70 is a demon
Ah Mo likes her so much now.
Demon Core?
Ying Jianhua's heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly asked, "What is that?"
Du Zhijin used the brush on the table to outline the shape of the demon core: "It is perfectly round and only appears when the demon dies. Its color depends on the five elements of the demon's power. It is not uncommon for demons to kill each other and seize the demon core."
"I didn't know that ordinary people could inherit demon power after consuming a demon core. According to the rules of our ordinary sect, to prevent demon cores from falling into enemy hands and aiding evil, we usually deal with the demon and the core together without studying them carefully. For example, the demon core of the Illusion Demon was disposed of by Elder Jun, while the demon core of the Flame Demon was shattered by me in Tiger Xue Pool. Within a hundred years, the flowers and plants around Tiger Xue Pool will grow more vigorously than elsewhere."
Her drawing was rough, resembling a string of candied hawthorns. Ying Jian hesitated for a moment, then took the brush and quickly completed the drawing. She exclaimed in surprise, "It looks just like it! Amo, have you seen the demon core?"
He mumbled, "It was just a random drawing. It's written in the book... Do you know what kind of monsters have demon cores? Does the Crimson Tail have one?"
Du Zhijin: "Every demon has one, just like cultivators above the Golden Core stage have a Core Essence within their bodies, and all creatures that have awakened intelligence have a Demon Core. The stronger the demon, the longer the Demon Core lasts. With Xiao Hong's demon power, the Demon Core would probably be gone within half a quarter of an hour of leaving her body."
"If Twelve has consumed a demon core, it would explain why he is as strong as me. But Eleven's level is about the same as his. Could it be that all the Imperial Guards in the entire city of Ya have consumed demon cores?"
After a long pause, there was still no response. Du Zhijin looked up and found him staring blankly at the painting.
Are you scared?
She called out, "Amo?"
Upon hearing the voice, Ying Jianhua snapped back to reality and said apologetically, "What did you just say? Say it again."
“Oh, I suspect that only those with earlier numbers like Twelve have consumed the demon core. The ordinary guards are still within the realm of normal people.” She offered her reasoning, “In three days, I’ve seen Thirty, Thirty-Seven, and Fifty-Two, and after that, they’re all over the hundred. The guards at number one hundred are probably only slightly stronger than ordinary constables, their levels are about the same. Within the hundred, they’re probably ranked by strength, with Fifty-Two being weaker than Thirty, Thirty being weaker than Twelve, and Twelve being slightly weaker than Eleven.”
These past few days, she hadn't truly ignored everything happening around her. Although her cultivation was suppressed, her ability to judge people remained undiminished. Having practiced martial arts for many years, she could tell the skill level of these people with just one glance.
"Moreover, demon cores are not something that can be obtained casually. They are rare. How can Twelve acquire them?"
If Eleven and Twelve exerted their full strength, they could certainly kill a powerful demon. The question is, did they already possess this level of power, or did they acquire it after consuming a demon core?
“If the emperor intends to use demon cores to train a group of guards… perhaps, possessing a demon is for this very purpose,” Ying Jianhua said.
The two looked at the scroll on the table, where Du Zhijin painted the demon core and Ying Jian painted a copy of the ink orchid.
The two orchids are keeping each other company.
————
In order to find out whether only twelve were exceptions or whether the first dozen or so had hidden pains, Du Zhijin spent the whole day working outside.
Only Ying Jianhua remained, a person staring blankly at the painting in the room.
He could barely lift a pen; his mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts.
He clearly recognized the demon core in the painting. It was the very night he sneaked into Prince Chengduan's study to retrieve his mother's belongings.
Ying Jianhua had always believed that the thing his mother asked him to retrieve before she died was the same as the family heirloom in his father's family. Only today did he realize that it was not.
The demon core floating out of the painting was the true keepsake his mother wanted to give him.
Is that strange?
No, everything has a traceable origin. For example, the "pearls" that floated towards him like a dream, the inexplicable ups and downs of his heart on a full moon night, the unheard-of but miraculously effective prescriptions left by his mother, the black robe that could change shape and conceal his aura, and the meaningful look in Old Master Jun's eyes when he saw the jade hairpin.
Mother is a demon.
Did he truly never doubt his own identity? Not at all. It's just that many times, he stopped reading on the page before the answer.
He is deceiving himself.
The demon had an unfinished sentence. It said, "You self-proclaimed righteous bunch, yet you can't even see that those around you are demons?"
The concept he had held for seventeen years was shattered in an instant. At this moment, Ying Jianhua's world began to shake. Everything he knew gradually collapsed and shattered. The familiar yet strange face in the bronze mirror suddenly grew scales and fur.
The teacup shattered on the floor, and scalding tea spilled over the back of his hand, yet he felt no burning pain.
He is not human; he is the child of a human and a demon.
How can I describe my feelings at this moment? After experiencing the initial landslide and tsunami, Ying Jianhua fell into an eerie calm.
A storm raged in his heart, beginning with large raindrops that reminded him of summer days when the three of them would sit by the window listening to the rain as he grew up. Then the rain intensified, mingling with thunder that exploded in his mind. He saw his mother holding his father's cold body, shaking her head and silently telling him not to come any closer.
Later, the rain became so thick it was almost suffocating, and his life was plunged into an endless storm of thunder and rain.
Since he wasn't human, everything he did before was understandable, right? He could have gone even further... Was it enough that Prince Chengduan and his son died? It was just a life for a life, but who should compensate him for all the pain and struggle he'd endured over the years?
Everyone from back then deserved to die.
