CH 54

When Yin Ci released his grip, the pile of thorns grew back vigorously.

Yin Ci: “…”

Shi Jingzhi’s eyes were still red, and he struggled to appear calm. Unfortunately, the Buddha Heart Formation showed no mercy and gave him no face. Shi Jingzhi’s state of mind fluctuated like a withered willow in the wind, experiencing ups and downs. His inner demon followed suit, changing in a rather straightforward manner.

Yin Ci suddenly felt that the thorns on the ground weren’t the thorns of his inner demons, but Shi Jingzhi’s fox tail.

Demonic Lord Yin, who was usually carefree, chuckled when this thought flashed through his mind. Shi Jingzhi remained thunderstruck, his fragile expression not yet fading as it transformed into a shocked “How could you do this?”

“Do you care about me that much?” Yin Ci laughed.

Shi Jingzhi tried to muster a mixture of sorrow and heroism but encountered Yin Ci, who remained unmoved like a rock. In an instant, his emotions became feeble. He irritably withdrew his hand into his sleeve, transforming his earnest indignation into frustration.

After struggling for a moment and forcing the color back into his face, Shi Jingzhi managed to ask, “A’Ci, what do you really think about my inner demon?”

He wanted to open up proactively. Shi Jingzhi restrained the panic in his heart, silently meditating.

Yin Ci maintained his indifferent demeanor as always, but this time, he didn’t make any jokes. He answered quite seriously. “It’s growing well—full of vitality, making others envious.”

Shi Jingzhi: “…” Is it really too late to find another disciple now?

Seeing Shi Jingzhi’s uncertain expression, Yin Ci couldn’t help but suppress his laughter. “What else can I think? Love and hate are intense emotions, and it’s better to resolve them than suppress them. It’s a good thing to be able to understand.”

Shi Jingzhi and his inner demon breathed a sigh of relief, and the chaotic thorns on the ground finally settled down.

However, Yin Ci wasn’t finished yet. He added with a smile, “But Shizun’s true nature is even more adorable than I expected.”

Shi Jingzhi’s heart, which had just settled down, suddenly jumped back into his throat. After a moment, he stammered, “What nonsense are you talking about? Finding the demon lords is more important.”

But he did take his hand out of his sleeve again.

Yin Ci finished laughing and spoke seriously. “Just now, the Su and Yan duo led the demon lords, and I pursued the demonic qi to the edge of the cliff. However, I couldn’t locate their positions, which is suspicious. Your inner demon is external to your body, and it’s spread everywhere like a spider’s web. It happens to be useful in this situation.”

Shi Jingzhi caught on immediately. “Let’s go. Take me to the edge of the cliff.”

Shi Jingzhi’s inner demon was somewhat similar to Lord Bai. It wasn’t directly connected to him and didn’t affect his actions. However, the thorns were scattered all over, densely packed, and occasionally surging, making the path particularly difficult to traverse. Shi Jingzhi originally wanted to carry Lord Bai along, but the goose demon stayed by the unconscious Su Si’s side and refused to budge no matter what he said.

So he had to give up and proceed towards the edge of the cliff with Yin Ci.

The inner demon’s illusion shattered, but the blue sky remained unchanged. Mist rolled at the edge of the cliff, and the spiritual qi of Huilian Mountain floated in the air, exuding a majestic and unchanging presence.

Yin Ci stood at the edge of the cliff, furrowing his brow as he sensed the surroundings for a while. Then, he pointed in a certain direction outside the cliff and said, “The strongest demonic qi is concentrated over there, but it’s scattered and elusive.”

Shi Jingzhi understood. If it were him, he wouldn’t act recklessly by probing. Without a foothold in the void, a wrong judgment could lead to an attack by the demon lords in mid-air, resulting in an irreparable disaster.

“I’ll do it. I’ll expand the thorns to cover the nearby area.”

Yin Ci shook his head. “You’ve just developed your inner demon, and your emotions are unstable. It’s best not to exert too much effort. With my own inner demon as support, you only need to find their approximate locations.”

Yin Ci’s tone carried a natural sense of tolerance. In the past, Shi Jingzhi would inevitably question and analyze such statements. But now, he refrained from deep thought and accepted it wholeheartedly, finding it quite useful.

Shi Jingzhi took a few deep breaths. Despite his fatigue and headache, he extended over a dozen thorny branches of his inner demon towards the empty space outside the cliff. The sensation of the external body was no different from his actual body, and as soon as the thorns shot out, Shi Jingzhi felt a surge of demonic qi brushing against them.

