Inner Demons Volume 1 Chapter 13

Liu the old priest on the other hand did not care much about what his disciple did. He was repeatedly muttering “What to do, what to do” to himself like chanting a scripture.

Sitting by his side, Li YunXin poked him: “Master.”

Liu the old priest glanced at him with a frowning sad face: “*Sigh* My student, your master can’t even help himself now. If you’ve got any other ideas...”

“Have you heard of Traveling in the Night in Gorgeous Garments the painting?”

“Huh?”

“Traveling in the Night in Gorgeous Garments -

The WeiLie Emperor of the Great Chu Empire, Xiang Yu, lost the battle at GaiXia[1] at the beginning of his uprising, and also lost his beloved wife there.

However, after 12 years of intensive governance, he finally led his army to capture the enemy capital, and placed his ding between the heaven and earth[2]. Unfortunately by then everyone he cared about was already dead, he could dominate the empire for a thousand autumns[3], but there was no one with whom he could share his joy of victory.

Therefore, on a snowy night, he dressed in his gold dragon robe in cloud brocade, and rode a horse traveling 300 lis[4] to GaiXia to commemorate his wife - Later, a master painter drew a painting of this scene. I think you know this.”

Opera singers in costumes of Xiang Yu and his consort Yu.
Their story in real life was quite different:
Being surrounded by the enemy at GaiXia, Yu committed suicide, so Xiang Yu wouldn't need to protect her while breaking through. However, her sacrifice didn't help his husband win the war. Xiang Yu killed himself when there was nowhere to run, and that put an end to Chu Kingdom. 
Li YunXin explained very clearly, as if he was holding a cup of tea and sitting by a clear stream on a sunny afternoon. However, that mental state in this situation was too weird.


Liu the old priest blankly stared at him for quite a while before opening his mouth: “You, you...How can you know...”

“I’ve told you before that I like the painter occupation, because of its good prospects. Thus it’s not strange for me to know about this painting. Now take a look over there. Yeah, right there. Narrow your eyes and borrow the light from the flames to see the footprints I left when I went there and came back.”

Liu was surprised, he didn’t understand how this young man suddenly became a different person. However, he still subconsciously looked in the direction which Li YunXin had discreetly pointed at.

Although he was not a powerful priest from any famous school, being “one of the five master painters in Wei City”, he had all the basic knowledge about painting. Therefore, after observing with the light from the flames for a while, Liu the old priest opened his eyes wide.

He looked at Li YunXin, and stammered: “This...this...Who are you?”

“Yes I know you all like to ask me who I really am...” Li YunXin patted his arm, indicating that he should calm down, “But let’s not talk about that for now. It seems that you have realized that I was drawing Traveling in the Night in Gorgeous Garments on the ground, but I haven’t finished it. The original was painted with the gongbi technique, whereas I just used a few strokes with the xieyi technique to draw out the painting’s essence.

“I see I see I see...”Liu the old priest shook off his shock, and realized that today may be his lucky day. Of course being kidnapped by 6 bandits was not good luck, but that kind of unlucky event was insignificant compared to the young man in front of his eyes.

The paintings are divided into gongbi and xieyi. Gongbi paintings are delicate and careful, showing even thin fibers and hairs; the objects in the paintings look lifelike. On the other hand, when painting a xieyi work, the painter would move his brush freely and let the ink and colors fly on the paper. Xieyi focuses more on expressing the essence.

Left: A gonbi horse by Aisin Gioro PuZuo爱新觉罗溥佐(1918 - 2001)
Right:A xieyi horse by Xu BeiHong徐悲鸿(1895 - 1953)
In the world of mortal painting, gongbi and xieyi were equal. But for master painters, a person who can draw a lifelike portrait for a 16-year-old lady with gongbi may not be able to express her charm with a xieyi painting.

However, the young man before him, had drawn out the essence of the famous painting with just a few xieyi strokes on the ground!

From the strokes, he could see the skill of the painter - He used his soul to draw the tracks of spirits on the painting. Now one only needed to use one’s sea of qi to lead in the spirits of heaven and earth to fill these tracks, and this painting which could only be created by a Sensation Realm master would be completed!

