The Sixiang Zhenxiepan were originally used to suppress evil and exorcise demons. Their effect wasn’t as violent as heavenly lightning, but the results were the same. Chujiu rushed into the thunder cloud, through heavenly thunder that Baiju summoned and condensed into a spirit. One would consider this a prime opportunity.
Xiao Yao didn’t expect that Chujiu’s spirituality would be so high. After realising what the little guy was doing, he picked up a shell, enlarged it and threw it under his feet, using a flying sword technique to leave the island, go straight to where Baiju was.
Seeing Xiao Yao coming, Baiju hurriedly greeted him, and stretched out his hand to cast a barrier covering Xiao Yao.
In order to successfully condense Chujiu's spirit, Baiju specially blessed the lightning. At this time, the thick branches of light were flowing like a waterfall between the sky and the glacier. Under the strange silence, the terrible power of this lightning was concealed, and although Baiju knew that his own lightning wouldn't be out of his control, seeing Xiao Yao approaching, he still couldn't help guarding him more securely.
Xiao Yao naturally wouldn't refuse Baiju's kindness, so he stopped in mid-air and let Baiju put the spells on him before he raised his head and squinted his eyes to try to see the looming Chujiu in the thundercloud.
"Will Chujiu be broken?" Xiao Yao was a little worried.
After all, Chujiu was a treasure given by the Practitioners Association, and the association would usually recall the transferred magical instruments every two or three years and carefully repair and bless them. This time, Baiju's enlightenment of Chujiu was already outside expectations, but it was also a good thing. If the rare magic weapon was damaged should Chujiu fail to condense a spirit, the Practitioner's Association knew to come to the Demon Administration Bureau.
The old white dog didn’t know exactly what Xiao Yao was worried about. When he heard him speak, he replied with a warm voice, “It’s okay, don’t worry. Although this little Chujiu is weak in qi, it's spirituality isn't too low. In the few years since it's creation, whenever there was a chance, it has been conscientiously suppressing demons and exorcising evil spirits. At this moment, it has just opened up its mind and its existence is Dao-minded and pure. It is basically a favourite of Heaven and Dao, even if is fails to condense a spirit, this little guy won't be worse off than it is now."
Xiao Yao nodded and glanced up again, "This is the first time I've seen a magical artifact become enlightened...how long does it take?"
Baiju replied confidently, "It won't take too long, a quarter of an hour should be enough."
Xiao Yao felt relieved after understanding the situation, and looked down at the glacier floating on the sea, "Bai'ge, why didn't this lightning break the glacier?"
Baiju rubbed his forehead when he heard the question. Then he stretched his hand over to Xiao Yao and prepared to land on the ice, explaining, "Ah...I forgot to tell you about the demon technique. You might need to understand this, it should be useful. Come on, let's pick the fish off the ice. This thing is not affected by the thunder, there's no danger."
As Baiju spoke, he smoothly drew a sign in the air and cut out a strange fish wrapped in ice, "There is a fundamental difference between demon techniques and Dao techniques, Yao Yao. The big demons you encounter these days may not even know this.
"Daoism is something created by cultivators to mobilise the power of heaven and earth after communicating with the world. Our Daoism in China is basically based on the five-elements, with gold, wood, water, fire and earth, but everything that Daoism can induce is real.
"The demonic techniques are different from the Dao. Most demon magic is imaginary," Baiju said. "Demons can be divided into three groups, that is, yao, jing, and guai. Those who were once birds or beasts are yao, those whose source is vegetation or dead objects are jing, and those made from dreams and nightmares are guai. The roots are different, and their spiritual and physical conditions are also different. The only thing that is certain is that all demons are not if the world, and must rely of their original forms. And our original forms aren't human, so we demons cannot fully alter reality like human cultivators.
"This is the weakness of all demons, but if you make good use of it, many demon methods that seem to be contradictory can coexist peacefully. On the other hand, it is also very difficult for human cultivators to do." Baiju taught Xiao Yao how to cut out the fish while giving him a lesson, "Fox-monsters are good at seduction, and painted fairies are also good at seductive illusions; but for either kind of demon, their mainstay skills are indispensable from the concept of 'delusion'. The delusion is to create something illusory; and of these so-called illusions, one point is true and nine points are a lie, while also nine points are true and one point is a lie.
