The two-story building stood quietly behind the bamboo forest. Under the moonlight, the shadow of the bamboo forest shrouded it. From a distance, the tightly closed doors looked dark and a little scary.
Wu Weiwei borrowed the strength from his brother Chen and jumped on one leg, wondering, "You said that little ghost was an accomplice?"
"Well, Aunt Cuifen ran into that ghost before." Chen Ling stepped onto a stone step and reminded, "Slow down."
"Oh." Wu Weiwei narrowed his eyes. "According to you, that ghost is a soldier of the Death Monster. Then how did the Death Monster appear?"
For the death energy to take shape, it requires a huge amount of death energy to gather together for a long time.
"So tomorrow morning, we have to go down to the water and take a look." Chen Ling looked solemn, "And I suspect there is demonic energy in the water."
"Demon?" Wu Weiwei was dumbfounded.
"Those who can break into people's hearts and create illusions are definitely not ordinary evil spirits." Chen Ling frowned, feeling unusually anxious.
"But the devil..." Wu Weiwei paused and said hesitantly, "I don't think I've ever heard of it, let alone seen it."
"When a person dies, he becomes a ghost. When a ghost dies, he becomes a 魙. When a 魙 dies, he becomes a 希. When a 希 dies, he becomes a 夷. When a 微 dies, he becomes invisible." Chen Ling said, "As for what invisible specifically means, there are two theories. The first is that he turns into ashes and smoke. The second is that he becomes a demon."
"And among them, Xi means without form, and Yi means without sound. Formless and colorless, it fits the meaning of demons, especially the demons in the heart."
Chen Ling's previous understanding of the inner demon was limited to the literal meaning. It was just the most persistent thought in the depths of human heart. Now it seems that it is a devil that can harm people and is more terrifying than evil monsters with physical form.
To be more precise, the inner demon can suck people's lives through the illusions it creates.
Old Madam Yuan, affected by the Yin Qi of the Blue Lake, became even weaker due to her age and fell into a state of near death. Because she was worried about her son before she died, her inner demon took advantage of the opportunity and painted the scene she wanted to see the most.
Based on Mrs. Yuan's feelings for Yuan Yongxiang, she would definitely be attracted by the picture of family harmony and would be willing to stay.
The inner demon achieved its goal and sucked away the remaining life of Old Lady Yuan. Because the illusion was too beautiful, Old Lady Yuan died with a smile on her face.
For example, the old couple who value money more than anything else.
The demonic energy in the blue lake aroused their deep obsessions before they died, so they dreamed of winning the lottery. When they jumped at the bundles of banknotes in ecstasy, they also fell into the trap of the inner demon.
As for why these two old men, even the old man of Shen Dazhuang's family and the ghosts wandering around the lake did not leave after their death...
Chen Ling thought about it carefully. Yin energy and death energy are associated with each other. Those people drank the blue lake water intentionally or unintentionally. The Yin energy in the blue lake water aggravated the Yin energy of their souls after death, making their breath close to that of evil spirits.
The underworld initially determined that they were not souls without regrets, so naturally they would not open the road to the underworld for them.
"Brother Chen, Brother Chen?" Wu Weiwei called out twice in succession, and then he saw his Brother Chen looking at him blankly.
Chen Ling raised his hand and knocked his head, "Sorry, I was distracted. What did you say just now?"
Wu Weiwei shook his head and pointed to the ground helplessly: "We are already home."
Chen Ling then realized that the three of them were already standing in the yard of Shen Dazhuang's house. He scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Let me take you back to your room first."
Wu Weiwei nodded and asked, "Brother Chen, you mentioned the inner demon before... Did you encounter it before on Fengling Mountain?"
Chen Ling frowned, "Strictly speaking, it's not an encounter, but someone wanted to bring out my inner demons."
When living in this world, people have to experience many things, and among them, every first time must occupy a relatively clear position in the complex memory.
For example, the first time you saw a ghost, the first time you drowned.
In Fengling Mountain, they brought out the senior sister who died in the mountain, probably to arouse the fear in his heart. However, he was already accustomed to ghosts at that time, so he was not fooled and did not give the inner demon a chance to take advantage of him.
And then there was the nightmare that happened in Qingxuan Temple later.
The dream perfectly recreated the scene where he was dragged into the sea by a water ghost and almost drowned.