Liu the old priest had once seen a painting of a master. Every stroke in the painting had deep meaning. It was like the talismans. Priests used their brushes to lead the spirits of heaven and earth into their talismans or paintings.

The painting itself might look impressive, but fundamentally speaking, it’s just using brush and ink to create a talisman-like object - how effective the painting was going to be, depended on the skill of the painter.

This young man had drawn just a few strokes, but in the eyes of Liu, they could be even more brilliant than the painting of the master he saw that day.

Who was he?

He hurriedly held Li YunXin’s hands, and said: “I have eyes, but failed to see Mount Tai[5]. Those disciple and master stuffs...don’t take them seriously. You are so young and so skilled in painting. I wonder where are you from...”

“Calm down and listen to me.”Li YunXin gently pushed his hands away, “There’s a problem with my body, so I can’t draw the eyes of the dragon[6].”

The so-called eyes of the dragon that Li YunXin had mentioned referred to the most significant stroke, which would put the spirits into the tracks. He knew where and how to draw the “eyes”, but his sea of qi was sealed, so he couldn’t.

“I can’t draw the eyes, so it’s your job now.” Li YunXin pointed at the campfire which was further away from them, by which the swordsmen were sitting, “Right there, the painting is lacking one last stroke - The sword of WeiLie Emperor.”

Liu the old priest opened his mouth and shrank his neck, looked frightened: “Uhm...Master, this humble priest is not that powerful...”

“Aren’t you one of the five Sensation Realm masters of Wei City?”

“I was just joking! How can I ever be compared with you...”

“Well, actually your power is enough.”

“I’m afraid that I would ruin your plan.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Why do you have to put me on the spot, master?”

“Do you want to die?” Li YunXin said, staring at him.

“...Er...”

Liu the old priest was countering Li YunXin’s words fluently, but hearing this, he suddenly choked back the words he was going to say.

“This isn’t a joke, and I’m not joking with you. They are really going to kill us.” Li YunXin put on a serious face, not acting relaxed anymore, “They are just waiting for something or someone. Once they think it’s time, none of us can escape. I can’t escape and neither can you. Therefore, doing this job now is saving yourself. If you succeed, you will also receive the grat.i.tude of the escort team over there - I don’t know how your Mysterious Insight School is doing in Wei City, but I bet it isn’t doing better than their business. Therefore, your own life, and the debt that they’re going to owe you, all depends on whether or not you draw that one stroke.”

Liu the old priest had lived for decades, but he had never experienced such a dangerous situation. Therefore after also seeing the young man who looked ordinary sudden turn into a mysterious person with high cultivation, he felt his throat was dry and his legs weak. The campfire not far from them was crackling, and at the place a little further away, the 6 swordsmen were discussing something in a low voice, occasionally turning to look at them.

“Master, you...But how am I going to do this?” Liu the old priest felt cold, but he was sweating. He wiped out the sweat on his forehead and continued: “And speaking of this Traveling in the Night in Gorgeous Garments...it doesn’t seem useful to our situation.”

“You will know when you finish it.”Li YunXin patted his shoulder, “Go. Sooner or later you’ll have to go. You know you must do this.”

Of course old Liu knew this. Surviving to this age, no matter how small his gallbladder[7] may be, he could still differentiate between the urgent and the trivial. As long as a person was not a total coward, if there was any hope then he would extend his hand and grab it. Also, he thought the young man was hiding his strength - perhaps the young man could solve everything by himself, but he told me to do this just for fun.

While saying this to himself, he stood up unsteadily. After taking 3 deep breathes, he was ready - ready to deceive, like he normally did to the rich people in Wei City.

In the night wind, his rough Taoist robes fluttered, which made the light of the two campfires darken for a second. He was not graceful or handsome, but he had a special kind of personality. He was having a straight face because of nerves. When he had taken a few steps towards the swordsmen silently, they immediately became alert.

“What do you want to do? Go back!”