"For example, the fox demon's ability to transform is first-class, but their tails are real, even if everything else is fake, there is always something to hide the truth, and this provides a way to break through to the demon's true form.” Baiju used a common example, then pointed to the ice under their feet, “The wolves call the moon, but the moon is fake, the moonlight is fake, and even the ice is fake. As for what is real? The fish are real, and the sea is real, but this is not how I cast spells.
"Things on only exist if you believe they do, this is the law of the demon world.
"I believe that my demonic magic can create all the attributes of a glacier. The ocean believes me, the fish also believe me, and you believe me, so my demonic techniques are successful." Baiju touched the shape of the waves in the glacier and explained in detail, trying to help Xiao Yao learn from him. "The key to demon techniques are that even if you know that all of this is imaginary, you have to believe that it's effect is real. Only by finding the truth that contradicts the effect can you destroy a demon technique from the root effortlessly, instead of simply overcoming the illusion."
Xiao Yao listened carefully to Baiju's explanation and found it a little strange.
What he had learnt was a summary of the practitioner’s perspective. Breaking through demon techniques was also recorded in the practitioner’s dossier, but they are basically all empirical instructions, dealing with each kind of monster by classification and situation, as well as specific spells, specific auxiliary tools, etc. It could be called to be a recipe book that dealt with each incident step by step.
There had never been a textbook or sect tradition that explained a method of breaking a spell using the root of demon magic. In other words, in the history of practitioners, few people had questioned the reality of demon techniques. After all, the effects of their magic was very real.
"Yao Yao, try to find the fault in this glacier."
Baiju casually used a Daoist technique and put the dozen strange fish that the two had cut out into a pocket dimension. Then he turned his head and smiled at Xiao Yao, stepping back two steps and looking at him encouragingly.
Xiao Yao pushed his glasses and followed Baiju's words carefully.
The wolves call the moon. Since Baiju had successfully performed the spell, he couldn't question Baiju's own bloodlines. The contradiction was clearly found in the present, and it was the moon that Baiju summoned.
The moon in the sky shouldn't be in this position, and it wasn't night.
Xiao Yao had an idea in his heart. When he met Baiju's gaze, he nodded slightly, then folded his hands together and closed his fingers together. After a few breaths, a few yellow flames suddenly lit up in his closed palms, and a heat wave blew Xiao Yao's hair as a bright light burst from his palm!
"Great Sun Curse."
With a murmur, the sun's rays burst out over the clear sea, and the glacier under the feet of the two of them swayed slightly then disappeared in an instant.
"It's daytime. The fault is that you haven't summoned the real moon." Xiao Yao stood firmly on the slightly undulating sea, and the frozen strange fish crashed into the sea, splashing in the water.
Baiju stood opposite Xiao Yao with a smile and folded his arms, and tilted his head when he heard him speak, "Yeah, you're right at this time. But what if it is night? The moon has enough power, and I don't have to summon a fake moon." At that time the moon would be real, and the aura of heaven and earth it used would also be real.
Xiao Yao thought for a while, "Hm... start with the seasons. There shouldn't be freezing temperatures this season. I can just magnify the characteristics of the other seasons, Spring Bud Curse, Flowing Fire Curse, Autumn Frost Curse will do; in winter..."
Xiao Yao paused, a little stuck.
Baiju looked at him encouragingly, and then said, "Your idea is right, just magnify the truth."
Xiao Yao patted his forehead, suddenly understood a little bit.more, and smiled, "Okay, Bai'ge, you cheated me and almost led me into a dead end.
"If it is a winter night and the moon is scarce, the demon technique of wolves calling the moon will be completely realised. Reality and illusion overlap. There is no way to crack it." Xiao Yao shook his head. "Everything is true, then at this time I only need to forcefully destroy the conditions for its execution...for example, the Venus Fire Talisman.
"So... reversing the truth is the fundamental method." Xiao Yao concluded, "I only need to know the basis of the demon method, find any part of its reality, then reverse it, make it contradictory, then realise it."
