Inner Demons Volume 1 Chapter 12

“Uncle, it’s a chance.” Standing by Qiao DuanHong’s side, Qiao SiFu whispered, and glanced at the 6 people in Taoist robes. It was dark, since the huge trees everywhere were blocking the sky and the sun. If they scattered, some of them may manage to escape.

Qiao DuanHong shook his head with a serious face: “Keep waiting...for a while. I’ve left something behind along the way.”

Qiao SiFu looked at him strangely: “Something...You mean the guiding incense?”

“Yes.”

Qiao SiFu remained silent, but another guard sighed, and said: “Boss, we can’t count on that thing.”

Every escort team took the guiding incense with them when escorting. They looked like wood chips. When exposed in the air, they would let out a special fragrance. The “dragon head(t.i.tle of the leader)” of the Escort Teams’ Guild said that all escort teams were obliged to help each other, so when an escort team senses the smell of the incense on the way, it should try to help the team which is in danger.

The dragon head was giving out the incenses for a good purpose. Unfortunately, n.o.body would ever risk their lives to save someone unimportant to them. Escort guards were just making a living, not trying to be heroes. Heroes would sure try their best to save anyone in trouble, even if they were like 2 duckweeds which came across each other in the flow[1].

Duckweed, a kind of plant without fixed roots. Being used to describe strangers.
“I don’t think they would hurt us, for now.” Qiao DuanHong picked his words carefully, “Their martial skills are abnormally strong, so we should try to prevent from fighting. Just keep waiting...*sigh*.”

Qiao SiFu and a few other guards opened their mouths, but couldn’t find a word to say. They totally understood what Qiao DuanHong had just said - there was no chance for them to win the fight. Thus they just kept waiting...people always have blind faith in “hope”.

Qiao SiFu looked at Qiao JiaXin, and found her gazing at the campfire silently, sometimes glancing at Li YunXin, who was sitting by the old priest.

A flame of fury was ignited in his heart - he wanted to fight the bandits, but he was afraid. He was afraid, but he didn’t want to give up before trying, and that made him increasingly annoyed.

He whispered to Qiao DuanHong: “I think that boy is hiding something from us. JiaXin said that he looked calm when caught by that bandit, but when he was asking us for a ride, he acted like a total nestling.”

Qiao DuanHong peered at Li YunXin, and found him sometimes looking at the 6 bandits, or writing something on the ground, looking bored, and much more relaxed than them.

He shook his head, and said: “He may have come from a family of merchants. It’s normal for him to act like this, since he may have experienced many things like this before. This kind of person always thinks that everything in the world could be negotiated and traded, so he is not worried about our situation at all. It’s correct, in most cases. I guess his family is rich, since he paid me a lot for his ride. However, I don’t think they want money. This kid is too young after all.”

Qiao SiFu curled his lips, and peered at Li YunXin again. He didn’t want to abandon his doubt, but the words of his uncle made sense. He understood what he had said - something that would take all the efforts of an escort team to be done, could be easily solved by a rich merchant from Luo City, and all he needed to do was talking and paying.

He never liked their those rich people, and that’s why he had a bad feeling of  Li YunXin when the young man threw that silver sycee to them.

However, Miss Qiao didn’t think that Li YunXin was the kind of person that his father and brother had said him to be.

She remembered that he stood in front of her at the time. He was not very brave, but he still tried to protect her.

Even her father couldn’t do anything, so what could they expect Li YunXin to do?

It was at this moment that Li YunXin stood up. Everyone looked at him, not knowing what the reckless young man was going to do.

Then he walked up to the 6 men by the other fire.

Liu the old priest winked at him, but didn’t dare to say a word. Qiao JiaXin opened her eyes widely.

After he had taken 6, 7 steps, one of the bandits yelled: “What are you doing!? Save your steps!”

He stopped and spread his hands : “Alright, alright, alright, I stop.”

The fires swayed, and the forest became silent instantly. Everyone was staring at him. This young man was like a new-born calf[2]. He didn’t know how dangerous the situation was.

“I’m Li YunXin, from Luo City.”He folded his hands, and said with a serious face: “Heroes, please listen to a word of me. I see you heroes are highly skilled in martial arts, the wilderness is not the place for you[3]. You showed your martial skills for some reason, but not hurting any of us, that’s surely a behavior of true heroes. YunXin dares to guess that you heroes had to do this because of lack of money. Talking about money, I’ve got plenty of them. If you like, I could...”

“Heh...true heroes.” Looking at Li YunXin, a man with a sword sneered, “Aren’t you afraid of death?”

“Your words were interesting.”Another one was looking at Li YunXin, too, “Did you make them up by yourself?”

Now their facial expressions finally looked more noticeable and lively.

