Chapter 40: Heart Demon Realm Little Girl

The little girl's tears froze on her face. She raised her head, her expression cold and indifferent.

"Who's your junior sister?" Ning Xiaoling asked furiously. "You owe me new clothes!"

Ning Changjiu said, "Come back with me, and I'll pay for them."

Ning Xiaoling pulled her wrist free from his grasp and said, "You rotten liar, all scholars are liars..."

As she spoke, she threw a heavy punch. It landed on Ning Changjiu's chest, sending him flying into the snow. With a soft thump, snow scattered, and his body sank into the drift.

Ning Changjiu pulled himself out of the snowdrift, his expression showing no anger or dizziness, but rather a hint of relief.

Ning Xiaoling, however, was stunned. She stared at her hand, wondering where such strength had come from, and felt a moment of bewilderment.

She looked at the young man in white, opened her mouth as if to speak, but then hesitated.

Just then, a childish voice suddenly came from behind: "Sister, you're here!"

Both looked in the direction of the voice. Not far behind them stood the poor girl who had earlier been fetching water with a bucket, waving to Ning Xiaoling.

She seemed to have run all the way, her chest heaving, still a little out of breath.

"Sister, you dropped something. I looked for you for a long time... Hey, Sister, why do you look different?" The little girl held out a small bead, which seemed to be an ornament from a waist sash.

Ning Xiaoling's eyes flickered, and she immediately ducked under the table, as if not wanting anyone to see her in her old padded jacket.

Ning Changjiu said softly, "Give that to me, and I'll pass it on to her for you."

The little girl uttered an "Oh," then puzzled, asked, "What's wrong with Sister? Did you bully her?"

Ning Changjiu took the pierced pearl from her hand and said, "Xiaoling is fine. You can go back now; I'll take care of her."

"Xiaoling?" The little girl's face registered complete shock. "I... I'm also called Xiaoling!"

Ning Changjiu glanced at her but said nothing. He suddenly turned sideways, extended his arm, and chopped downward with his palm.

The moment Ning Changjiu attacked, the slightly dark-skinned girl arched her back slightly, leaned her entire body backward, pushed off with her calves and tiptoes, and retreated several yards.

She stared at Ning Changjiu's indifferent face, her expression unreadable.

"How did you know?" she asked.

Ning Changjiu looked at her calmly and said, "When I first saw you, I suspected you were Ning Xiaoling. After all, I had never seen her as a child, and apart from being small and thin, you didn't resemble her in any other way. You did that very well. This is an illusion, after all, which paradoxically increased your credibility as Ning Xiaoling. And yes, I was indeed fooled at first."

Ning Changjiu paused, then continued, "I suspected you were my junior sister, so I drove away those who bullied you and fetched water for you. But I couldn't be sure, so I decided to walk through this entire city first."

The girl asked, puzzled, "What then? How could you assume the person in that sedan chair was her? That's impossible!"

Ning Changjiu replied, "Yes, even though she's only seven, her features are strikingly similar to my junior sister's, as if cast from the same mold. But I knew that the more alike something appears, the more likely it is to be false. This was the direction you wanted me to think, fearing I might forget you, which is why you appeared again later, standing in front of her."

The little girl nodded lightly and said, "According to the typical mindset of cultivators, the more similar something is, the more likely it's a false front. The truth always has another layer beyond what the eyes can see. Don't you agree?"

Ning Changjiu shook his head and said, "Truth is simply truth; it doesn't change because something tries to conceal it. Besides..."

Ning Changjiu looked behind him, at the angry yet timid eyes hiding under the table, and smiled slightly. "Furthermore, deep down, my junior sister wanted me to find her. That's why she agreed when I invited her to walk with me, and we came all the way here. Even if you are the master of this illusion, you cannot change that."

The little girl took a deep breath and stood ramrod straight. The impoverished and stubborn aura she had previously vanished instantly. Faint wisps of black smoke began to emerge from her pupils, long hair, and sleeves, coiling around her like venomous snakes, hissing with their poisonous tongues.

