Chapter 304: Battle with Inner Demon

In fact, when Gu Mo heard Ye Chen's dream, he suspected it might be a Heart Demon, because the actions of the woman Ye Chen encountered in his dream were clearly an attempt to lure and invade Ye Chen's martial will.

However, in the end, 'Qiuniang' was caught off guard.

After painstakingly attempting to infiltrate through martial arts, it turned out Ye Chen's martial arts were utterly nonsensical. There was no need to deliberately create flaws; they were all flaws, which effectively meant there were no flaws.

Then came seduction, but Ye Chen was only fit to discuss philosophy.

A Heart Demon is a high-level, genderless entity that can transform its form at will, appearing male, female, or even half-male, half-female. When it transforms into a human, it possesses human senses; when it transforms into a beast, it has animal senses.

Therefore, when the Heart Demon was provoking Ye Chen, it actually felt sensations itself. So, at the crucial moment, Ye Chen's actions broke its composure.

It's truly not the Heart Demon's fault; anyone in that situation would have been caught off guard.

However,

Gu Mo now largely understood Ye Chen's current destiny, which was 'misfortune being what good fortune relies upon, and good fortune being what misfortune lies hidden within.' In simpler terms, it meant turning misfortune into blessing and encountering peril in good times.

For instance, regarding the clay figurine incident, Ye Chen suffered terribly, but he turned misfortune into blessing and even benefited from the disaster afterwards. Because he was pulled into the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror, allowing his primordial spirit to separate from his body, he unexpectedly glimpsed a sliver of opportunity for the Ascension Realm.

After that, his luck soared, and he casually acquired several treasure maps. Then, as prosperity brought peril, he encountered the Heart Demon. But again, he turned misfortune into blessing; although he faced an insurmountable Heart Demon, he surprisingly managed to break its composure, and still, nothing major went wrong.

Gu Mo was deeply moved.

It was destined for Ye Chen to have good fortune. Originally, Ye Chen losing his 'Son of Fortune' abilities after meeting Gu Mo seemed like a bad thing, but in reality, he indirectly gained a new lease on life.

According to Ye Chen's initial trajectory, his continuous good fortune would have hidden his bad luck. When that bad luck inevitably erupted one day, his good fortune would be completely suppressed, and not even a celestial king could have saved Ye Chen then.

But now, for every bit of good fortune, there was a bit of bad luck. As good fortune increased, so did bad luck; as bad luck increased, so did good fortune, forming a balanced state.

This destiny made him a born 'danger-attractor' capable of navigating peril.

Danger would certainly seek him out, but it would never be absolute peril. In the end, he would even gain a little.

Based on Ye Chen's destiny and his experiences, Gu Mo largely guessed he had encountered a Heart Demon. Given the Heart Demon's nature, even though its composure was broken last night, allowing Ye Chen to narrowly escape, it would certainly not give up so easily.

Back then, at Mount Longhu, Gu Mo had encountered a Heart Demon. It had continuously pestered him in various forms, eventually even resorting to theories of divinity and humanity. It only left after Gu Mo saw through its tricks and fought it off.

Unless Ye Chen also possessed the strength Gu Mo had at Mount Longhu back then, he would not be able to escape the Heart Demon.

Gu Mo was able to get rid of the Heart Demon back then purely because his physical body had first reached the Ascension Realm. This happened to be a point of restraint for the Heart Demon's abilities: while Heart Demons could suppress primordial spirits, they were almost powerless against physical bodies.

Therefore, after Gu Mo saw through the Heart Demon at that time, the Heart Demon could not pull Gu Mo's primordial spirit from his Ascension Realm physical body. Ultimately, it could only temporarily give up.

Ye Chen, however, had clearly not reached the realm of physical ascension.

The Heart Demon would certainly not leave.

Indeed, Gu Mo had not guessed wrong; the Heart Demon was still hidden within Ye Chen's consciousness, biding its time.

