Chapter 109 – Inner Demon
Inner Demons are the most insidious danger faced by a cultivator, more feared than a failed breakthrough and more deadly than having your body torn apart by rampaging Qi. To outsiders, those who lacked the talent to cultivate, cultivation was a path of steady progress.
Cultivators would refine their bodies, temper their spirits, and ascend the stages step by step toward immortality. They thought that with enough time and effort, they would reach the heavens. The only thing that could impede that was being cut down by enemies, or dying at the claws of some spiritual beast or monster.
But cultivators knew that the greatest threat to their lives wasn’t from enemies or spiritual beasts. Their worst enemy came from within themselves.
A Cultivator’s heart and mind are far more vulnerable to the influence of emotions than ordinary mortals. The act of opening yourself up to the flow of spiritual energy magnifies emotions, intensifies their desires, and strips bare the hidden corners of the soul.
An ordinary person might carry with them the fear of the unknown, the guilt of their past actions, or their longings and desires that they accumulated throughout their lifetime; they could ignore or overcome them.
But a cultivator's desires are harder to hide from. And they often twist their way out from wherever they were locked away to form Inner Demons.
Inner Demons can take many different forms. Sometimes they appear as irrational fears, born from some trauma or doubt. Sometimes they are chains of guilt or regret, so heavy that they stall a cultivator’s progress like a physical block that is nearly impossible to break.
They can even manifest outwardly as hallucinations, voices, or spectres that will claw at the mind until the cultivator loses their sanity.
The most common, and some say the most dangerous form of Inner Demons, is obsession. What makes them so dangerous is how insidious they are. Obsessions will creep into a cultivator's thoughts silently, rooting itself deeply until they are indistinguishable from ordinary thought.
Those possessing this Inner Demon will believe they are entirely in control, but their every choice and action is coloured by the Demon dwelling within them.
Worse, they justify their every action while they follow its whispers.
They will say things such as ‘I only seek this power to protect my family. I’ll only use this technique for the good of the Sect. I only want to surpass my rival because they are evil.’
Each excuse will sound perfectly reasonable, even righteous, but the cultivator can’t see that they are no longer free and that they have instead become puppets to their obsession.
Which is why, when Ren Sihan raised his battered head and told Mei Lian that he would teach her whatever she wanted to know if she freed him from his prison cell, she barely hesitated before agreeing.
His words should have struck her as abhorrently wrong, being clearly a trap laid by a person who had betrayed his Clan, killed innocents for power, and was walking the path worse than Unorthodox, but Demonic.
But instead of recoiling, Mei Lian’s pulse quickened. Her breath grew shallow with excitement, and all she could think about was how she would soon achieve her goal, her cultivation would improve, and she could return to the Sect and Jun De proudly.
Mei Lina’s Inner Demon sank its claws deeper into her heart.
Her obsession with Jun De, with matching his talent and standing beside him as an equal rather than watching him rise higher in the Sect without her, while Mei Lian remained in the Outer Sect, warped her judgment.
She justified her actions by telling herself that there was nothing wrong with learning the Crimson Rebirth Sutra if she only practiced it on spiritual beasts and never on humans. There was no harm in freeing Ren Sihan from his cell if she intended to turn him back over to the Sect once she had taken what she needed from him.
When Mei Lian left the cell, her expression was calm and controlled. Her Sect robes, combined with her cultivation, lent her an air of authority that no one questioned. The guards obeyed her every order as she climbed the staircase and informed them that she would be taking the prisoner back to the Tranquil Mountain Sect.
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“By the order of the Tranquil Mountain Sect, I will be transferring the prisoner.” Mei Lian declared, her tone was crisp, cold, and each word carried the weight of absolute certainty that what she was doing was correct.
The scarred guard heisted, his expression frowning as he replied.
“Honoured Disciple, the City Lord gave strict orders that-”
“There is no need to trouble the City Lord. This prisoner contains dangerous knowledge that must be returned to the Sect at once. Every moment we waste here increases the risk to the entire region! Do you dare delay the Tranquil Mountain Sect’s will?? Mei Lian interrupted quickly, and her Qi flared just enough to make the air heavy around them.
The guard stiffened under the pressure of her cultivation, and whatever lingering protests he had died before he could speak them.
The guard looked at her nervously for a moment longer, still uncertain about her order, but he soon wilted beneath her authority. Reluctantly, the guard went over to Ren Sihan’s cell. Chains rattled as Ren Sihan’s bindings were loosened, and the young man staggered to his feet.
