Chapter 408: Inner Demon

“I’ll do it.”

A smile rested at the corner of Zheng Fan’s mouth.

When he said the words, there was not the slightest hint of reluctance, as though he had been forced onto the stage against his will.

Instead there was absolute confidence.

The Blind Man froze for a moment.

Then realization dawned.

A smile appeared on his face as well.

Siniang covered her mouth and let out a melodious, soul-hooking laugh.

Ever since awakening in this world—

Zheng Fan had been learning.

There had been far too many things he needed to learn.

Martial arts.

Warfare.

Social maneuvering.

Anything and everything that might prove useful.

Like a newborn infant he had been rediscovering an unfamiliar world one step at a time.

Gradually even the Demon Kings, and even Zheng Fan himself had begun overlooking certain things.

For example, when facing the current situation the Blind Man had not initially even considered the possibility of letting Master handle it personally.

Only after Master spoke did he suddenly remember in his previous life, Master had been the lead artist of a horror comic.

Count Zheng had always liked saying one thing:

**Every profession has its specialty.**

That was why Count Zheng generally felt completely at ease handing different matters to the Demon Kings.

A leader who insisted on personally handling every detail was not necessarily a good leader.

But a leader who understood how to divide work properly could hardly be too terrible.

And the situation in front of them had landed squarely inside Zheng Fan’s specialty.

Lay out the sequence of events.

The Commandery Princess arrived and entered the residence.

That stimulated Sha Tuo Queshi, apparently giving him an opportunity to emerge from his muddled state and regain a measure of lucidity.

Through the Demon Child—

Sha Tuo Queshi transformed his zombie baleful qi and resentment into mental force.

He then attempted to use a traceless method to demand an explanation from the Commandery Princess.

The problem was that the Commandery Princess’s will was too firm.

Sha Tuo Queshi himself was not skilled in this kind of confrontation.

If the deadlock continued, then not only could the Demon Child and Sha Tuo Queshi both end up in danger there was even the possibility of the attack being reversed onto them.

So what they needed now was an operator.

Someone skilled in this field.

Someone to whom the Demon Child would willingly hand over both power and control.

The answer was extremely simple.

And unique.

There was only one person.

Zheng Fan.

The Blind Man stood and walked to Zheng Fan’s side.

He placed one hand against Zheng Fan’s forehead.

“Anything else you want to say first, Master?” the Blind Man asked.

Siniang scolded coquettishly:

“Blind Man, can’t you say something more auspicious?”

The Blind Man retorted:

“What, you want me to flatter Master and say success is guaranteed the moment he takes the field?

“We’re family.

“Why jinx ourselves by praising too hard?

“Wouldn’t reverse-jinxing be safer?”

Siniang suddenly felt the Blind Man made a surprising amount of sense.

Zheng Fan said:

“You should trim your nails.

“You’ve eaten so many oranges they’re turning yellow.”

The Blind Man smiled.

“This subordinate understands.”

Then, the Blind Man’s mental force began attempting to enter Zheng Fan’s consciousness.

Zheng Fan deliberately opened his mind, allowing the Blind Man to form a mental connection with him.

This was a connection even deeper than their ordinary Mental Link.

It allowed their consciousnesses to overlap more tightly.

After all anything involving the mind was absolute technical work.

There could be no carelessness.

Once the connection stabilized, the Blind Man once again attempted to touch the mental force radiating from the Demon Child.

Zheng Fan had often heard the phrase **stream of consciousness** in his previous life.

Now he finally experienced what a true stream of consciousness felt like.

It was as though his body had dissolved into flowing water and he was being swept along by the current.

When that current touched another river the other side immediately displayed a clear sense of rejection.

That was the Demon Child reacting to the Blind Man’s mental force approaching again.

The little bastard was currently having his true stone body gripped by Sha Tuo Queshi while the Blind Man had been strolling in and out as though watching a show.

But very quickly the Demon Child detected another consciousness wrapped inside the Blind Man’s mental force.

One he knew extremely well.

The resistance vanished.

...

*Hummm!*

Zheng Fan appeared inside the neighboring room.

The Blind Man stood beside him.

The Blind Man was still dressed in his hoodie.

Zheng Fan wore a hospital gown.

“This is incredible.

“It feels exactly real.”

Zheng Fan spoke with genuine amazement.

This was an extraordinarily realistic dream.

And there was none of the muddled haze ordinary dreams possessed.

“Master, we don’t have much time.

“The reason this illusion is this realistic is not only because of the Demon Child’s strength.