Had Gu Mo not enlightened Ye Chen, Ye Chen's self-awareness alone would certainly not have been enough to break the Heart Demon's schemes. Left unchecked, his will would eventually be invaded by the Heart Demon, and on the day of his ascension, he would not be able to escape the Heart Demon's grasp.

At this moment, within the dream, both time and space were frozen.

The little Qingmei, transformed by the Heart Demon, stared at Gu Mo. Suddenly, its demeanor drastically changed; with the same gaze and appearance, it now inexplicably exuded an aura of immense pressure.

Gu Mo slowly said, "It seems the main body's consciousness has come online!"

Although the Heart Demon didn't understand the meaning of 'online,' by combining it with Gu Mo's full sentence, it naturally grasped Gu Mo's meaning. It slowly said, "Gu Mo, we haven't seen each other in what feels like two days... Well, according to human perception, it's roughly two years. You've grown quite fast in these 'two days'."

Gu Mo said in a deep voice, "For the past two years, I've constantly been thinking about how to kill you. Before, I couldn't figure out a way. It wasn't until a little over a month ago, when someone told me that the laws of the world cannot be killed but can be restrained, that I finally understood: to deal with you, I must find your weakness."

The Heart Demon smiled and said, "So, you're provoking me now because you think you've found it?"

"Let's try it," Gu Mo said. "You cannot directly harm a physical body because you have no physical form. Therefore, you always invade people's wills in the form of dreams. This can be understood as you being a virtual entity. Since that's the case, let's fight virtual with virtual!"

The Heart Demon chuckled, "You are quite right, but you've made a fatal mistake. You've become too arrogant. Since you know that I can only attack primordial spirits and cannot harm physical bodies, why didn't you honestly hide within your physical body, as you did back at Mount Longhu? In that case, I truly couldn't touch you. But now your primordial spirit has left your body and entered Ye Chen's dream. Do you think your dream manipulation abilities are stronger than mine?"

Gu Mo slightly shook his head and said, "My dream manipulation abilities are certainly inferior to yours; this is your specialty. However, you are merely a clone here. Although your consciousness here is your main body's, your energy is still only that of a clone!"

The Heart Demon gently shook its head and chuckled, "That's why I said you've become arrogant. However, it's understandable. With both your physical body and primordial spirit having ascended, you are truly the foremost person in the world. Yet, being merely the foremost in the world, you don't comprehend the vastness beyond the heavens!"

"Always the same talk," Gu Mo chuckled and said. "Since I began my journey, I've encountered too many people who've said such things to me. The outcome, without exception, has always been their death by my hand. Heart Demon, you will be no exception!"

As soon as Gu Mo finished speaking, he directly slapped the 'Heart Demon' on the head. Instantly, the Heart Demon's head burst open like a watermelon.

At this moment,

The dream, which had just been frozen, began to move again.

In the eyes of the young Ye Chen, lying on the ground, Gu Mo had first slapped little Qingmei's head, making it spin, and now, with another slap, completely shattered it.

In a daze,

Gu Mo replaced the bandit leader in this nightmare, becoming the worst nightmare in Ye Chen's heart.

"Ah!"

The young Ye Chen, who had been overwhelmed by fear, erupted at this moment. He picked up a stone from the ground and charged towards Gu Mo.

Gu Mo, at this moment, within this dream, his strength was equal to Ye Chen's.

Because this was Ye Chen's nightmare, it was originally created by the Heart Demon to invade Ye Chen's will, intending to deceive him into believing he had already overcome the nightmare. Then, on the day of his ascension, when he truly needed to conquer the nightmare, it would replicate and simulate the original true situation, where the young Ye Chen's strength was a hundred times inferior to the bandit leader's, making victory impossible.

And if, at the crucial moment of ascension, he encountered the true nightmare, his will would surely collapse.

Thus, the current dream was a trap, a false nightmare forcibly created by the Heart Demon. In this nightmare, the bandit leader's strength was equal to Ye Chen's.

And now,

Gu Mo appeared in the dream, replacing the bandit leader to become the new false nightmare. His strength, naturally, became identical to Ye Chen's.