“Please hear some words of mine, heroes.”Liu the old priest said, “I’m HunYuanZi[8] from the Mysterious Insight School.”

He took 2 more steps forward after saying that: “I have some reputation in jianghu. For this matter today, let this old priest talk to you heroes.”

The swordsman with narrowed eyes slightly frowned: “Mysterious Insight School?”

He carefully looked at Liu for a while: “The Mysterious Insight School of the Talisman Sect?”

Liu the old priest smiled while stroking his beard: “Heh-heh, no, but close enough. The Mysterious Insight School of this poor priest is located in Wei City. Like the one of the Talisman Sect, my school also teaches the proper methods of cultivation which was created by the celestials...”

After hearing this, the swordsman snorted, his voice showing that he thought what he had heard was ridiculous: “So you’re that kind of jianghu sc.u.m. I’ll break your legs if you take one more step forward.”

At this moment, Liu the old priest was still 2 steps away from the “eyes”, so he forced himself to keep talking: “...but all Taoist schools share one origin, right? I remember years ago when I...”

Suddenly, a sharp sound came from above. The forest was dark. The only lights there were the dim glows of the two campfires, but in this kind of dense forest, even these lights seemed to be absorbed by the surrounding mist. At that moment, following the sound was a white flash.

A thin sword planted itself into the ground right beside Liu the old priest. The sword was shaking non-stop, making buzzing sounds.

Being hit by the sword, a great amount of dirt and dead leaves flew into the air. Liu the old priest was so scared that he s.h.i.+vered and fell over, his b.u.t.t sat right on the spot where the eyes were supposed to be.

The swordsman glanced at him with contempt, and coldly snorted: “Get lost!”

Liu the old priest looked at the sword, struggled for a few seconds on the ground with his hands and feet, and then pathetically ran back to the campfire.

The escort team was currently in no mood to make fun of the “master and disciple” who acted like fools - their eyes were all fixed on the sword which flew in from nowhere.

It looked the same as the ones carried by the swordsmen, so obviously it could not be from a rescue escort team. There was a piece of paper threaded on the sword, on which fly-head-sized words were written. Clearly it was “message delivery by flying sword”.

Pigeons and throwing knives were common methods for message delivering in jianghu, flying swords were also not uncommon. However, the scary thing was that no one had seen who threw the sword. At least in the eyes of the escort team, this skill was at an unimaginably high level.

“Well done.” Li YunXin smiled in the swaying light of the fire. Patting Liu the old priest’s arm, he said: “There is one more play for you to act out, and I promise that you’ll like it.”

[1]Xiang Yu向羽, the WeiLie Emperor威烈皇帝 of the Great Chu Empire大楚:
Xiang=Family name
Yu=Given name, Feather
WeiLie=His t.i.tle, means powerful and energetic. A emperor receives a t.i.tle when he gives his throne to his heir.
Chu楚=Chaste tree
GaiXia垓下: Name of the place.
[2] Ding鼎, a kind of ancient Chinese cauldron, which was used as an important tool in religious ceremonies. They were also the symbol of imperial authority, huge dings would be forged when a empire was established.
[3]A thousand autumns千秋: A thousand years.
[4]Li里: A Chinese unit of distance, 1 Li≈500 meters.
[5]I have eyes, but failed to see Mount Tai有眼不识泰山: I Failed to recognize a great person.
Mount Tai=One of the five most famous mountains in China, which was 1,532.7m in height.
[6]Draw the eyes of the dragon:To complete the most important part of a work, which would make the work whole.
Story: Zhang SengYou张僧繇(479～?) was a famous painter who worked in the imperial court. Once upon a time, he drew four dragons on a wall for a temple, but refused to draw the eyes. When being asked to, he drew the eyes for 2 of the dragons. As he did this, the 2 dragons with eyes suddenly flew up to the sky, while lightnings sparked on the wall.
[7]Gallbladder胆: Guts. In China people who have courage are said to have larger gallbladders.
[8]HunYuanZi混元子: The Taoist name of Liu.
HunYuan=The initial chaos, beginning of the universe.

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Translator: Rienne
Editor: Dropped