Chapter 256 — The Demonic Nature Is Hard to Purge

Buddha-light appeared behind Foxin's head, lighting the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra, and he read on.

"The Demon Cult's Hierarch?

" The Crown Prince's retainers' eyes lit up. "Which Hierarch of the Demon Cult? " The gate monk said: "Which one should it be? The Dark Demon Cult's Hierarch Shen, who came in such a menacing style and beguiled a good many of the temple's monks into returning to lay life.

These past days monks have been going down the mountain to return to lay life without cease, and even several of my uncles and elders among the monks have done the same. " The men exchanged glances and laughed: "Our chance for merit has come! The Dark Demon Cult killed Sun Nantuo and wiped out Nantuo Temple, and it was the Dark Demon Cult's Hierarch stirring up mischief behind it all.

Who would have thought we would meet him here!

Come, let us go and take this merit!

" The monk said in alarm: "Good sirs, do not sin by taking life! Do not harm the Buddha-son!

" The Crown Prince's retainers laughed: "Set your mind at ease! " Shen Mu sat on the dragon-kirin's back, gazing up at the moon the whole way, his body rising and falling slowly with the beast's stride. It was now the eighth day of the second month, and the crescent was very thin.

Foxin let out a breath and returned the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra to Shen Mu: "This humble monk has finally finished reading it.

It is indeed a classic of the demon path. Why has Hierarch Shen been gazing at the moon all this while? " "In the Barren Ruins there is no moon. " Shen Mu drew back his gaze and lightly tapped the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra; the scroll turned back into a ball of thread.

He laughed: "So each time I see the moon, I find it very beautiful and very alluring.

And besides, I wanted to see where the Great Thunderclap Temple's territory lies. " Foxin was slightly taken aback, and asked curiously: "The Great Thunderclap Temple's territory? " Shen Mu nodded. Seeing the moon in the sky blocked by dark cloud, he leaped down from the dragon-kirin's back; where he landed, one side was moonlight and the other the darkness the clouds had left behind. He laughed: "The Great Thunderclap Temple's territory should be right about here. Look, Buddha-son: the temple's eminent monks have gathered away all the dark clouds within their boundary.

The clouds outside are the clouds of the Kingdom of Jingping, and are no longer under the Great Thunderclap Temple's jurisdiction. " Foxin jumped down from the Four-Unlikes too, looked up at the sky and then at the ground, and said in surprise: "I never knew Great Thunderclap Temple had a boundary. In that case, there should be a boundary stele nearby as well.

" Shen Mu's interest was roused.

He laughed: "Why don't we look for it? " Foxin seemed to have a youth's temper as well. The two young men searched, and after a while came upon a broken cliff: a bare hilltop standing on the ground, cut so that only half of it remained, more than ten zhang high, with the words "Boundary of the Great Thunderclap Temple" graven upon it. Foxin clapped his hands and laughed: "There really is such a stone stele!

Though I am a monk of the Great Thunderclap Temple, I never heard the elders speak of it. Hierarch Shen, I have heard that the Dark Demon Cult does not cultivate the heart, and makes few demands as to the depth of one's mental state. Your cult's arts are quick to master, but because you train the art and not the heart, they easily lead to demonic deviation. " Shen Mu stood beneath the boundary stele, looking up and studying the writing on it: "There is such a saying. " Foxin's eyes flickered: "The Buddhist gate's arts temper the heart.

Joined to the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra's speed of mastery, would that not be perfect and flawless?

" Shen Mu was still studying the characters on the stele and said carelessly: "That I do not know. " Foxin watched his back; Shen Mu watched the stone stele before him.

Neither spoke again.

Suddenly Buddha-light blazed and demon-breath rose thick; beneath the boundary stele, Buddha and demon split the world between them, one upright, one wicked, and crashed together with a roar!

Shen Mu turned around, Buddha-light blazing behind his head, like a great yellow-robed Buddha; thunder-peals sounded at his every movement, and what he drove was the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra. And Foxin was thick with demon-breath, demon-fire burning all around him, and what he drove was the Creation Earth Origin Art!

Without a word the two clashed beneath the boundary stele. Above Shen Mu's head the vital breath gathered like cloud, faintly revealing five layers of heavens, ten thousand Buddhas paying homage to the source; around Foxin demon-breath churned and the demon-fire burned ever fiercer. Beneath the Great Thunderclap Temple's boundary stele the two moved swift as a hare rising and a falcon stooping; suddenly a great crashing roar came, and Foxin gave a stifled grunt and fell back a step.

Shen Mu stepped forward, chopping at him palm after palm, each palm as heavy and solid as the boundary stele itself! Foxin retreated without cease; fresh blood ran from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Boom.

Shen Mu brought another palm down, as though a great Buddha dealt out the karmic fire of ignorance. Foxin raised a hand to take it head-on; the sound of breaking bone came from within his body, and he fell back again, then suddenly felt the stele against his back, and his heart sank. Boom!

Shen Mu struck another palm.

Foxin grunted and dropped to sit beneath the boundary stele, raising a hand: "No more.

I yield. " Shen Mu lifted his fist and smashed down, fist after fist. After a while he rose to his feet; Foxin was a blur of blood and flesh.

"Your demon-nature is too heavy.

I mean to leave you alive, and see how you will bring ruin upon the Great Thunderclap Temple in the years to come. " Shen Mu drew back his hand; blood dripped from his fingertips, pat, pat, pat.

Looking at Foxin beneath the stele, his face no longer recognizable, he said softly: "In the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra you twisted every single art; you are more demon than the demons.

If I leave you, the Great Thunderclap Temple will surely be destroyed at your hands.

" Foxin still had a breath left in him and was about to speak, when suddenly a sword-light came flying and, with a whistling hiss, pierced through the space between his brows; the flying sword passed through his skull and nailed him to the boundary stele. A voice said delightedly: "The Demon Cult's Hierarch is dead at last! This wretch was heavy with demon-nature! " "That Buddha-son was too kind-hearted after all; he did not have the heart to strike the killing blow.

" Another voice laughed: "But in the end it is all to our benefit! Cut off his head and collect the reward from the Crown Prince!

"