Inner Demons

Chapter 202: Who is Heartless

The Lord of Dongting carefully looked at Yazi in the hazy moonlight, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Ah... this is a big deal."

"So, was it that real dragon who taught Lord Tongtian how to break this imprisonment?"

"Exactly," Yazi smiled, and then looked at Li Yunxin. "And for this, I need my ninth brother to help."

He walked over to Li Yunxin and leaned in to look at him.

Yazi was smiling. Li Yunxin saw his smile clearly.

The Yazi during the day had a sincere and open smile. And it wasn't just "the feeling he gave"—even an expert like Li Yunxin, who was good at reading people, couldn't detect any signs of faking it.

It should be known that he was an "expert" who could see Kun Wuzi's subtle expressions.

But now, looking at his smile again...

It had become extremely eerie.

It was a "smile without a heart." A smile full of malice, of a person who couldn't wait to do something, a cruel and tyrannical smile.This smile was now on Yazi's face. He stared fixedly at Li Yunxin, not looking at the Lord of Dongting at all. He said slowly: "This imprisonment needs the power of two Dragon's Sons to be opened. My ninth brother was originally granted the Wei River—who would have thought that in reality, he was a key."

Li Yunxin also looked at him. Then he reached out and touched the outside.

Yazi had used a dagger to draw a circle around him before, to prevent him from being affected by the fight between the Profound Realm cultivators. Now this circle worked—a golden light appeared with a buzz, like a cylinder made of a halo, blocking his hand.

Li Yunxin then sighed: "Then may I ask second brother, how do I, this key, need to be used? Why didn't I know?"

The Lord of Dongting watched the two brothers "talk" and then looked up at the sky. There was a speck of light in the northwest. And in the Misty Dongting Lake, Kun Wuzi's figure was still fighting against the water column, moving slowly.

There was still time.

He stroked the two whiskers on his lips: "Doesn't Lord Tongtian know? This person named Li Yunxin is not Chiwen. He is a Yin Spirit who found a way to impersonate your ninth brother. Your ninth brother, on the other hand, is already dead."

Upon hearing his words, Yazi immediately sneered, still staring at Li Yunxin: "Oh? Ninth brother, is that true? It's sad to say. Although we Ninth Dragon's Sons all belong to the Dragon Clan, we have never met. Two thousand years ago, second brother was granted the Heaven-Connecting Sea, and a thousand years ago, ninth brother was granted the Wei River—second brother really can't tell if you're real or fake."

"Or is it that—" Yazi moved closer. If it weren't for the barrier of light, he would have been almost forehead to forehead with Li Yunxin. He stared into Li Yunxin's eyes, and in his pair of azure eyes, it was as if stars were twinkling. "Or is it... that your words from before were all fake?"

The two of them stared at each other for a while, and Li Yunxin suddenly took a step back and smiled: "Second brother must be joking. My friendship, ninth brother's is very deep."

Yazi laughed loudly. After laughing for a while, he suddenly stopped: "Then, will your friendship, ninth brother, end up harming me?"

"For example, second brother wants to live, but that Kun Wuzi is chasing him," Li Yunxin said in a low voice. "While chasing, he says, 'Daoist friend, please stay, this poor Daoist only wants to play with you.' You can stand still and let this poor Daoist poke forty-nine holes in you, and I promise not to kill you. So second brother, do you... turn around and slaughter him, or stand there and let him poke you?"

"You know... maybe that Kun Wuzi really is just playing around?"

Yazi was silent for a while, then took two steps back.

"Good," he looked at Li Yunxin. "What a 'deep friendship.' Then, Lord of Dongting, I will save you now."

"The method is very simple. The final touch of your Dongting's imprisonment was drawn with dragon energy. Now it also needs to be destroyed with dragon energy. This bit of dragon energy... is not too much, and not too little. If there is a Dragon Clan at the peak of the Manifestation Realm here, his body can be refined. Breaking the core of the formation and then having another Dragon's Son guide the two streams of dragon energy out, the imprisonment will be instantly lifted."

