Chapter 273 (1/2)
The old monk sighed with deep emotion, ”I was debating at Mountain Wa during autumn that year when the hierarch came to see me. By the next autumn, I left the Central Plains and traveled towards the Wilderness to seek Taoism. The world thought that I had been living in seclusion at Lanke Temple during that period, but that's not true. In fact, I was invited by the Divine Hall and had been silently cultivating the Devil's Doctrine. This is what I meant by the reverse osmosis of the Central Plains' right path previously.”
Ning Que s.h.i.+vered slightly upon listening to his words.
”Could it be that this old monk had almost become the leader of the Devil's Doctrine that year?”
He thought to himself silently. It was really an excellent plan for the West-Hill Divine Palace to invite this great man, Lotus the 30th, to join the Devil, for he could help to raise the trustworthiness of the Devil's Doctrine. After all, there was no doubt that his state, techniques, and mind were the top in the world.
The old monk had no idea what Ning Que was thinking about as he glanced around the dusty grey stone walls in the room warmly, as though he was looking at the clean walls of the Devil's Doctrine's main hall years ago. He then slowly continued, ”Based on the impression from the world, people from the Devil's Doctrine are evil and rotten jerks who ought to be killed and this is not far from the truth. Indeed, people from the Devil's Doctrine often kill the innocent without any reason. They also kidnapped and forced children to cultivate the Devil's skills. As such, many people died every year. Yet, could this Devil's Doctrine be the end of everything?”
”In my time, the Devil's Doctrine was at its peak and was divided into seven main schools with 28 sects. Each sect was different, from their cultivation ideas to their ideas of entering the human realm. Some were similar to how monks cultivate in Buddhism where they isolated themselves from the world. If that was the case, how could such sect be evil doers?”
The old monk withdrew his attention and looked at the three people in front of him, as he said calmly, ”Just like any other religions, there are good and evil people in the Devil's Doctrine. I admit that most of the people in the Devil's Doctrine are evil, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any good men. However, when that sword split apart the stone array and fought its way into the Front Gate to start the blood war, who would know if the people who died under that sword was good or evil?”
”I was present in this mountain when Ke Haoran fought his way into the Devil's Doctrine's Front Gate.”
The old monk gradually lowered his head. A dry bone cracking sound was heard from his cervical spine as if his head might fall off anytime. He said, ”I had been living in the Devil's Doctrine for numerous years. Hence, it was natural for me to know many people. I knew men who were greedy, who loved spoiling his wife as well as men who loved giving his children a ride on his back. Yet on that day, all these men I knew were killed.”
”The purpose of my sneaking into the Devil's Doctrine was to destroy it. When those people died in front of me, I should rejoice. Yet, I couldn't and I had no idea why. I saw those familiar faces split into halves in front of me. I saw those lively children being torn apart in front of me. I saw the fresh blood flowing out of them profusely and staining the bottom of the no-word stele red with my own eyes. The blood flowed down the stone staircase, along with the stone columns which all of you have seen, and into the pitch dark cliff. I suddenly realized that I was very upset.”
Ning Que frowned and said, ”That's enough.”
The old monk gazed at him with compa.s.sion, as he shook his head slowly and said, ”The ma.s.sacre was not due to your Youngest Uncle. Though I still remember the scene, I am not blaming him for it. I just want to understand. What exactly is the Devil?”
”Is it the Devil's Doctrine that kills the innocents, or is Ke Haoran who crazily killed them off the Devil? Did my concern about Ke Haoran joining the Devil and allowing him to ma.s.sacre the people made him the Devil instead? Or was it me, who was behind all of these plots, the true Devil instead? When I saw the ground flooded with blood, I started questioning myself.”
The old monk's voice began to sound doubtful. It was the same kind of doubtfulness that one had when viewing the sky while standing on the Peach Mountain, or when one stood in the midst of the ruins while feeling emotional about his past. It was the doubtfulness one had for himself and the world.
”How do you differentiate the right path from the devil one? What exactly is the devil?”
”If we differentiate via the mindset and views, then the Devil's Doctrine is the Devil since they killed the innocents. Then again, which cultivator does not kill? The Buddhism Sect often say that everyone is equal, so if you kill, you've joined the Devil. Then what about butchers? What about you and I who threw stones at wild dogs when we were younger? When our hands were covered with grease as we sucked, munched and enjoyed the delicious taste of the trotters, have we thought that those were meat from pigs? Have we joined the Devil ourselves while doing all these acts?”
”If it's dependant on one's birth ident.i.ty, then the Devil's Doctrine was born a thousand years ago by the Great Divine Priest of Light. History had stated that the Great Divine Priest of Light was a respectable, temperament, compa.s.sionate and intelligent being, so which part of him was born evil? After all, the Devil's Doctrine originated from the ”Ming” Handscroll among the seven Tomes of Arcane in Haotian Taoism school. Hence, it in itself was a school of Taoism. Why would it become the Devil?”
The old monk quietly stared at the three youngsters in front of him and spoke softly, ”When the Front Gate of the Devil's Doctrine was conquered, the place was flooded with blood. I lived in guilt for numerous years after that day and have been thinking of this question for numerous years.”
Ning Que and Mo Shanshan kept quiet as they thought about the old monk's words. Each of them had a different thinking.
However, Ye Hongyu raised her head suddenly and without any hesitation, she said, ”Divine Lord Lotus, what you've said is not true. The Devil's Doctrine is the Devil has nothing to do with the mindsets, views nor the ident.i.ty from birth. The skills itself simply belongs to the Devil.”
”When Haotian shone the earth with its Divine light, she had provided it with warmth and light, so as to cultivate a pleasant environment for living things to grow. This, in turn, created an exchange and movement of aura between the Heaven and the Earth. However, the skills cultivated by the demons in the Devil's Doctrine had forcefully taken over the natural primordial Qi as they absorbed them into their bodies. Should these demons continue to steal this generous gift provided by Heaven, the aura between the Heaven and the Earth will gradually decline. The world will then come to an end. As such, what should we say about them? This proves that their skills have humiliated Haotian, as well as messed up the order of Heaven and the Earth. This is an act of disrespect and thus, it is the Devil.”
The young lady's voice was extremely firm, determined and clear. When the topic was about the difference between Taoism and Devil, she had presented her arguments calmly and strongly in front of the Divine Lord Lotus, the man whom she respected and looked up upon. She said in her low voice, ”The difference between Taoism and the Devil does not come from mindsets nor the ident.i.ty from birth, but from the fact that one creates while the other destroys the world. It's the same with the difference between black and white, or light and darkness. They can never exist together. Hence, I disagree with your thinking.”
Ye Hongyu's clear koto-like voice helped to clear the doubts in Mo Shanshan. She nodded her head slightly in agreement. The difference between Taoism and Devil should be determined by whether one had good or evil intentions for this world.