Extraterrestrial Demons

The mountain gates opened, and visitors streamed up into Thousand Lamps Temple, skirting the corpse on the ground.

Chen Yi waited until Min Ning returned and saw the lingering, drunken flush on her face.

"That was a fine strike."

In truth, it was far more than fine. With that single saber strike, Min Ning had finished off Li the Rakshasa, a fellow Eighth-Rank Martial Artist. With that strike, she was essentially invincible among those of the same rank.

"How did you come by that strike?"

Chen Yi asked after she sat down.

"Years of practicing the saber. I gained an insight."

With wine in her, Min Ning spoke with the air of an old veteran.

Of course, she could not simply tell him that she had gained her insight from watching him kill in the rain-soaked alley.

Min Ning did not know that Chen Yi would have been even more astonished if he learned she had gained that insight in the mere few days since the rain-soaked alley.

He had achieved success in the Martial Dao so quickly by relying on his cheat, but Min Ning had relied on talent.

"Teach me," Chen Yi said.

"Become my disciple."

"No."

Min Ning took a sip of wine and shot him a displeased glance.

"You want my martial arts without becoming my disciple? Since when was there such a bargain?"

"Aren't I helping you investigate your grandfather's death? Just treat it as payment."

At Chen Yi's words, Min Ning raised her willow-leaf brows and considered it carefully.

"Teach me."

Chen Yi grinned and said:

"If you don't teach me, I'll sleep with you."

Hearing those shameless words, Min Ning, considerably emboldened by the wine, gave a soft snort and looked down her nose at him.

"There's no telling which of us would be sleeping with whom."

Chen Yi burst out laughing.

He knew she was a woman disguised as a man, but she did not know that he knew.

She took another swig. There was little Daughter's Red wine left in the gourd, and Min Ning said bluntly:

"I thought it over after I went back last night. I can teach you without taking you as a disciple, but you have to promise me one thing."

Something immediately occurred to Chen Yi, and he said:

"Don't tell me it's keeping my hands off your older sister? Then I'd rather not learn."

Min Ning instantly ground her teeth. She could never have imagined that anyone so shameless existed in this world. A man like this never used outright force; he merely sliced away at her flesh with a dull knife, coercing and threatening her again and again.

Yet this very man was the only person who could help her now.

Min Ning softened her tone.

"One year... You can't touch my older sister for one year."

Wanting to tease her, Chen Yi asked:

"A year is far too long. And what about you?"

Min Ning's delicate body trembled. She heard the burning lust in Chen Yi's words and struggled to maintain her composure.

"As long as you don't touch my older sister, I... I'll try to accept you..."

After she said this, her shoulders twitched. Seeing how much effort it had cost her, Chen Yi stopped teasing her and said:

"I'll go to Thousand Lamps Temple once the crowds thin out."

"Then I'll rest here a while..."

Yin Tingxue had heard their entire conversation. The perceptive Xiang Prince's Daughter could hear Chen Yi's lust for Min Ning, and she could not help rejoicing inwardly. Wonderful. He really doesn't like women, and he doesn't like me either.

If I make him happy in the future, perhaps I can get my indenture back. Then I'll be free, and not only that, I'll still be untouched when I gain my freedom.

Her thoughts were as lovely as flowers blooming in an instant.

After half an hour passed, the visitors to Thousand Lamps Temple began to dwindle. Min Ning leaned back in her chair, her eyes half closed, clearly unwilling to move. A drunken flush still lingered on her face.

Chen Yi therefore took Yin Tingxue slowly up the mountain.

Thousand Lamps Temple was divided into front, middle, and rear halls. As they walked through the galleries between the halls, they could see oil lamps burning one after another. Yin Tingxue saw many Daoist heavenly generals. The most striking among them was an immortal with hands growing from his eyes. Though it was afternoon, the lamplight in the galleries still shone conspicuously bright.

After paying their respects in both the front and middle halls, the two headed toward the rear hall. Yin Tingxue gave a "Wow" as she entered. Eternal lamps filled the space before the altar. The altar had nine tiers in all, with the Myriad Blessings Celestial Venerable behind it. Yin Tingxue pressed her palms together and bowed.