If Jiang Yu had not appeared and woke him up at that time, perhaps the inner demon would have quietly hidden in his body, waiting for a better opportunity to break through.
By the way, Zhou Yuanxin’s suicide was also very strange. Now we know that it was his inner demon that bewitched him... Chen Ling’s face was extremely ugly. It turned out that they had fought with the inner demon a long time ago.
"So, this incident was also the work of the person behind Fengling Mountain?" Wu Weiwei cursed, "What on earth does that idiot want to do?"
"The lake is filled with a strong aura of death. I'm afraid it's the same place as Fengling Mountain and Rongshen Middle School, a place of extreme yin." Chen Ling pushed the man to sit on a stool, "Stay still, I'll go boil some water for you to wash your face."
Wu Weiwei was flattered. As a younger brother, how could he deserve to be taken care of by his elder brother? He said hurriedly, "No, no, no, I'll go by myself. My foot is sprained but my hands are still very flexible."
"Just stay where you are." Chen Ling said as he remembered something. He reached out and picked up Wu Weiwei's backpack from the stool next to him and threw it into his arms. "If you are really bored, just continue to make small handicrafts."
Wu Weiwei held his schoolbag with a big smile on his face. It felt so good to be cared for and looked after.
Chen Ling went to the kitchen and was about to push the door open when a ray of blue flame shot out from the crack in the door and almost burned his hair!
"Jiang Yu!" He pushed the door open and rushed in, seeing the ancestor playing with fire.
Chen Ling's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but sigh, people with strong abilities are just awesome, hellfire can also be used to replace stove fire to boil water, it's just a bit of a waste of talent.
Only when the kettle made a humming sound as if it had completely boiled did Jiang Yu put away the Hellfire in his hand.
Seeing that the young man was worried, he reached out and touched his hair, "What's wrong?"
"The deathly aura that appeared tonight is enough to prove that there must be many corpses hidden at the bottom of the lake. I think this is probably another extremely yin place." Chen Ling used his fingers to write and draw on the ground covered with carbon ash. "Look, this is the location of Rongxin Middle School, this is Fengling Mountain, and this is our current location."
"If you follow the compass on the map, these locations are exactly due east, due north, and due west."
Chen Ling raised his head, his eyes looking even darker and brighter under the light, "We are still missing Zhengnan."
He pointed his finger in the south direction of the picture and said, "This is exactly the location of Pingshan."
Jiang Yu seemed to have expected this, and did not show any surprise. He just asked, "What did you think of?"
Chen Ling shook his head. Even he himself didn't know what he wanted to say. He just felt that it was a trap from the beginning to the end. They just saw the edge of the trap but could not understand its inner workings.
"I don't know what that person wants to do. And..." He swallowed and said dryly, "I feel like we are always being led by him. For example, during this trip to the Blue Lake, since the other party is so powerful, as long as he is willing to intervene, Mr. Yuan would never ask us to deal with his mother's affairs."
If he had not discovered anything unusual about the Blue Lake, even if Chen Ling had heard Li Hongyu say that he was coming here to carry out a mission, as a non-special investigation department member, it would have been impossible for him to rush over just to join in the fun.
When you think about it this way, even the fat senior brother seems suspicious.
Chen Ling remembered that after hearing that the Shen brothers and sisters gave the old lady the Blue Lake water, he took the initiative to mention that Li Hongyu had received an urgent task to rush to Blue Lake Town.
"Brother Jiang, what do you think of that fat senior brother?"
Jiang Yu didn't think the change of topic was abrupt, and just asked back, "Are you doubting him?"
Chen Ling pursed his lips and whispered, "Actually, I felt that he and Senior Brother Shou were a little strange when we were at Fengling Mountain before. Besides, don't you think it's strange that two civilian workers are forced to perform field work?"
The Special Investigation Department is full of talented people. Even if there is a real shortage of manpower, once the internal recruitment is launched, there is no telling how many monks in the Taoist temples will want to join.
But they insisted on sending these two clerks who were not proficient in magic to carry out the mission.
To put it bluntly, aren't they afraid that these two people will cause trouble and become a burden to the team
The more Chen Ling thought about it, the weirder it seemed. But he still hoped that he had wronged someone. "I hope I'm overthinking it."
The next morning, Li Hongyu arrived early at the second floor of Shen Dazhuang's house and waited.
Wu Weiwei got up early as usual. He stretched lazily and kicked open the door. He raised his hand and froze it in the air. He looked at the people in the yard in surprise, "Why are you here?"
