Free Web NovelChapter 80: Heart Demon
For the briefest instant, he thought he had misheard. The playful expression on his face faded, replaced by quiet confusion as he studied Alaric. There was no smile, no casual warmth from their conversation since leaving the city. Those familiar golden eyes remained fixed on him, calm as ever, yet they no longer seemed to be looking at him.
No, rather...
They seemed to be looking through him.
"...What did you just say?"
Neither moved.
The breeze still swept through the forest, rustling leaves high above. Birds called from the canopy, and the distant murmur of water remained unchanged. Everything seemed to have a heartbeat a moment ago, yet Hundao found the atmosphere oppressive, as though something invisible had settled over the woodland.
Alaric slowly turned to face him.
"I said..." His voice remained perfectly level. "...if only you were him."
"What do you mean by that?" Hundao said, while scratching the back of his head.
"There is no need to lie," Alaric said casually, as he walked past Hundao, who still stood there frozen. "You might have copied his mannerisms to a perfect level and managed to mimic most of his gestures, but your very nature gave you away."
Hundao stood there for a moment before suddenly a raspy chuckle left his throat, "How very interesting. How did you manage to find out?" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"Malice," Alaric muttered. "Every time you look at me, you radiate an intense amount of malice. I have never felt so much hatred coming from a single person before. It is a resentment that Hundao is incapable of having. It feels like I killed everything you held dear while you watched. It’s an almost tangible form of malice."
Hundao looked at Alaric, from his flowing crimson hair and swirling purple eyes to his beautiful blue robes and boots. "I guess I couldn’t really help myself. You remind me so much of those hateful bastards."
Alaric tilted his head slightly in confusion, "What hateful bastards? I don’t think we have ever met, so where is this malice coming from?"
Hundao’s face twisted in pure malice, "That red hair and purple eyes are very rare. I don’t believe you are not related to them in some way. You are definitely one of them. What are you? Are you some plan to enable their return? Or is it some deeper plot?"
Alaric’s confusion deepened: "I still don’t know who ’they’ are. I wouldn’t mind if you enlightened me."
Hundao paused: "Don’t play dumb with me." He said, "Unless something went wrong?" He mused out loud. "Did you perhaps forget your purpose?"
"Tell me who these people you believe I have some connection with are."
Hundao let out a gleeful laugh, "The heavens are finally smiling down at us. Who would have thought their so-called plan would fail and fall directly in front of me? What fortune."
"I am getting tired of your rambling. If you don’t want to tell me who those people are, fine. Just get off his body, and we are good." Alaric said calmly. From the moment ’Hundao’ entered his alchemy room and locked eyes with his form, he could tell he wasn’t Hundao but something that had taken control of his body.
"Boy, do you know what I am?" ’Hundao said, his malice increasing at the blatant disregard of his presence.
Alaric looked into his eyes, indifference clearly written on his face. "Do I look like I care what you are?"
’Hundao’ briefly felt the change in the direction of the wind before shrugging it off. He chuckled. "Ignorant boy."
"If you are unwilling to help me understand, then there is no use for your presence here. You should leave."
"I shall humor you this once, boy, considering the history we have," Hundao said in an amused tone.
"In this realm, People misunderstand the phrase ’survival of the fittest’. " The ones that last are the ones willing to adapt, the ones willing to change. Most assume it means the strongest survive, or the smartest. But that’s not what made species endure. The ones that lasted were the ones willing to adapt, to change. And you humans struggle with that more than anything after the fall of man.
"You become attached to identities that stopped serving you years ago. The shy kid, the victim, the gifted one, the broken one, the person who could have been. You keep patching old versions of yourselves together, hoping they’ll somehow carry you into a future they were never built for.
"It’s like trying to decorate a house that’s still under construction. New paint won’t fix a collapsing foundation. And yet that’s how most people live. They don’t change. They renovate. They keep adding layers to something that should have been demolished years ago. Growth is rarely about becoming more of who you are. It’s about becoming less attached to who you were. Never forget, little human, life gets lighter once you let your old self die when it asks you to. Don’t be like your unwise ancestors."
