Inner Devil

For each night at the Inn, a guest was allotted a bucket of cold water.

After taking a bath, Xu An felt much more refreshed. Despite the many scars on his body, he could feel himself brimming with more energy than ever before.

When he descended to the lobby, the place was indeed much livelier than before.

Not only was there a youthful face behind the counter alongside the old man, but there were also a few younger guests out in the front.

The old Innkeeper was rubbing his hands together and a smile brighter than the sun illuminated his face.

When he saw Xu An, he quickly beckoned him over.

"You little brat, you've really hidden yourself quite well, ahm. But how could it be so easy to deceive this old man's gaze?" The old man started with a light chuckle.

He looked Xu An up and down, and after a moment of silence, took a deep breath. 

After the events of the last few days, and after taking a good glance at all these newcomers that had suddenly flooded the city, the old man could tell that they were not ordinary folk.

"Are you also here to deal with the runaway Demon of the North?" He asked in a hushed whisper.

Although at first he hadn't felt anything strange about this scarfaced youth, now it was a completely different story.

Just by standing next to Xu An, he could instinctively feel a faint lack of breath.

Xu An had barely raised an eyebrow when the old man continued. "Others may not know, but this old man is different!" He spoke again with eyes as wide as a full moon.

He then coughed and his face displayed a trace of sadness. "More than 60 winters ago, something similar happened. At that time, I was still a youthful fool and due to my ignorance, I allowed my only child to get involved with a demonic cultivator, thinking only of the high 'rewards'." Reaching here, the old man only shook his head.

"That evil fiend is long dead, but to this day my heart still bleeds with an unending sense of hatred." He looked at all the youthful faces in the Inn. He knew that despite being immortal practitioners, these people were most likely still very young.

He silently wondered how many would fall by the hands of that old demon. "I hate him, but I hate myself even more for having been such a fool." He said in a bitter tone.

Xu An looked at him with a calm smile. He couldn't care less about this person's tragic backstory. Instead, he asked what was on his mind. "This so-called Demon of the North, what sort of heinous crime did he commit?"

"You don't know?" The old man looked at him strangely.

Had he been wrong? He couldn't help but doubt his own judgment for a second.

However, he still replied with a serious look. "It is said that a fortnight or so ago, this demon appeared deep in the surrounding northern mountains."

"His name isn't yet known but his deeds…eheh." He took another strange glance at Xu An. Was this kid probing him for information?

However, he only knew what had been released by the city officials two days ago.

"That person is said to have slaughtered and burned an entire village near the wildlands of the north. Not even a chicken or a dog was left with a drop of blood."

"A mountainous village near the wildlands of the north?" Xu An raised another eyebrow. That reminded him of 'home'.

"Yes, yes." The old man quickly nodded before narrowing his eyes.

"Now… If that was it, then although that person would've incurred the wrath of all the powers in this region, that would've still been it."

"Immortals killing mortals, those are simple matters to the big folk."

"However, that demonic cultivator ran into the bad luck of wiping out the family of a core disciple from the Five Elements Sect."

"The Five Elements Sect is one of our Northern region's grand immortal factions."

"As for what happened next… Well, I'm sure you can deduce the rest…"

After hesitating for a while he whispered once again. "60 years ago, more than a hundred immortal masters fell before they managed to slay the demon who took my family. He slaughtered mortals and immortals alike."

"Young friend, if you're not ready to get burned don't jump near the pot." After that, he walked to the side and turned toward a customer with a bright smile.

Xu An quietly mulled over this piece of news, and after listening in around the tables for a while, he quietly stepped out of the Inn.

The sky was dark and most of the stars were hidden by a pitch-black layer of clouds.

He felt like this was the perfect time to explore more of this city.

As he walked through the streets, he felt the silence to be slightly eerie.

There was barely anyone braving through the cobblestone roads, and most of the shops and restaurants had been left in silent darkness.