“Sha Tuo Queshi’s power is also supporting it.

“The situation before us is simple.

“Sha Tuo Queshi chose the method he is least skilled at to demand an explanation from the Commandery Princess.

“It is like two armies confronting one another.

“If the Commandery Princess remains unmoved, then Sha Tuo Queshi will eventually collapse from attacking without success.

“If the Commandery Princess possesses some artifact capable of controlling or influencing mental force—then when Sha Tuo Queshi collapses, there is a good chance the other side will exploit the opening and launch a counterattack.”

“What would happen if they counterattack?”

“There is a concept called reverse implantation.

“It is somewhat like a hypnotist putting you under, then using the opportunity to implant suggestions deep inside your mind.

“A little like turning someone into a puppet.”

“I understand.”

Zheng Fan prepared to go into the adjoining room.

The Blind Man grabbed his arm.

“Master.

“Your face.”

Even inside a dream they still needed to conceal their identities.

Only then did Zheng Fan notice the difference in their clothing.

The Blind Man’s hoodie looked quite stylish.

But himself?

Why was he wearing this?

Apparently seeing through Zheng Fan’s thought, the Blind Man directly explained:

“This is the form Master’s consciousness took when you entered.

“It can be changed.”

“Oh.”

Zheng Fan reached out.

He tore a strip of cloth from the table covering and wrapped it around his face.

Then, he walked out of the room.

Inside the main bedchamber he saw the scene that had been frozen for a long time.

Sha Tuo Queshi.

Yes.

It truly was Sha Tuo Queshi.

He looked exactly as he had while still alive the man who had muddled along inside Zheng Fan’s unit all day, eating and drinking.

At this moment, his hand was clamped around the Commandery Princess’s throat.

What could be seen very clearly was that the red inside Sha Tuo Queshi’s eyes was becoming deeper and deeper.

The Blind Man walked up behind Zheng Fan and whispered:

“Master, this means Sha Tuo Queshi’s lucid consciousness is gradually fading.

“Liang Cheng is outside, so this subordinate does not know exactly what has changed inside Sha Tuo Queshi.

“Nor do I understand the mechanism behind it.”

“Let’s deal with what’s in front of us first,” Zheng Fan said.

At that moment, the Commandery Princess looked over again.

She saw the man in the hoodie return.

At the same time another thin man appeared beside him, wearing blue-and-white striped clothing with his face covered.

The form Zheng Fan’s consciousness had assumed was the way he looked before euthanasia in his previous life.

Naturally, he looked thin and weak.

“Who—exactly are you?” the Commandery Princess asked.

Zheng Fan silently retreated.

He went straight back into the neighboring room.

The Blind Man followed immediately.

The Commandery Princess could only watch the two strange men appear leave then appear again.

Inside the neighboring room—

Zheng Fan removed the cloth covering his face.

He sat beside the small round table.

The Blind Man sat next to him and reminded him:

“Master, the next thing you need to do is first communicate with the Demon Child and have him hand the power and control over to you.

“Then communicate with Sha Tuo Queshi.”

Zheng Fan raised one hand.

He signaled for the Blind Man to stop talking.

Then, Zheng Fan drew in a deep breath.

Rubbed both hands over his face.

And said:

“None of that is the problem.

“Let me find the right state first.

“And don’t give me advice.

“I have my own method and rhythm.”

“Yes, Master.”

Zheng Fan rolled his wrist.

Then reached out his fingers naturally assuming the posture of holding a pen.

It was an old habit.

Ever since he was a student, whenever he needed to think, he instinctively wanted to spin a pen.

The Blind Man understood.

He reached into the center of the small round tea table and picked up a silver chopstick.

Then stuffed it into Master’s hand.

The silver chopsticks were meant for picking up dried fruits and little snacks.

A coiled dragon was carved into the upper section.

Peonies had been engraved below.

The workmanship was exquisite.

But this was not actually an object that existed inside Count Pingye Residence.

The residence itself might have been cleverly and tastefully laid out.

But when it came to tiny details like this come on.

Who used chopsticks to eat dried fruit in his own home?

Much less silver ones.

Only genuinely refined households households wealthy enough to drown in luxury would bother paying attention to such tiny details.

Which meant the Commandery Princess’s consciousness had begun manifesting inside the illusion.

This chopstick was one of those details.

Just as a leaking house always developed fine cracks before water truly came through.

Moreover the silver chopstick’s carving was extremely detailed and precise.