’Hundao’ paused, feeling like he was empowering his enemy, but he shrugged it off. ’It wouldn’t matter anyway; he won’t survive anyway."
He continued, "I am change, the one who sits at the precipice of progress. The most misunderstood being to ever come to be.
"If ’CHANGE’ were to be seen as a massive forest, I am a monster, a witch, or a cannibal living in a hut full of bones. That’s only one way of seeing me. Because fear lives at the edge of the forest, a boundary between two worlds, between who you were and who you have the potential to become.
"That’s exactly where transformation happens. Every cultivator who enters my forest is given a choice. Turn back or face the impossible. And I don’t give out wisdom for free. I give it in riddles, tests, challenges, tasks that seem absurd until you realize they’re changing the person performing them. And isn’t that exactly how the mind works?
"The moment you try to become someone new or gain a new perspective, the old you resists. Doubt appears, confusion appears, fear appears. And that doesn’t mean you’re moving in the wrong direction. It means you’re standing at the threshold, the place where one version of you must die so that a new one can emerge.
"Some people call it growth, some people call it awakening, and others call it ego death. Here’s what I find fascinating. In the stories, I am never the same character. To the arrogant, I am terrifying. To the foolish, I am dangerous. But to the courageous, I am a teacher.
And to the prepared, I am a guide. It’s the observer who determines the experience. Because I don’t reveal who I am, I reveal who you are. The monster and the mentor were never separate. They were reflections. And every time life places you at the edge of that forest, asking you to leave an old version of yourself or an old perspective behind, I appear again. But not as a monster, as a question. Will you turn back or will you become? I was never guarding the forest. I am guarding transformation."
"So tell me, young man, do you know who I am?" Hundao put down a question after he went on a spiel.
Alaric considered the words that came from ’Hundao’s mouth, replaying them tens of times in his head. Alaric’s pupils narrowed slightly. "You are a heart demon."
"Hahaha, good. You are brilliant. I guess you aren’t as ignorant as I thought." Hundao roared with laughter.
Cultivation isn’t just about gathering spiritual energy. It’s about refining the self. If a cultivator grows in power without resolving their inner conflicts, those conflicts eventually become obstacles. When one is willing to confront those obstacles and seek change, they face a roadblock many call a heart demon.
It oftentimes operates as an emotion that stops one from change, rooted in those inner conflicts. A heart demon can manifest as: Regret [Being haunted by a past mistake or someone you failed to save.]
Guilt [Believing you are unworthy of your power.]
Fear [Terror of death, failure, or losing everything.]
Obsession [Becoming consumed by revenge, immortality, or strength.]
Desire [Lust, greed, or ambition growing beyond control.]
Pride [Refusing to acknowledge weakness or mistakes.]
Attachment [Inability to let go of someone or something.]
A cultivator may appear perfectly sane, but the heart demon slowly twists their decisions until it erupts during a breakthrough. Heart demons have a thorough understanding of a person’s psyche, which makes them very dangerous to confront. They force you to face aspects of yourself that you try to bury.
This state commonly leads to Cultivation deviation, Permanent insanity, becoming emotionless, Personality changes, their soul fracturing, Death, and becoming possessed by their own negative emotions.
If a cultivator manages to overcome it, they don’t simply become stronger; they become more complete.
For example, A man who has spent twenty years seeking revenge finally realizes that killing his enemy will not bring his family back. The revenge no longer controls him. His cultivation immediately stabilizes because the obsession has disappeared. The demon isn’t defeated by physical strength; it leaves because it cannot find any flaw holding the cultivator back from progress.
"Wait, that’s not right. A heart demon cannot possess humans, right?" Alaric said, a frown slowly forming on his features.
’Hundao’ let out a twisted grin.
