From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

"Don't use knives in front of children!"

Chen Long stood in front of Afu, not wanting Xiaoyu to bleed, and moreover—

"No matter what, he's a living, breathing human being!"

Looking at Afu, whose body was covered in dark green scales...

Ok.

Chen Long himself also felt that what he had just said was not convincing at all.

But regardless, Afu was once a human being. Even if he committed crimes in the past, and is now a demon, he must still face the judgment of the law, not—

Vigilante justice.

"Just kidding, you really have no sense of humor, Uncle Long."

Duanmu Ying chuckled and put away the crystal scalpel. "I'm a doctor. I only save lives, not kill them. It's Jiang Liu and Lu Jin who kill."

Chen Long: "..."

"Brother Jiang, have you figured it out?"

At this moment, Jiang Liu stood up, and Lu Jin hurriedly stepped forward to ask him questions, then squatted down and peeled a dark green scale off Afu's body.

Swish!

After the scales fell off, they quickly disappeared, and another scale quickly grew back on the spot where Afu had lost one, neither increasing nor decreasing, which was extremely peculiar.

"Demonic energy is Yin Qi that has been fused with Qi information. Once a person absorbs demonic energy, the Qi information within it will spread and actively guide the body's innate Qi in conjunction with Yin Qi, causing the body's Qi to change according to the Qi pattern recorded in the demonic energy. This directly affects the Qi at the cellular level, temporarily altering their genes and transforming them from humans into the form of a 'dragon'."

Jiang Liu clapped his hands. "Simply put, so-called demonic energy is like a cultivation technique that doesn't require practice, but how much of this power one can unleash depends entirely on one's own ability."

They are weak, like the three you've seen: Afen, Lasu, and Zhou Na. Apart from being able to withstand some beatings and use fire, they have no other special abilities.

Strong, Ah Fu is a living example.

He had honed his physical body to its peak condition before unlocking his genetic potential, and was only one step away from fully opening his Ren and Du meridians, but he lacked the proper method and didn't know how to achieve it...

After acquiring demonic energy, he keenly sensed its circulation and actively controlled the aura of his body, which had been altered by the demonic energy. Therefore, the power he could unleash was extremely formidable, no weaker than that of top experts in our region who had cultivated for decades; many of the older generation would have been doomed to die in his presence.

"That's really impressive."

Recalling Afu's previous loud and boisterous behavior, Lu Jin nodded secretly and realized that this guy must be a martial arts fanatic, who probably chose to join the Demon Dragon for power.

"Is there any way to remove the magic from him?"

This is what Chen Long cares about most.

"Have."

As the word fell, Jiang Liu exhaled a breath, which entered through the Baihui acupoint and circulated smoothly through the body. Refining Qi requires going against the flow, but to break through it, one must go with the flow to force the demonic Qi within the nine orifices to leave the body.

A short while later, Afu's dragon horns retracted, his green scales disappeared, and he returned to human form.

The demonic energy dissipated quickly after leaving the body.

This is because the demonic energy is only a part of the information of the half of the fire demonic energy in the body that the demon dragon replicated. It is not a part of the demonic energy that was truly separated from itself. Therefore, without a carrier, it will naturally dissipate into nothingness.

If it is truly the demonic energy of fire, even if it is only a tiny fraction, it contains complete information about the energy pattern corresponding to the innate Li Fire trigram.

Once mastered, even if initially extremely weak, the abilities possessed are no different from those of the Holy Lord, allowing those who acquire demonic energy to gradually grow stronger over time.

If I'm lucky, I might one day cultivate to the same level of strength as the Holy Lord and become... another Holy Lord.

of course.

The only exception is the Demon Dragon, because his body shares the same origin as Shendu's; therefore, as long as the "Old Emperor" lives, he can only remain the "Crown Prince" for life...

# Chapter 836 True Masters of Drama Use Magic

"Oh, my head."

At this moment, Afu slowly woke up, sat up straight, and covered his head—even with the demonic energy before, Xiaoyu's kick still damaged his brain, causing him to temporarily forget some things.

"He has amnesia?"

Xiaoyu was surprised.

"Chen Long!"

However, Afu shook his head, saw Chen Long, and with a somersault, jumped up and punched Chen Long in the nose.

Snapped!

But Chen Long simply reached out and grabbed Afu's fist, gently pulled him close, and then nudged him with his shoulder. The force was so great that it sent Afu flying.

"Cough cough!"

Ah Fu was physically strong, but even he was shaken by the impact, causing his internal organs to churn and his viscera to tremble. He had no choice but to kneel on the ground, look at Chen Long, and ask, "Did you use a talisman?"

"Weren't the talismans stolen by your Black Hand Gang a long time ago?" Chen Long said speechlessly.

"You couldn't be this powerful without talismans!"

Afu gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up.

"The wise seek strength within themselves."

Chen Long leaped lightly, instantly appearing behind Afu. He bound Afu's arms with one hand, then pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello, is this Sheriff Black? This is Chen Long. We've caught Afu... Yes, he's at the theater, and he disturbed Xiaoyu's performance..."

