Actually, when Gu Mo heard about Ye Chen's dream, he had already guessed that it might be the Inner Demon. The woman Ye Chen encountered in the dream had clearly been trying to lure and invade Ye Chen's Martial Dao Will.
It was only that, in the end, that "Qiu Niang" had her defenses shattered.
It had painstakingly tried to start with martial arts, only to find that Ye Chen's Martial Arts was complete nonsense. There was no need to deliberately create flaws—everything was a flaw, which was the same as having no flaws at all.
Then it tried seduction, only to find that Ye Chen was fit for nothing but discussing philosophy.
The Inner Demon was a genderless High-Level Life. It could Follow One's Heart and change its form, becoming male, female, or even half-male and half-female. When it became human, it possessed human senses; when it became a beast, it possessed beastly senses.
Thus, when the Inner Demon had been teasing Ye Chen, it had actually felt something itself. So, at the final step, Ye Chen's actions had shattered its defenses.
This really could not be blamed on the Inner Demon. No matter who it had happened to, their defenses would have shattered.
However,
Gu Mo had now basically figured out Ye Chen's fate. It was "fortune rested upon calamity, calamity lurked beneath fortune." Simply put, he turned misfortune into good luck, yet every stroke of good luck was bound to bring disaster.
Take the clay figurine incident, for example. Ye Chen had suffered truly bloody bad luck, but he had turned danger into safety. Afterward, he had even gained a blessing from misfortune. Being dragged into the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror had separated his Nascent Soul from his body, allowing him to glimpse a trace of an opportunity to enter the Ascension Realm.
After that, his luck had exploded, and he had picked up several Treasure Maps for free. Then came fortune breeding calamity: he encountered the Inner Demon. Yet there was still misfortune turning to fortune. Though he had encountered the Inner Demon, which should have been impossible for him to solve, he had instead shattered the Inner Demon's defenses. Nothing major had happened in the end.
Gu Mo felt deeply moved.
Ye Chen truly was destined to have a good life. Meeting Gu Mo and losing the abilities of a Child of Fortune should have been a bad thing for Ye Chen, but in truth, it had indirectly saved his life.
According to Ye Chen's original path, his good fortune would have continued piling up while his bad luck remained hidden. Then, when the bad luck naturally erupted one day, it would be the moment his fortune was completely suppressed. Not even the Jade Emperor himself could save Ye Chen then.
But now, for every portion of fortune, there was a portion of bad luck. If fortune rose by one point, bad luck rose by one point; if bad luck rose by one point, fortune rose by one point. The two formed a balanced state.
This fate was a Thunder-Testing Sacred Body born by nature.
Danger would certainly come knocking, but it would never be absolute danger. In the end, he would even make a small profit.
Based on Ye Chen's fate and what he had experienced, Gu Mo had basically guessed that he had encountered the Inner Demon. And given the Inner Demon's nature, although its defenses had shattered last night and Ye Chen had narrowly escaped disaster, it would absolutely not let the matter rest there.
Back at Dragon Tiger Mountain, Gu Mo had encountered an Inner Demon himself. It had entangled him in all kinds of forms until, in the end, it had even brought up the matter of divinity and humanity. Only after he saw through it and fought it did it leave.
Unless Ye Chen possessed the strength Gu Mo had possessed at Dragon Tiger Mountain, he could not possibly break free of the Inner Demon.
Gu Mo had been able to escape the Inner Demon then purely because his physical body had first reached the Ascension Realm, which happened to counter the Inner Demon's abilities. The Inner Demon could suppress the Nascent Soul, but it was almost helpless against the physical body.
Therefore, after Gu Mo saw through the Inner Demon, it had been unable to pull Gu Mo's Nascent Soul out of his Ascension Realm body. In the end, it could only temporarily give up.
And Ye Chen had obviously not reached the realm of Physical Body Ascension.
The Inner Demon definitely would not leave.
In fact, Gu Mo had not guessed wrong. The Inner Demon was still hidden within Ye Chen's Divine Sense, waiting for an opportunity to act.