Baiju narrowed his eyes, walked to Xiao Yao in two steps, then reached out and hugged him, rubbing him with both his hands, "My little boyfriend is so smart."
Xiao Yao didn’t really blame Baiju. As he was hugged he was a little bit happy. He raised his head and gently touched the corner of Baiju’s mouth, then asked quietly, "Bai'ge, why did suddenly want to teach me how to destroy demon techniques?"
Baiju licked the corner of his mouth, lowered his head to kiss Xiao Yao's lips, and said vaguely, "To teach you skills that aren't easy to master...If the Practitioners Association neglect you in the future, then you can just study any ideas that are out there."
Chujiu's ordeal was about to end. This wasn't the time to be affectionate, so Xiao Yao perfunctorily kissed Baiju’s lips, tore the old dog from his body a little, and changed the subject, "Bai'ge, did you deal with other like this?"
Baiju didn’t mind him, thinking it was already quite profitable to be kissed, so he replied honestly, “I used techniques like this when I was very young...I didn't have enough skill, but I didn't want to lose any fights, so I could only break through the other demons weaknesses like that. But then my position as a Demon King was firmly established, and I was diligent, so I didn’t need to go back and rack my brains to think about the breaking points, I could just suppress them anyway...either way, they couldn't beat me with demon techniques."
After a pause, Baiju added, "It's like holding them by their necks."
Xiao Yao imagined the days when Baiju was a Demon King, able to hold the world by the neck, but fishing with his little followers all over the mountains instead.
It was so magical. Xiao Yao couldn't help but hold out his hand and hug Baiju again, "Bai'ge, thank you very much." The old white dog had been a mountain god for a long time. To be able to pull out this trivial knowledge for him also proved that this old dog was really thinking about him wholeheartedly.
Xiao Yao was very touched. The cautious thoughts of the old dog who usually acted like a coquettish pup were quite obvious, but the plan that had been well-considered wasn't diminished at all. It was likely that the old dog had never thought of using this knowledge to further his name.
No one could care for him as a matter of course like Baiju, Xiao Yao thought, rubbing against Baiju's neck, and thanked him again, "Really, thank you very much."
Baiju became a little embarrassed by his soft boyfriend, and stammered, "Thank you, thank you... I'm your partner, it's normal."
Xiao Yao shook his head slightly and didn't speak any more, his heart was very sweet.
After another short while, the lightning that had lasted for a quarter of an hour suddenly dissipated, and Chujiu of the Sixiang Zhenxiepan, who had condensed a spirit, slowly descended in the air. The spirit, a curled up baby, wearing a bellyband printed with the pattern of the Sixiang Zhenxiepan, slept soundly.
Baiju reached out and picked up Chujiu, and looked at the little compass with Xiao Yao, they were relieved.
"It succeeded." Baiju poked the little Chujiu's cheek with his finger, making a small depression, "Put it in a pocket dimension, so that it won't be disturbed."
Xiao Yao naturally didn't object, and took the little Chujiu from Baiju and put it away.
The two briefly talked about Chujiu, then Xiao Yao returned to the small island, watching Baiju hunting from a distance.
The old dog made too much noise at the beginning, and everything in the hunting ground was freaking out when he found them. Some giant turtle backs disguised as small islands had already floated away desperately, and the small ones did away with their illusions and the sea surface was suddenly considerably emptier. Xiao Yao's horizon had become very broad.
Baiju let himself go and went from the sky into the sea. It didn’t take long for him to catch a bunch of strange fish and then go into the sea to dig out a giant whale with horns and kill it as it was sneakily trying to run, happily collecting it into his own pocket dimension.
Time flew quickly. At about 2:30 in the afternoon, Xiao Yao was about to tell the old white dog to stop, when the water curtain not far away from where they were suddenly shook, and two figures fell in.
Xiao Yao, "..."
The old white dog with a big fish in his mouth, "..."
One of the visitors was too familiar, who could it be but the Daoist monk who performed Tai Chi swordplay in the float parade before.
Unfortunately, the Daoist monk hadn’t noticed Xiao Yao and Baiju. After falling into the water, he floated in the sea, pinched the other person’s neck and his voice shook, desperately saying, "I told you not to rush, you are a shark. What Dragon Gate do you think you can jump!"
