Battle the Inner Demon (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Actually, when Gu Mo finished listening to Ye Chen's dream, he had already guessed it might be an Inner Demon. This was because the woman Ye Chen encountered in the dream was clearly trying to lure and invade Ye Chen's Martial Dao Will.

However, in the end, "Qiu Niang" was broken through.

After painstakingly attacking from his martial arts, Ye Chen's martial arts were nonsensical. There was no need to deliberately create openings; the entire thing was full of flaws, rendering it as if there were no flaws at all.

Then came the seduction, but Ye Chen only wanted to discuss philosophy.

Inner Demons are High-Level Life forms without gender, capable of transforming their form at will, be it male, female, or even androgynous. When they transform into humans, they possess human senses; when they transform into beasts, they have beast senses.

Therefore, when the Inner Demon was teasing Ye Chen, it was actually experiencing sensations itself. Thus, at the crucial moment, Ye Chen's actions caused it to break through its composure.

This really isn't the Inner Demon's fault; anyone in that situation would have lost their composure.

However, Gu Mo had now basically figured out Ye Chen's current fate. It was "Misfortune is the companion of fortune, and fortune is the hiding place of misfortune." Simply put, it was turning danger into safety and good luck bringing misfortune.

Take the clay figurine incident, for example. Ye Chen had terrible luck, but he turned danger into safety. Afterward, he even benefited from the misfortune, as being pulled into the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror allowed his Nascent Soul and body to separate, giving him a glimpse of a potential Ascension Realm opportunity.

Afterward, his luck exploded, and he stumbled upon several Treasure Maps. Then, good luck brought misfortune, and he encountered an Inner Demon. But again, danger turned into safety. He encountered an unsolvable Inner Demon, yet he managed to make the Inner Demon lose its composure, and no major harm was done.

Gu Mo felt a deep sense of emotion.

It was destined for Ye Chen to have good luck. Originally, Ye Chen meeting him and losing his Child of Fortune abilities was a bad thing, but in reality, it was equivalent to saving his life.

According to Ye Chen's initial development, his constant good luck would have hidden his bad luck. Then, one day, when the bad luck erupted, it would be when his good luck was completely suppressed. At that point, even the King of Heaven couldn't have saved Ye Chen.

But now, for every bit of good luck, there was a corresponding bit of bad luck. If good luck increased by one point, bad luck would also increase by one point, and vice versa. This formed a balance.

This fate was that of a naturally born Thunder-Testing Sacred Body.

Danger would always find him, but it would never be absolute danger. He would always end up with a small profit.

Based on Ye Chen's fate and his experiences, Gu Mo had basically guessed that he had encountered an Inner Demon. And given the nature of Inner Demons, although Ye Chen had luckily escaped last night when it lost its composure, it would absolutely not give up just like that.

Gu Mo himself had encountered an Inner Demon at Dragon Tiger Mountain back then. It had pestered him in various forms until, finally, it even brought up the concept of Divinity versus Humanity. He had seen through it and fought it before it left.

Unless Ye Chen could possess the same Strength Gu Mo had at Dragon Tiger Mountain, he would not be able to escape the Inner Demon.

The reason Gu Mo could escape the Inner Demon back then was purely because his Physical Body had reached the Ascension Realm, which was precisely at the Inner Demon's point of weakness. Inner Demons could suppress Nascent Souls, but they were almost powerless against physical bodies.

Therefore, when Gu Mo saw through the Inner Demon, it couldn't pull Gu Mo's Nascent Soul from his Ascension Realm physical body and could only temporarily give up.

Clearly, Ye Chen had not reached the realm of Physical Body Ascension.

The Inner Demon would definitely not leave.

In fact, Gu Mo's guess was correct. The Inner Demon was still hidden within Ye Chen's Divine Sense, waiting for an opportunity.

If not for Gu Mo's awakening of Ye Chen, Ye Chen's self-awareness alone would have been unable to solve the Inner Demon's methods. Over time, he would have been invaded by the Inner Demon's will sooner or later. By the time of his ascension, he would not have escaped the Inner Demon's palm.