“A’Ci, move forward thirty-five steps and left twelve steps!”

Yin Ci stopped at the edge of the cliff, and then he leaped towards the empty space outside the cliff. The Hanging Shadow Sword danced, resembling a storm, encompassing a radius of five steps. Soon, a cry of pain echoed within the gusts of the sword wind. Two demons gradually revealed themselves.

Outside the cliff, there was only empty space, without even a crooked-neck tree to lean on. Yin Ci couldn’t stay suspended in mid-air, so before the demons fully manifested, he used the shadow chains behind him to swing back.

The black fire in the headlamp didn’t flicker even a bit.

With the demon lords exposed due to the injury, the two of them could finally see their appearance.

Undoubtedly, they were the mountain guardians of Huilian. Though, including the Lord of Greed, not a single one resembled a fierce beast. On the outer side of the cliff, there was a floating and moving invisible stone platform with a bull demon and a monkey demon standing on it.

The bull demon seemed both real and illusory, appearing like a faint shadow at first glance, somewhat resembling the shadow hand on Yin Ci’s body. However, upon closer inspection, one could only see a small portion of its body that garnered attention, while the rest outside the line of sight dissipated like mist. Trying to forcibly observe would only lead to headaches and restlessness.

In short, its true form was elusive. It was likely that the demonic qi of the two demons had fragmented and become unpredictable, most likely due to this particular demon’s characteristics.

Blinded by anger and oblivious to the bigger picture, it was probably the Lord of Hatred.

The Lord of Ignorance was easier to recognize—sitting on the back of the bull demon, it had two faces growing from its left and right sides, but its four eyes were misplaced and still located on the front of its head. It stared coldly in their direction, and both of its mouths grinned, emitting low squeaks and chirps.

As soon as their traces were exposed, the two demons turned their heads and fled, disappearing into the air. This time, they didn’t use any concealment techniques—they didn’t entirely vanish but rather concealed themselves from head to toe, as if running into an invisible doorway.

Yin Ci and Shi Jingzhi exchanged glances.

Immediately, Yin Ci hugged Shi Jingzhi and leaped swiftly onto the invisible stone platform. The blood of the Demon Lords was still dripping on the platform, and upon closer inspection, it appeared as if a few drops of blood were moving freely, which was a strange sight indeed.

The floating stone platform fluttered in various directions, but Yin Ci had already memorized the location of the doorway. He tugged at the chain of shadows and looked at Shi Jingzhi. “Shizun, are you ready? If you need to rest, we can wait a little longer.”

Shi Jingzhi stared fixedly at the spot where the two demons disappeared and answered without hesitation. “Follow.”

Yin Ci snorted and leaped into the air once again.

His qinggong was much more solid than Shi Jingzhi’s. Even if the stone platform floated far away, he easily leaped into the invisible “doorway”.

Shi Jingzhi instinctively tightened his grip, and the two of them plunged into the void.

In just an instant, the daylight and mountains disappeared from view, and they fell into a cold shadow. Then, they landed solidly on the ground somewhere.

Within the darkness of the doorway, there was a secluded space. Yin Ci released his hold on Shi Jingzhi and felt around, only touching cold and rough rocks.

Beneath their feet was frozen soil, and the entrance had become a dark gray giant rock wall. It felt as if they hadn’t jumped into the empty space at the edge of the cliff, but rather fell into a narrow cave.

The cave was silent, with only a faint light coming through the distant opening. The formation here was different from the Buddha Heart Formation, and it seemed that the Lord of Hatred and Lord of Ignorance wouldn’t be trapped here; they had likely escaped long ago.

Shi Jingzhi rushed towards the cave entrance. Outside the cave, there was an expanse of vastness, with fierce winds and snow that enveloped the entire world in a white blur. He cautiously reached out his hand to touch the wind and snow outside the cave, but he only encountered emptiness.

It was the boundary of the formation.

Shi Jingzhi turned back and looked at Yin Ci behind him. The thorns that had been wrapped around his waist before were gone, and the shadow hand on Yin Ci’s body was nowhere to be seen.

He took a deep breath and decisively shared his discovery. “The inner demons have vanished. It seems we’re not inside the Buddha Heart Formation anymore. From the looks of it, someone has solidified a small formation here, and the two formations are incompatible.”

