01
The moment I entered my master’s sea of consciousness, I felt a bone-deep chill.
Before me stretched a frozen world of snow and ice. Amid the white snow, a silver-haired man sat leaning against the ground.
“Die!”
Without a word, I drew my life-bound sword and thrust it at the silver-haired man.
The man turned his head, the corners of his lips lifting in a faint smile.
That one smile alone was enough to make heaven and earth lose their color. His face was beautiful in a way that seemed to blur the line between good and evil. Beneath one eye was a vivid red beauty mark, like a drop of blood, so delicate it seemed it would shatter at the slightest touch.
My gaze faltered for a moment. The man rushed up to me and deliberately pressed his chest against the tip of my sword.
“Do you want to kill me?”
His voice was hoarse, tinged with an almost unbelievable hurt.
“You’re my master’s inner demon. You made them half human, half fiend. Of course I have to kill you!”
I tightened my grip on the hilt.
“I’ll take one sword strike from you. If I don’t die, stay here and keep me company for a day. Will you?”
He leaned in and forcefully pressed his chest against the sword’s tip, driving the blade three inches deep.
Blood gushed without end, staining the white snow a deep crimson.
I knew everything in the sea of consciousness was merely an illusion, and that the inner demon had no physical body, yet my hand still faltered.
After all, his face was identical to my master’s, except for that dark red beauty mark.
“Is that enough?”
He suddenly threw his weight against it, and my sword pierced straight through his chest.
He fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Was it really that easy to kill him?”
I pulled out my sword. Thinking he had died too easily, I crouched down to check his breathing.
Though his body was only an illusion, the inner demon had a spiritual consciousness. If that consciousness perished, so would the mind, and I would be able to sense it.
“Mm!”
Just as I reached out, he grabbed my hand.
A tremendous force seized control of me, sending me sprawling into his arms.
“Miss, a promise is a promise. I’m not dead, so you have to stay by my side for a day.”
The man opened his eyes. His deep, beautiful phoenix eyes sparkled with laughter and held a hint of seduction.
—
02
I’d been imprisoned by my inner demon!
He conjured an illusion of a wooden house in the middle of a lake and imprisoned me inside.
He had originally been a wisp of my master’s spiritual consciousness. When my master went to the Demon Realm to eradicate fiends, they accidentally absorbed demonic energy, and the inner demon came into being.
“Let me go!”
Vines bound my entire body. Even when I tried to use my spiritual energy, I couldn’t break free.
This inner demon was incredibly strong!
“You said you’d stay with me for a day, but now you’re trying to run away. I had no choice but to tie you up.”
His long, dark lashes lowered slightly, giving him a melancholy look.
I laughed in anger. “When did I agree to that?”
He’d clearly just made the whole thing up!
He reached out and patted my head. “You’re the first person I’ve met since I came into being.”
I retorted, “You’re just a wisp of demonic energy. You have no flesh or blood, so how can you say you were born?”
He suddenly smiled. “If I had flesh and blood, would you agree to stay with me?”
I was left speechless.
This inner demon was annoying, but also a little naive.
He had never seen the outside world. Everything he knew came from my master’s memories.
He tilted his head. “Or should I take over your master’s body and make his primordial spirit sleep forever? What do you think?”
My anger flared. I shattered the vines binding me and swung my palm at him!
“In your dreams!”
He neither dodged nor retreated. He even stepped closer.
My palm struck him squarely in the chest.
He shuddered and spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Why do you like hitting me so much?”
Blood stained the corner of his mouth, its brilliant red almost heartbreaking, yet he smiled. “I heard the Hehuan Sect has a really interesting fighting technique called dual cultivation. Want to try it with me?”
I glared at him angrily. “Shameless!”
His dark eyes lit up with curiosity. “Why is dual cultivation shameless?”
Me: “……”
My master was so upright and stern. Who would’ve thought his inner demon would be so wanton and wickedly seductive!
03
So angry that my primordial spirit trembled, I hurried out of my master’s sea of consciousness.
My master sat in meditation on a white jade boulder. His eyes slowly opened, his gaze profound.
“How did it go?”
I lowered my head in shame. “Forgive me, Master. The inner demon was too powerful. I was no match for him.”
My master shook his head slightly, his voice low and calm. “He is the deepest demonic energy of the Demon Realm, and now he shares my cultivation. It’s understandable that you couldn’t kill him right away.”
I looked up at my master.
His robes were white as snow, his long hair black, his face as beautiful as an immortal’s.
Though his face was exactly like the inner demon’s, their auras were entirely different.
“Dao Gia, if you can’t fight the inner demon head-on, use affection to soften him.”
My master’s voice rang out, gentle yet firm.
I was startled!
Use affection to soften him?
