Inner Demons

Chapter 210: The Man in the Temple

The sun was still bright outside the rock crevice, but the temperature inside seemed to be dropping.

Li Yunxin watched silently as the old man roasted the piece of meat over the fire. The scene felt a little familiar.

But he was no longer the shivering, helpless teenager from that cold, rainy night. After a moment of silence, he looked up at the old man's white hair and wrinkled, bark-like face. "What do you call yourself, sir?"

The old man took a deep breath, savoring the scent of the roasting meat. Then he said slowly, "I've forgotten everything—my past and my name. Now, I am reborn. Since I met you in this lake, I'll call myself the Old Man of the Lake."

Li Yunxin thought for a moment, then said calmly, "The Old Man of the Lake is a name with great Intent Realm and style. But if I have to call you 'The Old Man of the Lake' every time I want to address you, it's a little cringey. What's your surname?"

The old man looked at him, blinked, and smiled inexplicably. "Oh. This old man's surname is Su."

"Then I'll call you Master Su." Li Yunxin glanced at the meat. "Master Su, do you know that I am a demon? This Dongting is now my dojo."

The old man stared at him for a long time, then opened his mouth. "Ah... I thought you were a demon, too. You came here alone on a day like this, with no sweat on your body and your clothes clean, not a speck of dust. And you have a face like a celestial being. You must not be human."

"But since you're a demon who rules Dongting, your magical power must be boundless. This old man has been trapped here for many days with nothing to cheer me up. Demon, could you get me a jar of fine wine to drink?"

Li Yunxin smiled faintly at his words. He flicked his wrist, and a folding fan appeared. With a swipe of his hand across the fan, a flask of wine emerged. He placed the wine by the fire in front of the old man and said, "This is the Mu Nan Chun Wine from Wood South Residence in Weicheng."He paused, then added, "I wonder if it's still there now."

The old man reached for the wine, lifted the flask, and poured a stream of the nectar into his mouth. Then he let out a long sigh. "Good wine, good wine! Young master gave me wine, so this old man will give you meat. Take it!"

He tossed the stick in his hand, sending it flying over the bonfire.

Li Yunxin caught it, examined it carefully, and then put it back on the fire to roast.

The old man clapped his hands in delight, then cut another piece of meat with a shell and put it on a stick. "Since you are the demon who controls Dongting, you don't seem happy right now. They say demons are carefree and do as they please. What's on your mind, young master? My life won't last much longer, I think—why not tell me?"

Li Yunxin looked at him. "With Master Su's ability, do I still need to tell you my troubles?"

The old man shook his head. "The Master Su in front of you is just an old man. How could I have the ability to know what's on your mind? If you don't trust me, you can just strike me down with one palm and see what kind of person I really am."

Li Yunxin seriously considered his suggestion for a moment. Then he flipped the roasting meat on the stick.

"I do have some worries right now," he said after a moment of silence, and he actually began to speak. "I have a few friends outside Dongting Lake, and their whereabouts are unknown. But I can't leave right now, and worry is clouding my judgment. I'm afraid they might have been killed by humans or other demons. What I fear even more is that they might be captured and used to coerce me—then I'd have to make choices I don't like."

"Ah, that's indeed a troubling matter," the old man sighed. His voice was a little louder due to the wine. "Young master is afraid he won't be able to persuade his own heart."

"I just hate tests," Li Yunxin said with a smile. "Some things are just fine the way they are. But when it comes to a test, no one knows what choices they will make. That's why I say not to test human nature. I don't like it at all."

He glanced at the old man. "And I don't like stupid tests, either."

The old man smiled kindly and amiably, took the meat from the stick, tore off a slightly charred strip of meat, and tasted it. "It's a little bland without salt. But it seems the young master's troubles are not limited to this—is there anything else?"

Li Yunxin watched him chew the strip of meat carefully, then said, "As for other things, someone is forcing me to choose a side. That's also an annoying thing. But there's no way to stay out of it. The reason is the same as before—if I could bring my old friends from outside in, I might feel a little better. But I don't think you can do anything about it. I don't know if you're a friend or a foe, but I think you're a nice person. Our meeting was destined, but I have things to do. See you later."

With that, he stood up, placed the stick in his hand on the stone slab, and made to leave.

The old man put down the meat in his hand, looked up at him, and said with a smile, "Since you gave me fine wine, I can't let you leave empty-handed. Young master, look, where is this?"

He then used the stick in his hand to point at the ground and then pointed to the outside of the rock crevice.