Once they had paid their respects, Chen Yi turned to his proper business. He showed his waist token to a Daoist novice at Thousand Lamps Temple, and before long, a Daoist arrived to lead him into a guest room.

"Are you Thousand Household Chen?"

Inside the guest room, a Shangqing Dao priest with an immortal's bearing sat cross-legged in meditation. He was Shangqing Dao's Scripture-Keeping Elder, known as Feiyuan True Person.

Feiyuan True Person was accomplished in the Daoist arts. It was said that he was already a hundred and ten years old, yet his face looked barely over sixty.

"True Person, I am here by imperial command to investigate the truth behind Demon-Quelling Day arriving early."

Chen Yi spoke directly.

"I heard something of this matter when I arrived in the Capital City. On the road, I discussed it not only with my disciples, but also with several accompanying Daoists from Yinjian Mountain."

Feiyuan True Person spoke unhurriedly.

"Thousand Household, do you know how Demon-Quelling Day came about?"

Before Chen Yi could speak, Feiyuan True Person continued:

"When the Grand Ancestor founded the dynasty, he conquered the Capital City and let his soldiers slaughter and plunder it. More than half the common people in the city were killed or injured. Hundreds of thousands of wronged souls gathered into black fog that all but blotted out the sky and sun. The Grand Ancestor therefore sought Daoist arts from Shangqing Dao and held a Grand Ritual of All Heaven to soothe the departed souls. From then on, the Prayer Daoist Grounds became an ancestral institution, passed down ever since."

Chen Yi nodded slightly.

Feiyuan True Person sighed.

"Throughout the year, apart from Demon-Quelling Day, the Capital City is no different from usual. Why do all these ghosts emerge as soon as Demon-Quelling Day arrives? How do they emerge? Many people cannot make sense of this question.

"In fact, the answer is simple. Every human heart harbors a ghost. When evil thoughts run rampant and layer upon layer of Yin Balefulness gathers, people become ghosts."

After hearing this, Chen Yi sought confirmation:

"True Person, do you mean that, over these past few days this year, evil thoughts have run far more rampant and Yin Balefulness has gathered far more thickly in the Capital City than before?"

"Precisely."

"But why have evil thoughts run so much more rampant and Yin Balefulness gathered so much more thickly these past few days?"

Feiyuan True Person turned his head, seemingly gazing into the distance.

"It is because of..."

"Extraterrestrial Demons."

Inside Jingren Palace, a Daoist nun stood alone before the Yu Dynasty's empress dowager. Her long hair fell like a waterfall, a sword hung at her waist, and a lotus crown rested on her head. Her eyes were frighteningly cold, enough to call to mind the biting chill of early spring on a snowy night.

Even Empress An, whose own beauty could topple cities and kingdoms, could not help being shaken by the woman's beauty.

The sole flaw in that perfection was that the Daoist nun's body was incomplete: she had only her right arm.

"Extraterrestrial Demons... True Person Zhou, what are Extraterrestrial Demons?"

Empress An collected herself and asked.

"Demons that do not belong to this world, that come from beyond the Three Realms."

Zhou Yitang's tone was flat.

"In other words, the reason evil thoughts are running rampant and Yin Balefulness is gathering so thickly in the Capital City is this Extraterrestrial Demons."

Empress An asked.

Zhou Yitang gave a slight nod, her gaze lowered.

"Then who exactly are these Extraterrestrial Demons?"

Empress An asked.

Zhou Yitang's eyes lifted, then grew placid again as she said evenly:

"There are so many Extraterrestrial Demons. Who could identify one with a single word?"

Confusion appeared on Empress An's face, but Zhou Yitang said nothing more.

Seeing this, Lu Ying, the female Daoist novice accompanying her, explained:

"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, Extraterrestrial Demons is merely a collective name. During the Han and Tang dynasties, Buddhism spread eastward, bringing the Western Heaven Buddhist Dharma with it, and the demons of India followed. People of that time called Yama Raja, Asura, Garuda, and others Extraterrestrial Demons."

The book is about to get a recommendation spot. Over the past few days, I looked through the earlier text and found that the pacing wasn't tight enough, so I stayed up revising it. You can go back and look through the first twenty chapters. I've added around ten thousand Chinese characters, with quite a few new plot developments, and made some cuts as well.