Wasn’t that just leading him on?
“Dao Gia, remember: the inner demon isn’t human. Guide him toward goodness and rid him of his demonic nature. Then I’ll find a way to drive him out of my sea of consciousness.”
My master seemed to see right through my thoughts.
I hesitated briefly.
But my master gave me no more time to think. He immediately laid out a magical formation and sent me back into his sea of consciousness.
04
This time, a shower of falling blossoms filled my view.
In a peach grove, the silver-haired man ran toward me.
He seemed overjoyed to see me. A smile danced across his brow, and his eyes seemed full of sparkling light.
“You’re here!”
He glided lightly through the air and landed in front of me, then took my hand without the slightest hesitation.
“Don’t think you can pull anything on me!”
I quickly pulled my hand away.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t come back.” He didn’t seem to mind how firmly I’d pulled away. Smiling, he said, “From your master’s memories, I learned your name is Tần Dao Gia. Dao Gia, Dao Gia—it’s such a lovely name.”
Me: “…”
He tried to take my hand again, but afraid I’d get angry, he only tugged lightly at my sleeve. “Dao Gia, I’ll take you to the mortal world to have some fun. How about it?”
I couldn’t help sneering. “There’s no mortal world in a sea of consciousness. You’re making it up, aren’t you?”
He nodded frankly. “That’s right.”
He jumped up and pulled me as we soared into the endless expanse.
The sky suddenly darkened, and the clear, lilting sound of a bamboo flute rang beside my ears.
The air was thick with the sweet scent of cosmetics, mingled with the laughter and chatter of young women.
Looking closer, I realized the scene before me was a brothel in the mortal world.
“What are you planning to do?”
I felt utterly helpless and hurriedly yanked my sleeve out of his grasp.
“This place is a scene from your Master’s memories. Back then, he chased a fox demon here.”
He tilted his head and looked at me, a hint of pity seemingly lurking in his dark eyes.
Was he pitying me?
What was there to pity?
I was still confused when I suddenly heard a loud scream.
“Mother?”
It was my mother!
A fox demon had possessed her body, and she had lost her mortal consciousness.
“Mother, I’m here to save you!”
I forgot this was only an illusion. My heart burning with panic, I rushed forward.
He suddenly grabbed my wrist. “Dao Gia, don’t rush. Just keep watching.”
I forced myself to calm down. My mother was under the fox demon’s control when my Master appeared in flowing white robes.
“You fiend! Today is the day you die!”
My Master wielded the Xuanling Sword and thrust it straight into my mother’s dantian!
The fox demon inside her let out a piercing scream, then shrieked, “You don’t care whether this mortal lives or dies—you’d kill me even at her expense?”
My Master sneered. “You fiend, if you hadn’t possessed a mortal’s body, I wouldn’t have been able to kill you.”
My Master struck with his sword again.
The fox demon died.
My mother died, too.
My eyes burned red as I watched. If he hadn’t been holding me tightly, I would have rushed over without a thought.
“Do you see what kind of person your Master really is now?”
He sighed softly, his gaze unfathomable.
05
I came out of my grief.
“This is fake!” My eyes red and stinging, I glared at the man. “You conjured this to deceive me!”
The man offered no explanation. “In time, you’ll know for yourself whether I’ve deceived you.”
“Inner demons are deceitful. You’re only trying to trick me into defying my Master. I won’t let you toy with me!”
I glared at the man, my eyes stinging, and couldn’t stop a tear from falling.
I had depended on my mother ever since I was little.
After my mother died, I wandered the streets and became a beggar.
For three years, I drifted from place to place, enduring every kind of scorn and humiliation.
Later, I happened to meet my Master.
My Master took me in, accepted me as his disciple, and taught me to cultivate.
He was my benefactor.
“Don’t cry.” The man raised his hand and wiped the tear from my cheek with the back of it. “Let’s go see something fun.”
He suddenly wrapped an arm around my waist and shot into the air.
In the blink of an eye, we were in a room lit by flickering red candlelight.
On the bed, a man and woman were making love, consummating their marriage.
I roared angrily, “You brought me here to watch this—”
The man covered my mouth with his palm. “Shh.”
He watched, utterly absorbed, his eyes shining as he murmured, “So this is what consummating a marriage is called. It’s a lot like fighting with someone from the Hehuan Sect.”
“But that woman seems to be in a lot of pain.”
“The man, on the other hand, is obviously enjoying himself.”
He muttered to himself, then suddenly turned to look at me. “Dao Gia, don’t worry. I’ll never let you suffer. The Hehuan Sect’s secret techniques can make a woman feel like she’s floating among the clouds.”
Me: “…”
What kind of inner demon was this?
Wasn’t he just a lust demon?
—