Yin Ci looked at Shi Jingzhi with some surprise and continued the conversation. “Indeed. The scale of a small formation should be the work of an individual… To be crazy enough to tamper with the Buddha Heart Formation—we only know one person capable of that.”

Shi Jingzhi leaned against the cave wall with a worried expression. “Did he have to draw spiritual qi from the Buddha Heart Formation? Couldn’t Yan Budu have left a message without resorting to that?”

“It means he wanted to convey multiple clues, which is a good thing.” Yin Ci sat down in place and stretched lazily.

The moment they stepped in, the small formation was activated. Although the formation was created by Yan Budu, it was rare that there was no trace of hostility. It was mostly safe.

Despite being an illusion, the coldness within the formation remained. It seemed to be preserving the integrity of the formation. Shi Jingzhi had lost his inner demon, but his inner force was still suppressed by the small formation. He stood there, exhaling white vapor for a while, before finally giving in and leaning towards Yin Ci.

“May I lean on you for a while? I feel a bit cold,” he politely asked.

Yin Ci looked at him, finding his act quite convincing, and promptly made some space. “No need to be so polite. Come here.”

Shi Jingzhi, exhausted from the recent development of his inner demon, leaned on Yin Ci for a while, carefully adjusting his posture, half-hanging on Yin Ci’s body. His fatigue intensified, and he became drowsy.

Yin Ci hugged him, guiding him to adjust his breathing while keeping his eyes fixed on the entrance of the cave.

Yan Budu wouldn’t be so cruel as to let them freeze to death after playing around like this.

As expected, not long after, a figure stumbled into the cave.

The person wore dark red armor, and his white fox fur was stained with blood and snow. With one arm hanging limply, he was obviously severely injured. From a distance, the red jade smoking pipe at his waist was infuriatingly familiar.

Yin Ci quickly nudged the half-asleep fox. “He’s here.”

In the short time it took to burn two sticks of incense, Shi Jingzhi’s face was buried on Yin Ci’s shoulder as fragments of dreams scattered about. Now suddenly awakened, he was momentarily dazed and almost jumped up entirely. “What? Who’s here?”

His voice wasn’t low, but Yan Budu seemed as if he hadn’t heard it.

Squinting his crimson eyes, Yan Budu tore open his clothes and skillfully tended to his wounds. After setting the broken bones, he leaned against the rock wall and let out a long breath.

At that moment, he had tied his hair into a high ponytail, and the disheveled strands touched his pale skin, exuding a hint of charm. However, this charm, when applied to Yan Budu, carried an additional sense of dangerous intentions.

Yan Budu didn’t stay calm for long. After a while, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he covered his mouth, unexpectedly spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Shi Jingzhi and Yin Ci: “…” This scene looked strangely familiar.

After vomiting out the blood, Yan Budu remained expressionless. He didn’t show any surprise and simply wiped away the fresh blood with a snowball he held in his hand. Then he wrapped himself in the fox fur and attempted to rest his eyes—yet every time he rested for a moment, he would turn his head and spit out a few more mouthfuls of blood.

Yin Ci’s expression turned strange. “Does he have this condition? I’ve never heard of it.”

Shi Jingzhi also held his breath and focused. “I haven’t come across any records either. It’s possible that the Ling Sect values strength above all and doesn’t want to admit that their own Hierarch can also fall ill… Or perhaps he has been enduring it in front of others. If it were me, I could endure it when necessary too.”

Yan Budu continued to sleep and vomit, vomiting and waking up, barely regaining some color in his face. Seemingly tired of sleeping, he weakly turned his head and looked towards the snowstorm outside the cave.

After observing for a while, Shi Jingzhi started to peck at imaginary grains again. Unexpectedly, it wasn’t Yin Ci who woke him up this time, but Yan Budu.

“Now that you’re here, you might as well come in and sit.”

Yan Budu’s voice was languid, filled with a strong sense of hostility, without a hint of weakness. He turned his head and greeted the outside of the cave.

“…I mean, Venerable Kongshi, with the situation outside like this, do you still want to immediately capture me and bring me out of the mountain?”

The author has something to say:

Yan Budu pulled a power cord from the monks’ formation, stealing electricity to power a video recorder (×

Fox Shi: What should we do? It’s so dangerous to enter the mortal world, and it’s so difficult to open up one’s heart.

Demonic Lord Yin: How cute (?