Chapter 283: Demons and Mortals

It was already the Hai Shi (9 PM - 11 PM).

According to the saying from Li Yunxin's former world, it was almost midnight. Resolving the matter with Young Master Nine did not take up the entire night, and for now, he was temporarily safe.

But that was only "seemingly" so. Because right above him in the sky, there was still an entity watching his every move.

If Yazi had not been mistaken, the other party was testing him—it was probably very rare for anyone in this world to be tested by the True Dragon.

The True Dragon knew, Li Yunxin knew, but the True Dragon seemed not to know that Li Yunxin knew.

Li Yunxin walked halfway around the city, then turned and headed south.

To the west of Weicheng was the Wei River, and to the southwest was Dongting. To the north was the direction of Jinghua, and to the northeast was Yeyuan Mountain.

Heading south was the vast and boundless Yeyuan Forest—this wide-ranging forest would extend for over a thousand li (approximately 500 km) to the south before reaching another large city.

But that didn't mean the Yeyuan Forest was completely devoid of people. In fact, there were still some recluses, hunters, and mountain people living in the forest.

Hunters and mountain people liked to live in clusters, forming villages, big or small.

Recluses preferred to live in isolation, but in reality, they would not be too far from Weicheng or the villages of the hunters and mountain people—they always needed oil, salt, and goods for exchange.

When Li Yunxin lived in Weicheng, he had heard that there were recluses south of the city, and had once asked about them out of curiosity. Hence, he knew that a recluse lived at a place called Green Hillock, ten li (approximately 5 km) outside the city.

But by this time, there should be no one left.

With the Daoist Orthodoxy causing so much trouble, anyone around Weicheng who could move had probably fled for their lives. The government did nothing, so who else could be expected to uphold justice?

Ten li was not far for Li Yunxin—at least much closer than from Dongting to Weicheng.

He walked for a while, and the scorching heat behind him gradually receded, and the light also grew dimmer.

This was a small path, lined with lush vegetation. There were sounds of insects in the vegetation, and even a faint, cool breeze. As he walked, he gently fanned himself with the fan, as if feeling slightly warm—and he saw the bright spot on the fan following him.

He rubbed his neck again, glanced up at the sky, and found that the thick clouds had dissipated. In the night sky, there was a bright moon and brilliant stars... he didn't know where the True Dragon was.

But a great demon of that caliber must have methods of concealing his presence that Li Yunxin could not imagine.

The True Dragon had not yet shown himself, which seemed to imply that the test was not over. Therefore, Li Yunxin needed to present him with a few more things—to show himself to the other party through these actions. He hoped for a good outcome—he genuinely wanted to have a relatively peaceful period to heal his wounds and recuperate.

But there was also, indeed, one thing that had to be dealt with.

...It was killing two birds with one stone.

Before long, he saw Green Hillock, and Li Yunxin knew why it had that name—the hermit's thatched hut was in front of a gentle slope. The slope was covered with green, lush grass, as if it had been painted with pigments.

It was a sod house with a thatched roof. The door lintel was low. A person of Li Yunxin's height would have to consciously bend down to enter, or they might mess up their topknot. There was a yard in front of the house, with a low fence made of rough, uneven dead branches.

The former owner must not have been a diligent person. A small vegetable patch seemed to have been tilled in the yard, but it had been neglected for a long time and was now overgrown. A wooden hoe, half-rotted, lay at the edge of the field, and tiny, white mushrooms seemed to be growing on its handle.

There was no well in the yard.

There were no windows on the house.

He didn't know where the toilet was either.

Overall... for a poor person in this era, this place might barely count as "at least a shelter with a house and a yard," but for Li Yunxin, he would rather sleep under the open sky than live here.

He hesitated slightly at the door, then reached out to push open the brushwood gate and walked to the house door.

As he pushed open the house door, he smelled the smoky, sooty odor inside—meaning there was actually a stove in the room.

Li Yunxin bent his head slightly and walked in, casually drawing an oil lamp on the earthen wall. Clay crumbled down, and then the "oil lamp" on the wall lit up.

Warm, gentle white light filled the room. Li Yunxin then saw a half-collapsed stove and a half-ruined earthen kang (heated brick bed).

And nothing else.

He sighed softly and fanned himself with the fan.

Then, he shook the fan toward the floor.

A person dropped out of the fan.

