Inner Demons Volume 1 Chapter 22

HuaiNanZi pulled out his sword from behind his back right after his voice ended.

It was not accurate to say “pulled out”. He just put two fingers of his right hand together, turned over his wrist, and crooked his fingers.

Then a thin sword rose from behind him, floated above him, and rotated above him, buzzing, like a silver snake of lightning.

He gazed at Li YunXin for a while, and raised his eyebrow: “Hah? Aren’t you afraid?”

“Is it useful to be afraid?”

“Tsk.” HuaiNanZi shook his head, “I’ve already pa.s.sed my trial of killing, but I’m still in my trial of sympathy. The trial of sympathy, you know, I can’t spare someone just because he looks pitiful and begs me to spare him. However, I haven’t pa.s.sed this trial yet, so you can try. What if, ha-ha, my heart to seek Dao is not that strong?”

“I’m not stupid.” Li YunXin shook his head, “The trial of sympathy, means that you must erase your own sympathy, not changing your decision just because someone looks pitiful. You would like nothing more than to chop my head off after I kneel before you and beg for mercy.”

“How about this. Don’t kill me, and I’ll show you a treasure.”

“Not interested.” HuaiNanZi curled his lips, and moved his fingers.

The thin swords above his head suddenly shot out like lightning.

Fast. Li YunXin thought. He knew the flying swords were fast, just like he knew the bullets were fast, but like a lot of things that he hadn’t personally witnessed, he had no way to experience just how fast they were.

Just as he had this thought, that ray of sword-light pa.s.sed by before his eyes. After that was a series of sounds. When he looked back, he found “Qiao JiaXin” had already fallen on the ground.

With a “so” sound, the silver swords came out from her back, and that moved her body a little bit. Then it came back to HuaiNanZi’s side.

Her clothes were totally torn up - n.o.body knew how many times the silver sword went through her body within the time of a turning of Li YunXin’s head.

Her blood was like coming out from a broken leather flask. Li YunXin soon sensed the thick smell of blood. “Qiao JiaXin”’s belly was a mess; it was not going too far to describe it as “rotten”.

He s.h.i.+vered. The cat demon came into his body, but it felt so weak. Its spiritual body was almost destroyed.

HuaiNanZi pulled his sword back, and looked at him: “That’s a demon, right? It’s not good to be in company with a demon. They are a different species from us, brutal, cruel and inhuman. You see, if you beg me, I’ll kill you with one strike. If not, I’ll stab you to death like this. The choice is yours.”

“d.a.m.n it.” Li YunXin sighed: “If one owes too much debt to others it won’t be easy to repay them.”

There was no way back. The enemy was much stronger than him,  and his tricks were useless here as well. It looked like HuaiNanZi was a willful person, but Li YunXin couldn’t find out what he liked in such a short period of time.

He could only... call Lord Nine.

He took out that piece of paper from his sleeve with 2 fingers.

However, right after he took his action, his arm felt cold. Following a rustle, half of his sleeve fell on the ground.

His forearm tickled. He lowered his head, and saw a finger-length wound on his forearm. The white wound soon became read, and then a few streams of fresh blood flowed down. The itch became painful.

“What are you doing?” HuaiNanZi asked him while frowning, he looked mad, “If you move again, I’ll cut off your hand. Now beg me for mercy. I have other things to do. If I didn’t treat you as a cultivator, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time talking with you.”

Li YunXin: ......

He thought he was definitely in a really bad situation.

He had no other ideas. In other words, he couldn’t feel the bamboos in his chest[1] any more, and couldn’t find a way to escape.

A few thoughts came up in his mind, and he got a few strategies, but he suddenly closed his eyes. Stood under the moonlight and in the night wind for a while, he opened his eyes: “Alright. I beg you, and you kill me with one hit.”

After a pause, he added: “You must kill me with one hit. You know, I’m also a cultivator, so I deserve respect, too. If you don’t do what you promised, it will be a shame of your great school. ”

HuaiNanZi curled his lips: “Why are you so long-winded?”

Li YunXin sighed, shook his shoulders, and bowed to him slowly.

“Be quick!” HuaiNanZi urged him seriously, “Or I’ll really kill you!”

Absolutely not. Li YunXin of course knew this feeling. When a child asked you for candies, if you told him clearly it was not possible, he would leave after begging you again.

However, if you said okay but not giving him the candies immediately, he may pester you for a long time and not leave.

The thought “I’ll get it very soon” would make you anxious, and unable to act decisively.

He didn’t believe that HuanNanZi would kill him because of anger.

Want it, but can’t get it, almost getting it - That’s how inner demons were planted.

Li YunXin picked up the bottom of his robe, and kicked the ground: “There’s blood on the ground, how can I kneel.”

HuaiNanZi finally showed a more lively expression on his face, which looked both annoyed and tickled: “You will die soon, why are you caring about the blood? You fool!”

“No matter what, I need to change my location.” Li YunXin took one step aside, and looked at HuaiNanZi.

Seeing HuaiNanZi frowning and glaring at him, Li YunXin started to walk around with ease, and started to pick the location like he was really choosing a tomb for himself.

That was because HuaiNanZi’s facial expression looked like: “I’ve lost all my patience, and I decide to cause you some pain. Do whatever you like, but the more you annoy me, the more pain you will get.”

Li YunXin wasted 5 minutes, which was the maximum of HuaiNanZi’s patience in his prediction.

Then he stood firm, and lifted his head: “One last question.”

An expression of relief which was hard to notice appeared on HuaiNanZi’s face: “Speak.”

“I think demons are fine. Why do you have to kill them?”

“You fool. What did you learn Taoism for? They are different from us, what’s wrong with killing them?” Now HuaiNanZi really wanted to kill him, and put 2 of his fingers together.

Then, at the same time, Li YunXin and HuaiNanZi heard the clinking of a copper bell approaching.

A girl said in a clear voice: “Ayya, my lady, how vicious, that guy.”

Her voice spread very far, maybe it was because her voice was crisp and clear.

HuaiNanZi’s face changed, so did the sword gesture in his hand. From 2 fingers close together, to a weird orchid gesture. As he did this, the silver flying sword instantly split into 3 swords. One’s pointing after another one’s end, they flew around him, and made a low “woo-woo” sound.
Orchid gesture.
“Who’s there!?” He shouted.

The 2 people held their breaths and looked for a few minutes, and finally saw a small hand reached out from a man-height bush.

Pus.h.i.+ng the weeds aside, a young maid with 2 hair buns walked out. Holding the reins in her hand, she dragged a black donkey whose skin was s.h.i.+ny out of the bush.

On the black donkey, a young lady sat there quietly with both her legs on the same side. Biting her lip, she stared at Li YunXin with her clear and bright eyes, not even giving HuaiNanZi a glance.

Leading the black donkey, the little maid stood firm, and steadied her young lady. She furrowed her thin eyebrows and asked with no forgiveness: “Yeah, what’s wrong with demons? Why do you kill them?”

Translator's notes:
[1]To have bamboos in chest成竹在胸: Well-prepared.
Wen Tong(1018-1079) was a famous poet, painter, writer and calligrapher who was especially good at painting bamboos with ink.
It was said that he had observed the bamboos so carefully that he had them grown in his chest.
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Translator: Rienne
Editor: Dropped