At this moment, within the dream, time and space were still.

The Childhood Sweetheart, transformed by the Inner Demon, stared at Gu Mo. Suddenly, her demeanor changed drastically. With the same gaze and image, she now exuded an inexplicable pressure.

Gu Mo said slowly, "It seems the main body's consciousness has come online!"

Although the Inner Demon didn't understand the meaning of "online," combining it with Gu Mo's entire sentence, he naturally understood Gu Mo's meaning and said slowly, "Gu Mo, we haven't seen each other for two days... Hmm, according to human perception, it's been about two years. You've grown quite fast these past two days."

Gu Mo said solemnly, "In these two years, I've often thought about how to kill you. I couldn't find a way until a little over a month ago, when someone told me that the laws of the world cannot kill, but they can be restrained. Only then did I realize that to deal with you, I must find your loophole."

The Inner Demon smiled and said, "So, you're actively provoking me now because you think you've found it?"

"Just trying it out," Gu Mo said. "You can't directly harm the physical body because you have no physical form. That's why you always invade people's will in the form of dreams. You can be understood as a virtual existence. Since that's the case, let's use virtual to deal with virtual!"

The Inner Demon chuckled, "You're right, but you've made a fatal mistake, which is that you're too arrogant. Since you know I can only attack the Nascent Soul and cannot harm the physical body, why didn't you just hide in your physical body honestly like you did at Dragon Tiger Mountain back then? Then I truly couldn't do anything to you. But now your Nascent Soul has left your body and entered Ye Chen's dream. Do you think your dream-controlling ability is stronger than mine?"

Gu Mo shook his head slightly, "My dream-controlling ability is definitely not as good as yours; that's your specialty. However, this is just a clone of yours. Although your consciousness is your main body now, your energy is still only that of a clone!"

The Inner Demon shook his head and chuckled, "That's why I say you're arrogant. But I can understand. With both the physical body and Nascent Soul ascending, you are the True Number One Person Under Heaven. But ultimately, you are just the number one under heaven, and you don't understand the vastness beyond the heavens!"

"This line again," Gu Mo chuckled. "Since my debut, I've encountered too many people who've said this to me. In the end, they all ended up dead by my hand. Inner Demon, you will be no exception!"

As soon as Gu Mo finished speaking, he directly slapped the "Inner Demon's" head. Instantly, the Inner Demon's head exploded like a watermelon.

And at this moment, The dream that had just stopped began to run again.

In the eyes of the young Ye Chen, lying on the ground, Gu Mo first slapped the Childhood Sweetheart's head, making it spin, and then with another slap, he completely shattered her head.

And in a daze, Gu Mo had replaced the Bandit Leader in this Nightmare, becoming the figure Ye Chen feared the most.

"Ah!"

The young Ye Chen, who was incredibly terrified, erupted at this moment. He picked up a stone from the ground and charged towards Gu Mo.

And Gu Mo, at this moment, in this dream, his power was equal to Ye Chen's.

Because this was Ye Chen's Nightmare.

It was originally used by the Inner Demon to invade Ye Chen's will, intending to deceive Ye Chen's will in this way, making him think he had defeated the Nightmare. Then, when it was time to ascend and truly face the Nightmare, it would replicate and simulate the original situation. The original situation was that the young Ye Chen and the Bandit Leader had a power disparity of hundreds of times, making victory impossible.

And if, at the critical moment of ascension, he encountered the real Nightmare, his will would inevitably collapse.

So, this current dream is a trap, a fake nightmare forcibly created by the Inner Demon. In this nightmare, the Bandit Leader's strength is equal to Ye Chen's.

And at this moment, Gu Mo appeared in the dream, replacing the Bandit Leader to become the new fake nightmare. His strength, naturally, became identical to Ye Chen's.

The combat between the Youth Ye Chen and Gu Mo, essentially became a battle between the Inner Demon and Gu Mo.

