The True Inner Demon

The foot Lin Qingyan planted on Gu Chengyin's chest did not apply any real force.

It merely rested lightly against his Danzhong acupoint, the pressure controlled with exquisite precision.

It was enough to make him feel oppressed and suffocated, but not enough to actually damage his meridians.

Her long hair cascaded like a waterfall, a few strands brushing across Gu Chengyin's cheek, carrying a faint, cold fragrance.

Lin Qingyan looked down at Gu Chengyin. In her eyes, there was no anger, no humiliation, not even a trace of emotion.

There was only an almost divine indifference.

Gu Chengyin lay on the ground, his muscles still twitching slightly from the residual power of the lightning.

Yet, he did not open his mouth to admit fault, nor did he beg for mercy. He did not even furrow his brow.

He simply kept his eyes open, looking up at Lin Qingyan who was looking down at him, gazing at that breathtakingly beautiful face.

Lin Qingyan's fingertips twitched slightly inside her sleeve.

She was waiting for Gu Chengyin to admit his mistake, waiting for a look of submission in his eyes, waiting for a posture of surrender.

Just like all the cultivators she had seen before, who would lower their heads before the oppressive aura of a Golden Core master, abandoning all resistance in the face of an absolute gap in power.

But Gu Chengyin did not.

He merely looked at her, his gaze tranquil.

Lin Qingyan's brow furrowed slightly.

She suddenly realized she might have made a mistake.

A very serious mistake.

She had treated Gu Chengyin like an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, like one of those ants who would not even dare to lift their heads under her pressure.

But was Gu Chengyin an ordinary person?

No.

He was the same kind of person as Luo Zhao's late mother, her older sister, the Empress.

And this kind of person was the least susceptible to pressure.

This realization made Lin Qingyan's heart skip a beat.

It was not fear, but a more complex emotion.

Vigilance? Excitement? Or anticipation?

Lin Qingyan did not know.

But she knew that the foot resting on Gu Chengyin's chest should press down with a bit more force.

She should completely seal his true qi and spiritual energy, rendering him without even the strength to speak.

But Lin Qingyan hesitated.

Hesitated for half a breath.

And it was this half a breath that gave Gu Chengyin an opportunity.

Gu Chengyin's lips did not move.

He did not even mobilize a single trace of true qi, did not make a single sound, did not make any movement that would arouse Lin Qingyan's vigilance.

Instead, in his mind, facing the system interface that only he could see, he issued a command.

Come out.

Just as Lin Qingyan began to wonder if she had shocked him too hard and fried Gu Chengyin's brain.

A sudden change occurred.

Lin Qingyan's sea of consciousness exploded.

The inner demon she had suppressed so fiercely suddenly rioted without warning.

Like a dormant volcano suddenly erupting, a sealed beast suddenly awakening, a dam collapsing under the impact of a flood.

That power surged up from the very bottom of her sea of consciousness.

Violent, chaotic, filled with primal desires and obsessions.

It crashed against the mental barriers Lin Qingyan had meticulously constructed, tearing at the sealing chains forged from her Dao heart.

Attempting to break through the restraints and seize dominance over this body.

It was her inner demon!

Her true inner demon!

It was the trauma left by Empress Lin's early death, the almost morbid craving for familial affection, the accumulated exhaustion and loneliness.

It was the desire buried deep beneath her aloof exterior, one that even she did not dare to look at directly.

It was supposed to be firmly suppressed!

But now, the inner demon was rioting.

This was impossible!

Lin Qingyan's pupils suddenly contracted.

Golden lightning frantically circulated in the depths of her eyes, a sign that the Nine Heavens Lightning Attraction Art was being forcefully activated.

Her breathing became erratic, shifting from once per breath to three times, her chest heaving violently, and the foot resting on Gu Chengyin's chest began to tremble.

Lin Qingyan tried to divert a portion of her spiritual energy to suppress the inner demon.

But the inner demon's resistance was too fierce.

Like a vicious beast imprisoned for a hundred years that finally caught the scent of freedom, it recklessly battered against its cage.

Every impact caused her soul to shudder violently; her sea of consciousness felt as though it were being repeatedly struck by a heavy hammer, and her vision darkened in waves.

Mmph...

A muffled groan escaped from Lin Qingyan's throat.

Gu Chengyin lay on the ground, looking at Lin Qingyan's bloodless face, looking at the trace of scarlet seeping from her tightly bitten lower lip, looking at the golden light in her eyes flickering erratically like a candle in the wind.

The command Come out was not given to Lin Qingyan, but to that hypnotized inner demon.

The system's rule was simple: the hypnotized subject must obey commands.

Lin Qingyan's current behavior fully proved it.

Her inner demon was still under Gu Chengyin's control.

Therefore, when Gu Chengyin issued the command, the inner demon had to come out, had to rebel, had to cause trouble for Lin Qingyan.

Even if Lin Qingyan was a Golden Core cultivator.

Even if her cultivation base was stronger than the inner demon.

But to Gu Chengyin's command, the inner demon had to offer absolute obedience.

Lin Qingyan finally understood.

When the inner demon violently crashed against the seal for the third time, she finally understood what was happening.

It was not an accident, was not a coincidence, was not the inner demon suddenly going mad.

It was Gu Chengyin.

It was Gu Chengyin, whom she was stepping on, who had done something to trigger this riot.

This realization left her both shocked and furious.

Shocked because Gu Chengyin could actually influence her inner demon, which meant his control was far deeper than she had imagined.

Furious because she had actually felt soft-hearted toward him just a moment ago, had actually hesitated, had actually... not stomped him to death!

But it was too late to say anything now.

The inner demon's resistance grew increasingly violent, frantically crashing against her sea of consciousness.

Lin Qingyan had to concentrate all her divine sense to suppress it, to construct new barriers, to repair the damaged seals.

This meant her perception and defense against the outside world dropped to their absolute lowest.

How low?

So low that even an ordinary person could easily approach her, so low that she could not even maintain her most basic protective spiritual energy.

So low that... she became a weak woman without the strength to truss a chicken.

Fine cold sweat seeped from Lin Qingyan's forehead.

The beads of sweat slid down her pale cheeks, gathered at her jaw, and then dripped down.

Dripping right onto the center of Gu Chengyin's brow, icy cold.

Lin Qingyan tried to step back, tried to withdraw her foot from Gu Chengyin's chest.

But just as she lifted it an inch, the inner demon launched another violent assault.

Lin Qingyan's body swayed, nearly losing her footing.

The lifted foot fell weakly, stepping limply onto the floorboards.

She stumbled backward two steps, her back crashing into the round table behind her.

A teacup on the table knocked over with a clatter, spilling cold tea all over the floor.

The moonlight shone on Lin Qingyan's pale face, on the cold sweat upon her forehead.

It shone on the almost uncontrollable scarlet in her eyes, a sign that the inner demon was about to take dominance.

Lin Qingyan raised her hand with difficulty, gripping the edge of the table, and then she looked at Gu Chengyin.

Looking at this man who had already sat up from the ground and was now methodically brushing the dust off his body.

Their eyes met.

This time, Gu Chengyin's eyes no longer held their previous tranquility.

Replaced by... amusement? Scrutiny? Or some other emotion?

Lin Qingyan could not see through it.

She could only see that Gu Chengyin stood up.