That showed the Commandery Princess’s own current condition.

She remained extraordinarily calm.

Zheng Fan spun the chopstick between the fingers of his right hand.

His left fingers tapped lightly against the tabletop.

The Blind Man asked quietly:

“Master, anything else you need?”

“Background music.”

“Very well.”

The Blind Man reached out.

He picked up two more chopsticks.

Then rearranged the bowls, cups, and teapot across the round table.

Apparently he intended to turn the tableware into percussion instruments.

Very thoughtfully the Blind Man even asked:

“Which song, Master?”

“*Lilac Flower*.”

“All right.

“What mode?”

“Single-track loop.”

“Understood.”

Dark currents surged next door.

But the two men inside this room still maintained an absurd dedication to ritual and atmosphere.

The Blind Man began tapping the rims of bowls with the chopsticks.

The melody emerged.

Zheng Fan spun his “pen” while listening for a while.

Then smiled.

“Turn on the original vocals.”

The Blind Man began singing:

“You said your favorite flower was lilac...”

Zheng Fan closed his eyes in satisfaction.

Then, snapped his fingers.

“Demon Child.

“Hand it over.”

*Pa!*

In an instant the sky went dark.

...

An illusion was a form of expressing consciousness.

Like pigments carelessly piled together then rearranged by the hand of a painter until an exquisite landscape emerged.

The Demon Child would obey Zheng Fan’s orders.

Once Zheng Fan sensed his own consciousness beginning to expand he spoke again:

“Old Sha.

“Give it to me.

“At the very least—let me do something for you.”

Zheng Fan did not know whether Sha Tuo Queshi could hear him.

But regardless he did not believe Sha Tuo Queshi would refuse.

It was a strange sort of certainty.

Because Zheng Fan trusted that Sha Tuo Queshi would never reject any request he made.

The Demon Kings had often joked in earlier years that Master had gone out and recognized himself a godfather.

Later almost nobody made that joke anymore.

Because this godfather had truly been dependable.

Sure enough the moment Zheng Fan finished speaking another force began pouring into and supporting his consciousness.

In that instant—

Zheng Fan went from a passing visitor who had entered merely to look around into the painter who could pick up the brush and freely reshape the entire illusion.

The sensation was strange.

Yet familiar.

It felt as though he had returned to his previous life sitting behind his worktable and thinking through storyboards while constructing a scene.

Only this time he had exactly one reader.

The moment Zheng Fan took hold of the “brush,” he could clearly feel the exhaustion and heaviness flowing through it.

One could blame Sha Tuo Queshi for choosing this method.

If Zheng Fan had not happened to possess the ability to rescue the situation—

Sha Tuo Queshi’s ending might have been miserable beyond words.

But Zheng Fan could not bring himself to criticize the man even slightly.

Not even a trace of resentment felt permissible.

Because Sha Tuo Queshi knew perfectly well simply erupting from his coffin and directly trying to kill the Commandery Princess would have been far easier.

He had not done that because he feared implicating Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan lifted his head.

In reality he no longer possessed a head.

Nor a body.

Before him was only chaos.

The only thing remaining at his ears was the Blind Man’s weathered voice humming the melody of *Lilac Flower*.

Now he could begin.

Zheng Fan’s consciousness crossed the room.

He looked into the neighboring chamber.

The room he had previously occupied was already turning indistinct.

Next door—

Sha Tuo Queshi still held the Commandery Princess by the throat.

“Darkness.”

Zheng Fan spoke.

No sound emerged.

His voice was will.

His will was command.

Within this tiny world of consciousness there was almost a sense that words themselves became law.

*Hummm!*

In an instant absolute darkness descended.

Pure black.

A black so complete that it devoured every trace of light and every other color.

The Commandery Princess fell back to the ground.

The bedchamber disappeared.

The former Left Guli King gripping her throat disappeared as well.

All around her only profound darkness remained.

An unfamiliar sensation began coiling around the Commandery Princess’s heart.

Even so, she still did not activate the Heart-Guarding Jade Pendant.

She did not activate the Pixiu Fang Anklet around her ankle.

Nor did she call to the two Qi Refiners outside—

Da Hu and Er Hu.

She was a proud woman.

And a confident woman.

Perhaps her pride and confidence drove both Little Sixth and Count Zheng half insane.

But no one could deny she was not merely some second-generation wastrel acting recklessly because of her birth.

One fact alone proved that.

She had managed to make the Sixth Prince cry tears of pure grievance.

Zheng Fan watched her.

