209: Chapter 209 Demonic Path Demonstration

The light of the Buddhist Dao shone behind him, colorless and all-encompassing. Lu Mingyuan, with that ordinary heart, walked toward the seventh light.

That light was black. It was as black as an abyss, as dark as nothingness. Yet that blackness was not frightening, for it was not evil, but deficiency. It was black because it lacked light. It was cold because it lacked warmth. It was nothing because it lacked existence. Deficiency was not a sin, but a state. States could be changed, and deficiency could be mended.

The Demonic Path.

Lu Mingyuan stood before the black light, not in a hurry to look. He first adjusted his breathing to ensure he was not afraid. Fear was normal because humans are naturally afraid of the dark. Fearing the dark was not weakness, but instinct. It was an instinctual fear of the unknown, of loss, and of non-existence. But he was a Quasi-Saint Perfection, only one step away from becoming a Saint. He could not refuse to take this step just because of fear.

Within the light, the images began.

There was no heaven and no earth, only Chaos. Chaos was spinning, rolling, and brewing. What was within Chaos? Everything was there, yet nothing was there. There were possibilities and impossibilities. There was life and death. There was a beginning and an end.

A crack appeared in the Chaos. It was not split open by force but cracked on its own. Because Chaos had reached its limit, it had to crack. Once it cracked, there was the clear and the turbid. The clear ascended to become heaven, and the turbid sank to become earth. Heaven and earth separated, light and darkness separated, and good and evil separated.

But after the separation, there was deficiency. Heaven lacked earth, and earth lacked heaven. Light lacked darkness, and darkness lacked light. Good lacked evil, and evil lacked good. Deficiency was the price of separation and the beginning of all things. Without deficiency, there would be no myriad things. For Perfection was death, while deficiency was life.

That was the origin of the Demonic Path.

Demons were not born; they were Acquired. After heaven and earth separated, deficiency appeared. Deficiency attached itself to living beings, becoming resentment, hatred, greed, and obsession. When resentment grew, it became a demon. When hatred grew, it became a demon. When greed grew, it became a demon. When obsession grew, it became a demon.

Demons did not come from the outside; they grew from within the heart.

Lu Mingyuan looked at those demons growing from the heart without disgust, only understanding. Because he also had demons in his own heart. The Heart Demon of Fear, the Heart Demon of Doubt, the Heart Demon of Obsession, and the Heart Demon of Self. When he was at Zixiao Palace, the four demons attacked together, nearly devouring him. He did not destroy them; he purified them. Once purified, they were not gone, but changed. Once changed, they were no longer demons.

The images within the light continued to evolve. The demons were devouring, devouring everything they could. Spiritual Qi, flesh, Soul, and Dao laws. The more they devoured, the stronger they became. The stronger they became, the more they wanted to devour. It was a cycle that continued until everything was devoured.

That was the entity_type.

Devouring was not because of evil, but because of deficiency. Because they lacked, they had to devour. After devouring, they still lacked. Lacking, they devoured again. They could never be filled, never have enough. It was not that they didn't want to stop, but that they couldn't. To stop meant facing their own deficiency. Facing deficiency was more painful than devouring.

Lu Mingyuan thought of Shi. That Remnant of the Demon God skeleton controlled the entity_type. It had devoured for countless years, but what had it gained? It had gained nothing. Chaos was empty; no matter how much it devoured, it remained empty. The more it devoured, the emptier it became; the emptier it became, the more it devoured. It was a death loop with no way out. It was not that it didn't want to leave, but that it couldn't.

Until Lu Mingyuan mended it. Once mended, it no longer lacked. No longer lacking, it no longer devoured. No longer devouring, it was free.

The images within the light changed again. The demons no longer devoured but were being mended. Someone used light to mend them, love to mend them, and heart to mend them. Once mended, the black turned to gray, gray turned to white, and white turned to transparent. A transparent demon was no longer a demon, but the Dao.

That was the Path of Mending.

Mending was not destruction, but transformation. Destruction was to remove something, while transformation was to become something. What it became was nothing else but the Dao. Demons were also manifestations of the Dao, and deficiency was also a manifestation of the Dao. The Dao has no good or evil, but people do. People have distinctions, but the Dao has none.

Lu Mingyuan thought of the Remnant of the Demon God entities he had purified in Chaos. Shi, Yayu, the Resentment Vortex, and those nameless remnants. He did not destroy them; he mended them. Once mended, they were at peace. Once at peace, they were no longer demons.

The Demonic Path and the Buddhist Dao are sisters. One starts from deficiency, and the other starts from Perfection. Deficiency requires mending, while Perfection requires guarding. Mending and guarding are two sides of the same coin. Without deficiency, there is no need for mending. Without mending, deficiency remains deficiency forever.

He bowed deeply to the black light. He was not bowing to demons, but to deficiency. He bowed to those beings who suffered because of deficiency, to those who devoured because of deficiency, and to those who were misunderstood because of deficiency. They were not evil; they were sick. Sickness needs treatment, not killing.

The images within the light stopped. The Demonic Path had demonstrated all it needed to; the rest was for him to comprehend on his own.

Lu Mingyuan closed his eyes, savoring everything he had just seen. Devouring, deficiency, and mending. These three keywords were interwoven within the Demonic Path. Devouring was because of deficiency, deficiency needed mending, and mending was devouring in Retrograde. The forward direction was devouring, while the Retrograde direction was giving. Devouring was taking, while giving was sending. Taking was for oneself, while sending was sharing with all living beings.

He suddenly understood what 'Retrograde' meant. The Demonic Path was Prograde; the more it devoured, the more it lacked, and the more it lacked, the more it devoured. Mending was Retrograde; the more one gave, the more perfect one became, and the more perfect one became, the more one gave. Prograde to the extreme was the Dharma Ending Age. Retrograde to the extreme was Mending the Heavens.

