Humans and Demons

The tree spirit took another half step back.

Liu Jin saw it. He had already retracted the ribbon, and the blue and yellow flames were slowly swirling around his fingertips. He was planning to try a new starting stance for his next move. But the moment he saw the tree demon retreat, he retracted the ribbon.

"Big brother, she looks like she's trying to run away!"

Before Zhao Fengnian could finish speaking, a dark blue flame suddenly erupted from Liu Jin's body. This was the third level of the Reverse Life Triple Transformation, complete Qi transformation. His skin changed from a normal complexion to a translucent pale white, then from pale white to a blazing dark blue, and under the moonlight, he transformed into a human form woven from flames and pure Qi.

There were no facial features, no hair, no clothes, only the pure, burning outline of a "human." The temperature inside the main hall soared, and the accumulated dust on the Buddha statue was whipped up by the heat wave, swirling in the air. Zhao Fengnian staggered back several steps, his back slamming against a pillar. Scales automatically appeared to protect him, but he was still forced to squint by the heat.

The tree spirit retreated as well. She had never seen anything like it before. She had seen fire spirits before; there were fire spirits in the mountains, shaped like red snakes, with a lifespan of no more than a hundred years and no intelligence. But this one was not a fire spirit.

His flames were cold, not in temperature, but in nature. They did not radiate heat outward, but rather converged inward. All light and heat were firmly locked within their outlines, not a single trace leaking out.

This is hardly the control that a spirit or monster could possess. It is clearly the embodiment of some higher-level law.

But she was, after all, an ancient demon who had lived for thousands of years. From an ordinary locust tree to where she is today, she had seen countless cultivators, spirits, and ghosts, among whom there were some who could transform into flames.

Flames that become spirits are born of nature and nurtured by the earth; even if they cultivate to their ultimate form, they are nothing more than another kind of spirit or monster. She thought she had seen through it all.

"You..." The tree spirit's voice was no longer like the clanging of metal, but rather dry and hoarse. "What exactly are you? A fire spirit? No, you're not a spirit. You don't have any demonic aura."

She stared intently at Liu Jin's completely transformed Qi form, and suddenly understood something, a look of disbelief flashing in her pupils.

"What did you steal? No, you didn't steal anything. You cultivated it yourself. You integrated a certain law of fire from heaven and earth into your own origin. You refined it into the foundation of your Dao!"

Liu Jin did not answer.

The tree demon gritted its teeth and suddenly raised its voice, its tone becoming more urgent: "Since you are also a demon, why do you stand up for those mortals? What good does it do you to kill my maid and destroy my Lanruo Temple?"

We are both demons, we should be of one mind, why must we fight each other? What do you want? Tell me, this forest, this temple, even the entire city of Jinhua, as long as you ask, with our combined strength, what can't we get? What exactly do you want?

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: ①⓪①ⓚⓚⓢ.ⓒⓞⓜ]

Liu Jin was silent for a moment, then spoke. His voice, now fully transformed into Qi, had an added echo, as if it came from the bottom of a very deep well, deep and clear.

"Slaying demons and eliminating evil spirits."

The tree spirit was stunned. She wondered if she had misheard. A person who had cultivated himself into flames stood in the territory of the demon race, exuding an aura more monstrous than any demon, and then solemnly declared that he was going to slay demons and eliminate evil.

"You slay demons and monsters? Who do you think you are? With all that fire around you, how are you human?" Her face contorted for a moment, then she suddenly threw her head back and laughed, her sharp laughter shaking the roof tiles.

"I understand. You're neither human nor demon, neither ghost nor immortal, yet you still consider yourself human. You help mortals slay demons, but will they be grateful to you? No."

They'll discover your true form sooner or later, and then you'll be the monster they call you. You have no place among humans, nor among demons. You think you're righteous? Do you think the righteous path will recognize you?

Her laughter echoed through the hall for a long time. When the laughter finally subsided, her eyes changed; she was no longer the furious tree spirit she had been moments before, but an old monster who had lived for a thousand years and seen it all. Her voice deepened, carrying the certainty of someone who had been through it all.

"Only demons are allowed to transform into humans, but humans are not allowed to transform into demons. A demon transforming into a human is cultivation, shedding its original form and moving closer to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth; a human transforming into a demon is also cultivation, discarding its mortal body and moving closer to a more powerful force. What is the essential difference?"

Today you think you're human, slaying demons for others; but people won't see you as human, they'll only see you as a more terrifying demon. Just wait. One day, those mortals behind you will point peach wood swords at you, asking if you're human or demon. Even then, the gates of the demon realm will still be open.

Liu Jin was silent for a moment. It wasn't that he was persuaded, but rather that these words truly reminded him that this world was different from the Republic of China era.

In the Republican era, he was in the Sanyi Sect, surrounded by Zuo Ruotong, Lu Jin, and Li Muxuan, and no one questioned his background.

Because he was originally human, and he cultivated humanistic techniques. But this world is different. This is Liaozhai, with City Gods, the Underworld, and the Heavenly Court, where all kinds of gods and ghosts have their own rules.

He used pure fire power when fighting the tree demon, which was not noticeable to outsiders; but if he were to encounter a high-level cultivator in this world in the future, once he revealed the third level of the Reverse Life Triple Transformation, he would be completely transformed into Qi.

The line between humans and demons becomes blurred. To outsiders, his completely transformed Qi form is indeed no different from a demon transformation.

Unless you can win, don't go all out in front of others.

"Are you finished?" Liu Jin asked, his voice still calm.

The tree spirit's face froze. She didn't get the reaction she expected—no hesitation, no wavering, no stopping. There was only a flat, indifferent question, as if she had just listened to a bunch of meaningless nonsense.

Her fingers, hidden in her sleeve, twitched slightly. Deep beneath the main hall, a root as thin as a hair was silently spreading into the distance. It was her last resort to save her life. A wisp of her primordial spirit was attached to the root. As long as this root could break through the boundaries of Lanruo Temple, she could be reborn in another mountain forest.

With a flick of his blue flame ribbon, Liu Jin incinerated the escaped root and the primordial spirit attached to it into nothingness. Then his figure vanished from the spot, and the next instant, a burning hand was already pressed against the tree demon's chest.

This time it wasn't a ribbon, nor a fireball, but the palm of his hand. Samadhi Fire surged from his palm, pouring into the tree demon's body. It burned everything, returning it to its original state.

The tree demon's body began to disintegrate—not by burning, not by exploding, but by crumbling. Its dark green robe was the first to turn to ashes, followed by its skin, flesh, meridians, and bones, and finally, the chaotic core of demonic energy deep within its dantian.

A thousand years of cultivation was as thin as paper before the Samadhi True Fire. Her phoenix eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to say something, but even her voice was swallowed by the flames.

In less than three breaths, a tree demon that had cultivated for a thousand years was reduced to a pile of remains. These remains did not completely disappear like the female ghost before.

The tree demon was, after all, an ancient demon with a history of thousands of years. Its physical body was burned away by the Samadhi True Fire, but some of the parts with the deepest cultivation and the densest texture remained.

These remnants were scattered on the floor of the main hall, numbering seven or eight pieces of varying sizes, from the size of a human head to the size of a finger joint. Their surfaces were covered with fine textures left by the flames, and their colors ranged from dark brown to dark green. Under the moonlight, they gleamed with a faint, dim light and exuded an extremely strong woody aura.