The Sixiang Zhenxiepan were originally used to suppress evil and exorcise demons. Their effect wasn’t as violent as heavenly lightning, but the results were the same. Chujiu rushed into the thunder cloud, through heavenly thunder that Baiju summoned and condensed into a spirit. One would consider this a prime opportunity.
Xiao Yao didn’t expect that Chujiu’s spirituality would be so high. After realising what the little guy was doing, he picked up a shell, enlarged it and threw it under his feet, using a flying sword technique to leave the island, go straight to where Baiju was.
Seeing Xiao Yao coming, Baiju hurriedly greeted him, and stretched out his hand to cast a barrier covering Xiao Yao.
In order to successfully condense Chujiu's spirit, Baiju specially blessed the lightning. At this time, the thick branches of light were flowing like a waterfall between the sky and the glacier. Under the strange silence, the terrible power of this lightning was concealed, and although Baiju knew that his own lightning wouldn't be out of his control, seeing Xiao Yao approaching, he still couldn't help guarding him more securely.
Xiao Yao naturally wouldn't refuse Baiju's kindness, so he stopped in mid-air and let Baiju put the spells on him before he raised his head and squinted his eyes to try to see the looming Chujiu in the thundercloud.
"Will Chujiu be broken?" Xiao Yao was a little worried.
After all, Chujiu was a treasure given by the Practitioners Association, and the association would usually recall the transferred magical instruments every two or three years and carefully repair and bless them. This time, Baiju's enlightenment of Chujiu was already outside expectations, but it was also a good thing. If the rare magic weapon was damaged should Chujiu fail to condense a spirit, the Practitioner's Association knew to come to the Demon Administration Bureau.
The old white dog didn’t know exactly what Xiao Yao was worried about. When he heard him speak, he replied with a warm voice, “It’s okay, don’t worry. Although this little Chujiu is weak in qi, it's spirituality isn't too low. In the few years since it's creation, whenever there was a chance, it has been conscientiously suppressing demons and exorcising evil spirits. At this moment, it has just opened up its mind and its existence is Dao-minded and pure. It is basically a favourite of Heaven and Dao, even if is fails to condense a spirit, this little guy won't be worse off than it is now."
Xiao Yao nodded and glanced up again, "This is the first time I've seen a magical artifact become enlightened...how long does it take?"
Baiju replied confidently, "It won't take too long, a quarter of an hour should be enough."
Xiao Yao felt relieved after understanding the situation, and looked down at the glacier floating on the sea, "Bai'ge, why didn't this lightning break the glacier?"
Baiju rubbed his forehead when he heard the question. Then he stretched his hand over to Xiao Yao and prepared to land on the ice, explaining, "Ah...I forgot to tell you about the demon technique. You might need to understand this, it should be useful. Come on, let's pick the fish off the ice. This thing is not affected by the thunder, there's no danger."
As Baiju spoke, he smoothly drew a sign in the air and cut out a strange fish wrapped in ice, "There is a fundamental difference between demon techniques and Dao techniques, Yao Yao. The big demons you encounter these days may not even know this.
"Daoism is something created by cultivators to mobilise the power of heaven and earth after communicating with the world. Our Daoism in China is basically based on the five-elements, with gold, wood, water, fire and earth, but everything that Daoism can induce is real.
"The demonic techniques are different from the Dao. Most demon magic is imaginary," Baiju said. "Demons can be divided into three groups, that is, yao, jing, and guai. Those who were once birds or beasts are yao, those whose source is vegetation or dead objects are jing, and those made from dreams and nightmares are guai. The roots are different, and their spiritual and physical conditions are also different. The only thing that is certain is that all demons are not if the world, and must rely of their original forms. And our original forms aren't human, so we demons cannot fully alter reality like human cultivators.
"This is the weakness of all demons, but if you make good use of it, many demon methods that seem to be contradictory can coexist peacefully. On the other hand, it is also very difficult for human cultivators to do." Baiju taught Xiao Yao how to cut out the fish while giving him a lesson, "Fox-monsters are good at seduction, and painted fairies are also good at seductive illusions; but for either kind of demon, their mainstay skills are indispensable from the concept of 'delusion'. The delusion is to create something illusory; and of these so-called illusions, one point is true and nine points are a lie, while also nine points are true and one point is a lie.
