Chapter 256 — The Demonic Nature Is Hard to Purge

"I am obliged to you, Buddha-son.

" Shen Mu gave his thanks. With Foxin the Buddha-son attending him, it was not fitting to simply ride the dragon-kirin, so he jumped down and went on foot; such was propriety.

"The sky outside has gone dark.

We ought to have kept the Hierarch overnight. " The two made their unhurried way down the mountain; though their steps were not swift, they still covered ground more than ten times faster than ordinary folk. Foxin said: "Hierarch Shen, short as your stay in our Great Thunderclap Temple was, you raised no small commotion. Several monks lost their lives; some went down the mountain and returned to lay life. And yet the Tathagata still let the Hierarch leave the mountain.

" Shen Mu laughed: "The Tathagata's heart is broad, and I admire him for it. He is worthy of being the foremost enlightened one of the Buddhist gate. The Tathagata cast aside the prejudices of sect and was willing to lend a hand to heal Grandmother Zhu; I am deeply grateful for that.

" Foxin laughed: "Hierarch, I should like to look once more at the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra, if I may?

" Shen Mu took out the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra and unrolled it; countless characters came forth. Foxin and the Buddha-son read as they walked, and Foxin shook his head: "Truly, truly a dharma-gate that does men harm. Every divine power, every art within it takes life, and the way of training it is monstrously wicked.

" Shen Mu was startled: "Why do you say so, Buddha-son?

" Foxin said: "Look at this Creation Heavenly Demon Art: flaying skin to make clothing, and sealing in the soul, the breath and the blood besides, before a garment of a thousand transformations can be made. Is this not a demonic art?

" Shen Mu laughed: "The Creation Heavenly Demon Art chiefly cultivates what lies within. It is used to seal one's own soul, breath and blood, so that no outer demon may invade; it is not flaying skin for cloth. As for transformations, the Creation Heavenly Spirit Art together with the Creation Spirit Art is enough for that.

" Foxin shook his head: "Hierarch, it is you who have understood it wrongly. The Heavenly Demon Art's ill repute is known to all; who has not heard of it? You are young. How many books have you read? A slight deviation in understanding is only natural. Now look at this Creation Innate Art.

Plainly it is a demonic art that can be mastered only by harvesting the innate breath of newborn infants! Master it, and one's face never ages; and for the sake of an ageless face, who knows how many newborn babes must be done to death! " Shen Mu was caught between laughter and tears, and corrected him: "The so-called innate does not refer to the infant, but to the infant's state. An infant that has just been born is innate: the first stirrings of yin and yang, embracing the Primal and guarding the One, the placenta joining it to the innate mother, needing no breath, its soul pure and without blemish. Buddha-son, you have it wrong.

To cultivate this art is not to eat the placenta or the infant, but to make of oneself an infant. " Foxin shook his head: "Hierarch, will you still not admit it? This Creation Earth Origin Art, is it not a demonic art that gathers the demon-fire of the sun and of the earth to burn all living things to death? The more people burned to death, the more wronged ghosts there are, and the greater the power; in the end the demon-fire turns into hell.

That is the Earth Origin!

" Shen Mu laughed: "This art still bears the word 'creation'.

It is for cultivating the spirit, for strengthening the primal spirit. " "To use the souls of others to strengthen one's primal spirit, is that not a demonic art? " Foxin asked. Shen Mu shook his head: "Joined with the Creation Innate Art, this art makes the mind embrace the Primal and guard the One, turn into the state of an infant, join with the earth, draw upon the earth's mother-breath, and strengthen my primal spirit. It can also be used to create all things.

Buddha-son, these days, as I cultivate the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra, my spirit embryo has grown uncommonly robust; these two arts deserve no small share of the credit.

You might try practicing them too.

" Foxin laughed: "I will not practice them.

I merely wished to criticize them a little. " Shen Mu looked at him deeply. Foxin was frank and open, and did not seem to be feigning. Shen Mu laughed: "Then, Buddha-son, pray continue.

" Foxin read on in the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra, and said: "Your Dark Demon Cult is worthy of that word 'demon'; it is heavy with demon-nature. The more I look at these arts and divine powers, the more my heart pounds. This art is called the Funeral-Bearing Art. To master it, must one not wipe out a man's whole house?

" Shen Mu shook his head: "That art is in fact one of the arts of the Funeral Hall of our Heavenly Sage Cult. What it trains is paper men and paper horses; it is for conducting funerals for others, making ghosts and gods recoil, and bringing blessing upon one's descendants.

Buddha-son, if you look at it through prejudice, then it is better not to look at all.

I fear it will ruin your Buddha-heart. " Foxin laughed aloud: "Hierarch Shen, my Great Thunderclap Temple let you read the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra.

Will you not let me read the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra? " Shen Mu smiled faintly: "Very well, then, as you please. " The two went on down the mountain.

The more Foxin read, the more he shook his head; by the time they reached the foot of the mountain it was deep in the night, and he had read more than half of the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra. Shen Mu looked all around.

This was the territory of the Kingdom of Jingping; straight ahead lay Jingping, and only by descending on the other side would one reach the Barren Ruins. But the Barren Ruins were then shrouded in darkness, and could not be trodden.

The New Year had passed; it was the second month. The moon was bright and the stars few, a crescent, yet it shed a tranquil, secluded radiance, brighter by far than on ordinary days. This was near the Great Thunderclap Temple; the dark clouds that had covered the heavens had long since been cleared away by the temple's eminent monks, and so the sky seemed especially clear.

There were villages nearby too, which believed in the Buddha's dharma and made offerings to the Buddha; but all the land here belonged to the Great Thunderclap Temple, and the people who lived in those villages were tenant farmers as well, tilling the soil and growing grain, paying no rent to the court, only tribute to the Great Thunderclap Temple. Shen Mu had meant to return to Jingping: first, to go on with his cultivation; second, to manage the Heavenly Sage Cult.

This time Fan Xuanshu had escaped from the Ten-Thousand-Phases Pagoda, and he too was bound for the Kingdom of Jingping. Foxin was still reading the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra.

The two came to the mountain gate, where the monk who kept the gate sat with a lantern on a pole beside him, and nearby slept a strange beast, the Four-Unlikes. There were several retainers there besides; seeing the two, they scrambled to their feet. Foxin the Buddha-son went up and questioned them, and they said: "We are the Crown Prince's attendants, all laymen.

We may not enter the temple, and so we wait outside.

" "I must escort the Demon Cult's Hierarch down the mountain and have no leisure to entertain you. Pray forgive me. " Foxin called the Four-Unlikes over and, leading the beast up, said: "Hierarch Shen, I still need half an hour to finish reading. If you do not mind, let me escort you another stage.

Our Great Thunderclap Temple's Four-Unlikes has heard the Buddha's dharma all its years and is deep in cultivation; it can keep pace with your dragon-kirin.

" Shen Mu broke into a smile: "That is very good. " The Four-Unlikes walked shoulder to shoulder with the dragon-kirin.