Inner Demons

Chapter 203: Red Flower City

"Heartology," he repeated, smiling at the Lord of Dongting. "You are not wrong in the slightest."

"I figured out long ago that your son was a Chiwen. Now I have also become a Chiwen, and I thought you would miss your son, that you would cry for him."

"If you miss him and cry for him, then the more you hate me—the killer of your son—the more you miss the son who was killed. These two emotions are not completely opposite; there is a subtle line between them."

"That's why when I spoke with you just now, I was using Heartology to constantly hint and guide you. Step by step, little by little, I would weaken the hatred in your heart and amplify the compassion. In the end... I would completely hypnotize you. Your longing for your son would completely overwhelm your hatred for me, and you would see me as a replacement for Young Master Nine. Ultimately, you would not only spare my life but also compensate me twofold."

"This does seem to defy common sense and is hard to imagine... but it's not impossible. It's the same principle as victims falling in love with their kidnappers or captors. This is Heartology."

Li Yunxin burst into laughter. "It's a shame my goal was off from the very beginning... you weren't crying for your son at all! Were you?"

"Oh. It does sound like an interesting subject," the Lord of Dongting said, lowering his eyes and stroking his beard. "You're right. I was not crying for him."

"So you didn't really care how I became a Chiwen."

"I did not," the Lord of Dongting said calmly. "I also don't care about your Heartology. You thought I would be curious. Alas... you are still just a child. You don't know many things, such as people. A child who sees their mother use a needle and cloth to make new clothes will be curious and want to know how it was done."

"But when that child grows up and sees more of the world, and one day walks down the road and sees a magician spit a sword from his mouth... this is far more miraculous than a mother making clothes. But he won't be curious anymore. Because he's seen so much, he knows that there are countless strange things in this world that human power cannot fully comprehend or investigate. Once you've seen enough weirdness, it's no longer weird.""So your little mind games are useless against me," the Lord of Dongting said, narrowing his eyes and looking into the dark depths of the lake. "I didn't cry for him. For more than a thousand years, while he was sealed in the Wei River, he always saw me as an enemy to be deeply feared and removed. But I don't have any affection for him... oh, actually, I do. But it's not what you think."

"The reason I was crying is... you see a fan and think of a woman, turning restlessly in your bed. You cherish that fan and use it to express your feelings, but why would you love a fan? The woman once gave you a jade vase, and you loved that too."

"Alas. But one day, the fan is destroyed, and you cry. Do you say those tears are for the fan or for the woman?" the Lord of Dongting sighed, shaking his head. "Why do you think I would cry for a fan?"

Li Yunxin was silent for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Alright. My mistake. How could I have known you were so twisted as to use your child as a tool to miss his mother? But it's understandable... In the mortal world, there are plenty of people who see a child and are reminded of a faithless lover, then take out their anger on the child. You are all perverse."

"So... you are the son-in-law of that True Dragon? Seeing Young Master Nine reminded you of the True Dragon. Now that Young Master Nine is dead, I am a Chiwen, so as long as I am a Chiwen, seeing me can also remind you of the True Dragon, and thus you won't kill me. But... the Dragon has nine sons..."

Li Yunxin smiled. "Don't you feel uncomfortable? There are probably eight other sons-in-law just like you, right?"

The Lord of Dongting stared at Li Yunxin for a moment and sneered. "You are not afraid of death. But what do you know? You've already made one wrong assumption, and now you are making a second. You would do better to think about why I brought you to this Dongting."

"Probably because you really want to leave, but you need someone to look after things. There must be something important in this Dongting Lake. And that thing is probably the cause of all this," Li Yunxin said, pointing to the "White Tree Forest" in front of them. "At this point, Lord of Dongting, let's talk about terms. My situation isn't great right now, and I might be very willing to help you."

These words sounded arrogant, but the Lord of Dongting did not laugh in derision.

Instead, he thought seriously for a while, then suddenly looked up into the deep water to the west. After a moment, he said, "This is not a place to linger. We'll talk about those things in Red Flower City."

With that, he ignored Li Yunxin and flew into the forest of Jiaos.

Li Yunxin followed without hesitation.

Earlier, he thought the "White Tree Forest" was made of white water grass and algae.

It turned out to be a forest of Jiao Dragon carcasses.