“Actually, no,” Xiaoyu added. “On the contrary, with him on the show, my performance was fantastic! It’s just that Uncle Long, you’re not very good at acting.”

"...Anyway, please come quickly, we need to take Afu to prison."

Chen Long ignored Xiaoyu's gossip, hung up the phone, and said to Afu, "You're going to prison soon. I hope you can turn over a new leaf after you get out."

Ah Fu gritted his teeth, but being held by Chen Long was like being restrained by steel clamps. No matter what he did, he could not break free and could only surrender.

When Blake arrived with plainclothes officers and took Ah Fu away, Chen Long breathed a sigh of relief, but he was still puzzled: "Why did Ah Fu come to the theater?"

"Need I say more? Of course, it's to kidnap me so I can threaten you and Dad, and then steal that ghost mask."

As Xiaoyu spoke, she gestured with her fist, "But the righteous Chen Xiaoyu will definitely kick their butts hard!"

“Oh, Xiaoyu, I’m warning you, don’t do that to your classmates again.” Chen Long said seriously, “You’re not a helpless little girl anymore.”

"Uncle Long, I'm just naughty, but I would never hit someone without reason," Xiaoyu argued.

"Really? I remember last time, before you even learned Qi cultivation, you used the kung fu I taught you to beat up a little fat kid, which forced my dad and me to attend a private parent-teacher conference with Miss Hamand," Chen Long complained.

"He bullied others first, and I was just trying to stand up for what's right! Also, Uncle Long, Jiang Liu was there too, you can't expose my shortcomings at a time like this." Xiaoyu said angrily.

"Actually, even if he didn't say it, I knew. I have insightful eyes that can see the past and predict the future."

Jiang Liu patted Xiao Yu's head and smiled, "Besides, think about happy things. Our puppet show was a great success, and you will definitely be the champion."

"That's right, our puppet show is absolutely something to talk about!"

When the topic of puppetry came up, Xiaoyu immediately forgot her previous unpleasantness and became happy.

“That being said, I still have to say something, Jiang Liu. In your world, magic tricks and theatrical performances, using abilities similar to magic, may be normal behavior. But here, performances cannot use abilities; that's cheating,” Chen Long said. “It's unfair to the other performers.”

"Oh, Uncle Long, sometimes you're just such a spoilsport."

Xiaoyu was speechless.

"This is a matter of principle..."

Chen Long continued to ramble on.

but!

As they left backstage, the final performance began, and it was the grand finale of the theatrical competition—the play by Dad's friend.

On the stage, the actors included a wealthy merchant, his daughter, a clown, two bandits, and a rather heavy-looking prop cow.

The plot of this scene is roughly as follows: a wealthy merchant's cow falls ill, and the merchant's daughter and a clown are treating the cow in their own ways. During this time, two bandits try to steal the cow and sell it for profit... In short, it's a story of bandits fighting a landlord.

This is a rather absurd comedy.

To be honest, the plot wasn't particularly engaging. The highlights were the performers' costumes, their unique rapping style, the exciting fight scenes, and the "wall-penetrating" ability that allowed them to ignore any obstacles.

"Oh--"

Upon seeing the bandits emerge from behind the stage and the wooden wall, ignoring all obstacles, Xiaoyu nudged the dumbfounded Chen Long and said with a grin, "Uncle Long, I think you understand now, right? True theatrical masters all use magic!"

“Using your abilities to enhance your performance is not cheating. After all, these abilities are something we have developed through our own efforts. If we don’t use them, it’s fair to others, but it’s not fair to ourselves.”

Jiang Liu quite agreed with this.

After all, his magic tricks in the past relied on turning things upside down in all directions.

The old man also said, "Chen Long, Jiang Liu is right. Some magic can be used for performance. Just like my friend, he has kept his theater standing by relying on this 'magic' that the audience can never see through."

"Alright, Dad, I've learned a lesson."

Helpless, Chen Long no longer objected to Xiaoyu using Qi cultivation techniques in future magic and opera performances and competitions.

After the final scene ended, Dad's friend, an old man with a bald head and white eyebrows like caterpillars, came on stage.

"Now, I announce the winner of this drama competition—"

"It's a pantomime performed by Xiaozhu!"

Xiao Zhu, who was sitting just behind Xiao Yu, cheered, jumped up from his seat, and laughed loudly, "Xiao Yu, did you see that? I'm the champion! You! Lost!"

Obvious.

Xiaoyu's deskmate, Xiaozhu, with dark skin and thick lips, also signed up for the drama competition and performed a pantomime with his father, a firefighter.

"You're so annoying!"

Xiaoyu pouted, sulking, as she watched her deskmate happily run onto the stage. She said to Jiang Liu, "I really don't understand why Xiaozhu is the champion. Is it just because his father is a firefighter?"

"Could it be a cultural difference?" Lu Jin guessed.

"I think it's a shady operation!" Duanmu Ying pondered.

Dad: "..."

He couldn't stand hearing people speak ill of his old friends behind his back, but Lu Jin and Duanmu Ying were Jiang Liu's friends, so he couldn't say too much.

Therefore, after all the other audience members had left, the old man led everyone to find his old friend to catch up.