The battle between the young Ye Chen and Gu Mo,

essentially became a battle between the Heart Demon and Gu Mo.

The Heart Demon wanted Ye Chen to defeat Gu Mo, while Gu Mo wanted to defeat Ye Chen.

At this moment,

Watching the young Ye Chen charge forward, Gu Mo suddenly picked up little Qingmei's corpse from the ground and said coldly, "Drop the stone, or I'll have your little Qingmei's body chopped up and fed to dogs. And your parents, your siblings... all of them will suffer a fate worse than death!"

The enraged young Ye Chen instantly calmed down.

"Drop it,"

Gu Mo roared, his voice icy cold and piercing, carrying a cruel, undeniable sense of control.

He held little Qingmei's mangled corpse in his hand, his gaze like one looking down on ants.

This sudden threat was far more effective than any blade to the throat.

His rage extinguished as if doused with ice water, the young Ye Chen froze, his charge abruptly halted.

His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the small body in Gu Mo's hand. The hand gripping the stone trembled violently, his knuckles turning white, but he could no longer take another step forward.

"Drop it!"

Gu Mo roared again, his voice like a heavy hammer striking Ye Chen's heart.

"Clang!"

The blood-stained stone slipped from the young Ye Chen's hand, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

The fury in his eyes was replaced by immense fear and helplessness. His body hunched slightly, his shoulders shaking, as he let out suppressed, animal-like whimpers.

When the impulse brought by anger and hatred vanished in an instant,

the boy was just a boy again.

Gu Mo walked over, picked up the stone, and directly smashed it down onto the young Ye Chen's head.

In an instant,

Blood splattered. The young Ye Chen collapsed to the ground, his head buzzing. Gu Mo then swung the stone, smashing him madly. Soon, the young Ye Chen was a bloody mess and motionless.

At this moment,

the dream began to blur and collapse.

The Heart Demon reappeared, saying in a deep voice, "You used such a despicable method! That's an unfair victory!"

"Do I need to fight Ye Chen?"

"Aren't you afraid this will cause him to never have a chance to break this nightmare again? Once he breaks through in the future, he's bound to become a demon..."

Gu Mo said exasperatedly, "If I kill you, there will be no Heart Demons in the world. Will this damn nightmare still have any effect?"

The Heart Demon paused slightly, then said, "Alright, alright, so you think you've got me completely cornered, which is why you dare to do this. You'll regret it. Ye Chen will die by your hand."

"Oh, you're overthinking it," Gu Mo said. "It doesn't matter if I can't kill you. If Ye Chen becomes a demon, then he becomes a demon; it's fine. That guy is incredibly resilient!"

Heart Demon: "..."

At this moment, the dream fragmented and dispersed like shattered glass, transforming into specks of light, and instantly vanished into the depths of Ye Chen's confused consciousness.

Meanwhile, the Heart Demon's main body's will, along with its clone, disappeared in that instant. As if pulled by invisible threads, it instantly withdrew from this rapidly collapsing sea of consciousness, returning to its unknowable origin.

However, just as the Heart Demon clone was about to cross the boundary between illusion and reality,

Gu Mo's primordial spirit also instantly returned.

In reality, inside Ye Chen's room at the Honglu Temple.

Gu Mo's tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open. Immediately, he quickly took out the ancient Buddha relic from the pouch at his waist.

Almost at the same instant, Gu Mo activated the Qi of Laws, instantly piercing the relic's core. He precisely captured, stripped away, and forcefully activated the wisp of primordial Qi originating from the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror, which was hidden within!

It was not a torrential flow of power, but a faint yet incredibly resilient, peculiar aura.

As soon as it was activated, it resonated wonderfully with Gu Mo's will.

"Ooom—!"

Gu Mo's martial domain—the black and white world symbolizing the cycle of yin and yang, and the boundary of life and death—unfurled with unprecedented speed!

It no longer targeted individuals, but instantly enveloped the entire area of the Honglu Temple!

Houses, walls, furniture, and even dust particles floating in the air, were all forcibly dragged into this black and white absolute domain at this moment.

