Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 8 - Chapter 8 – The Mysterious Incense Burner

After Li Yu took the initiative to strike, Chen Ming, possessed by the female ghost, fell into a passive position, taking blows without any ability to fight back.

Li Yu noticed that although the oppressive presence of the female ghost was strong, she didn’t seem to have any powerful techniques. After possessing Chen Ming, his strength had increased somewhat, but this strength was not enough to overwhelm; with a little skill, he could easily manipulate him at will.

The female ghost inside Chen Ming was getting anxious. After all, possession required spiritual power. Once her power was drained, she would be no match for these three cultivators.

She had originally thought that by choosing the strongest among the four, it would be easy to deal with the other three. Unexpectedly, the truly formidable one was this pretty-faced guy.

She made a quick decision and abandoned the possessed body, transforming into a white shadow that lunged toward Li Yu.

The white shadow moved extremely fast. Li Yu suddenly felt a chill enter his body and thought to himself, “This is bad,” quickly circulating his spiritual power to resist the ghost’s possession.

But to his puzzlement, after the white shadow entered his body, he felt nothing except the chill.

Li Yu carefully checked his entire body but found no abnormalities.

Strange—where was the ghost?

He looked around but didn’t see the female ghost, only Jiang Li and Sister Zhou watching him with worry and fear.

As Li Yu shifted his footing, Jiang Li condensed a fireball in his hand and, glaring at Li Yu, gritted his teeth, saying, “You—let Li Yu go quickly, or I’ll die with you…”

Zhou Zixuan stood by Jiang Li’s side, guarding against any sudden attack from Li Yu.

Li Yu shrugged and said, “It’s me. I haven’t been possessed.”

Jiang Li clenched his teeth angrily, “You still want to lie to me? I saw it with my own eyes!”

“I really am Li Yu.”

“I don’t believe you. What proof do you have?”

“You have a mole on the left side of your butt…”

“Alright, I believe you now…”

“…”

Possession didn’t transfer memories. Jiang Li hurried forward, covering Li Yu’s mouth as he examined him up and down, surprised: “You weren’t possessed? What about that female ghost?”

Li Yu shook his head: “Maybe the possession failed, and her soul dispersed.”

The female ghost had clearly lunged at him, but then vanished without a trace, like evaporating into thin air. Li Yu was baffled but certain the ghost was not inside him.

He looked down at his chest, deep in thought.

When the ghost collided with him, it seemed as if a warm current had surged through his chest—and then the ghost disappeared.

Glancing at Chen Ming lying unconscious and completely limp on the ground, Li Yu said to Jiang Li and Sister Zhou, “You two take care of Chen Ming. I’ll go back to my room to recuperate…”

Then he walked back to his room and closed the door.

Quickly approaching the bed, Li Yu took off his outer robe and inner garment. When he looked at his chest, he was immediately stunned.

On the front of his chest, a faint mark was glowing softly.

The glow flickered several times, then completely vanished.

Li Yu had noticed this mark before when he took a bath, but hadn’t thought much of it, assuming it was a birthmark from this body. Now, recalling carefully, it seemed the original Li Yu did not have this birthmark on his chest.

In other words, this mark had appeared only after he transmigrated here.

The mark was less than half the size of a palm and looked like an incense burner—a spherical body with three sturdy legs at the bottom.

Li Yu stared at the mark, finding it increasingly familiar. Soon, he realized that the mark on his chest was exactly the same as the ancient jade pendant he used to wear on his chest in his previous life…

That jade had been worn since childhood and shattered completely when he died from a bullet wound. But now in this life, a similar mark had appeared on his chest.

Li Yu developed a feeling that his second life might be connected to that jade.

The evil ghost that just tried to possess him also seemed to have been drawn into this mark.

Cautiously, Li Yu sent out a thread of spiritual power, guiding it to the incense burner mark on his chest. The moment his power touched the mark, it was immediately sucked in by a pulling force. At the same time, Li Yu’s consciousness suddenly sank into another space.

All around him was a vast expanse of white mist, but directly ahead stood a towering incense burner about several feet tall. Its appearance was very similar to the mark on his chest, only much larger.

The burner was engraved with countless intricate patterns. On its belly was a Yin-Yang twin fish symbol, and the ancient characters “乾坤” (“Qián Kūn” — meaning “Heaven and Earth”) were inscribed.

This incense burner was not intact—it was covered with countless cracks, some large ones running across the entire surface, as if it could collapse into a pile of shards at any moment.

Even knowing this was a world of cultivation, this scene shocked Li Yu deeply.