"For example, the fox demon's ability to transform is first-class, but their tails are real, even if everything else is fake, there is always something to hide the truth, and this provides a way to break through to the demon's true form.” Baiju used a common example, then pointed to the ice under their feet, “The wolves call the moon, but the moon is fake, the moonlight is fake, and even the ice is fake. As for what is real? The fish are real, and the sea is real, but this is not how I cast spells.
"Things on only exist if you believe they do, this is the law of the demon world.
"I believe that my demonic magic can create all the attributes of a glacier. The ocean believes me, the fish also believe me, and you believe me, so my demonic techniques are successful." Baiju touched the shape of the waves in the glacier and explained in detail, trying to help Xiao Yao learn from him. "The key to demon techniques are that even if you know that all of this is imaginary, you have to believe that it's effect is real. Only by finding the truth that contradicts the effect can you destroy a demon technique from the root effortlessly, instead of simply overcoming the illusion."
Xiao Yao listened carefully to Baiju's explanation and found it a little strange.
What he had learnt was a summary of the practitioner’s perspective. Breaking through demon techniques was also recorded in the practitioner’s dossier, but they are basically all empirical instructions, dealing with each kind of monster by classification and situation, as well as specific spells, specific auxiliary tools, etc. It could be called to be a recipe book that dealt with each incident step by step.
There had never been a textbook or sect tradition that explained a method of breaking a spell using the root of demon magic. In other words, in the history of practitioners, few people had questioned the reality of demon techniques. After all, the effects of their magic was very real.
"Yao Yao, try to find the fault in this glacier."
Baiju casually used a Daoist technique and put the dozen strange fish that the two had cut out into a pocket dimension. Then he turned his head and smiled at Xiao Yao, stepping back two steps and looking at him encouragingly.
Xiao Yao pushed his glasses and followed Baiju's words carefully.
The wolves call the moon. Since Baiju had successfully performed the spell, he couldn't question Baiju's own bloodlines. The contradiction was clearly found in the present, and it was the moon that Baiju summoned.
The moon in the sky shouldn't be in this position, and it wasn't night.
Xiao Yao had an idea in his heart. When he met Baiju's gaze, he nodded slightly, then folded his hands together and closed his fingers together. After a few breaths, a few yellow flames suddenly lit up in his closed palms, and a heat wave blew Xiao Yao's hair as a bright light burst from his palm!
"Great Sun Curse."
With a murmur, the sun's rays burst out over the clear sea, and the glacier under the feet of the two of them swayed slightly then disappeared in an instant.
"It's daytime. The fault is that you haven't summoned the real moon." Xiao Yao stood firmly on the slightly undulating sea, and the frozen strange fish crashed into the sea, splashing in the water.
Baiju stood opposite Xiao Yao with a smile and folded his arms, and tilted his head when he heard him speak, "Yeah, you're right at this time. But what if it is night? The moon has enough power, and I don't have to summon a fake moon." At that time the moon would be real, and the aura of heaven and earth it used would also be real.
Xiao Yao thought for a while, "Hm... start with the seasons. There shouldn't be freezing temperatures this season. I can just magnify the characteristics of the other seasons, Spring Bud Curse, Flowing Fire Curse, Autumn Frost Curse will do; in winter..."
Xiao Yao paused, a little stuck.
Baiju looked at him encouragingly, and then said, "Your idea is right, just magnify the truth."
Xiao Yao patted his forehead, suddenly understood a little bit.more, and smiled, "Okay, Bai'ge, you cheated me and almost led me into a dead end.
"If it is a winter night and the moon is scarce, the demon technique of wolves calling the moon will be completely realised. Reality and illusion overlap. There is no way to crack it." Xiao Yao shook his head. "Everything is true, then at this time I only need to forcefully destroy the conditions for its execution...for example, the Venus Fire Talisman.
"So... reversing the truth is the fundamental method." Xiao Yao concluded, "I only need to know the basis of the demon method, find any part of its reality, then reverse it, make it contradictory, then realise it."