When the person fell out, she seemed unable to adapt to the current environment. She was alert and fearful for a moment, then looked lost. She then saw Li Yunxin, stared at him without blinking, and backed away two steps.

She reached out into the void, trying to grab something, but naturally grabbed nothing. After a thought, she looked around, seemingly trying to find a weapon or two, but naturally found none.

Li Yunxin gently shook his head, ignored her, and turned to walk out of the door.

The woman did not follow—only when Li Yunxin reached the yard gate did she show half her face from beside the house door: "Li Yunxin!"

The meaning in her voice was complex. Li Yunxin stopped the hand that was about to push open the brushwood gate and turned around.

The moonlight softly shone on him and the yard, also plating half of the woman's face inside the house with silver.

He looked at her calmly, not speaking. The two stared at each other for a moment, and then the woman said: "What are you going to do?"

"I'm leaving," Li Yunxin replied.

The woman looked at him suspiciously, then looked around: "What are you going to do?"

Although the two sentences were the same, their meanings were different.

Li Yunxin thought for a moment and said, "You are free now, Lingkongzi. I did not intend to imprison you when you were in my Dragon Palace. It was because the situation was complex and dangerous then, and letting you out might have killed you. Now that the matter is resolved, and your physical body has been formed, I grant you your freedom."

Lingkongzi—Liu Ling, thought seriously for a moment and frowned: "Why did you save me?"

"Because I promised to save you when I saw you Cloud Herding (Yunji) above Dongting before."

Liu Ling blinked, and slightly raised an eyebrow. It was unclear whether she was expressing surprise or disdain.

She realized that Li Yunxin seemed to genuinely have no hostility—at least for the moment.

So she slowly walked out from behind the door.

Li Yunxin saw a smudge of dirt on her cheek—the door frame was dirty, and the wall was a yellow mud wall mixed with straw. Hiding there naturally got her dirty. Not only was her face dirty, but even her white clothes were dirty—in the short time she had been in the real world from the fan, she was no longer so clean and pristine.

But Liu Ling did not realize this.

In fact, for a long time, she had been accustomed to having magical treasures protecting her whole body. She was always spotless, transcendent from the mundane world. Even when she had once blasted an disobedient cultivator into blood and gore all over the courtyard of her residence in Weicheng and stepped over it, the soles of her feet remained clean.

"You even reshaped a body for me—" Her tone was odd when she said this sentence. But that insignificant emotion quickly passed, and she asked again, "Why did you reshape a body for me?"

"It was not my original intention. Someone else did this. However, if you want to say it's my credit, it is indeed my credit," Li Yunxin said calmly. "Your current body is a Six Desires Tribulation Body created in my Dragon Palace—the six desires come from my six desires."

"I could have interrupted this process before. But firstly, I didn't want to offend a certain master. Secondly, my mother is Shangguan Yue. Do you know Shangguan Yue?"

Liu Ling frowned, thought for a moment, and didn't speak.

She had become very cautious and careful. All the former qualities of purity, detachment, and composure had vanished from her. She was now like a startled child, treating everything with apprehension.

"So you don't know," Li Yunxin smiled. "Simply put, my mother has the thin bloodline of the current Two Saints, so naturally, I do too. This means I have some close ties with the Daoist Orthodoxy. But I don't want this connection. I have repaid some debts to the Daoist Orthodoxy—including yours—and now we will go our separate ways."

"I am a demon now."

Lingkongzi listened dumbfounded, watching him dumbfounded.

It seemed that with the loss of her cultivation, her mind was not as clear and flexible. She thought for a long time before she said: "...A demon?"

But Li Yunxin had already turned around and pushed open the brushwood gate.

Liu Ling hesitated for a moment and called out to him: "Where are you going?! Where is this place? Where are the people from the Grotto-heaven?"

Li Yunxin stopped. He paused, then leaned against the door and turned back: "This is Green Hillock, ten li south of Weicheng. This will be your home from now on. Everyone in Weicheng is dead, and you will live a very hard life from now on."

He stopped here. Because he saw a strange expression appear on Liu Ling's face—

She first looked around a little lost, then slightly shrank her neck. Then she instinctively hugged her arms, frowned, and stepped back.

A night wind was blowing past.

Li Yunxin sighed softly, looking at her: "This feeling is called cold."

He shook his head again, reached over the fan's surface, pulled out a bright red thin quilt, and handed it to her.

Liu Ling did not take it.