The Inner Demon wanted Ye Chen to defeat Gu Mo, while Gu Mo wanted to defeat Ye Chen.

At this time, seeing the Youth Ye Chen charging over, Gu Mo suddenly grabbed the corpse of Childhood Sweetheart from the ground and said coldly, "Put down the stone, or I'll have your Childhood Sweetheart's corpse chopped up and fed to the dogs. And your parents, siblings... all of them will wish they were dead!"

The enraged Youth Ye Chen instantly calmed down.

"Put it down,"

Gu Mo roared, his voice chillingly cold, carrying a cruel, unquestionable sense of control.

He held Childhood Sweetheart's corpse, her head mangled, his eyes looking down like he was gazing at an ant.

This sudden threat was far more effective than a blade at his throat.

His rage was extinguished as if doused with ice water. The Youth Ye Chen stiffened, his charge coming to an abrupt halt.

His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the small body in Gu Mo's hand. The hand holding the stone trembled violently, his knuckles white from clenching, but he could no longer take a step forward.

"Put it down!"

Gu Mo bellowed again, his voice like a heavy hammer striking Ye Chen's heart.

"Clang!"

The bloodstained stone slipped from the Youth Ye Chen's hand, hitting the ground with a dull sound.

The fury in his eyes was replaced by immense fear and helplessness. His body hunched slightly, his shoulders shaking as he let out suppressed, beast-like whimpers.

When the impulse brought on by rage and hatred vanished in an instant, the youth was still just the youth.

Gu Mo walked over, picked up the stone, and smashed it directly down onto the Youth Ye Chen's head.

In an instant, blood splattered. The Youth Ye Chen fell to the ground, his head ringing. Gu Mo swung the stone again and again, smashing wildly. Soon, the Youth Ye Chen was a bloody mess, motionless.

That instant, the dreamscape began to虚幻 collapse.

The Heart Demon reappeared, stating in a deep voice, "You actually used such a despicable method. You won unfairly?"

"Do I need to fight Ye Chen?"

"Aren't you afraid this will cause him to never have another chance to break this Nightmare? Once he breaks through in the future, he will certainly fall into demonic possession..."

Gu Mo was speechless. "As long as I kill you, there will be no more Heart Demons in the world. Will this damned dreamscape still have any impact?"

The Heart Demon was slightly stunned and said, "Good, good, good. So you thought you had me completely cornered, which is why you dared to do this. You will regret it. Ye Chen will die by your hand."

"Oh, you're overthinking it," Gu Mo said. "It doesn't matter if I can't kill you. If Ye Chen falls into demonic possession, so be it. It doesn't matter, this guy is tough as nails!"

Heart Demon: "..."

At this moment, the dreamscape shattered like broken glass, peeling off piece by piece, dissipating into specks of light, vanishing instantly into the depths of Ye Chen's chaotic consciousness.

And the Heart Demon Main Body's will, along with its clone, vanished in that instant. As if pulled by an invisible thread, it was instantly withdrawn from this collapsing Sea of Consciousness space and returned to that unknowable Root Cause.

However, just as the Heart Demon clone was about to cross the boundary between虚实.

Gu Mo's Nascent Soul also returned instantly.

In reality, in Ye Chen's Room at Honglu Temple.

Gu Mo's tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open. Immediately, he quickly took out the Ancient Buddha Relic from the pouch at his waist.

At almost the same instant, Gu Mo activated the Law Qi and instantly pierced into the core of the relic, precisely capturing, stripping, and forcibly activating the wisp of Origin Qi from the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror contained within!

It was not a majestic torrent of power, but a faint yet incredibly tenacious and peculiar Breath.

As soon as it was activated, it produced a wondrous resonance with Gu Mo's will.

"Buzz--!"

Gu Mo's Martial Dao Domain—the black and white world symbolizing the cycle of yin and yang and the boundary between life and death—unfolded with unprecedented speed!

No longer targeting an individual, it instantly enveloped the entire Honglu Temple!

