What's Wrong with Demons?

Huainanzi's words had barely fallen when he drew a sword from behind his back.

Calling it "drawing a sword" was not quite accurate. He formed a two-finger sword gesture with his right hand, turned his wrist, and gave a light flick.

A slender sword shot up from somewhere behind his back with a whoosh, hovering above his head and humming as it spun, like a silver serpent of lightning.

He stared at Li Yunxin for a while longer, then raised a brow. "Huh? You're not afraid?"

"Would being afraid do any good?"

"Tsk." Huainanzi shook his head. "I still have to complete my Slaughter Tribulation, and I'm currently undergoing the Heart-Unity Tribulation. You know about the Heart-Unity Tribulation, right? I can't exactly spare someone just because I see them pitifully begging for mercy. But I haven't completed it yet, so you can give it a try. Maybe, haha, my Dao heart isn't firm enough?"

"I'm not an idiot." Li Yunxin shook his head. "The Heart-Unity Tribulation is meant to wear away your compassion, so you won't let someone's pitiful state affect your judgment. You'd love nothing more than to have me kneel and beg before cutting me down with one stroke."

"How about this? Don't kill me, and I'll show you a treasure."

"Can't be bothered." Huainanzi curled his lip and moved his fingers.

The slender sword above his head immediately shot out like lightning.

Fast, Li Yunxin thought. He had known that flying swords were fast, and of course he knew bullets were fast too. But unless one saw many things with one's own eyes, there was no way to truly understand just how fast they were.

The instant that thought arose, the streak of sword light flashed past his eyes. Then came a continuous series of sounds. When he turned his head, he found that "Qiao Jiaxin" had already fallen to the ground.

A silver sword burst from her back with a whoosh, making her body twitch before returning to Huainanzi's side.

Her clothes had already been shredded beyond recognition—in the moment Li Yunxin turned his head, he had no idea how many times that silver sword had passed through her body.

Blood flowed from her as though from a broken waterskin, and Li Yunxin quickly caught the heavy stench of blood. "Qiao Jiaxin's" abdomen was a ruined mess; calling it putrid pulp would not have been an exaggeration.

He shuddered. The cat demon had possessed him, but her aura was weak, her spirit body nearly destroyed.

Huainanzi recalled his sword and looked at him. "That was a demon, wasn't it? Keeping company with demons is no good. They're all aberrations—brutal, vicious, utterly inhuman. Look, if you beg for mercy, I'll cut you down with one stroke. If you don't, I'll stab you to death like this. Choose for yourself."

"What a fucking mess." Li Yunxin sighed. "Debts of favor are so hard to repay."

There was no way out now. The other man's strength far exceeded his own, and clever tricks would be useless. Huainanzi seemed to be the sort to do whatever he pleased; in such a short time, Li Yunxin could not get a read on his preferences.

So he could only... ask Ninth Young Master.

He pinched that sheet of paper from his sleeve between two fingers.

But the moment he moved, his arm turned cold. With a rustle, half his sleeve fell to the ground.

His forearm felt a little itchy. He lowered his head and saw a finger-length cut on it. The cut quickly changed from white to red, then blood gathered into several streams and ran downward. The itch became a painful itch.

"What are you trying to do?" Huainanzi asked with a frown, looking quite angry. "Move again, and I'll cut off your hand. Now hurry up and beg me for mercy. I have things to do. If I weren't taking pity on the fact that you're also a cultivator, I wouldn't bother wasting words on you."

Li Yunxin: ...

He felt that he had indeed fallen into an enormous predicament.

He had no more options. Or rather, he no longer had a plan that would let him retreat unscathed with victory already in his grasp.

Several thoughts and countermeasures emerged in his mind. But then he suddenly closed his eyes, stood in the moonlight and night breeze for a while, and opened them again. "Fine. I'll beg you for mercy, and you kill me with one sword strike."

After a pause, he added, "But you really do have to kill me with one sword strike. You know I'm a cultivator too, and I have my dignity. If you go back on your word, it would disgrace the honor of a great sect."

Huainanzi curled his lip. "Where did all this nonsense come from?"

Li Yunxin sighed, shrugged, and slowly gave him a bow first.

"Hurry up!" Huainanzi urged harshly. "Otherwise, I really will kill you!"

Like hell you will. Li Yunxin knew that feeling well. A child asked you for candy, and you firmly told him it was impossible. After he pleaded a little, he walked away.

But if you agreed and then dragged your feet, acting like you were going to give it to him but never actually doing so, he might cling to you for dozens of minutes, and you would not be able to get away.

The thought of "I might get it any moment now" was precisely what made a person restless, yet unable to remain decisive and composed.

He did not believe Huainanzi could truly fly into a rage from humiliation and kill him with a single sword strike right now.

Seeking yet failing to obtain, almost obtaining it—that was how heart demons were planted.

Li Yunxin lifted the hem of his robe again, raised a foot, and kicked at the ground. Frowning, he said, "There's blood on the ground. How am I supposed to kneel?"

A more vivid expression finally appeared on Huainanzi's face, as though he found it both infuriating and amusing. "You're going to die soon anyway. Why do you care about blood? Idiot!"

"In any case, I need to change places." Li Yunxin shifted a step away and looked at Huainanzi.

The other man frowned and glared at him viciously. Reassured, Li Yunxin began to walk, choosing a spot as though he were truly selecting a burial ground for himself.

Because Huainanzi's expression said—"I'm already losing patience. In a moment, I'll make sure you get a taste of suffering. Go ahead and fuss all you want now. The more you irritate me, the more you'll hurt later."

Li Yunxin stalled for five minutes. That was the limit of patience he had expected from the other man.

Then he stopped and raised his head. "One last question."

An almost imperceptible look of relief appeared on Huainanzi's face. "Speak."

"I think demons are all pretty decent. Why kill them?"

"Fool. And you call yourself one who studies the Dao—aberrations are killed when they are killed. What need is there for a reason?" Huainanzi truly developed killing intent and brought his two fingers together.

Then Li Yunxin and Huainanzi both heard a crisp tinkling of copper bells approaching from afar.

A young girl said in a clear, bright voice, "Oh my, Miss, that person has such a vicious tone."

Perhaps because the girl's voice was so crisp and clear, it carried far.

Huainanzi's expression changed, and so did the sword gesture in his hand. His two joined fingers shifted into a strange gesture resembling an orchid hand sign. The gleaming silver flying sword immediately split into three, circling him end to end and giving off a low hum.

"Who goes there?!" he shouted in a low voice.

The two men held their breath and focused for several minutes before a slender little hand finally emerged from grass as tall as a person.

The hand parted the wild grass, and a little maid with twin buns stepped out. She held a set of reins, then led a glossy little black donkey from the grass.

A quiet young lady sat side-saddle on the black donkey. Her clear eyes stared fixedly at Li Yunxin, her lips clenched tight, yet she did not spare Huainanzi a single glance.

The little maid, however, stopped with the black donkey, helped the young lady down, then frowned with her delicate brows and asked relentlessly, "That's right, what's wrong with demons? Why kill them?" These past few days, I've been walking along the edge of a hiatus. I'm working on two projects at once right now, and both sides are rushing me, so every day I work overtime until nine at night. Therefore, one chapter a day is probably the greatest sincerity I can offer recently. I figure fewer updates are fine, as long as they do not stop. I'm also thinking of updating two 4,000-word chapters a day after the book goes premium. This book's update speed definitely will not be very fast, but I hope I can guarantee that while it may not be fast, it will not stop. Hehe. I'll do my best to write it well.

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