"Who exactly are you? This is her inner demon tribulation. How did you manage to enter, and by what means?" the little girl asked coldly.

Ning Changjiu replied, "Just a minor skill from my sect, nothing worth mentioning."

The little girl tilted her head, looked him up and down, and shook her head gently. "I've never seen you before. You shouldn't have reached the Purple Court Realm yet, to be able to use such methods... Could you be at the peak of the Longevity Realm? If so, we might meet again in a few years."

Ning Changjiu shook his head and said, "In a few more days, I should barely be able to enter the Profound Realm."

The little girl, an incarnation of the inner demon, thought she had misheard and said coldly, "What did you say? Do you know how many prodigies among cultivators I've seen? Do you think you can fool me?"

Ning Changjiu smiled and asked, "Do you enjoy chatting this much with other cultivators?"

The little girl snorted coldly and said, "Those involved are often deluded. Most who undergo the inner demon tribulation never even get a chance to realize who I am."

This time, Ning Changjiu frowned. "Who... exactly are you?"

Ning Changjiu involuntarily recalled the scene from his previous life when he had undergone his inner demon tribulation...

During his own inner demon tribulation, he simply slashed wildly, killing everything he could. In less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he emerged, only to find the heavenly tribulation lightning gone. Instead, his Second Senior Brother was standing there, knife on his shoulder, smiling at him and remarking that the lightning Ning Changjiu had attracted was so pure, it was perfect for tempering his blade.

His own breakthrough back then had been so straightforward, with no little girl chatting with him...

The little girl rolled her eyes at him, seemingly too disdainful to introduce herself, as if doing so would lower her status.

Ning Changjiu thought for a moment, then guessed, "Are you the administrator of this inner demon realm?"

The little girl looked at him with a hint of surprise, then nodded. "You know that? Yes, I am the master here, and helping cultivators break through is my duty."

Ning Changjiu asked, surprised, "The inner demon tribulation... is it a realm, with a guardian master?"

"Of course," the little girl nodded without hesitation. "Young people these days are getting more and more powerful. The number of breakthroughs has doubled compared to a century ago, and sometimes I really can't keep up. After all, for each one, I have to create a personalized inner demon tribulation based on their mindset and past, just like this city..."

The little girl's gaze swept around. She spread her arms, her face filled with pride. "This city is my masterpiece! It can cleverly change its layout, adapting to almost any small city in this world except for imperial capitals. I just make minor repairs and adjustments each time. It's already been used for fifty-eight cultivators' tribulations. Impressive, isn't it?"

Ning Changjiu found this very interesting and pressed on, "So you can see every cultivator's memories?"

The little girl nodded as if it were obvious. "The minds of those undergoing tribulation are transparent to me."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Can you see my past, then?"

The little girl shook her head. "You're not undergoing tribulation. When you do, I can show you, but I'm afraid I might forget. How about we use a code phrase then? Hmm..."

Seeing her deep in thought, Ning Changjiu suggested, "Behold tonight's lantern feast at the pavilion?"

This was the first line of the song the woman had just sung in the Rouge Pavilion.

The little girl, of course, knew it. She recalled the graceful singing girl she had created, smiled, and finished the line: "Filled with beautiful couples and joyous times."

Ning Changjiu still had a question in mind: "Do you treat every cultivator undergoing tribulation equally?"

The little girl seemed to recall something sad and said, "I used to adjust the difficulty based on their past. For the truly wicked, I naturally hoped they'd go mad during the inner demon tribulation. But then... about five hundred years ago, when I had just taken over from the previous administrator and was new to the job, I encountered an utterly heinous person, the worst of the worst. I set up the most difficult inner demon tribulation ever for him, with eighteen intricate layers. Yet, he still managed to break through, and I knew deep down that anyone who survived such a tribulation would become very, very terrifying."

Ning Changjiu nodded. "That became his opportunity instead."

The little girl's face fell, and she said helplessly, "Later, in another cultivator's memory, I learned of the evil deeds that devil had committed. They said five people of the same realm couldn't even kill him when they ganged up... And all of it was my fault. So after that, I started treating everyone equally."