Li Yunxin then threw the thin quilt on the ground and said: "It's from Jun Mountain. It is not an ordinary item. It can keep you warm in winter."

He also took out a silver wine flask, moved his fingers and tore it into several pieces, which he threw onto the quilt: "You should know, this is called silver. Used to buy things. This is an ounce (liǎng) of silver."

Liu Ling watched him do all this with a bewildered look. Then she shrank back again and asked him: "What does this mean?"

Li Yunxin was silent for a moment, then sighed: "You haven't realized it yet, have you?"

"Alright. Let me explain it this way."

"You were dead before. Your Snow Mountain Qi Sea was ruined, and your physical body was destroyed. Your Spiritual Soul was hidden in the Sound Bell. This means all your cultivation is gone."

"And then you were supposed to become a Ghost Cultivator—to become a mad, crazy Ghost Cultivator using your obsession. But a master used a method I'm not clear about to reshape your physical body—using my seven emotions and six desires, creating the Six Desires Tribulation Body for you."

"This means you yourself are the embodiment of desire... you will slowly come to experience this later. But speaking of cultivation—the methods you used to practice required you to abandon emotion and desire. But your current body simply cannot practice. So, you are now an ordinary person."

"As for the Daoist Orthodoxy..." Li Yunxin looked at her sympathetically. "I spent some time with Kun Wuzi, reached a certain degree of reconciliation, and made some exchanges. We talked about many things, including the lives and deaths of several of his Illusory Realm Taoist priests."

"However, until he left, he never mentioned you. Because for the Daoist Orthodoxy now... firstly, you failed. Secondly, you destroyed so many magical treasures in your failure. If you still had cultivation, perhaps he would take you back to Langya Grotto-Heaven to be punished."

"But now you are a mortal who can no longer even cultivate, so even the step of punishment can be skipped. The Daoist Orthodoxy hopes you will live quietly in the mortal world, or die quietly. Or rather, they simply don't care what happens to you... Perhaps you will still have a miraculous encounter. But at least for now—"

Li Yunxin looked at her: "No one wants to remember you anymore."

Liu Ling looked at him, dumbfounded. She seemed to understand some of what he was saying, but couldn't completely grasp it. Her eyes were panicked, and she blinked repeatedly. Her throat felt as if it had been stuffed with charcoal, dry as if it would smoke. After a very, very long time, she finally managed to speak a sentence, but even she didn't know if this was what she wanted to say: "...Right here?"

Then she turned and looked around.

It was a desolate, ruined courtyard in the wilderness, under the moonlight.

"This is the best place for you. Because I don't know if you have any concept of this—" Li Yunxin looked at her. "You are a very beautiful woman. In this current era, being a beautiful woman... especially one who doesn't understand many things, and has no wealth or influence, is an extremely, extremely dangerous thing."

"For mortals, there are many things in this world more terrifying than death. The suffering includes, but is not limited to, physiological and psychological pain. But there are almost no people left near Weicheng. This is a land of death. People will come later, but in a long, long time. So during this time... you can first adapt to life as a mortal." Li Yunxin turned around, walked out the door, and gently closed the brushwood gate.

"I hope you can live a little longer. This world is actually very interesting."

Liu Ling cried out, her lips trembling: "What's interesting about it?! How can it be interesting?!"

She stumbled to the door and grabbed Li Yunxin's hand. All the emotions that had been suppressed by her previous bewilderment and confusion burst forth. She screamed hysterically at Li Yunxin: "Is there really no other way?! You must have another way! How can I cultivate again?! Cultivate again?!"

But Li Yunxin's body was so hard that blood seeped out from under her fingernails, yet she couldn't leave even a white mark on his hand.

Li Yunxin raised his hand and shook her off—her strength at this moment was so insignificant to him, as if he had only a spider silk on his hand.

"You can die," he said calmly. "Die again, become a ghost. Perhaps by chance, there's a one in ten thousand chance of becoming a Ghost Cultivator. You can try."

Liu Ling was stunned. She did not speak for a long time.

Li Yunxin shook his head, turned, and walked away under the moonlight.

If she were the Lingkongzi of the past, upon hearing his words, she would have unhesitatingly thrust a branch into her own neck.

But the current Liu Ling has lost everything—including the pride, calmness, and detachment that her former cultivation brought.

She was like someone trapped in a quagmire.

The world always makes you even more miserable when you are already in despair. (To be continued.)