However, his consciousness soon blurred and he returned to the real world, where only the faintly flickering incense burner mark on his chest remained to prove that what he had just experienced was not a dream.

Li Yu sent spiritual power into the mark again and re-entered the previous realm.

After trying multiple times, he found the incense burner was a bottomless pit: no matter how much spiritual power he poured in, it was swallowed up entirely. He still had no idea what the incense burner was actually for.

However, he did understand how that female ghost had died.

Ghosts are different from normal people—they only have spiritual forms, no physical bodies. And spiritual forms are purely Yin energy. Essentially, Yin energy, like spiritual power, is a form of energy. This incense burner could absorb energy, so the ghost trying to possess Li Yu was essentially walking into a trap.

Qián Kūn Furnace.

Since the incense burner bore those two characters, Li Yu decided to call it that for now. Although he did not yet know its true purpose, the fact that it prevented ghostly entities from approaching made it a protective talisman for him. Without it, he might have already been controlled by the female ghost, and Jiang Li and Sister Zhou wouldn’t have escaped either.

Creak…

The door was pushed open, and a figure entered. Li Yu didn’t need to look to know who it was—the only person who entered his room without knocking, besides the demoness, was Jiang Li.

Jiang Li saw Li Yu’s bare upper body and was momentarily stunned before quickly coming over and asking with concern, “Are you okay?”

Li Yu put on his clothes and said, “I’m fine.”

Jiang Li asked curiously, “Since when did you become so good at fighting?”

Li Yu replied, “I practiced secretly. I originally planned to use it against Chen Ming, and this time it just came in handy…”

Jiang Li looked at Li Yu. They had spent every day together for two years, yet it was only today that he realized there were things about Li Yu he didn’t understand. The current Li Yu gave off a strange, unfamiliar vibe.

The Li Yu who just fought the female ghost-possessed Chen Ming was completely unknown to him.

The old Li Yu never treated the female disciples of Baiyun Temple with anything less than politeness, but today, his attitude toward Sister Zhou was very different.

Thinking of this, Jiang Li suddenly asked, “Li Yu, can I ask you something?”

Li Yu answered casually, “Go ahead.”

Jiang Li was silent for a moment, then cautiously asked, “Do you like Senior Sister Zhou?”

Without hesitation, Li Yu said, “Of course. Who wouldn’t like someone pretty, with a nice figure? Besides, she’s kind-hearted…”

At the doorway, Zhou Zixuan had already stepped in with one foot, looking down at her own body’s curves, her face slightly flushed. She felt caught in a dilemma, neither able to come in fully nor retreat.

After speaking, Li Yu suddenly realized something and looked at Jiang Li, asking, “You like Senior Sister Zhou too?”

Jiang Li waved his hand dismissively and said, “No way…”

Li Yu looked at him, suddenly showed a defensive look, and said vigilantly: “What’s wrong with Senior Sister Zhou? You don’t dislike women, do you? I’m telling you, even though we’re close, don’t get any ideas…”

Jiang Li rolled his eyes at him contemptuously, “Hah, I’m the future emperor of Jiang. I can get any woman I want. Eventually, I’ll have three palaces and six harems full of beauties for you to envy…”

Only then did Li Yu relax, hooking his arm around Jiang Li’s shoulder and saying, “Don’t forget the promise you made to me. When the time comes, just give me some kind of prince title and ten or eight beauties, that’ll do…”

Having already realized how difficult the path of cultivation was, this was Li Yu’s backup plan: if he couldn’t make it in the cultivation world, he’d live a carefree life as a worldly prince.

After all, cultivators’ lives weren’t short. With good care during the Qi Refining stage, one could live over a hundred years. If lucky enough to establish a foundation, living over two hundred years wasn’t a dream.

After a light cough, Zhou Zixuan walked in from outside and gratefully said to Li Yu, “Junior Brother Li, I really owe you. If it weren’t for you, I probably…”

She didn’t continue. Without Li Yu, no one present tonight would have escaped. The consequences would have been unthinkable.

Li Yu smiled and said, “Senior Sister Zhou, you’re too polite. Among fellow disciples, we should take care of each other. Besides, you usually take good care of us, so it’s only right…”

Zhou Zixuan’s cheeks flushed slightly. She usually took care of Li Yu and Jiang Li simply because they were handsome—who doesn’t like handsome little junior brothers?

This time, she was even more grateful for her decision.

Though taking them down the mountain was just for fun, no one expected this seemingly ordinary mission to hide such danger. If not for Li Yu, she might have lost her life.

Zhou Zixuan said earnestly, “No matter what, you saved my life. If you ever need anything in the future, just ask. Senior Sister will never refuse…”