"If there is a True Realm Dragon Clan, that would be even better," he said with a cold laugh, looking at the Lord of Dongting. "If my ninth brother is real, then this matter would be killing two birds with one stone for the Lord of Dongting. You and my ninth brother have been together in the Wei River and Dongting for a thousand years. Although there have been no grudges between you, I guess my ninth brother, in his heart, doesn't have good thoughts—"

"Who would like to have a Profound Realm old demon by their side? Lord of Dongting... doesn't like him much either. This is great; after getting rid of him, the Lord of Dongting can rest assured and go to the real dragon with the Divine Dragon Token. And I, here, will also be happy to have some peace and quiet."

Li Yunxin calmly looked at "Yazi."

Or rather... at least during the day, he should have been Yazi, right?

Yama King, it seemed, wasn't very clear about some things. It was also possible that he was intentionally hiding something.

Young Master Nine didn't die completely.

Li Yunxin was willing to trust his intuition—even without finding any solid evidence to support it—Yazi, the nighttime Yazi, the Yazi after the sun had set...

Was the former Dragon's Son, Chiwen, Young Master Nine!

And so, after Yazi said these things, Li Yunxin silently revealed his God-Devil Dharma Body.

A flash of green light.

Mist rose around his body. Water vapor soaked his gray-green scales. A pair of crimson antlers stood on his forehead, with specks of golden light adorning the branches!

He revealed himself, but still did not speak. He kept his lips pursed and stared at the Lord of Dongting with a pair of golden eyes.

He was gambling on something.

Gambling on something he wasn't good at, or even didn't quite understand!

And upon seeing this Dharma Body that belonged to Chiwen, the Lord of Dongting slowly widened his eyes, slightly opened his mouth, and even wanted to raise his hand. But in just one motion, he quickly put it back down.

The Lord of Dongting glanced at Yazi.

Li Yunxin saw some light in his eyes.

He then spoke: "I have many things to tell you, many things you can't imagine and can't understand."

When he said this, his face was obscured by a thin mist of water vapor, making it impossible to see whether he was looking at the Lord of Dongting or Yazi.

"But no matter... no matter what it looks like. No matter what my appearance or name is... one thing will not change."

"Humans have feelings, and so do demons—this won't change."

"Even if it was never mentioned."

After he finished speaking, he fell silent.

Yazi was also silent for a while. He stared fixedly at Li Yunxin, as if trying to figure out the meaning of these words, or their truthfulness—he believed that these words... were meant for him.

The one next to him, the Lord of Dongting, thought the same.

He remembered the words he had said when he first met this "Li Yunxin"—

"And that's why, probably... he would only tell me. He has a proud nature—some emotions are hidden in his heart, perhaps because he's afraid of being laughed at if he tells them. But only once..."

"He drank too much and said that in this Wei River... there was only one person he wanted to be close to, but couldn't..."

The Lord of Dongting, a three-thousand-year-old Profound Realm great demon. Not to mention his wisdom, just the hardships and dangers he had seen were probably more than the three people in this place combined.

When he first met Li Yunxin, the things he did and said, even looking back today... could not make him completely believe that this "Chiwen" in front of him was the "Chiwen" of the past.

However... he couldn't "completely" believe it.

He had ninety-nine percent doubt in his heart.

But there was also that one bit of hope and expectation.

Li Yunxin just wanted to gamble on that one thing—something he wasn't good at and didn't quite understand.

And the reason he dared to gamble on this was because... Young Master Nine was indeed a demon who didn't understand human emotions.

There was a subtle and common relationship between Young Master Nine and the Lord of Dongting. It was this relationship and the Lord of Dongting's powerful strength that made the two of them coexist peacefully for a thousand years.

But now, this had become a fatal loophole.

The Lord of Dongting knew some things that Young Master Nine didn't.

And as of today, this information asymmetry had become the only straw in a desperate situation—especially when this "Yazi, who might be Young Master Nine now" repeatedly and cleverly emphasized that Li Yunxin was his "ninth brother."

After a few breaths of silence, Yazi spoke first: "Who knows? Ninth brother. Humans have stomachs, and so do demons. If you don't dig out your heart, second brother can't see it clearly. Lord of Dongting—have you made up your mind? I am about to save you now!"