“I was lucky to have a chance to follow my father from south to north, and had read some books. Thus I know that everything a true hero does, is for his country and its people. You heroes have excellent martial skills, but your names are never heard in jianghu. I think that you must be waiting for a chance to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat[4]. To support you in finding this chance, YunXin would like to spend all of his wealth. If I could be friends with you heroes in the wilderness, later after you...”

“Is there something wrong with his brain?” Qiao SiFu was frozen after listening to Li YunXin. He thought he was talking nonsense - even a fool would never take the situation in that way! However, Li YunXin talked so seriously...What was he thinking? Did he really believe that they would spare him just because of his words?

Qiao DuanHong frowned.

“This kid...” He was thinking, while looking at Li YunXin, whose face was lit up by the fire. He didn’t take the young man seriously before, but now he started to think that his words were worth considering.

On the other side, Qiao JiaXin was completely confused.

Li YunXin talked a lot with a serious face. After listening to all of those words, Qiao DuanHong slightly shook his head - He knew what the young man was trying to do. It was clever enough for a teenager to please the 6 bandits with praises.

He thought the young man was trying to act mindless - he didn’t believe his own words, so neither would the bandits, but his words may make them think that he was not a threat. They could even be attracted by the money he mentioned, and start to like him because of the bravery and cleverness he showed.

If they did, maybe they would let him go.

Unfortunately, the young man was not clear about his situation. The bandits were obvious not here for money. Qiao DuanHong had thought about this for a long time, but still didn’t know what they wanted.

Just as Qiao DuanHong expected, the 6 men lost their patience after listening for a while. One of them waved his arm and said: “Get lost! Get back to there and stop being noisy.”

Qiao DuanHong noticed that something within his voice had changed, but he was not sure what it exactly was.

However, Li YunXin knew what it was.

Even when scolding him, the man didn’t sound that cold anymore.

He sounded more like a human.

Li YunXin was once a psychologist, so he knew when a person is going to be upset.

One possible situation is when traveling at night in gorgeous garments[5].

He smiled, made a bow with hands folded in front, and walked to the side. With the smile fixed on his face, he kept talking: “Then...heroes, there is one more thing I want to ask for. Actually I don’t even know the people over there, today is the first day we have ever met each other. Is it okay for me to stand here alone?”

The swordsman with narrowed eyes eventually got p.i.s.sed off: “Are you seeking death?”

Li YunXin looked frightened, he stepped back and waved his hands: “Alright, alright, alright. I’m going back!”

Hanging his head, he walked back to the camp fire. His feet made a “sha-sha” sound when shuffling on the dead leaves.

Qiao SiFu raised his eyebrows and gave him a contemptuous look: “So, you’re back, huh?”

He spat on the ground and continued: “I thought you don’t even know us!”

Most of them were giving him the same look. Jianghu was complicated. A wise man would think about things with his wisdom, while a kind person would judge things by his kind heart. However, there was one thing that should never be abandoned, which was loyalty - the courage to help one’s friends when they are in trouble.

What Li YunXin had done was not wrong, mostly. However, when he said he was not with them, he angered the whole escort team.

Qiao JiaXin sighed, looked at him one more time, and turned her back to him. Love between young people always comes rapidly and disappears in the same way.

The girl realized all that young man had was just a pretty face. She felt cheated.

When Li YunXin walked up to them, he didn’t look that upset anymore. He smiled, and said: “En.”

Then he sat down by Liu the old priest.

The escort guards didn’t know how to react to his att.i.tude. They wanted to blame him, but it seemed like he was just acting before the bandits, and now he was off stage. He changed his face so fast. It seemed that he was driving a light carriage along the familiar road[6] of speaking human language to human and speaking ghost language to ghosts[7].

He was so young, but none of the escort team could be as smooth as him.

He was giving up the skin on his face[8] to survive, they thought.

Translator's Notes:
[1]2 duckweeds which came across each other in the flow: Total strangers.
[2]A new-born calf is not afraid of tigers: Young people don't care about the rules and don't know enough about the dangers in the world, so they have no fear of doing anything.
[3]People in the wilderness: Bandits.
[4]To amaze the world with a single brilliant feat: To succeed at the first time when someone is trying to show his talents.
Full version=The bird is not flying, but when it takes off, it will soar into the sky; it's not singing, but when it sings, it would amaze the whole world.
[5]Traveling at night in gorgeous garments: Having some kind of glory, but not being known by others.
Full version=Being wealthy but not coming home, is like to travel at night in gorgeous garments, n.o.body would know how successful you are.
[6]To drive a light carriage along the familiar road of doing sth: Being skillful in doing sth.
[7]To speak human language to human and speak ghost language to ghosts: Being very smooth.
[8]The skin on one’s face: One’s honor and pride.

Please leave your comments and suggestions!

Translator: Rienne
Editor: Dropped