Ning Changjiu felt his mood lighten. "I never expected the master of the inner demon tribulation realm to be such a cute little girl."

The little girl crossed her arms and looked at him with disdain. "This isn't my true form. Here, I can transform into anything."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Have you talked to others like this before?"

The little girl thought for a moment. "There haven't been too few like you, fiercely protective and forcing their way into tribulations. In these past five hundred years, perhaps ten or so. Mostly it's masters protecting their disciples. Those young disciples are indeed weak, and breaking through on their own is very difficult. Although children who are helped through their tribulation usually don't achieve great heights later, a stable Purple Court Realm is still a big happy event for human sects, isn't it? Of course, no matter how weak they are, they are not as weak as your junior sister."

The little girl looked at the young girl hiding under the table, clicking her tongue in wonder. "I truly don't understand how someone so weak managed to break into the Purple Court Realm. If you hadn't been protecting her the whole way, she could have died seven or eight times already."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Are there any other people in your inner demon realm?"

"Others?" The little girl frowned. "Just you... Hmm?"

Her expression changed, then she showed a look of sudden realization. "So that's it, she's possessed... Once this little girl is struck dead by the inner demon tribulation, that consciousness will take over, endure the tribulation for her, and then completely replace her. Not bad, a formidable method. That possessing demon must have been an extraordinary figure in the past."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Can you find him for me?"

The little girl didn't answer directly. She said, "Let me answer your previous question first. Actually, you're the first person I've wanted to communicate directly with in these past five hundred years."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Why?"

The little girl walked over to him, sniffed, and said, "You smell nice. There's a familiar scent about you. Some cultivators carried this scent before, about... six of them? But those six, each one was more abnormal than the last. I hadn't even started talking before they just slashed and disappeared."

Six? Ning Changjiu was astonished.

In his memories from his previous life, he had exactly six senior martial siblings!

Could it be...

"Do you know my master?" Ning Changjiu asked.

The little girl asked, "Your master? Who's that? I don't know anyone from the real world. I was assigned to manage this realm by that heartless shopkeeper the moment I was born."

"The shopkeeper?" Ning Changjiu asked instinctively.

The little girl made a shushing gesture. "You can't talk much about him. If you mention him, he'll hear it, and that wouldn't be good. I don't care, of course, but you might end up with nothing left of your bones. I'm still waiting for you to come through your next tribulation and chat with me. You asked if I could find that monster earlier. The answer is yes, but I won't do it, because the shopkeeper wouldn't be—pleased."

The little girl drew out her words, earnestly warning him.

Ning Changjiu realized he had vaguely touched upon a mysterious and ancient existence. In the past, he had thought inner demon tribulations were merely trials of the heart stemming from one's own mind. He never expected that all those who broke through to the Purple Court Realm would ascend to this very same domain.

This was one of the laws of the Heavenly Dao.

The "shopkeeper" the little girl spoke of was likely an ancient, god-level being akin to the masters of the Twelve Hidden Realms, wielding authority over a certain law, or perhaps even one of the Twelve Divine Lords himself.

But this was clearly not a level he could currently reach.

The little girl complained, "I've told you so much, and you still haven't answered me: How did you see through it?"

Ning Changjiu looked at her body wreathed in black mist and her somewhat cute face, saying, "You know how to set up an illusion, but you still don't quite understand human hearts. This is a dream-like place. The person my junior sister most wishes to become is, of course, that elegant and gentle young lady. How could it be herself?"

Ning Changjiu looked at the little girl and sighed, "That's the person my junior sister truly dreams of becoming."

That was the most beautiful version of herself in her heart, yet it wasn't her actual self.

"I see..." The little girl nodded thoughtfully. She glanced at the sky and said, "It's almost time. I'll send you directly to the most crucial part of the inner demon tribulation. Whether you can break through is up to you."

As she spoke, a cloud of black mist enveloped her. The void shattered like a mirror, and her body vanished instantly. Then, the entire world darkened.