Li Yunxin looked outside.

Outside the rock crevice, there was originally a bright sun and a wild forest. Now it was still a bright sun and a wild forest. But... it was no longer the same place as when he came in.

A patch of banyan trees had grown outside the cave, lush and green.

A corner of a flying eave protruded from the trees.

This... was not the island he had just come from.

He was shocked and turned to look at the old man. But the old man was no different, just slowly tearing and eating the meat, occasionally taking a sip of wine, like any greedy old man. He smiled kindly and waved at Li Yunxin. "Go on, go on!"

Li Yunxin was familiar with the expression on his face. It was very common, but it seemed strange right now—it was the look a kind old man would give a child after blowing them a candy figure, watching them run off happily.

He tried to speak several times but stopped. But he quickly realized one thing—no matter who the other person was, their power was far superior to his. He should do a divination for himself after he escaped this situation, to see if this year was a bad year for him, why one accident after another was happening.

But right now...

He smiled, gave a slight bow, and said, "Thank you very much, then."

With that, he took a big step and walked out, straight into the jungle.

The old man squinted and watched him from behind, shaking his head. "He's a good kid."

Li Yunxin could be sure that he was no longer on that island. After taking a few steps, he summoned a cloud and ascended into the sky, using all his sight to look into the distance. But he realized that this place didn't seem to be the real world, either. Or rather, it was only a part of the real world—the banyan forest with a temple at its center was indeed real, but a hundred feet away, there was a vast white fog. He was sure that even if he rushed into the fog, he wouldn't be able to get out.

So he walked a certain distance and landed in the temple.

It was a dilapidated temple that seemed to have been located in the wilderness before. The two pairs of stone lions at the entrance were covered with moss, and the plaque on the main hall was swaying precariously. The ground was also full of weeds, and it looked extremely desolate. But as soon as Li Yunxin landed, the temple suddenly became lively.

Two Talismans flew straight at him, and there were two whistling sounds of objects cutting through the air.

Golden light, like rippling water, appeared on the broken stone floor of the courtyard, and he felt the familiar power of a formation and a prohibition.

He also heard a shrill, demonic voice. "Ah! Run... huh? Run quickly!"

Li Yunxin casually took the two Talismans and crushed them in his palm, turning them into fire and ashes. He took two steps forward, and two flying swords struck his chest with a clatter but didn't even leave a white mark. He took four more steps, kicked a row of crooked stones out of a clump of weeds, and shouted, "What are you panicking for? It's me!"

After he shouted this, the courtyard suddenly fell silent.

Li Yunxin let out a light breath. "Any casualties?"

San Hua slowly poked her head out of the main hall door. She stared at Li Yunxin for a while, then said in an uncertain voice, "Huh? This one's real, right? Or is he fake? Hmm?"

Then, the door of the main hall was pushed open. Old Daoist Liu frowned, his hair disheveled. He carefully looked up and down at Li Yunxin for a long time before tentatively asking, "Brother Xin?"

Li Yunxin spread his hands. "Did someone else pretend to be me before?"

But Old Daoist Liu didn't speak, just kept staring at him.

Li Yunxin sighed and said, "Eight hundred standard soldiers ran to the north slope, and the artillerymen ran side by side to the north. The standard soldiers were afraid of hitting the artillerymen's cannons, and the artillerymen were afraid of hitting the standard soldiers. What's-your-name? My-name-is-Li-Yunxin. All right, come out."

Old Daoist Liu probably didn't understand these words, and neither did Dragon Girl San Hua. But Old Daoist Liu knew... this was indeed Brother Xin.

He immediately rushed out of the room, grabbed Li Yunxin's hand, and looked him up and down. Then he said hoarsely, "You almost—scared this old Daoist to death!"

Li Yunxin was slightly moved by his attitude, but the string of vigilance in his heart had not relaxed. The situation was strange—the "Old Daoist Liu" and "Dragon Girl San Hua" in this temple knew that he was Li Yunxin, but he had no other way of knowing if they were the real Liu Gongzan and San Hua.

Because they were people of this era and couldn't come up with a highly recognizable tongue-twister or elementary school English lesson.

Li Yunxin looked into the temple again. "Where's Shi Kuizi?"

At this moment, the old Daoist blinked, and his expression became sorrowful. "...She's injured. Only the three of us ended up together. The others..."

Li Yunxin stepped into the main hall of the dilapidated temple. He saw Shi Kuizi lying on her side on the ground, with Old Daoist Liu's robe spread under her. There were no visible injuries on her body, but her face was ashen, and her breath was as faint as a thread.