As he turned toward the main road, he saw a few posters glued to the walls.

The moment his gaze fell upon the figure depicted in the posters, his feet came to a sudden halt.

Looking at the rough edges on the drawing, and following the smoother lines in between, Xu An felt his blood run cold.

He immediately reached forth and ripped the poster from the wall, before bringing it closer to his eyes.

Underneath the drawing, he could see the characters for his own name - Xu An. What's more, right below the name, there was a title that read - Demon of the North.

There was a bounty for any type of information related to him, at about 100 spirit stones per valid clue or rumor.

Although Xu An had never seen a spirit stone before, from the things he had read so far, he knew that they were very important to immortal cultivators.

However none of that was important right now.

"Demon of the North? What sort of nonsense…" He was still muttering when his gaze suddenly widened.

He remembered what the old Innkeeper told him before, and his expression immediately darkened.

Something dark immediately clicked in his mind and he smiled. "Mei Xueyin, to think you went as far as slaughtering the entire place…"

"Is this to save some face or did you truly care about those two?"

Mei Xueyin… For as long as he knew her, she had always felt foreign to the world.

The perfect young miss of the grand Mei Family.

The day she left the village was also the day when his family was slaughtered by that person.

It was only later that Xu An found out that she had joined an immortal sect, but to the him of the past, that didn't mean much.

"Well, I did kill your grandfather and sister, so let's consider this a fair exchange."

Back when he made the choice of killing the old man, he had already prepared himself for this type of situation. The timing had just left him a bit surprised. 

"Did she have a way to keep track of their situation?" This thought left him feeling a bit helpless. In the end, his own foundation in this world was still too shallow.

"In the future, I'll have to be more careful…" The safest place was no place at all, but that wasn't possible for the time being.

Luckily recent events had slightly altered his appearance, plus, the last time that girl laid eyes on him was a couple of years ago. She had likely gotten his current appearance from the villager's descriptions.

Unless…

Unless there was a way to search through one's memories…

His eyes suddenly grew narrow. He felt that this was the most likely case.

Those unlucky villagers were probably used and disposed of as easily as breathing. And, even if she didn't have a method to search through their minds, he would still assume she did.

Xu An also had no doubts that Mei Xuyin had completely eradicated the entire village to leave no loose ends behind. This way her story would be the truth, and that was it.

He would've done the same in her place, perhaps even worse.

He reached out to his long hair and slightly narrowed his eyes. 

The time was just right for a little trimming. Perhaps, he could even try to go bald and etch a few more scars to his face.

After returning to the Inn, Xu An was a bit surprised by the fact that those newcomers were still drinking and chatting in the lobby.

There was even a duo of burly fellows who were particularly loud.

But these people… Although they all wore sets of leather and low quality cloth, he could still tell that they were far from ordinary.

Especially those two muscular brutes.

They gave him the sense of two large trees whose crowns overlooked the entire world.

Perhaps these two were very close to taking that first step and achieving the first stage of the mortal severance realm.

Not wishing to attract any more trouble, he kept his pace toward the hallway but…

"Hey, you…!"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"Right, right, you, the thin fellow with the ugly scar on his face."

"Hm?" Xu An turned toward the burly duo. Inwardly cursing his own bad luck.

The one who had barked at him had long hair and a palm-sized goatee. He wore nothing above the waist, except for a pair of silvery wristbands. 

The other one stayed quiet, with his eyes fixed on the plate full of food. He was bald and slightly chubby. What's more, Xu An could tell that when standing, this man would easily reach past 2 meters in height.

The moment the man with the goatee saw Xu An's gaze settling on him, he immediately smiled.

"Junior, come and have a drink with this big brother. Tell me, which great sect do you hail from? I don't remember seeing your face within the servant's mountain of my Five Elements sect." As he spoke, the lobby of the inn seemed to tremble in tandem with the tone of his voice.

"Tell me, what's your surname?"