57 Chapter 1214: Trapped (1/2)

”Good!”

Zhang Xuan swiftly imparted the Great Art of Inner Demons to 'Luo Ruoxin' before instructing, ”Alright, revert to your original form.”

”Yes, Teacher!” 'Luo Ruoxin's' silhouette blurred before reverting to the appearance of an inner demon. Its figure was permeated with a demonic air that seemed to send one's thoughts into disarray upon sight.

”What's your name?” Zhang Xuan asked.

”My name? I was born just a moment ago from your thoughts, so I don't have a name yet,” the inner demon replied sheepishly.

”I see. Since that's the case, why don't I give you a name? Let me think…” Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment. ”Alright, I'll call you Demoneh then!”

”Teacher, thank you for bestowing me with a name!” Demoneh replied gleefully.

Demoneh, Demoneh… There was a nice ring to the name that his teacher had given him.

”Alright, you can go out now!”

While Demoneh was still immersed in the delight from being given a name, he suddenly heard the voice of the young man, and he quickly nodded.

The next moment, the pitch-black space abruptly vanished without a trace. The surroundings before Zhang Xuan blurred, and before he knew it, he found himself standing right before the lake once more, as if what had just happened was merely a dream.

Seeing that Zhang Xuan had regained consciousness, Zhang Jiuxiao quickly asked worriedly, ”Zhang shi, are you alright?”

Turning around, Zhang Xuan saw the entire group looking at him worriedly, as if fearing that something would happen to him.

”Don't worry, I'm fine.” Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

Noting how Zhang Xuan seemed to be completely fine, devoid of the slightest disorientation in his mental state, Zhang Jiuxiao asked, ”You… didn't encounter any inner demons?”

The lake could reflect the inner desires within one's heart, and these desires were the perfect tool to generate inner demons within one. There was no way their enemy would have passed on this opportunity to deal with them! Inner demons were the greatest fear of cultivators, capable of magnifying their greatest fears to put them through unbearable mental torture… So how could Zhang shi have returned completely fine?

”I encountered one,” Zhang Xuan replied leisurely. ”Come out and greet my companions!”

”Yes!” A black mist suddenly appeared before Zhang Xuan, and it gradually morphed into the form of an inner demon. It respectfully bowed to the others and said, ”Demoneh pays respect to my teacher's companions!”

”This…”

”That is… an inner demon?”

The lips of the entire group twitched as their eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets from disbelief.

That was a living inner demon! In the real world! Greeting them respectfully!

”Principal Zhang, what is going on?” Division Head Liao asked with quivering lips.

As the head of the Heart Division, he had read countless books regarding inner demons, and he knew very well that inner demons were existences bound to the thoughts of a cultivator, so it should have been impossible for them to exist in the real world. Furthermore, born from the darkness of an individual's heart, they were malicious beings who craved to destroy, so how could there possibly be one that was this obedient?

Before Zhang Xuan could respond, Demoneh readily replied with the utmost admiration in his tone. ”Teacher has enlightened me from the darkness I was in. If not for him, I might still have been living my days groggily within a living hell. It's truly a huge blessing that I was able to meet my teacher!”

”Enlightened? Teacher?”

The faces of the group twitched so intensely that it felt as if they would fling their cheeks off their faces.

Surely inner demons could not be considered an independent lifeform… Even inner demons could have teachers?

”There's no need to get so caught up with a matter as trivial as this. Speaking of which, do any of you want to give the lake a try?” Zhang Xuan gestured to the lake as he spoke.

After a long moment of silence, Zhang Jiuxiao raised his hand and said, ”I'll give it a try!”

He had come here before, and he knew that the inner desires reflected in the lake could give rise to inner demons within one's heart.

But for an inner demon to accept a cultivator as its teacher… This was really his first time seeing something as bewildering as that.

At the same time, it also made him extremely excited. He suddenly felt as if a brand-new world had opened up before his eyes, and he felt tempted to give it a try too!

”Un.” Zhang Xuan infused a portion of his will into Zhang Jiuxiao's body before gesturing for the latter to take a look in the lake. ”Alright, go ahead and take a look.”

”Alright!” Turning his gaze to the lake, Zhang Jiuxiao immediately saw countless inner desires stacked upon one another surfacing on top of the lake, and these images seemed to resonate in his mind as well, leaving him feeling as if he would go insane.

Hong long!

He immediately tried to sever these inner desires from his mind, but before he could do so, his surroundings suddenly faded. Just like what had happened to Zhang Xuan earlier, he found himself plunged into darkness.

Hu la!

A towering demon slowly rose before Zhang Jiuxiao's eyes, and there was a savage sneer on his lips.

Upon seeing the appearance of Zhang Jiuxiao's inner demon, the will that Zhang Xuan had left within the latter's body widened his eyes in disbelief.

His inner demon… is me?

Who would have expected that he would actually be the greatest inner demon of the offspring of the Zhang Clan!

”I… will surely surpass you!”

Zhang Jiuxiao had initially entered with the intention of accepting the inner demon as his student, but upon seeing the inner demon, his eyes immediately glazed over in confusion, and he began shouting frenziedly at the top of his lungs.

Unlike Zhang Xuan, who could control his own state of mind, as soon as the inner demons appeared, the negative emotions that he had bottled up in his mind suddenly burst forth, consuming his consciousness whole, robbing him of his rationality.

”Surpass me? You wield great potential, but it's a pity that the cultivation technique you wield is beneath mine. However, if you cultivate according to my words, you might just be able to stand a chance…” the inner demon tempted with a beguiling voice.

Zhang Jiuxiao struggled internally for a moment, but eventually, he still caved in. ”… Very well then!”

So, this is what it is like when an ordinary cultivator encounters inner demons…Zhang Xuan was astonished.

So far, he had encountered inner demons on three occasions. It was only on his first encounter, during his Saint Ascension Ordeal back in the Qiu Wu Palace, that he had been beguiled for a brief moment. As for the remaining two times, he had been able to retain his consciousness. He had thought that most cultivators would have been the same as him, but it seemed like that was far from the case.

From the very start, the very existence of the inner demons reflected the inability of the cultivator to control their heart, resulting in an opening for the inner demons' birth. As a result, it was not too difficult for an inner demon to breach a cultivator's mental resilience and drive them berserk.

Alright, I should start cleaning up now… After learning how inner demons were born, Zhang Xuan's will finally emerged from where it was hidden.

”Little Demon, come. I'll accept you as my student…”

…

”Will Jiuxiao be fine?”

Looking at Zhang Jiuxiao's shaking silhouette before the lake, the faces of the group turned grim.

”Principal Zhang has a deep understanding of inner demons. Since he was the one who gestured for Zhang Jiuxiao to head over, there shouldn't be a problem,” Division Head Liao replied.

”I hope so…”

At that moment, Zhang Jiuxiao suddenly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air before slowly opening his eyes.

Hu!