Houses, walls, furniture, even the motes of dust floating in the Air, were all forcibly dragged into this absolute black and white domain at this moment.

Space solidified, time slowed.

The Heart Demon clone, having just escaped Ye Chen's Sea of Consciousness and about to cross spatial dimensions to return to its main body, suddenly crashed into an invisible yet extremely tenacious Spider Web!

"Huh?"

The Heart Demon Main Body's will let out a surprised snort, yet it still carried a heavy, contemptuous cold huff, "Exhausted all tricks? You think a mere domain can trap me? Wishful thinking!"

The Heart Demon is a Life Level above Ascension. Even though it's just a clone now, it far surpasses Mortal Power and naturally wouldn't be controlled by a Martial Dao Domain.

That black and white spatial Barrier, under the impact of its will, couldn't even last a moment before emitting sounds of breaking under the strain!

"Pop!"

The Domain Barrier was forcibly pierced!

The Heart Demon clone instantly vanished into the void.

However--

What the Heart Demon clone didn't know was that at this moment, in Honglu Temple, a mirror-like light screen was appearing before Gu Mo, reflecting all its movements as it headed towards its Main Body.

But in reality, this Heart Demon clone had only entered the Mirror World created by the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi. Gu Mo had covered the area outside the domain with the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi. The moment the Heart Demon clone broke through the domain, it entered the Mirror World.

Everything it experienced and saw at this moment was merely the scene fed back by its consciousness the instant it entered the Mirror World.

At this moment, The Heart Demon clone sliced through space and headed east in an instant, arriving in a city called Wutong City.

But, in that instant, The Heart Demon clone suddenly sensed something was wrong and let out a fierce cry: "The power of the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror... Gu Mo, do you really think that just because your Physical Body Ascension is complete, I can't do anything to you? My Main Body will wait for you in Wutong City to send yourself to death..."

As soon as it finished speaking, that will actually erased itself. The clone was left with only a wisp of unconscious demonic Qi lingering within the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi.

Gu Mo once again placed the Cycle of Reincarnation Origin Qi back into the Ancient Buddha Relic, forming an Egg within Egg within Egg pattern. The Sarira enveloped the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi, and the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi enveloped the Heart Demon Demonic Qi.

Just then, Ye Chen, who was lying on the ground, woke up. He clutched his head and struggled to stand up, then sat on a stool and said, "Big Brother, did you just hit me? My head hurts!"

"That's not important," Gu Mo said. "What's important is that I've helped you resolve a Hidden Danger."

"Resolved it?" Ye Chen asked blankly. "I did have a dream just now, but, Big Brother, I dreamed you hit me, and even killed me. Big Brother, I'm a little scared seeing you now!"

"Oh, that's fine. Maybe you just respect me more now. You'll get used to it," Gu Mo said.

"Oh, is that so!"

"Do you know Wutong City?" Gu Mo asked.

"Haven't heard of it."

Gu Mo nodded slightly and said, "Alright then. You should rest for a while. I'm leaving now."

"Big Brother!"

Ye Chen suddenly got up and shouted.

"What's wrong?" Gu Mo asked doubtfully.

Ye Chen said somewhat awkwardly, "It's, it's... that thing, it's... the Ten Complete Tonic Pill you mentioned..."

Gu Mo raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't worry, it'll be fine for you. You can come get the medicine from me this afternoon!"

"One day as Big Brother, a lifetime as Big Brother!"

After leaving Ye Chen's room, Gu Mo didn't leave Honglu Temple. Instead, he went to the Clerk's Office of Honglu Temple to inquire about Wutong City.

Based on the speed of consciousness of the inner demon clone he saw in the Mirror World and the time, it was definitely no longer within the borders of Gan Country. Honglu Temple was primarily the court institution responsible for communication with other countries, so it would definitely know the most about foreign territories.

Although today was the Succession Ceremony, no more than five people in Honglu Temple were qualified to attend the ceremony, naturally not including the Clerk of the Clerk's Office.

