Inner Demons

Chapter 88: Heart Demon

Hearing these words, Lingkongzi's voice suddenly changed slightly: "So, you know the second thing I came to Weicheng for?"

Li Yunxin certainly didn't know.

But his expression didn't change in the slightest: "Of course I know. Otherwise, why do you think... I caused so much trouble today? I was also preparing for that matter."

"Preparing? What you did today?"

"Yes. You asked me earlier why I wasn't trying to escape—by now, you should know why." He lied without batting an eye, and if someone were to place their hand on his chest now, they would find that he didn't even have a rapid heartbeat reaction.

Lingkongzi... was silent for a while.

Then she said: "So, you intend to help me. But everything you might have done before will be in vain—can you let go?"

Lingkongzi thought she knew what Li Yunxin was talking about.

But Li Yunxin had no idea what Lingkongzi was talking about—he had too many secrets, and any one of them brought up would probably align with Lingkongzi's words.

So he used his trump card.This woman, Lingkongzi, concealed her face with a magic treasure. People who do this often have strong self-protective psychology. This psychology is never formed in happy and joyful environments. According to his experience, people who are still like this after adulthood either suffered long-term domestic violence in their childhood or came from single-parent families with a lack of security.

Most of these people also like to suppress their desires and see curiosity as a monstrous flood. But this human nature can only be suppressed, never eradicated. Once stimulated at the right time, the outburst is often more intense than ordinary people.

He had seen too many such people in his previous life—they looked aloof and cold on the surface, but often showed unwavering persistence and endless passion for one person or one thing that ordinary people could not match.

Given the image he had sketched in his mind for this Fairy Lingkong during these two encounters...

He sighed and slowly raised his head.

His eyes looked sad and hazy, but there was also a certain pure and clear stubborn emotion.

He parted his lips slightly, his lips, which were even redder from just having drunk wine, trembled almost imperceptibly.

Then he leaned forward slightly, and after a perfectly timed brief gaze, he took a deep breath. This breath was a little shaky—perhaps due to some strong and suppressed emotion, which also made his subsequent voice tremble slightly.

But this trembling made him look even more affectionate, and those words seemed to come from the bottom of his heart—

"For you, I can abandon... the whole world."

After a second of silence.

Lingkongzi's body leaned back slightly, and she abruptly raised her hand, forming a sword-finger, and pressed it against Li Yunxin's throat. Her voice became slightly sharp due to excitement, sounding like a junior high school girl who had just had her braid pulled: "You—what nonsense are you talking about?!"

The reactions of the others were actually not much more sophisticated than hers—most were in a state of slight daze.

What the hell... on such a stormy night, the Head Disciple of the Sect Master of Langya Grotto-Heaven encountered a powerful and unknown enemy she had been pursuing...

And was confessed to??

What kind of play is this?

Old Daoist Liu was dumbfounded. He had thought of a hundred ways Brother Xin might use, but he hadn't expected... he would actually do this.

Li Yunxin's throat was pressed by her.

But the expression on his face did not show panic.

He just stared straight at Lingkongzi's face. After three seconds, he suddenly gave a mournful laugh and turned his face away, shaking his head.

"Just take it as me talking nonsense. This kind of thing... actually, I don't believe it myself."

He slightly turned his face, looking mournfully at Lingkongzi, but had already avoided her finger: "Do you know the first time I saw you?"

"The first time I saw you, I couldn't tell if you were beautiful or not. I also didn't know what your personality was like. I was doing some bad things but was seen by you, and I absolutely hated you—where did this annoying woman come from, running into my house in broad daylight, what's she up to?"

"...You!" Lingkongzi's heart sank slightly. She couldn't say why she was disappointed—but she was a little disappointed.

What the hell.

But then she heard Li Yunxin say: "But then I told you about that something... something I had thought about by myself for many years, something I came up with. When others listened, they didn't have the patience to listen to me finish. But you... only you... the only one in so many years... listened to me say these things."

"I guess you probably wouldn't understand how I felt at that time—many, many years. After many, many years, suddenly there was someone who made me feel—ah, so this person really exists. Ah, this person... can really understand what I'm thinking, is really... the person I've been looking for in my heart." He sighed slightly and reached out to lightly draw on the 'Perverted Eating Picture' on the table. As he said these passionate words, Lingkongzi's eyes were already flickering, not wanting to look into his eyes. At this moment, he seemed to unconsciously make a sound on the table, and Lingkongzi naturally looked at the painting.

Seeing the painting...

She was slightly stunned for a moment.

It was this moment that made Li Yunxin completely confirm a certain matter.

So he finally smiled and said softly: "Actually... I'm very lonely."

This sentence... seemed like a spell. After this sentence left his lips, Lingkongzi's hand trembled slightly and finally dropped.

She had suddenly experienced her first confession in her life, and in such an era, in such a setting, even as a cultivator, her heart was in turmoil.

Then she heard Li Yunxin say those words—hearing those words from someone she didn't dislike—her heart suddenly felt lost, then slightly relieved, and her calm and composed emotions had long gone. It was in this state that she was continuously guided until she heard the last sentence.

So her body straightened slightly, but soon relaxed, breathing twice with a little urgency, and finally whispered: "I... understand."

By this time...

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Because no matter what, they couldn't figure out—what happened?

Why... did it turn out like this?!

But in Li Yunxin's heart, a cold laugh rang out.

This woman... had fallen into his hands.

He had already grasped some crucial things in her heart. At this moment, he had become her demon.