"I'm going to discuss something with Chen Ling." Li Hongyu glanced at the young man's ankle, "Okay?"
"That's right." Wu Weiwei couldn't help but brag about his ankle, which was pain-free and able to move freely. "I have a very strong recovery ability, really."
Li Hongyu nodded indifferently, "Yeah."
Wu Weiwei curled his lips quietly, "You're so cold, you expressionless guy. I really can't imagine how someone as boring as Li Hongyu spent his childhood. He must have been copying scriptures every day."
Thinking of this, I felt a little more pity.
Wu Weiwei turned around to get his toothbrush and towel, then stepped past Li Hongyu to wash under the faucet on the east side of the yard. He finished quickly in a few strokes and wiped the water off his face. "By the way, did you have breakfast?"
Li Hongyu crossed his arms and stood straight, "I ate it. The village chief sent it to me."
Speak of the devil, a figure appeared from the bottom of the stairs.
The village chief put a few big steamed buns in a dustpan and held a thermos bucket in his other hand. He walked into the yard with a smile and said, "Little brother Wu, wake up. Come and pick me up. This is the breakfast I asked your aunt Cuifen to prepare."
Just as Wu Weiwei was about to leave, Li Hongyu took the things first.
The young man who didn't like to smile glanced at Wu Weiwei's feet and said, "You should pay more attention to it."
Wu Weiwei sneered and bumped him with his shoulder in a mean way, "You are quite attentive."
Li Hongyu's face tensed up and he moved two inches to the side. "You are sweating."
There wasn't even a palm-leaf fan in the two-story building, and it was hot 24 hours a day. What could Wu Weiwei do? He glared at Li Hongyu, grabbed breakfast, and walked swiftly to the kitchen.
Looking at the heroic and proud figure from behind, Li Hongyu raised his eyebrows.
As soon as Wu Weiwei entered the kitchen, he couldn't hold it anymore and grimaced. Although his ankle was not swollen, it hurt when he exerted a little force. At this rate, he would need to rest for a few days before he could recover.
Upstairs, Chen Ling just woke up from that man's arms.
He turned over, and because the bed was not big, his back just fit into the man's arms. Jiang Yu opened his eyes, his eyes were clear without any sleepiness.
He kissed the young man on the cheek, "Wake up."
Chen Ling hesitated and waited until the other party stood up. Then he rushed downstairs, into the shower room and took a cold shower.
When he came out again, the heat in his body had completely faded away, and he felt cool all over. When he met Jiang Yu's meaningful gaze, he quickly turned his head and greeted Li Hongyu.
Li Hongyu approached and said bluntly: "We plan to go into the water as soon as the diving equipment is delivered."
"I think so too." Chen Ling was very confident in Li Hongyu, but he was not confident in the other people in the Special Investigation Department. He kept his guess about the inner demon and only said, "The water is so deadly, there may be many bodies buried under the water. I want to go down and take a look. If I can resolve the wronged souls, that would be the best. If not, I can only take more drastic measures."
In addition to the disappeared minions and evil spirits formed by the condensation of death energy, there are also children and other things that drowned in the water in the past.
Not drinking the lake water can only temporarily get rid of the damage of the lake water's negative energy, but it cannot solve the fundamental problem. Over time, the dead air in the lake water will gather again, and even become more massive and terrifying than before.
By then, not only Blue Lake Village would be affected, but also the surrounding villages and even the entire town.
Yesterday, Jiang Yu said that they would discuss it the next day. Li Hongyu thought that he would get other information when he came this morning. He didn't expect it to be this. He frowned and asked, "You were just mesmerized by the illusion yesterday. Are you sure you can go into the water today?"
"No problem." Yesterday's illusion did consume a lot of his energy. At most, he was physically tired, but his movements were not restricted.
Li Hongyu stared at the young man for a moment, and suddenly asked: "Don't you have anything to say?"
Chen Ling entered the illusion, but after coming out he did not mention a word about it. This was not his style.
Chen Ling looked embarrassed and stared at Li Hongyu's gentlemanly face for a long time. He reached out to hook his shoulder, but he heard a click.
Jiang Yu placed the bowl of porridge on the table in the main room.
After all, he was going to have a family soon, so he had to take care of his wife's feelings. Chen Ling took back his hand that was about to touch his shoulder, leaned his shoulder against Li Hongyu, and whispered, "I suspect it's the inner demon that's causing trouble."