If Gu Mo had not awakened Ye Chen to the truth, Ye Chen would definitely have been unable to break the Inner Demon's methods through his own awareness alone. Over time, his will would sooner or later be invaded by the Inner Demon. On the day of ascension, he would be unable to escape the Inner Demon's grasp.
At this moment, within the dream, time and space stood still.
The childhood sweetheart transformed from the Inner Demon stared at Gu Mo. Suddenly, her temperament changed drastically. The same gaze, the same appearance, yet now she inexplicably carried an air of pressure.
Gu Mo slowly said, "Looks like the main body's consciousness has come online!"
Though the Inner Demon did not understand the meaning of "come online," it naturally understood Gu Mo's meaning from the whole sentence. It slowly said, "Gu Mo, we have not met for two days... Hmm, according to mortal understanding, it has been nearly two years. You have grown quite quickly these past two days."
Gu Mo said in a deep voice, "Over the past two years, I often thought about how to kill you. I could never think of a method before, until someone told me more than a month ago that the laws of this world cannot be killed, but they can be restrained. Only then did I understand that to deal with you, I had to find your weakness."
The Inner Demon smiled and said, "So you are proactively provoking me now because you believe you have found it?"
"Let's give it a try," Gu Mo said. "You cannot directly harm the physical body because you have no tangible form. That is why you always invade people's wills through dreams. It can be understood as you being a virtual existence. Since that is the case, I will use the virtual against the virtual!"
The Inner Demon chuckled. "You are correct, but you have made a fatal mistake: you have become too swollen with pride. Since you know I can only act against the Nascent Soul and cannot harm the physical body, why not honestly hide inside your body as you did at Dragon Tiger Mountain? Then I truly could do nothing to you. But now, you have sent your Nascent Soul out of your body and entered Ye Chen's dream. Do you think your ability to control dreams can be stronger than mine?"
Gu Mo shook his head slightly. "My ability to control dreams is certainly inferior to yours. This is your specialty. But what you have here is only an avatar. Although your consciousness now belongs to your main body, your energy is still merely that of an avatar!"
The Inner Demon shook its head and laughed softly. "That is why I say you have become swollen with pride. Still, it is understandable. Both your physical body and Nascent Soul have ascended—you are the true Number One Person Under Heaven. Yet you are only Number One Under Heaven. You do not understand the vastness above the heavens!"
"Those words again." Gu Mo chuckled. "Since I began my career, too many people have said such things to me. Without exception, they all ended up dead at my hands. Inner Demon, you will be no exception!"
The moment Gu Mo finished speaking, he slapped the "Inner Demon" across the head. In an instant, the Inner Demon's head exploded like a watermelon.
And at that moment,
the dream that had just stopped began moving again.
In the eyes of the young Ye Chen lying on the ground, Gu Mo had first slapped the childhood sweetheart's head so hard it spun around, then slapped her again and smashed her head into pieces.
And in that dazed instant,
Gu Mo replaced the bandit leader in this nightmare, becoming the nightmare Ye Chen feared most deeply.
"Ah!"
The young Ye Chen, who had been terrified beyond measure, erupted at that moment. He grabbed a stone from the ground and charged at Gu Mo.
And at that moment, within this dream, Gu Mo's strength was equal to Ye Chen's.
Because this was Ye Chen's nightmare.
Originally, it had been used by the Inner Demon to invade Ye Chen's will. It wanted to deceive Ye Chen's will this way, making him believe that he had already overcome the nightmare. Then, on the day of ascension, when he truly needed to overcome the nightmare, it would reproduce and simulate the real circumstances from back then. And in reality, young Ye Chen and the bandit leader had differed in strength by a hundredfold. There had been no way Ye Chen could win.
And if he encountered the real nightmare at that crucial moment of ascension, his will would certainly collapse.
Therefore, this dream was a trap, a false nightmare forcibly created by the Inner Demon. Within this nightmare, the bandit leader's strength was the same as Ye Chen's.
And now,
Gu Mo appeared in the dream and took the bandit leader's place, becoming the new false nightmare. Naturally, his strength was identical to Ye Chen's.