Her Heart Demon.

This was a young woman, full of suppressed curiosity. Coming to walk in the secular world, even as a Manifestation Realm cultivator, she was still full of strong vigilance. After seeing the 'Perverted Eating Picture', the first question she asked seriously was whether the Painting Saint was still in this world. At that time, although Li Yunxin couldn't see her expression, if he couldn't tell from the fluctuations and tone of her voice how strongly this young girl liked that Painting Saint... he would truly be deaf.

A girl with a soft heart, but slightly paranoid, fell in love with a legendary figure. This feeling was destined to be untold—today she met a seemingly equally interesting young man, was first confessed to, and then heard the same inner journey from the young man's words.

If it were an ordinary person, they could force themselves to grit their teeth and ignore it.

But if they were an ordinary person, how could they have developed a good feeling for the Painting Saint?

So she was moved by her sense of identification and the same sense of loneliness...

She felt that she had met a kindred spirit—a kindred spirit in a certain sense.

This matter, from the moment it happened, was already destined for the current outcome.

This Lingkongzi girl, who was full of romantic self-destructive implications, had developed a strong sense of sympathy and identification with Li Yunxin.

And for a young girl who had not experienced the world, under the guidance of a devil like Li Yunxin, it was difficult for her to realize who those complex and surging emotions in her heart at this moment were for, and why.

And it was easier for her to mistake this sympathy and identification for—

Ah. This is... love.

So on this rainy night, this Fairy Lingkong...

Having just transcended the Killing Tribulation, she entered the Passion Tribulation.

Therefore, Li Yunxin smiled and said: "I also hope you will understand. Then why are you here..."

Lingkongzi, whose heart was already in turmoil, answered without even thinking—although her voice sounded calm again and her back was straight again: "What I understand are the ideas you spoke of. It's not... anything else."

"You are an interesting person. Hmm... I thought carefully about what you said after that day. So I know that what you said before should not have been false. That saying about... if you had just made it up on the spur of the moment to deceive me, you couldn't have said it so meticulously. From my perspective, if you thought about these things yourself, it would take at least five or six years. So on this point, I understand and believe you."

"Then now... what are your plans? I want to eliminate that Dragon's Son, what will you do?"

In fact, everything Li Yunxin constructed tonight was based on one thing.

He had told Lingkongzi about his "ideal". Although the method of so-called human-demon interbreeding was just something he made up on the spot to deceive her the first time he met her.

But regardless of whether this theory was criticized, despised, or praised at that time...

After all, it was something one person had spent decades of effort on.

Precisely because smart people like Lingkongzi could see this point, it was only natural for them to believe that Li Yunxin really had spent so much time and effort on this idea.

With this premise and foundation, when he spoke the words that followed, the words of disillusionment and disappointment, they would be more likely to believe Li Yunxin's frustration and loneliness—just as he said, if one day he discovered that the path to immortality he cultivated was nothing but emptiness... how painful that would be.

She no longer doubted, or rather... no longer had any extra thoughts of doubt, and finally stated her purpose.

Eliminate the Dragon's Son?!

Li Yunxin was slightly stunned in his heart.

This woman... still wants to eliminate Young Master Nine?!

So her other purpose is this?!

What the hell... if I had known this, why would I have spent so much effort causing trouble with her...

Wasn't it all to provoke her and that demon to fight, so I could profit and escape unscathed?!

But this pleasant surprise is better than nothing. He smiled: "You should know what I will do. The great demon I just mentioned... refers to him."

"He and I... well, I called him Young Master Nine. He and I were friends." Li Yunxin smiled bitterly, "I... once wanted to try to do what I wanted to do through him. But slowly I realized that he was not a very good candidate. He killed two Sword Cultivators from the Lingxu Sword Sect, and he killed Huainanzi. I originally wanted to live in seclusion in Weicheng, but he also killed... Li Yaosi."

When he said this, the Prefect and the other three Prefectural Governors' eyes widened.

This matter concerned them.

"His temperament is too unpredictable. Many times he will suddenly go berserk, even not recognizing me as a friend." Li Yunxin gently shook his head, looking heartbroken, "I originally intended to do something more meaningful with that Lucid Jade Slip. But when he found out about that thing, he took it away—it was at this point that I had no choice but to break ties with him."

"So you saw what I did at the Qiao Family—I wanted to start with... those small demons. I thought, since great demons are so cruel, then let's get rid of them. Many of those small demons are doing good deeds—there are so many Temple Keepers in this building, most of the temples and shrines are dedicated to those spirits, right..."

"The Lucid Jade Slip is really in your hands." Lingkongzi was slightly startled and sighed.

"...It's not now."

"You... shouldn't have touched that thing. Alas." Lingkongzi still shook her head. She thought for a moment and whispered, "After I eliminate the Dragon's Son, you... return to the mountain with me."

Li Yunxin thought for a moment and ventured to ask a question: "Why do you want that jade slip? I mean, how important is that thing?"

Lingkongzi was silent for a moment, then slowly raised her hand and held it in mid-air, writing the word "惘" stroke by stroke, and then the word "静".

Then she flicked her finger—the two words, like lightning, flashed briefly in the void and then disappeared.

The next moment, everyone except the two of them became silent, as if they had lost consciousness in an instant.

Only then did she gently exhale, looked at Li Yunxin, and said word by word: "The Two Saints have not ascended until now..."

"It's all because they are waiting for it."

"Waiting for someone... who can open it."