In an instant, even Ying Jianhua himself didn't notice the bloodshot welling up in his eyes, just like the red moon on the night the phantom demon descended. He gripped the sharp hairpin, a metallic taste rising in his throat.
Suddenly, before the crimson completely engulfed their vision, something floated out from their sleeve.
It was Du Zhijin who painted the cat's face.
She said the cat looked a lot like him.
At that moment, the rain that had been falling on him for seventeen years suddenly stopped.
After the rain, the mountains are tinged with new green, and the rainbow bridge over the water reflects the bright sky.
She once said that the distinction between humans and demons wasn't that important to her. If she could accept Jiangwei, why couldn't she accept him?
As the color faded, Yingjianhua put down the jade hairpin and gasped for breath.
He was so close, so very close, to committing a terrible crime.
He didn't care about karmic retribution; he only cared whether Du Zhijin still wanted him. Not because of laws or divine justice, but simply because she disliked it, he wouldn't do it.
The knot in her heart came and went quickly. By the time Du Zhijin returned after gathering the information, Ying Jianhua had already returned to normal.
No, she still instinctively felt that Ying Jianhua's gaze towards her was different.
More dependent? More attached? There were also some emotions mixed in that she couldn't understand. But none of that mattered. The reason was definitely that she was too capable, so Amo liked her a little more!
So she couldn't wait to share her new discovery, wanting to appear more capable: "I met Eleven. Although she didn't say it directly, judging from her expression, she clearly felt comfortable being near me."
"Then I got some more information out of Twelve. He's like a cat that's eaten thorns now, answering every question I ask, but I'm careful not to give anything away." She quickly added a patch at the end of her sentence, and seeing that Ying Jianhua's eyes were smiling and there was no change in her expression, she continued, "Logically speaking, demons are greatly affected by the full moon, so I specifically asked him what he was doing half a month ago. He said he had been patrolling in Asia City and had hardly ever been on the ground, but it just so happens that the pain was the most unbearable at this time. He and Eleven even had several days when the pain was so bad that they couldn't sleep."
Speaking of this, she couldn't help but recall the scene of Eleven and Twelve flanking her. Eleven was somewhat better; she was more reserved and only secretly tugged at her sleeve. Twelve, on the other hand, was much bolder, clinging to her like a puddle of water, soft and weak.
Although he was thin, he was tall. His head rested against her chest, his arms were around her waist, and his legs were pressed tightly against hers. Du Zhijin felt very uncomfortable and wanted to escape, but thinking that Ying Jianhua had already been in Asia for three days and her hair had lost its luster due to lack of sunlight, she forced herself to endure it.
For the sake of clues, Du Zhijin, you must become the most reliable Daoist partner in the world!
Through her perseverance and endurance, she successfully obtained the intelligence.
Those aged one to twenty all suffer from hidden pain and have varying degrees of "disability".
Heart, spleen, lungs, mouth, ears, eyes, and nose. These twenty people grew up in Atlanta, and none of them remembered their "previous" lives, including their biological parents.
Ying Jianhua said, "Since there are twenty, where are the others? Why have we never seen them?"
She replied, "I asked too. Twelve said that there's a special mission from the 1st to the 10th, and even they rarely see them. As for what the special mission is, Eleven interrupted me."
She sighed, regretting, "I should have asked when I wasn't home for the National Day holiday."
Upon hearing this, Ying Jianhua quickly comforted her, "This information is enough; you don't need to force yourself."
Hehe.
Du Zhijin felt a sweet warmth in his heart upon hearing this.
She really needs to showcase her abilities more; Ah Mo likes her so much now.
She didn't forget the important matter at hand and sensed that Ying Jianhua's words had a hidden meaning.
He picked up a brush dipped in cinnabar and wrote "twenty" near the demon core he had drawn.
"Twenty assassins who altered their mortal bodies through demon cores; a demon who relentlessly forced the emperor to retreat to the dragon vein over three years; and an emperor who began building the city of Asia early on to escape from the outside world."
"And the twin orchids in the painting. The original scroll had the late emperor's brushstrokes, indicating that the painting was first completed by my grandfather, and later my father and the current emperor added their own brushstrokes. The shadows on the scroll are not ordinary fading, but rather the result of the added brushstrokes being scraped off before they were dry."
Du Zhijin nodded. She remembered the shadow; at the time, she thought Amo was just making things up to spread rumors about the Emperor's peril, but she never expected it to be a clue.
Ying Jianhua: "There are two orchids, one large and one small. The smaller one was added by my father later. Try to think about it, under what circumstances would an artist spend more ink on a painting that is already finished?"
“Orchids are living things; they grow.” He had gotten her thinking, and she quickly added, “The smaller one grew from behind!”
During the time of the late emperor and grandfather, there was only one orchid, so there is only one orchid in the painting.
When the current emperor and his father came to power, a new orchid grew, so they added it to the painting.
The mist in the woods suddenly dissipated, and Du Zhijin's thoughts became clearer and clearer: "What are the two orchids implying? Two demons? One demon was killed by the emperor and its demon core was extracted to train assassins. The other demon escaped by chance and came back for revenge many years later... Is that right? But, this is just our deduction, there is no evidence."
Ying Jianhua shook her head: "No, we have evidence. First, this is the only imperial gift my father took with him, and my mother instructed me to keep it safe before she died, which shows how important it is."
"Secondly, the emperor once said that my father and he had a misunderstanding that they never resolved until their deaths, but I don't think it was a misunderstanding. The emperor wanted to kill the demon and take its core, but my father was unwilling."
He looked at himself in the bronze mirror, at the seemingly ordinary appearance beneath his skin.
It carries the blood of a demon.
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