The battle between young Ye Chen and Gu Mo
had essentially become 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 moment,
watching young Ye Chen rush toward him, Gu Mo suddenly grabbed the childhood sweetheart's corpse from the ground and said coldly, "Put down that stone, or I will have someone chop up your childhood sweetheart's corpse and feed it to dogs. And your parents, brothers, and sisters... I will make them all beg for life but be unable to die!"
The furious young Ye Chen instantly calmed down.
"Put it down."
Gu Mo roared sharply, his voice icy to the bone, carrying a cruel and unquestionable sense of control.
He held the childhood sweetheart's corpse, its head shattered, in his hand. His eyes looked down as though he were gazing upon an ant.
This sudden threat was far more effective than blades pressed against the body.
His fury was doused like fire under icy water. Young Ye Chen's entire body stiffened, and his charge came to an abrupt halt.
His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the small body in Gu Mo's hand. The hand clutching the stone trembled violently, his knuckles squeezed white, yet he could no longer take another step forward.
"Put it down!"
Gu Mo shouted again, his voice striking Ye Chen's heart like a heavy hammer.
"Clang!"
The bloodstained stone slipped from young Ye Chen's hand and hit the ground with a dull thud.
The rage in his eyes was replaced by immense fear and helplessness. His body hunched slightly, his shoulders trembling as he let out stifled, beastlike whimpers.
When the impulse born of anger and hatred vanished in an instant,
the youth was still only that youth.
Gu Mo walked over, picked up the stone, and smashed it directly down onto young Ye Chen's head.
In an instant,
blood splattered everywhere. Young Ye Chen collapsed to the ground, his head buzzing. Gu Mo swung the stone and smashed down wildly again and again. Before long, young Ye Chen was a mangled mass of blood and flesh, utterly motionless.
At that instant,
the dream began to blur and collapse.
The Inner Demon appeared once more and said in a deep voice, "You actually used such despicable means. Your victory is dishonorable!"
"Do I need to fight Ye Chen?"
"Are you not afraid this will leave him forever unable to break through this nightmare? Once he breaks through in the future, he will inevitably fall into demonic deviation..."
Gu Mo said speechlessly, "As long as I kill you and there are no more Inner Demons in this world, will this bullshit nightmare still have any effect?"
The Inner Demon froze slightly. "Good, good, good. So you think you have me completely in your grasp, which is why you dared do this. You will regret it. Ye Chen will die by your hand."
"Oh, you are overthinking it," Gu Mo said. "It does not matter if I cannot kill you. If Ye Chen falls into demonic deviation, then he falls into demonic deviation. It is fine. This guy's life is tough as nails!"
The Inner Demon: "..."
At this moment, the dream peeled away in fragments like shattered glass, dissipating into dots of flowing light that instantly vanished into the depths of Ye Chen's chaotic consciousness.
At that instant, the will of the Inner Demon Main Body vanished along with the avatar, as though drawn by an invisible thread. It was instantly pulled from this Sea of Consciousness space that was about to collapse, returning to that unknowable place of root cause.
However, just as the Inner Demon avatar was about to cross the boundary between illusion and reality,
Gu Mo's Nascent Soul returned in an instant as well.
In reality, inside Ye Chen's Room at Honglu Temple.
Gu Mo's tightly shut eyes suddenly opened. Then he swiftly took the Ancient Buddha Relic from the pouch at his waist.
Almost at the same instant, Gu Mo drove Law Qi into the relic's core, precisely capturing, stripping away, and forcibly activating the wisp of Origin Qi from the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror that it contained!
It was not a vast torrent of power, but a faint and strange aura whose tenacity was almost unbelievable.
The instant it was activated, it produced a marvelous resonance with Gu Mo's will.
"Bzzzz—!"
Gu Mo's Martial Dao Domain—the black-and-white world symbolizing the cycle of yin and yang, the boundary between life and death—unfurled with a thunderous roar at unprecedented speed!
It no longer targeted an individual. Instead, it instantly enveloped the entire Honglu Temple!