Li Hongyu's brows were furrowed so tightly that they could kill a fly.
Chen Ling: "Don't disbelieve me, I was in a fantasy yesterday and was almost induced to commit suicide."
He Xiangxi is the incarnation of the inner demon and also the portrayal of Chen Ling's past. Chen Ling is certain that the inner demon knows him very well and knows clearly that He Xiangxi's suicide did cause considerable fluctuations in Chen Ling's heart.
Chen Ling didn't think that the other party could invade his heart silently, otherwise he wouldn't have pulled out his senior sister before and tried to ignite his initial fear of ghosts.
Therefore, the inner demon must have investigated him secretly, and even sneaked into his home and saw the photo.
Under normal circumstances, no one would keep a photo with a ghost in it, but Chen Ling cut out the ghost part and saved it.
In addition to the fact that he felt that He Xiangxi did not really want to harm anyone, deep down in his heart, he did feel that he used to have similarities with He Xiangxi.
The inner demon obviously saw this, so he deliberately transformed himself into He Xiangxi's appearance in the illusion.
After listening to his explanation, Li Hongyu was stunned for a long time. In some Taoist spells, words such as "exorcism" and "demon removal" were indeed mentioned, but no one had actually encountered them. Only in the scriptures handed down had demons been mentioned.
Perhaps it is precisely because no one has seen it with their own eyes, but some people are willing to believe in the existence of demons, that there is an inference that "Yi Si Wu Xing" is the demon.
Li Hongyu lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then asked, "So, you believe in the theory that the invisible is the devil?"
"I don't know." Chen Ling said, "But I can't think of anything other than the inner demon that can invade people's hearts silently and invisibly."
"What does Mr. Jiang say?" Li Hongyu asked.
Chen Ling suddenly remembered what happened after he lay down on the bed last night.
His mind was in a mess at the time, and he was flipping through the ancient books he had scanned in with his mobile phone. It mentioned ten kinds of demons, as well as the Eight Great Demon Kings, the Five Heavenly Demons, and even some others.
But there is no record of demons in real life.
He was a little impatient at the time and kicked his legs on the bed to vent his anger. Finally, Jiang Yu grabbed him and asked him what was wrong.
Chen Ling said at the time: "Have you ever seen a demon?"
Jiang Yu was silent for a long time, and said: "There is a red river in each layer of hell. The red river is filled with dark red and smelly ghost blood. They will converge at the deepest part of hell. The place where they converge is called the sea of blood. The huge evil energy merged with the sea of blood and gave birth to a 'child'."
"That 'child' was silent at first and looked like smoke, but because it was made of violence and blood, it could easily arouse the greed of the evil spirits in hell to break free from hell."
"The Emperor of Dongyue said that the child is only a stone's throw away from becoming a demon."
According to the rules of modern short stories, the protagonist in the story is likely to be closely related to the person telling the story.
Chen Ling turned over and sat up, lying on top of the man and staring at him for a long time, and asked: "And then?"
"The great emperor was merciful and led the child into the path of ghosts." Jiang Yu touched the young man's warm face, his eyes deep, "Although there is no trace of demons now, I can tell you that they really exist, especially the inner demons."
Obsession, pain, regret, fear... any thoughts that linger in your heart and refuse to dissipate will accumulate day and night and slowly turn into a shackle that binds your heart.
If the shackles are loose, they will at most make people uncomfortable; if the shackles are tight, they will force people to death.
Inner demons exist in everyone's heart. Some will never appear in a lifetime, but some, once aroused, will be irreversible.
Chen Ling remembered that he only felt panic at that time. His opponent was invisible and could hide in anyone.
Jiang Yu gently rubbed his hair and kissed him on the forehead: "Just because you can't see him doesn't mean you can't deal with him. Be patient and wait. Sooner or later, the snake will be unable to hold back."
"What's wrong with you?" Li Hongyu couldn't help getting anxious when he saw that the other person was taking a long time to answer.
Chen Ling unconsciously said "hmm" and apologized awkwardly, "I was just thinking about the conversation I had with Jiang Yu last night. He said that demons do exist."
He paused for a moment, his tone becoming more solemn and serious, "Li Hongyu, the inner demon may be hidden in each of us. I hope that you can keep what we said today for the time being and don't tell anyone."