She seemed to be searching for him as well.

“The defenses of the mind are like a fortress.

“The cleverest way to break one—is still to open a breach from the inside.”

Zheng Fan muttered to himself.

Perhaps he was deliberately speaking so the Blind Man could hear.

Though the Blind Man most likely could not.

It did not matter.

Treat it as talking to himself.

Speaking aloud helped organize his thoughts.

“I don’t understand the Commandery Princess very well.

“Counting yesterday, I’ve only met her three times.

“Most of what I know about her comes from rumors outside.

“The effect of an illusion depends on resonance.

“First, you need to create a setting that lets the target emotionally enter the scene.

“Truth mixed with falsehood.

“Falsehood mixed with truth.

“There has to be immersion.

“Otherwise there is no effect at all.

“I’ve been to the Marquis of Zhenbei Residence.

“I once walked around it with Little Sixth too.

“That should be the place where the Commandery Princess spent the longest and most familiar part of her life.

“So the opening setting—can be the Marquis of Zhenbei Residence.

“But the background is dead.

“This woman may miss home after years away.

“She may think about home while lying in bed at night.

“But homesickness is only entertainment before sleep for someone like her.

“It will never make her lose herself or throw her mind into chaos.

“So once the setting is chosen—

“I still need to find the crack in her heart.

“And that—is why I turned everything black in the beginning.

“I’ll let her tell me herself.

“What exactly is the crack inside her heart?

“What—is she afraid of?”

Darkness.

Long endless darkness.

Inside absolute black time feels extraordinarily long.

Eventually the very concept of time begins to blur.

At that moment, Zheng Fan silently began reducing the darkness.

A little lighter.

A little paler.

Gradually a gray region began to form.

Yet black remained the dominant color surrounding everything.

At first, the Commandery Princess kept turning her body, scanning the surroundings.

Slowly she stopped.

She merely stood there.

Apparently waiting as well.

Zheng Fan knew he did not have much time.

But he remained methodical.

Little by little he continued adjusting the tones.

At the same time he began adding faint traces of light and shadow.

The light flickered.

The gray appeared in irregular patches, indistinct and uncertain.

The dominant color remained black.

“Tell me.

“Tell me.

“Tell me.

“What exactly is the crack inside your heart?

“What—are you truly afraid of?”

The moving light swept across the black and gray.

Within the field of vision vague gray shadows seemed to appear.

These lights and shadows possessed no specific shape.

They were like clouds a teacher might point out to children in the sky:

*Look, that one looks like this.*

*And now that one looks like that.*

In truth, the image depended entirely upon what your own mind supplied.

This atmosphere.

This environment.

Absolute silence.

The transition from black toward lighter shades was itself a process of moving the heart from tension toward relaxation.

“Huu...”

Zheng Fan seemed to be standing directly beside the Commandery Princess.

He looked where she looked.

Tried as much as possible to touch the rhythm inside her heart.

*You truly are excellent.*

*But you are not Tian Wujing—*

*the kind of man who could exterminate his own household, forcibly suppress his inner demons afterward, and even rise another level in cultivation.*

*Nor are you the Emperor of Yan—*

*the kind of man willing to treat his own children as pieces to knead, sacrifice, and discard for the sake of imperial ambition.*

*Perhaps in another twenty years.*

*Thirty.*

*Forty.*

*Once you are old—*

*you may become like them.*

*But right now—*

*you are still too young.*

Zheng Fan believed he would get the result he wanted.

No matter how confident you were.

No matter how willful.

His routine ran deeper.

You were not escaping it.

Finally there was a reaction.

The Commandery Princess’s eyes slowly narrowed.

She saw a small figure appear ahead.

Running toward her.

Opening both arms.

Calling to her again and again with the pure, innocent voice of a child:

“Elder Sister...

“Elder Sister...

“Elder Sister...”

But no joy appeared on the Commandery Princess’s face.

No tenderness.

Nothing that should have belonged to an elder sister in this moment.

Instead disgust.

Rejection.

Fear.

Facing the small figure drawing closer and closer she even instinctively took two steps backward.

Beside her almost overlapping completely with her body—

Zheng Fan remained standing where he was.

The Commandery Princess could not see him.

Or rather he did not truly exist.

He turned his head.

Looked toward the Commandery Princess who had already retreated behind him.

Surprise appeared on his face.

Then, an amused smile.

He murmured:

“Interesting.

“What she fears—is actually her own little brother.”

————

[End of Chapter 408]