran contrary to his original intention when he came to Weicheng. However, circumstances were different now—because he realized that Young Master Nine had other secrets besides his identity as "the ninth son, Chiwen."

And then yesterday, he met Lingkongzi at Qiao Family. Li Yunxin... considered himself to be rather cynical. So he found it hard to believe in "coincidences." The Daoist Orthodoxy cultivator Lingkongzi had encountered him and now knew he was not an ordinary person. If this matter wasn't resolved... his identity would not be secure.

But thinking deeper, whether his identity was secure was only for the sake of survival. And there were many other ways to survive...

He was trying to avoid a bad outcome and achieve a good one. However, often the success or failure of something, in addition to strategy, also depended on luck. Knowing this, he made the worst-case scenario plan from the beginning—using Li Yaosi and a few members of the Qiao Family as test subjects to verify a certain method.

Now that the method had been verified, he was truly going to start planning for his future.

He had lived peacefully for more than ten years, then was suddenly hunted. After that, suspicious and unpredictable individuals kept appearing around him, one after another.

They say pressure is the motivation for progress, but he didn't want this kind of pressure at all.

Compared to cautiously watching others' expressions, begging for survival and praying not to be eaten...

He preferred to play the villain himself.

Tonight... would probably be the first act of the coming great drama.

He had to achieve his first goal.

...

...

Night fell, and the lanterns were lit.

The venue tonight was indeed, as Old Daoist Liu had said, Qionghua Tower.

Since it dared to use such a name and was truly famous in a place like Weicheng, Qionghua Tower was truly more than just "magnificent."

So when Li Yunxin and Old Daoist Liu walked for nearly half an hour to the building, he was quite surprised.

He had lived in a mountain village before, then in the wilderness. After coming to Weicheng and living in Old Daoist Liu's Dragon King Temple, he rarely came to such prosperous places. Therefore, his general impression of the architecture of this era was "beautiful and ancient in style, but ultimately limited by technology, only able to evoke admiration from ancient people of that time, but not from himself."

But the first glance at this building, Li Yunxin knew he had underestimated this world after all.

Each floor of this Qionghua Tower was almost entirely without walls—each floor was like an enlarged pavilion, with a 360-degree panoramic view, supported only by vermilion wooden columns painted with gilded flowers and birds. Just looking at the first floor, it could accommodate three main branches of Wood South Residence. Going upwards, each floor slightly receded, reaching the sixth floor, topped with a gilded treasure roof. At this time, thick incense candles were already lit on the roof and by the windows, illuminating the entire Qionghua Tower with a brilliant glow in the night, truly like a treasure pagoda in the hands of a celestial immortal.

Below, the streets were bustling with traffic. At a glance, all sorts of luxurious carriages and horses gathered in the street, and young attendants in various clothes hurried back and forth.

There were high-ranking officials and noble ladies in silk and satin, accompanied by servants, heading towards the main entrance. There were also guards and escorts in distinct armor, their eyes sharply scanning the surroundings.

He had strolled through the streets after arriving in Weicheng and knew that ordinary people's clothing was not extraordinary, only describable as "prosperous."

But seeing the scene in front of Qionghua Tower at this moment, even a person like him felt "resplendent with jewels" and "dazzling and colorful." This must be...

Weicheng's "upper class," then.

He and Old Daoist Liu turned out from a small alley. As soon as they emerged, they saw such a scene, and a wave of noise crashed into them like a tide.

Old Daoist Liu looked a little lost, and involuntarily stopped.

But Li Yunxin didn't like this kind of "liveliness"—at this time, the streets were only paved with bluestone slabs, and both sides were still yellow earth. After many days without rain, it was already dry beyond recognition. On this street, there were not only attendees and servants, but also common folk from the city who came to watch the excitement.

When there were too many people, shouts, hawking, and children's crying blended together. In addition, leftover fruit pits and unknown sewage were scattered on the ground...

Very noisy, very dirty.

The two emerged from the alley, and unlike the officials and wealthy merchants who had carriages clearing the bluestone streets, they only paused briefly at the alley entrance, and their new shoe surfaces and trouser hems were already covered with a thin layer of dust.

He sighed, tugged at the old Daoist's sleeve, and was about to walk through the onlookers, cross the street, and enter Qionghua Tower.

But after a tug, the old Daoist didn't move.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Old Daoist Liu looked at his own Daoist robe, then at Qionghua Tower, and the elegantly dressed people in front of the building. His previous spirited expression was gone; now he seemed somewhat timid.

He raised a hand as if to wipe his forehead with his sleeve, but after glancing at the onlookers on both sides, he lowered it.

"Brother Xin..." Old Daoist Liu mumbled for a while, then said, "Otherwise... I won't go after all..."

Li Yunxin saw his appearance and stopped speaking.

He looked at Old Daoist Liu, remaining silent for a brief moment.

Of course, it was only a moment of distraction. Because the old Daoist's appearance, the scene today...

Overlapped with a scene, a person, in his memory.

Though it was only for a very, very brief moment.

The old Daoist, seeing him silent, thought he was annoyed with him and quickly said, "Oh... Brother Xin, I... I actually... Alas..."

But before he finished speaking, Li Yunxin suddenly smiled. When Old Daoist Liu saw his smile, he felt something was off, he didn't know why.

He had seen Li Yunxin smile before, but mostly it was a smile of "disdain," "profound mystery," "cruel malice," or "absent-mindedness."

But this smile, Old Daoist Liu felt...

In the dark, noisy alley entrance, the smile on his face was indeed a very warm one.

Then he heard Li Yunxin say, "It's nothing. I'm here, after all..."

Perhaps it was because it was truly too noisy, or perhaps he was too nervous.

Old Daoist Liu felt that he also saw Brother Xin, after saying that sentence, his lips moved softly and quickly, uttering a word. His gaze seemed to pierce through him for an instant, looking at another place or another person.

That word seemed to be...

Grandpa.