So he began to wonder... what the "Red Flower City" would look like.

He remembered seeing the Old Man of the Sky "herding clouds" and that this Lord of Dongting was a man-eater. In that case... the White Tree Forest is a forest of bones. Could this Red Flower City be a city adorned with flesh and blood?!

He followed the Lord of Dongting, weaving through the White Tree Forest and going deeper. Perhaps because those carcasses once belonged to high-level demons, they still emitted a faint white light, even after untold years at the bottom of the lake. This made the light in the forest soft and bright, and Li Yunxin even felt... as if he were in an elven forest.

It was in this light that the Lord of Dongting stopped in front of a tens-of-meters-tall spine.

This spine was unremarkable in the forest, covered with a layer of pale green algae. The great demon said softly, "We have arrived."

Li Yunxin carefully looked ahead. However...

He saw nothing.

He frowned slightly, muttering to himself and preparing to deal with any possible trap or attack.

But in the next moment, the Lord of Dongting moved to the side.

And so Li Yunxin saw a red flower.

It was just... a very ordinary red flower. The kind you can see on the side of the road in spring, summer, or fall, growing among weeds, with five, six, seven, or eight petals. It had a yellow stamen, and one or two of its petals were slightly broken.

Such a red flower, the size of a fingertip, was shyly nestled on a piece of algae in a crack in the large spine. If not for Li Yunxin's sharp eyesight, and if the Lord of Dongting hadn't looked at it... he would never have noticed it.

"This is Red Flower City," a strange smile appeared on the Lord of Dongting's face—the kind of smile only people lost in happy memories have. "It's also my palace."

Li Yunxin realized that the "palace" he was talking about was the Dragon Clan's "Dragon Palace."

Demons who are believed in can create their own space, a "Traveling Palace." If they are a powerful member of the Dragon Clan, they will have a "Dragon Palace." This Lord of Dongting is not a member of the Dragon Clan, so he calls it a "palace."

This original "Traveling Palace" takes on different appearances depending on the demon's desires. Li Yunxin didn't know what Young Master Nine's Traveling Palace looked like, but his own Traveling Palace was inside his folding fan. Now that he had become a great demon of the True Realm, his Traveling Palace had logically upgraded to a "Dragon Palace." He called himself the Wei River Dragon King, so he now had his own "palace."

However, the folding fan did not seem to have changed in appearance, and Li Yunxin didn't know what his "Dragon Palace"—upgraded from a "Traveling Palace"—looked like inside.

Because... no one had taught him about this.

He could put many things in and out of the folding fan, but he had never tried to go in himself.

He was a little worried that if he went in and something went wrong, he wouldn't be able to get out, which would be incredibly embarrassing.

And this red flower in front of him... was it really "Red Flower City"?

Lady Hong's ghost marriage was a big affair, with dozens of shrimp soldiers and crab generals in tow. Did all those demons live in such a tiny red flower, the Red Flower City?!

He was a little dazed. The Lord of Dongting smiled slightly. "So you never properly explored your own Traveling Palace? Hmm... now it's called the Dragon Palace, and it must have changed greatly. You are an interesting person. You're afraid of water, yet you became a member of the Dragon Clan. You dare to talk about a path to death in front of me, but you don't dare to look at your own little thing."

"Hmph, you're interesting too. A great demon, yet you've created a thing that a woman would like."

The Lord of Dongting did not get angry.

He seemed not to have heard the mockery in Li Yunxin's words and leaned forward to touch a petal.

"When I was a red carp, there was a woman in a shallow stream... who plucked a red flower and threw it beside me. I sensed this desire and only then gained sentience," he turned and smiled at Li Yunxin. "Do you know who that woman was?"

Li Yunxin smiled. "A True Dragon who took on human form?"

The Lord of Dongting hummed a laugh. "There are many things you don't know, but you will find out sooner or later. If you can get out of my Red Flower City tomorrow... alas, I will tell you! Come with me!"

With that, the Lord of Dongting pounced on the red flower, and his huge body instantly disappeared. Only Li Yunxin was left floating alone in front of the red flower, surrounded by the deep lake water.

He could have fled at this moment. But he looked at the forest of Jiao carcasses around him and gave up that idea.