Buildings, walls, furniture, even the floating specks of dust in the air, were forcibly dragged into this absolute black-and-white domain at that moment.
Space congealed, and time slowed.
The Inner Demon avatar had just left Ye Chen's Sea of Consciousness and was about to cross spatial dimensions to return to its main body when it seemed to crash into an invisible yet incomparably tough spiderweb!
"Hmm?"
The Inner Demon Main Body's will let out an uncertain cry, yet its disdainful snort remained heavy. "Have you exhausted all your tricks? You think a mere domain can trap me? Wishful thinking!"
The Inner Demon was a Life Level Above Ascension. Even if it was only an avatar now, it far surpassed mortal power. Naturally, it would not be restrained by a Martial Dao Domain.
Under the impact of its will, the black-and-white spatial barrier could not even hold for an instant before releasing a cracking sound beneath unbearable strain!
"Pop!"
The Domain Barrier was forcibly pierced through!
The Inner Demon avatar instantly fled into the void.
However—
What the Inner Demon avatar did not know was that, at this moment in Honglu Temple, a mirror-like light screen had appeared before Gu Mo. Within it was reflected every movement as it headed toward its main body.
But in truth, this Inner Demon avatar had merely entered the Mirror World created by the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi. Gu Mo had spread the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi outside the domain. The moment the Inner Demon avatar broke through the domain, it entered the Mirror World.
Everything it experienced and saw at this moment was merely the scene reflected by its consciousness at the instant it entered the Mirror World.
At this moment,
the Inner Demon avatar tore through space in an instant and headed east, arriving in a city called Wutong City.
But at that very instant,
the Inner Demon avatar suddenly detected something wrong and abruptly cried out, "The power of the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror... Gu Mo, do you truly think that because your physical body has ascended, I can do nothing to you? My main body will wait in Wutong City for you to come and die..."
The moment it finished speaking, that will erased itself. All that remained of the avatar was a wisp of mindless Heart Demon Demonic Qi lingering within the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi.
Gu Mo once again returned the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi to the Ancient Buddha Relic, creating an egg within an egg within an egg: the sarira wrapped the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi, and the Cycle of Reincarnation Mirror Origin Qi wrapped the Heart Demon Demonic Qi.
Just then,
Ye Chen, who had been lying on the ground, woke up. He clutched his head and struggled to his feet, then sat on a stool and said, "Big Brother, did you hit me just now? My head hurts!"
"That is not important," Gu Mo said. "What is important is that I helped you resolve a hidden danger."
"Resolved?" Ye Chen looked bewildered. "I really did have a dream just now, but, Big Brother, I dreamed that you beat me up and even beat me to death. Big Brother, now that I see you, I feel a little terrified!"
"Oh, that is fine. Maybe you respect me even more now. You will get used to it," Gu Mo said.
"Oh, is that so!"
"Do you know Wutong City?" Gu Mo asked.
"Never heard of it."
Gu Mo nodded slightly. "All right. Rest for now. I will leave first."
"Big Brother!"
Ye Chen suddenly stood and called out.
"What is it?" Gu Mo asked doubtfully.
Ye Chen said somewhat awkwardly, "Well, well... um... that thing, the Ten Complete Great Tonic Pill you mentioned..."
Gu Mo raised an eyebrow. "Do not worry. I guarantee you will be fine. Come find me for the medicine this afternoon!"
"Big Brother for a day, Big Brother for life!"
After leaving Ye Chen's Room, Gu Mo did not leave Honglu Temple. Instead, he went to the Clerk's Office there to inquire about clues concerning Wutong City.
Based on the Inner Demon avatar's consciousness speed and the time he had seen in the Mirror World, it had certainly already left Gan Country. Honglu Temple was the court institution chiefly responsible for exchanges and communication with other nations, so it would certainly know foreign territories best.
Although today was the Succession Ceremony, fewer than five people in Honglu Temple were qualified to attend the ceremony. Naturally, that did not include the Clerk of the Clerk's Office.