Baiju narrowed his eyes, walked to Xiao Yao in two steps, then reached out and hugged him, rubbing him with both his hands, "My little boyfriend is so smart."
Xiao Yao didn’t really blame Baiju. As he was hugged he was a little bit happy. He raised his head and gently touched the corner of Baiju’s mouth, then asked quietly, "Bai'ge, why did suddenly want to teach me how to destroy demon techniques?"
Baiju licked the corner of his mouth, lowered his head to kiss Xiao Yao's lips, and said vaguely, "To teach you skills that aren't easy to master...If the Practitioners Association neglect you in the future, then you can just study any ideas that are out there."
Chujiu's ordeal was about to end. This wasn't the time to be affectionate, so Xiao Yao perfunctorily kissed Baiju’s lips, tore the old dog from his body a little, and changed the subject, "Bai'ge, did you deal with other like this?"
Baiju didn’t mind him, thinking it was already quite profitable to be kissed, so he replied honestly, “I used techniques like this when I was very young...I didn't have enough skill, but I didn't want to lose any fights, so I could only break through the other demons weaknesses like that. But then my position as a Demon King was firmly established, and I was diligent, so I didn’t need to go back and rack my brains to think about the breaking points, I could just suppress them anyway...either way, they couldn't beat me with demon techniques."
After a pause, Baiju added, "It's like holding them by their necks."
Xiao Yao imagined the days when Baiju was a Demon King, able to hold the world by the neck, but fishing with his little followers all over the mountains instead.
It was so magical. Xiao Yao couldn't help but hold out his hand and hug Baiju again, "Bai'ge, thank you very much." The old white dog had been a mountain god for a long time. To be able to pull out this trivial knowledge for him also proved that this old dog was really thinking about him wholeheartedly.
Xiao Yao was very touched. The cautious thoughts of the old dog who usually acted like a coquettish pup were quite obvious, but the plan that had been well-considered wasn't diminished at all. It was likely that the old dog had never thought of using this knowledge to further his name.
No one could care for him as a matter of course like Baiju, Xiao Yao thought, rubbing against Baiju's neck, and thanked him again, "Really, thank you very much."
Baiju became a little embarrassed by his soft boyfriend, and stammered, "Thank you, thank you... I'm your partner, it's normal."
Xiao Yao shook his head slightly and didn't speak any more, his heart was very sweet.
After another short while, the lightning that had lasted for a quarter of an hour suddenly dissipated, and Chujiu of the Sixiang Zhenxiepan, who had condensed a spirit, slowly descended in the air. The spirit, a curled up baby, wearing a bellyband printed with the pattern of the Sixiang Zhenxiepan, slept soundly.
Baiju reached out and picked up Chujiu, and looked at the little compass with Xiao Yao, they were relieved.
"It succeeded." Baiju poked the little Chujiu's cheek with his finger, making a small depression, "Put it in a pocket dimension, so that it won't be disturbed."
Xiao Yao naturally didn't object, and took the little Chujiu from Baiju and put it away.
The two briefly talked about Chujiu, then Xiao Yao returned to the small island, watching Baiju hunting from a distance.
The old dog made too much noise at the beginning, and everything in the hunting ground was freaking out when he found them. Some giant turtle backs disguised as small islands had already floated away desperately, and the small ones did away with their illusions and the sea surface was suddenly considerably emptier. Xiao Yao's horizon had become very broad.
Baiju let himself go and went from the sky into the sea. It didn’t take long for him to catch a bunch of strange fish and then go into the sea to dig out a giant whale with horns and kill it as it was sneakily trying to run, happily collecting it into his own pocket dimension.
Time flew quickly. At about 2:30 in the afternoon, Xiao Yao was about to tell the old white dog to stop, when the water curtain not far away from where they were suddenly shook, and two figures fell in.
Xiao Yao, "..."
The old white dog with a big fish in his mouth, "..."
One of the visitors was too familiar, who could it be but the Daoist monk who performed Tai Chi swordplay in the float parade before.
Unfortunately, the Daoist monk hadn’t noticed Xiao Yao and Baiju. After falling into the water, he floated in the sea, pinched the other person’s neck and his voice shook, desperately saying, "I told you not to rush, you are a shark. What Dragon Gate do you think you can jump!"