Moments later, Mei Lian emerged from the mansion’s gates with Ren Sihan in tow, his posture bent low and obscured by a spare blue robe that she had withdrawn from her storage bag and tossed over his head.
Outside the gates, the bustle of Nan Ao City’s streets swallowed them whole. The sound of merchants shouting about their wares, carts rumbling down the streets and children weaving through the crowd obscured the pair from sight.
Mei Lian shifted her Qi, lowering it significantly so that only someone actively searching for cultivators would know that she was one. It wasn’t a perfect technique, but the Tranquil Mountain Sect had taught her the basics of concealing her cultivation.
While they walked, Mei Lian gripped Ren Sihan’s arm tightly, half guiding him through the throng while also ensuring that he couldn’t slip away.
When they were far enough away from the City Lord’s Mansion, Mei Lian pulled a plain, grey robe from her storage bag and draped it over her shoulders, keeping the distinctive Tranquil Mountain Sect uniform well hidden.
Her heart pounded in her chest, and she forced herself to calm down and walk slowly so as not to draw attention.
‘I will hand Ren Sihan over to the Sect as soon as this is done. I’ll make sure he faces justice. This is only temporary. When I’ve mastered the Sutra, the Elders will forgive me when they’ve seen my increase in cultivation. They’ll understand that everything I’ve done has been for the Sect and Jun De.’
Unknown to Mei Lian, the Inner Demon was the cause of her pounding heart and focused determination to learn the Crimson Rebirth Sutra.
‘Now that the Sutra is in your grasp, nothing else matters. Your cultivation will improve by leaps and bounds, and Jun De will acknowledge you.’
After a few minutes, the pair were through the gates of Nan Ao City and racing into the wilderness.
Several days later, Mei Lian and Ren Sihan sat within a shadowed cave, its mouth hidden by vines and moss. A small fire flickered between them, driving away the damp and the cold. Ren Sihan’s battered face looked even worse in the dim light, and his body was frail and abused from his time in captivity.
But if Mei Lian thought he was tame, the gleam in his eyes showed that he was just as dangerous as ever.
“It’s time. I’ve upheld my end of the bargain. Now you will uphold yours. Teach me everything you know about the Crimson Rebirth Sutra.”
Ren Sihan tilted his head, and a smile pulled up the corners of his still chapped lips. He spread his hands toward the fire and nodded.
“So you have. Very well, you’ve earned it.”
Ren Sihan began to recite the method, and Mei Lian was struck by how simple it was. But it was also incredibly cruel and insidious. It siphoned the life force, not just the Qi but the blood essence, from a living being and turned it into the user’s own strength.
Mei Lian listened intently, and the whispers of her Inner Demon only fanned the flames of her desire to hear more.
When Ren Sihan finished, he leaned back against the wall of the cave.
“Now you know everything. The choice of how you use it is yours. It works on beasts and men, friend or foe. Where the blood essence comes from doesn’t matter to the Sutra, just that you feed it.”
Mei Lian didn’t waste any time, and with the urging of her Inner Demon, she rushed out into the forest. The only light came from the moon above that shone on the small layer of snow that had recently fallen.
It didn’t take her long to find her target, a second-level Qi Condensation horned boar that snarled and charged at her. She struck it with the flat of her sword, then invoked the Sutra exactly as Ren Sihan had taught her.
The beast shrieked and thrashed as its blood essence was pulled from it in threads of bright, shimmering crimson. It flowed into Mei Lian like molten fire. Her skin tingled, and her meridians burned with the sudden intensity.
When the beast was completely consumed, Mei Lian could feel its strength flowing into her Dantian. The barrier that had prevented her from cultivating began to loosen, melting away, and her Qi surged upward toward the peak of the early stage of the 4th Level of Qi Condensation.
Her lips curved into a smile. The power was intoxicating, and the results were better than expected. The Crimson Rebirth Sutra was real, and it worked exactly as Ren Sihan said it would.
Now that the secret of the technique was hers, she could hand Ren Sihan over to the Sect and leave to practice alone. No one would believe him if he tried to save himself by accusing her of practicing the forbidden technique.
And once her cultivation improves further, the Sect and Jun De will be thrilled to have her return home.
The Inner Demon within her crowed as her obsession deepened.