Upon learning that Gu Mo had come in person, the Clerk of the Clerk's Office personally came to greet him. The clerk's surname was Lin, and he was an elderly man around sixty.
Gu Mo got straight to the point. "Clerk Lin, I came today to ask whether Honglu Temple has records of a Wutong City east of Gan Country?"
Clerk Lin hurriedly said, "Indeed, we do. Does Great Hero Gu wish to learn about 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. It is the capital of the Northern Zhou Kingdom."
Gu Mo was somewhat puzzled. "Isn't the Northern Zhou Kingdom's capital Baiyi City?"
Gu Mo knew of the Northern Zhou Kingdom. It was a neighboring country of Gan Country and could be considered one of its vassal states. It had fairly close dealings with Gan Country.
When Gu Mo had first come to Chang'an City, Emperor Gan had still been fighting Empress Dowager Yan for power. In order to fill his private treasury, he had signed a trade agreement with three neighboring countries, one of which had been the Northern Zhou Kingdom.
Yet everyone knew that the Northern Zhou Kingdom's capital was Baiyi City.
Clerk Lin explained, "Ah, Great Hero Gu, you may not know this. Last year, the Northern Zhou Kingdom's capital was still Baiyi City. But at the end of last year, a rebellion broke out in the Northern Zhou Kingdom. The rebels stormed Baiyi City, burning, killing, looting, and pillaging within its walls. In the end, Baiyi City became ruins.
"The Northern Zhou Emperor, meanwhile, fled the city with all officials before Baiyi City was breached. They eventually took refuge in Wutong City. Wutong City was chosen because it lies in a place surrounded by water on three sides, guarded by a natural moat."
Gu Mo nodded. "So that was it."
Clerk Lin asked, "Could Great Hero Gu be going to Wutong City?"
Gu Mo nodded slightly.
Clerk Lin hurriedly said, "Great Hero Gu, your martial arts are unmatched, so you need not worry about the beacon fires and smoke throughout Northern Zhou right now. However, if you are going there to handle affairs, this is not a convenient time. Northern Zhou is now in utter chaos—the people are no longer people, the officials are no longer officials. Many places do not even have local governments."
"Thank you for the guidance." Gu Mo cupped his hands.
"Oh, right," Clerk Lin said. "If Great Hero Gu needs someone to guide you, you can seek out the Imperial Merchant Yun Family. The Yun Family is the imperial merchant responsible for trade between Da Gan and Northern Zhou. They have traveled in and out of Northern Zhou for years. Even this time, when the Northern Zhou Court sent a delegation to Da Gan to attend the ceremony, it was the Yun Family who escorted them. Otherwise, that delegation might not even have reached Da Gan safely."
Gu Mo asked, "The Yun Family—do you mean the Yun Family of Cangzhou?"
Clerk Lin nodded and said, "That very Yun Family. I heard that Yun Xiu, the Yun Family Head, is an old acquaintance of yours."
Gu Mo nodded.
Northern Zhou, within Wutong City.
In a place shrouded in darkness, a black shadow drifted in and out of sight. It was the Heart Demon Main Body.
"Reincarnation Origin Qi... no wonder he dared to be so swollen with arrogance..."
Slowly, the Inner Demon transformed into a human figure and said, "Master Chen, have you prepared the thing you said could help me kill Gu Mo? Gu Mo is coming to find me. He has a physical body of the Ascension Realm; my demonic qi alone cannot kill him."
At the same time,
Within a peculiar spatial valley in the imperial city of the Chu Kingdom.
Master Chen and Master Qiu sat on stones in the stream, playing chess. In the flowing water beside them, a black shadow surfaced—it was the Inner Demon's avatar.
Master Chen held a chess piece in one hand and said, "Rest assured, Inner Demon. Brother Qiu and I would not joke with you about this. A few days ago, after learning why you could not kill Gu Mo, we had already found that thing. Even a physical body of the Ascension Realm can be slain!"
The Inner Demon's avatar asked, "What exactly is this thing of yours? There is no need to keep me in suspense now, is there?"
Master Chen smiled faintly and said, "Dragon Scale!"
Before you continue