Upon learning that Gu Mo himself had come, the Clerk personally came to welcome him. The Clerk's surname was Lin, and he was an elder around sixty years old.

Gu Mo got straight to the point and said, "Clerk Lin, I've come today to ask if your Honglu Temple has any record of a Wutong City east of Gan Country?"

Clerk Lin hurriedly said, "There indeed is. Does Great Hero Gu want to know about this Wutong City?"

Gu Mo asked, "Which country does Wutong City belong to?"

Clerk Lin poured Gu Mo a cup of tea and said, "Wutong City belongs to Northern Zhou, and it is the capital of Northern Zhou."

Gu Mo was a little confused and said, "Isn't the capital of Northern Zhou Baiyi City?"

Gu Mo knew that Northern Zhou was a neighboring country to Gan Country and one of its vassal states, with relatively close ties to Gan Country.

When Gu Mo first came to Chang'an City, the Emperor Gan was still vying for power with Empress Dowager Yan. To enrich the private treasury, he signed trade agreements with three neighboring countries, including Northern Zhou.

However, it was common knowledge that the capital of Northern Zhou was in Baiyi City.

Clerk Lin explained, "Alas, Great Hero Gu, you may not know, but Northern Zhou's capital was still in Baiyi City last year. However, at the end of last year, a rebellion occurred in Northern Zhou. The rebels stormed into Baiyi City, burning, killing, and looting. Baiyi City eventually became a ruin.

The Northern Zhou Emperor, before Baiyi City was breached, fled the city with all the officials. They eventually took shelter in Wutong City. The reason Wutong City was chosen was that it is located surrounded by water on three sides, possessing a natural barrier for shelter."

Gu Mo nodded and said, "So that's how it is."

Clerk Lin asked, "Is Great Hero Gu perhaps going to Wutong City?"

Gu Mo nodded slightly.

Clerk Lin hurriedly said, "Great Hero Gu, your martial arts are peerless, so you don't need to worry about the beacon fires and smoke currently in Northern Zhou. However, if you are going there on business, it is not very convenient to go now, because Northern Zhou is currently in chaos, with the people not acting like people and officials not acting like officials. Many places don't even have government offices."

"Thank you for your guidance." Gu Mo cupped his hands.

"Oh, right," Clerk Lin said. "If Great Hero Gu needs someone to guide you, you can look for the Imperial Merchant Yun Family. This Yun Family is the imperial merchant responsible for trade between Da Gan and Northern Zhou. They are constantly traveling to and from Northern Zhou. Even this time, the Northern Zhou Court's delegation to Da Gan for the ceremony relied on the Yun Family for escort. Otherwise, their delegation might not have been able to arrive in Da Gan safely."

Gu Mo asked, "The Yun Family, is it the Cangzhou Yun Family?"

Clerk Lin nodded and said, "It's that Yun Family. I heard that the Yun Family Head, Yun Xiu, is an old acquaintance of yours."

Gu Mo nodded.

Northern Zhou, Wutong City.

In a dark place, a black shadow flickered, it was the Heart Demon Main Body.

"Reincarnation Origin Qi... No wonder he dared to be so arrogant..."

Slowly, the Heart Demon transformed into a person and spoke, "Master Chen, have you prepared the thing you mentioned that can help me kill Gu Mo? Gu Mo is coming to find me. He has a Physical Body at the Ascension Realm. I can't kill him with just my demonic energy."

At the same time, Chu Kingdom Imperial City, a peculiar spatial valley.

Master Chen and Master Qiu were playing chess on stones in a stream. A black shadow appeared in the flowing stream beside them, it was the Heart Demon Clone.

Master Chen held a chess piece in one hand and said, "Don't worry, Heart Demon. My brother Qiu and I are not joking with you about this. After learning the reason why you couldn't kill Gu Mo a few days ago, we have already found that thing. A Physical Body at the Ascension Realm can also be killed!"

The Heart Demon Clone asked, "What exactly is that thing of yours? There's no need to keep it a secret now, right?"

Master Chen smiled slightly and said, "Dragon Scale!"