Startling Change

Seeing Li Qinglin suddenly return to normal, the Young Master's expression shifted slightly. "You... you're fine?"

Li Qinglin spat out a jet of water. "I wrapped that wine in true qi in my throat. It never went down at all. I only pretended to be poisoned because I wanted to see what truths that monster might spill while I was delirious..." He paused, then continued with some chagrin, "I never expected this Jade Pendant to restrain monsters so fiercely. The commotion grew too great; that was truly not my intention."

Outside, the Daoist Nun pressed her lips tightly together. The twists and turns of this development were far beyond anything she had anticipated.

"No wonder Master said one must seek the Dao in the mortal world. The human heart is treacherous and unfathomable indeed—something secluded cultivation in the mountains could never reveal." After some thought, she murmured to herself, "With Li Qinglin's depth of scheming, the possibility that he did that has risen by several points."

As though answering the Daoist Nun's thoughts, voices rose outside the manor. Several horses came galloping in, charging straight through the gates.

At the sight of the man in front, the Young Master was greatly startled. He bowed and said, "This commoner greets Prefect Wang."

Prefect Wang hurriedly dismounted, shoved the Young Master aside in one motion, and dropped to one knee. "This subordinate, Wang He, greets the Second Prince and the Zhaoyang Princess."

The entire manor stood petrified. The Young Master's face turned the color of earth.

Li Qingjun sneered. "Don't tell me you came to back these farmstead people? This fellow actually managed to bring Your Excellency the Prefect here in person. He's quite something, isn't he?"

Wang He wiped away his sweat. "Your Highness misunderstands. This subordinate does not know this man. I merely heard someone mention that the two of you had been seen at the city gate around dusk. This subordinate happened to have an urgent matter requiring your presence, so I came specifically."

"Oh?" Li Qinglin asked. "What urgent matter has occurred?"

"The Crown Prince..." Wang He paused, then kowtowed. "The Crown Prince was assassinated and killed last night."

Li Qinglin's pupils contracted slightly, while Li Qingjun's face went stark white.

Before a matter as earth-shattering as this, the affairs of the farmstead naturally became insignificant. Before the prefect could even lose his temper, the Young Master poured everything out like beans from a bamboo tube.

The farmhands who had died for no reason before had been drained of their vital essence by the Corpse Worm Demon. The manor lord had therefore posted notices to catch ghosts, never imagining that it had been his own wife's handiwork.

Thus, the manor lord need not originally have died... but unfortunately, he had produced a wicked son. In order to be with his stepmother, the son had used the manor's "haunting" as cover to secretly poison his father to death.

In other words, the strange events here had involved both Monstrous Fiends and human actions. Everyone's prior judgment had been wrong.

Of course, this matter had already fallen outside the Li Family Siblings' concern. Their minds were wholly occupied by the Crown Prince's death, and they rode through the night back to the capital. There were no longer just three of them on the road; troops from the prefecture had been dispatched to escort them. Clearly, Southern Li, having lost its Crown Prince, could not allow the Second Prince to suffer another mishap.

After all, the king had only these two sons.

This was no longer a time to speak of training through experience. Li Qinglin would likely never again have the chance to travel alone.

Throughout the journey, the Li Family Siblings wore exceedingly grave expressions, with no mood left for idle banter. On the grand scale, Southern Li was about to see the sky change; on the personal scale, they had lost their elder brother.

For Li Qinglin in particular, the mingling of those two emotions must have been especially complicated.

Qin Yi rode alongside them in silence as well.

Unlike the Li Family Siblings, the Crown Prince was too distant from him. He had not even known the man, so what feelings could he have? The events at the farmstead, however, had deeply stirred him.

Such a ravishingly beautiful woman had been nothing but a painted skin. Beneath it lurked a nauseating Corpse Worm. This must have been the rosy skeletons cultivators spoke of. No matter how ruinous a beauty might be, she was ultimately only a sack of skin.

To cast aside appearances and sensual allure, to remain unbewildered by outward forms—perhaps that was an inevitable step along the Great Dao.

Yet for the sake of fighting over such a sack of skin, a son had murdered his father... and in the end, even the sweetest tenderness could not withstand the temptation of a piece of jade.

So in the end, which was more vicious: monsters, or the human heart?

He trailed far behind the procession, quietly conversing with Liusu.

