Internal Devils - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Psychologist

Li YunXin slept for 2 hours. He felt a lot better when he woke up. The pain of the wound on his left arm was reduced, and it shouldn’t be his illusion. After all, he had learnt many methods to strengthen his body from his parents. His father said that a good health is the basis to control the spirits.

Now it was time to leave.

Li YunXin decided to turn their scheme against themselves. Even if he didn’t leave, somebody would force him to. Two hours of waiting should be enough to consume their patience. Li YunXin thought that he had better not to refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit[1].

However, he still needed to be flexible with his actions after.

He didn’t know what he would face out there, bu he thought nothing would be more dangerous than being chased by those priests and Lord Nine. By the way, those 2 priests were really strong. They almost got Li YunXin with only a few talismans. Li YunXin managed to destroy the rest of their talismans in the rain, or he wouldn’t have made it to Qing River County.

He stood up, moved his fingers, and did some strange movements to stretch.

Then he opened the door, and walked out of the cell.

Instead of being sneaky like normal escapees, he went out leisurely, and looked around in the Qing River Prison at the same time – It was his first time to see a prison. When he passed by a door, he even peered into it curiously.

After he went away, those 2 constables who were hiding behind the door looked at each other with confusion.

“What’s wrong with this guy?”

Why did he acted so leisurely? Didn’t he understand he was trying to escape from a prison?

“He looked at the door. Do you think we are exposed?”

“…Weird. Just stick to the plan…All we need to do is to turn him into Sir Xing.”

They remained silent for a while, and one of them asked: “Do you think he really killed and ate someone?”

He felt a chill creeping on his back.

Outside the prison was the wild, but lights could be seen in the distance. The prison was probably located at the edge of the town. The night wind from the forest blew the rotten smell of the prison away. Standing by the entrance of the prison, Li YunXin found him surrounded – there were people approaching him from both behind and the front. The blades reflected lights in the darkness.

He saw the leader was Xing Li, and there were 5 of them in total. He knew he couldn’t fight them on his own. These constables shouldn’t be too skilled at fighting, but Li YunXin’s heath condition was terrible.

Therefore he talked: “I must say that the job you have done is not quite satisfying. You used me as your scapegoat, but the monster would appear again. Next time when it kills some people, it would be a big problem for you. If I were you, I would try to solve this problem completely.

I know you understood that you are not match for those monsters or bandits, so you decided not to take risk. Instead, you wanted to see if you were lucky enough – maybe the monster had killed enough people here and left.”

Xing Li stood a few steps away from him, with a sword in his hand. He frowned at Li YunXin. He didn’t understand why he was so calm, and why his tone sounded like a wily adult.

“Solve the problem completely? Sounds like that you know how to do it.”

He didn’t expect him to answer, he just asked that because he felt Li YunXin was special, but soon he heard the young man said: “Yes, I do, probably.”

Xing Li laughed, and then he heard the young man continued: “You have seen that thing, right? Or you wouldn’t have taken your job so irresponsibly. You are scared.”

In the darkness, Xing Li remained silent for a while. Holding his sword tightly, he asked with a voice mixed with anger and sorrow: “What are you?”

He said the young man was not a simple person, but now he thought he still had underestimated him.

The young man waved his hand and said: “Let’s go. Don’t talk here. You would have to kill me if someone sees us here. Oh, and bring me my papers and brushes.”

After leaving the command to a constable behind him, Li YunXin started to walked towards the forest to the west.

The constable looked at Xing Li, and didn’t know what to do. Xing Li frowned, and thought for while. “Go fetch what he wants.”He said in a low voice.

He followed Li YunXin for a few stepped, and felt strange, so he hurried up and walked by the side of him, with his sword in his hand.

Li YunXin stopped in the forest.

Xing Li asked again: “What exactly are you?”

Li YunXin smiled and said: “Like what you said, I’m a painter now.”

“Now? What about before?”

“well…before that,”Li YunXin thought for a moment, and said: “I was a psychologist, but I don’t think you know what it is. Now let’s talk about our current business. When I saw that demon, I was being chased by 2 priests…”

While he was talking, Xing Li stared at him alertly. Other 3 constables stood around him with staffs in their hands.

He was really good at telling stories. When he got to the part where Lord Nine killed and ate those people, the constables all showed worry on their face. Believing them or not, hearing a kid telling such things in a dark forest was kind of creepy.

When he finished his story, he said to Xing Li: “Now tell me something about yourself.”

This time Xing Li had thought for a long time before he answered in a low voice: “What can you do about this? You are just a painter…”

It was at this moment, the constable came back with Li YunXin’s paper and brush. Li YunXin reached out to them. The constable looked at Xing Li, and found him in deep thought, so he handed those things over to Li YunXin.

He wasn’t here when Li YunXin was telling his story, so he didn’t know what he could do with them. He had seen some painters, most of them are swindlers, and very few of them could create paintings which are said to keep evil spirits away. Those paintings looked good, but nobody knew if they do have those effects they said.

“I know what to do.”Li YunXin said calmly. He checked his tools to make sure nothing was lost.

His tone made Xing Li relaxed. Xing Li breathed out, waved his hand and said: “You guys, stand back.”

When those 4 constables stood back, Xing Li said: “I have seen that demon. Nobody would ever believe that. I’m telling you about it just because you said that you have seen it, too.

It was 5 years ago, on a day of thunderstorm. The wind was howling, and the rain was pouring. I…My son was just born not long before that. My son…I was at home, with my son in my arms. Suddenly, a loud noise broke out, and our roof was blew away by the wind, and then the claw…It reached out for me at once, so I stood back, but when I did that…I dropped my son. My son was falling to the ground, so my wife…tried to catch him.

They were both caught by the demon, and then the demon…it showed itself in my home, right before my eyes…The demon…”

Words came out of the gap between Xing Li’s clenched teeth: “After that, I told others that my roof was destroyed by the storm, and they were killed by the fallen roof.”

Hearing this, Li YunXin sighed, and said: “I guess it is understandable that you are afraid to face the demon. After all, it was a demon – What can a man do to a demon?” He wet the brush with his saliva, and spread out a paper on a stone. “The most important thing for a family is to be together. Nobody wants to see tragedies happen.”He said.

Under the light of stars, he drew something on the paper. “Take a look! Is is the demon you were talking about?”

The painting was done fast, and nicely.

Although Xing Li was still alert with him, he looked at the paper, and found it was exactly the demon which ate his wife and son when they were still alive.

“It is…”Xing Li said in a trembling voice.

“So…are you afraid?”

“Eh?”Xing Li frowned.

At the next moment, Li YunXin blew the painting with his breath. The night in early spring was still chilly, so his breath became white fog in the air.

Suddenly, a dark green light flashed on the painting, and the figure broke his jail of paper, expended, and stood before Xing Li.

“Here, I’ve brought you the demon. I’ve said that I know how to do this.” After saying this, Li YunXin ran away immediately, like a scared hare.

Xing Li was stunned before this sudden situation. His heart was caught by his painful memory and the following fear. He glared at that terrifying face which he had remembered for 5 years, and shouted out madly: “Get him!”

He knew it was impossible to escape from the demon, so he decided not to run away like what he did that night.

Those 4 constables were stunned, too. Nobody knew that a teenage painter could do this.

Xing Li swung his sword towards “Lord Nine”.

The blade containing hopelessness and fury made a sharp sound when it slashed through the air.

The sword hit the demon, and then…the figure swayed and disappeared into the air.

At the same place, a piece of paper slowly fell to the ground.

Translator's notes:

[1]To refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit敬酒不吃吃罚酒: To be compelled to do something after initially refusing.