Space solidified, and time lagged.

The Heart Demon clone had just exited Ye Chen's sea of consciousness and was about to cross spatial dimensions to return to its main body, but it seemed to have crashed into an invisible yet incredibly tenacious spiderweb!

"Hmm?"

The Heart Demon's main body's will let out a cold snort, tinged with surprise and uncertainty, yet still heavy with contempt. "Run out of tricks? A mere domain thinks it can trap me? Wishful thinking!"

The Heart Demon was a life-form beyond ascension, and even as a mere clone now, it far surpassed mortal power. Naturally, it would not be constrained by a martial domain.

The black and white spatial barrier, under the impact of its will, couldn't even hold for a moment and emitted a sound of overwhelmed cracking!

"Pop!"

The domain barrier was forcibly pierced through!

The Heart Demon clone instantly vanished into the void.

However—

What the Heart Demon clone didn't know was that, at this moment, in the Honglu Temple, a mirror-like light screen appeared before Gu Mo, reflecting all of its movements as it headed towards its main body.

In reality, this Heart Demon clone had merely entered the mirror world created by the primordial Qi of the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror. Gu Mo had extended the primordial Qi of the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror beyond his domain, so the moment the Heart Demon clone broke through the domain, it entered the mirror world.

Everything it was currently experiencing and seeing was merely a reflection in its consciousness from the moment it entered the mirror world.

At this moment,

The Heart Demon clone instantly tore through space and headed east, arriving in a city named Wutong City.

But, in that very instant,

the Heart Demon clone suddenly detected an anomaly. It abruptly let out a sound: "The power of the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror... Gu Mo, do you really think that just because your physical body ascended, I can't do anything to you? My main body will be waiting for you in Wutong City to meet your death..."

As soon as it finished speaking, that wisp of will actually self-erased itself. Only a wisp of unconscious demonic Qi remained of the clone, staying within the primordial Qi of the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror.

Gu Mo once again placed the primordial Qi of Reincarnation back into the ancient Buddha relic, creating an 'egg within an egg within an egg' arrangement: the relic enveloped the primordial Qi of the Wheel of Reincarnation Mirror, which in turn enveloped the Heart Demon's demonic Qi.

Just then,

Ye Chen, who was lying on the ground, woke up. He painfully stood up, clutching his head, then sat on a stool and said, "Big Brother, did you just hit me? My head hurts!"

"That's not important," Gu Mo said. "What's important is that I've resolved a hidden danger for you."

"Resolved it?" Ye Chen asked, looking bewildered. "I did just have a dream, but, Big Brother, I dreamt that you hit me, and even killed me! Big Brother, I'm a little scared just looking at you now!"

"Oh, it's nothing. Maybe you're just more respectful of me now; you'll get used to it," Gu Mo said.

"Oh, is that so!"

"Do you know about Wutong City?" Gu Mo asked.

"Never heard of it."

Gu Mo nodded slightly and said, "Alright, you should rest now. I'm leaving."

"Big Brother!"

Ye Chen suddenly stood up and called out.

"What is it?" Gu Mo asked, puzzled.

Ye Chen awkwardly stammered, "It's just, it's... well, it's... that Great Tonic Pill you mentioned..."

Gu Mo raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't worry, it'll guarantee your problem is solved. You can come get the medicine from me this afternoon!"

"Once a Big Brother, always a Big Brother!"

After leaving Ye Chen's room, Gu Mo did not leave the Honglu Temple. Instead, he went to the Secretariat Office to inquire about Wutong City.

Based on the speed and time perception of the Heart Demon clone he saw in the mirror world, it must have already left the territory of the Qian Kingdom. The Honglu Temple was primarily the court institution responsible for foreign relations, so it would certainly be most knowledgeable about other countries' territories.

Although it was the Grand Ceremony for the Establishment of the Crown Prince today, no more than five people from the Honglu Temple were qualified to attend the ceremony. This naturally did not include the Head of the Secretariat Office.

Upon learning that Gu Mo had personally arrived, the Head of the Secretariat came out to greet him in person. The Head, whose surname was Lin, was an old man around sixty years old.