"With your meager cultivation, don't bother pondering riddles like this. You think you understand now, but when a true beauty capable of toppling kingdoms stands before you, would you really remain unmoved? This is what it means to know is easy, but to do is hard." Liusu spoke leisurely. "In any case, once you have seen enough of such things, they become nothing special. Live for several thousand years, and how could such matters still stir ripples in your heart? Without pondering them, you will understand."

Qin Yi asked softly, "If one can understand without pondering, then what is the essence of cultivating immortality?"

"To retu—ah, the essence of cultivating immortality is merely to question one's heart."

"How does one question the heart?"

"Let the mortal world roll over you, and you will know." Liusu said leisurely, "If you hid away on Immortal Trace Mountain for your entire life, thinking yourself detached from the world, you would be terribly mistaken. If you have never entered the world, how can you speak of leaving it?"

"So that's why you encouraged me to chase girls back then?"

Liusu laughed. "If you have experienced nothing, then do not babble about the Great Dao. That is all. Some things may not require you to experience them personally, but at the very least, you should have seen them. Do you think all my thoughts are malicious? I have merely seen too much, and it is all no more than this. Human life lasts but a hundred years in the blink of an eye—what is there to take so seriously about the countless rules and restrictions of the mundane world?"

For once, Qin Yi did not bicker with her. Instead, he said earnestly, "I humbly accept your instruction."

Liusu was briefly stunned, then changed the subject. "Now that you have seen a monster capable of wearing painted skin, aren't you curious about the basics of Demon Cultivators?"

"Because I know you won't be able to stop yourself from telling me."

"..." Liusu gritted her teeth. "I won't tell you even if I die."

"Oh." Qin Yi said seemingly casually, "Anyway, that Madam Zhang was turned neither human nor ghost by a Jade Pendant. She might not even be as formidable as that demon tiger."

Liusu sneered. "What the hell do you know!"

After cursing him, she poured out all the basics of Demon Cultivators in one breath, like beans from a bamboo tube.

Among Demon Cultivators, the lowest level was called the Spirit Communication Stage. This was when animals, plants, and the like had only just opened their basic spiritual intelligence and gained a few strange abilities. It roughly corresponded to humanity's Qi Refining Stage, likewise divided into nine layers of cultivation. Upon reaching Great Perfection in the Spirit Communication Stage, their intelligence differed little from that of humans; this was Spirit Communication.

"Of course, most minor demons at the Spirit Communication Stage are wild cultivators. At the same level of cultivation, they lack humanity's diverse methods, and as a whole are inferior to the inheritances of Qi Refining cultivators. Even relatively skilled human martial artists need not fear them. They can only frighten ordinary people." Liusu added, "Take that Spider Demon as an example."

"Uh..." Qin Yi scratched his head. "Then Madam Zhang has already passed this stage?"

"No. She was stuck at Great Perfection of this stage." Liusu sneered. "Do not underestimate demons at this level. Just like humans at the peak of Qi Refining, they can call themselves immortals in many circumstances. For someone of Madam Zhang's level to be reduced to that state by a single piece of jade from Li Qinglin, that jade has extraordinary secrets behind it."

Qin Yi nodded thoughtfully.

At Spirit Communication Great Perfection, one could attempt to break through into the Transformation Stage—becoming human in form properly. Minor demons stuck at this threshold were as numerous as the hairs on an ox, each trying all sorts of chaotic and bizarre methods to break through. Madam Zhang's use of painted skin to impersonate a human was one such method, a helpless choice for those in the Spirit Communication Stage who had yet to break through into Transformation.

"You may also see some that peel off human skin and refine it, or some that attempt transformations themselves only to become grotesque and neither fish nor fowl—their faces blue, their fangs exposed, plainly revealing them as monsters." Liusu added, "Madam Zhang's method was comparatively mild. By absorbing human vitality, she also hoped to solidify her form completely. Unfortunately, her methods were too crude. Wild cultivators are mostly like this."

"So that's how it is." Qin Yi sighed. "Then if one sees a monster that has truly become just like a human, that means it is a rather powerful monster?"

"Those who truly break through the Transformation Stage indeed look no different from humans on the surface. But they often retain certain traits of their original form that are difficult to conceal—for instance, a tail. Or their Demon Qi may be especially dense, requiring many methods to hide it; some stimulation might even make them reveal their original form." Liusu said, "Still, with a little concealment, such beings can mingle among humans, and are rarely seen through. Compared with the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment filling your head, they may also be said to have established their foundation."

"And beyond that?"

"Beyond that?" Liusu sneered. "With the little skill you have now, encountering one would mean you could not survive. What are you asking for?"