It takes a great deal of effort for a Profound Realm Yazi to kill a Profound Realm Kun Wuzi, and he needed the help of the Lord of Dongting, which shows that it's not easy for one Profound Realm to kill another.

The deceased emperor of Li Kingdom killed two Profound Realms and three True Realms, and still didn't kill them all—one survived with his Snow Mountain Qi Sea crippled.

And here... these more than four thousand Jiao carcasses, each represents a great demon above the True Realm. There must be countless Profound Realms, right?

Perhaps even more than all the Profound Realm cultivators of the Daoist Orthodoxy combined!

The Lord of Dongting has been imprisoned here for two thousand years... on average, he kills two Jiao demons of the True Realm or Profound Realm every year. And he has managed to survive until now...

Li Yunxin realized that his previous impression of him, and everyone's estimation of his strength and realm, might be wrong. The reason he was now speaking to him calmly was probably because he had absolute confidence.

In the face of such confidence, he could not run away.

That would be a foolish and cowardly choice.

The Lord of Dongting didn't say how to enter "Red Flower City," but it must not be difficult. Li Yunxin tried to sense it with his spiritual power and easily found a small "vortex." It looked like a vortex made of spiritual power, but also like a disturbance in space-time—this was a familiar feeling. This was also how he put other things into his Traveling Palace.

He no longer hesitated, frowned slightly, and pounced.

There was no darkness as he imagined, no possible discomfort. One moment he was frowning and pouncing, and the next moment he was no longer in Dongting Lake.

What was the Lord of Dongting up to?

What lay before him was still Dongting.

But, it was no longer the bottom of the lake, nor was it the area around Dongting that had been ravaged by Kun Wuzi today.

Instead, it was a Dongting with a bright sun and abundant grass and birds.

The reason Li Yunxin knew it was Dongting was because he was currently standing on an island. The island looked familiar. His memory was good, and after a quick scan of his surroundings, he realized it might be Jun Mountain.

The real Jun Mountain Island is a large island with a mountain peak several hundred meters high. But this Jun Mountain Island was small and low.

The real Jun Mountain is not far from the shore, and it only takes a small boat for a person to cross. But now, this Jun Mountain and the other shore were far apart, almost in the center of the lake.

Li Yunxin realized that this seemed to be what Dongting looked like a very long, long time ago.

A very long time ago, when the Wei River did not carry so much silt and the lake bottom had not accumulated so much, the area of Dongting should have been larger. Just as it was now—the Jun Mountain that would be tall and beautiful in later generations was just a small island, and Dongting was wider and more vast. Looking out, wisps of clouds rose where the water and the sky met. Given the vast area of this world, it was possible that this lake was even larger than a sea in his own world.

In the "palace" of the Lord of Dongting...

A world this vast was hidden!

He stood on Jun Mountain and found no one. Looking toward the shore, he only saw a lush expanse of plants.

It seemed to be late spring or early summer in this world, and the flowers were in full bloom. The expanse of green on the distant shore was dotted with colorful patches, and further back...

He thought he saw smoke from a chimney.

He no longer hesitated. He frowned slightly at the water in front of him and flew toward the shore.

The scene on the shore quickly became clear in his vision. Li Yunxin saw where the smoke was coming from.

Behind the flowers and grass on the shore was a shallow stream. The stream curved just before it flowed into Dongting, enclosing a shallow beach covered with pebbles and green algae. On the beach stood a Moonbeam Flower tree, about the same size as the one that used to be outside Old Daoist Liu's Dragon King Temple.

Just like the first day Li Yunxin arrived in Weicheng, this Moonbeam Flower tree had shed a blanket of delicate flowers on the ground. The pink petals covered the green grass like a blanket, looking beautiful and dreamy...

Only one person was spoiling the scene.

The Lord of Dongting, who had taken on a large figure with a fish head, was surprisingly wearing a farmer's cropped pants, sitting under the Moonbeam Flower tree and tending a bonfire. Without his big red robe, he now looked a little comical.

The bonfire didn't seem to have been conjured by magic. He was using wet wood, and there was black smoke from the fire.

On the other side of the fire sat a woman in yellow clothes. She was not beautiful, but she was young and delicate. Her expression was a little blank as she sat kneeling. She turned her face slightly to look at the shallow stream, holding a red flower in her hand.

And the Lord of Dongting was roasting a fish.