Gu Mo went straight to the point and said, "Head Lin, I came today to ask for some information. Does your Honglu Temple have any records of a Wutong City located east of the Qian Kingdom?"

Head Lin quickly replied, "Indeed there is, Great Hero Gu. Do you wish to know about Wutong City?"

Gu Mo asked, "To which country does Wutong City belong?"

Head Lin poured Gu Mo a cup of tea and said, "Wutong City belongs to Northern Zhou, and it is the capital of Northern Zhou."

Gu Mo was a little puzzled and asked, "Isn't the capital of Northern Zhou Baiyi City?"

Gu Mo knew about Northern Zhou. It was a neighboring country of Qian and considered one of its vassal states, maintaining close ties with Qian.

Earlier, when Gu Mo first came to Chang'an City, Emperor Qian was still vying for power with Empress Dowager Yan. To replenish his private coffers, he signed trade agreements with three neighboring countries, and Northern Zhou was one of them.

However, it was well-known that Northern Zhou's capital was Baiyi City.

Head Lin explained, "Ah, Great Hero Gu, you may not know this, but as of last year, the capital of Northern Zhou was still Baiyi City. However, late last year, a rebellion broke out in Northern Zhou. The rebels stormed Baiyi City, looting and burning. Ultimately, Baiyi City was reduced to ruins.

The Emperor of Northern Zhou, along with his entire court, abandoned the city and fled before Baiyi City was breached. They eventually took refuge in Wutong City. The reason Wutong City was chosen was because it is surrounded by water on three sides, providing a natural stronghold as protection."

Gu Mo nodded and said, "I see."

Head Lin asked, "Great Hero Gu, are you perhaps heading to Wutong City?"

Gu Mo nodded slightly.

Head Lin quickly said, "Great Hero Gu, your martial prowess is unmatched, so you need not worry about the ongoing warfare in Northern Zhou. However, if you're going there for business, it might not be very convenient at this time. This is because Northern Zhou is currently in great chaos, with no proper governance or order among the populace. Many areas don't even have an official administration."

"Thank you for the guidance," Gu Mo said, cupping his hands in respect.

"Oh, by the way," Head Lin said. "If Great Hero Gu needs a guide, you can seek out the Imperial Merchant Yun family. This Yun family is our imperial merchant responsible for trade between the Great Qian and Northern Zhou. They have been traveling in and out of Northern Zhou for a long time. Even this time, when the Northern Zhou court sent an envoy to attend our Great Qian's ceremony, it was the Yun family who escorted them. Otherwise, their envoy might not have even been able to safely reach the Great Qian."

Gu Mo asked, "The Yun family, is that the Yun family from Cangzhou?"

Head Lin nodded and said, "That's the one. I heard that Yun Xiu, the head of the Yun family, is an old acquaintance of yours."

Gu Mo nodded.

Northern Zhou, Wutong City.

In a dark place, a shadowy figure was drifting aimlessly. It was the Heart Demon's main body.

"Primordial Qi of Reincarnation... No wonder it dared to be so arrogant..."

Slowly, the Heart Demon transformed into a human and spoke, "Master Chen, have you prepared that item you mentioned that can help me kill Gu Mo? Gu Mo is coming for me. He possesses an Ascension Realm physical body, and my demonic Qi alone cannot kill him."

Meanwhile,

In the imperial city of the Chu Kingdom, within a peculiar spatial valley.

Master Chen and Master Qiu were sitting on stones in the stream, playing chess. A shadowy figure emerged from the flowing stream beside them. It was the Heart Demon clone.

Master Chen, holding a chess piece in one hand, said, "Don't worry, Heart Demon. My brother Qiu and I are not joking about this. After learning a few days ago why you couldn't kill Gu Mo, we have already found that item. Even an Ascension Realm physical body can be killed!"

The Heart Demon clone asked, "What exactly is that item of yours? There's no need for suspense now, is there?"

Master Chen smiled slightly and said, "Dragon scales!"