He leaned down to check her breathing and pulse. Taking a pulse was one of the things a cultivator would inevitably learn—at the foundation-building stage, they had to understand the meridians and acupoints in their bodies to circulate Qi properly. But he hadn't learned it well back then and didn't know what was wrong with Shi Kuizi.

He heard Old Daoist Liu follow him, anxiously and naggingly saying, "Brother Xin, you sent her to the Abandoned Palace that day, told the Ghost Emperor to look after her, and drew a substitute to put on South Mountain. I thought that when this matter was over, I would go pick her up. Who knew that something happened to Brother Xin and he was nowhere to be found? So I took Jiaxin and went to find the four generals outside the city. In the end, I only found her—"

San Hua stood at the door, her eyes blinking. When Old Daoist Liu looked at her, she said, "Oh, oh... I don't know! A group of Taoist priests came! Oh, they were so fierce!"

Li Yunxin didn't have the mind to listen to her act cute and just looked at Old Daoist Liu.

The old Daoist looked at Shi Kuizi with worry and said, "Brother Xin sent them out of the city and told them to guide the resentment transformed from the souls of the dead outside Weicheng. This matter was done without much trouble, but then we didn't know the situation in the city, so we waited outside the city as instructed. Who knew that a big yellow-robed demon came first, and then a group of Daoist Orthodoxy Taoist priests came and wanted to kill any Yin Spirits they saw?"

"At that time, there was no way to wait, so we all had to escape. I escaped with San Hua, and Jiaxin... got separated. Later, I thought that child was still in a daze, and wondered if she would go to Qiao Family's Old Residence. So I risked going back to check, but I didn't find her. I went to the Abandoned Palace again—who knew that the Abandoned Palace was also surrounded by a group of Taoist priests? I saw magical Talismans flying all over the sky. They were really fighting. People on several streets were fleeing for their lives."

"I only took one look—I saw the palace wall collapse. That Ghost Emperor... sigh." Old Daoist Liu sighed here. "Emperor Zhaowu of the Ye Dynasty brought her out and handed her over to me, and then he was surrounded by a group of Taoist priests. This Ghost Emperor, ah, ah, ah..."

The old Daoist sighed three times in a row and wiped his eyes with his hand. "This Ghost Emperor said he was a ghost, but he was truly loyal and righteous. He told this poor Daoist that you, Brother Xin, entrusted Shi Kuizi to him, and he, the Emperor of Great Ye, could not betray the trust. He used his divine ability to send us out of the city and stopped those Taoist priests himself. I waited outside the city for a while, and I only saw brilliant light and dark auras all over the city, but after a while... there was no sound."

"I don't know what happened."

Li Yunxin was silent for a while and also sighed with Old Daoist Liu.

Then the old Daoist said, "When she... was leaving the Abandoned Palace with that Emperor of Ye, she was hit by a Daoist Arts spell. Alas, this old Daoist... ah, ah, ah..."

Li Yunxin thought for a while and stood up.

"My power is demonic power," he said with a frown. "It's not something that can be used to transfer Spiritual Power or true qi to a person to save their life. This is a tricky matter."

"But... what happened just now? Did someone impersonate me?"

Old Daoist Liu looked at San Hua at this moment. "More than one, actually. When we entered this temple, a fog appeared around us—we couldn't get out. No matter how far we walked, once we left the fog, we would still be at this temple. Then people would come at night—one after another, all of them said they were you, Brother Xin. But as soon as this old Daoist asked, I knew they weren't. Who else in this world can talk like you, Brother Xin?"

"They impersonated me. Then they asked you about some of my business," Li Yunxin looked outside the temple. "Did you see an old man?"

Old Daoist Liu thought for a while, opened his mouth to speak... but no sound came out.

Then his body began to slowly fade, the main hall also faded, and the background of the entire world faded.

Li Yunxin subconsciously reached out to grab, but he only managed to stretch his hand into the vast white fog that had already occupied every inch of the surrounding space.

—But he still grabbed something.

The fog suddenly dissipated.

He found himself still sitting by the rock crevice and the fire.

What he was holding in his hand was his own folding fan. The piece of meat in the old man's hand was almost completely torn and eaten, and the empty wine flask was lying crookedly on the side. He looked at Li Yunxin with a smile and said nothing.

Li Yunxin took a deep breath. "Sir—are you a member of the Daoist Orthodoxy?"