Within his Dantian, that tree grew a bit more. 10.7 zhang, 10.8 zhang. The patterns on the trunk gained black lines, as black as an abyss. But that blackness was not evil; it was deficiency. The deficiency on the trunk was like a scar. A scar was not beautiful, but it was a part of the tree. A tree without scars had never experienced wind and rain. A tree that had not experienced wind and rain could not grow large.

Bai Ze looked at that tree with tears in its eyes. It was not a demon, but it understood demons. Because it had seen too many demons from ancient times until now. Those demons were not born as demons; they were once humans, demons, or gods. Because of deficiency, they became demons. Once they became demons, they were hunted, destroyed, and forgotten.

No one had ever thought of mending them.

Lu Mingyuan thought of it, and he did it. In Chaos, in the Northwest, and at Zixiao Palace. He hadn't done much, but he had done it. Having done it, it was useful. Being useful, it could bring change.

The Kitten opened its eyes and glanced at the black light. It was not afraid because there was no deficiency in its heart. A cat does not need mending; a cat is naturally perfect. It sleeps when full, plays when awake, and eats when tired of playing. That was the cat's Dao, the cat's Perfection, and the cat's demon.

Lu Mingyuan opened his eyes and looked at the light of the Demonic Path. The light was still there, not extinguished. It would stay lit until the last deficiency was mended. But deficiency would never be completely mended, for deficiency was the beginning of all things. Without deficiency, there would be no myriad things. Mending deficiency was not about eliminating it, but about making it no longer painful.

He reached out his hand and touched that light.

This time, his hand did not stop halfway. Because there was no need to wait anymore; this was the final one. He had seen all seven paths and could now integrate them all.

The black light touched his hand, feeling cool like a winter wind. But within the coolness was warmth, for there was love within deficiency. Love was not the exclusive property of Perfection; deficiency also had love. Lacking love, one sought love. Seeking love, one suffered. Suffering, one became a demon. Becoming a demon, one was purified. Being purified, one reached Perfection.

A circle.

Lu Mingyuan withdrew his hand and sat down cross-legged before the black light. He closed his eyes and replayed the Demonic Path he had just seen in his mind. Devouring, deficiency, and mending. Every word became a picture, and every picture became a person. Those people were struggling in the darkness, roaring in pain, and sinking in despair. They were demons, but they were once humans.

When a human becomes a demon, it is not a change of species, but a change of heart. When the heart is deficient, it turns black. Once black, it can no longer see the light. Unable to see the light, it believes the world is black. The world is not black; it is the eyes that have turned black.

He realized another side of the Demonic Path: hope. There was hope in deficiency because deficiency could be mended. There was hope in darkness because darkness could be lit. There was hope in demons because demons could be purified. There was no deficiency that could not be mended, no light that could not shine, and no demon that could not be purified.

Hope was the exit of the Demonic Path.

Lu Mingyuan smiled, a very light, faint, and warm smile. He smiled not because he was happy, but because he understood. He understood that demons were not enemies, but patients. Patients need a doctor, not an executioner. He was that doctor, practicing medicine in Chaos, in the Northwest, and at Zixiao Palace. Practicing medicine could not cure everyone, but he could cure them one by one.

Curing one meant one less deficiency. One less deficiency meant one more bit of Perfection. One more bit of Perfection meant being one day closer to Mending the Heavens.

He stood up and bowed deeply to the light of the Demonic Path. He was grateful for the principles that allowed him to see deficiency, grateful for the demons that allowed him to learn mending, and grateful for the beings waiting for light in the darkness.

All seven lights were shining: the Heavenly Dao, the Earthly Dao, the Human Dao, the Godly Dao, the Immortal Dao, the Buddhist Dao, and the Demonic Path. Seven colors, seven types of Dao. But they shared the same source; they all came from Chaos and would all return to Chaos. Different streams from the same source, returning to the same destination from different paths.

Lu Mingyuan stood in the center of the seven lights, opening his arms. He no longer looked at any single path but looked at all of them. The Heavenly Dao was not the highest, and the Demonic Path was not the lowest. They were equal, they complemented each other, and they coexisted.

Within his Dantian, that tree grew wildly. 10.9 zhang, 11 zhang, 12 zhang, 15 zhang, 20 zhang. The seven types of patterns on the trunk intertwined, making it impossible to tell which was which. Golden yellow, earthy yellow, fiery red, incense-color, azure, colorless, and black. The seven colors merged into a single color—not white, not black, but the color of Chaos.

It was a hazy gray, but within that hazy gray were infinite possibilities.

That was All Methods Return to the Origin.

Lu Mingyuan's Neidan began to change. It was not shattering, but merging. It merged into light, and the light gathered into a human form. The human form had his appearance, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed and a smile on its lips.

That was the embryonic form of a Saint.

Bai Ze looked at that tree, that light, and that human form as tears flowed down. It had followed him for so long, waiting for this day. It was not the day he became a Saint, but the day he saw that the seven paths shared the same source. Once he saw it, he was connected. Once connected, he was perfect. Once perfect, it would be soon.

The Kitten woke up and gave a meow. It didn't understand anything about the seven paths, but it felt the change in Lu Mingyuan. His heartbeat had changed, his breathing had changed, and his temperature had changed. He had become steadier, deeper, and warmer.

Lu Mingyuan lowered his arms and opened his eyes. His eyes had changed; they were no longer golden, but the color of Chaos. They were hazy gray, but within that hazy gray were infinite possibilities.

"I have finished seeing the seven paths," he said.

"Do you understand?" Bai Ze asked.

"I understand. It's not that I understand every single one perfectly, but I understand that they are one. Separated, they each have their own characteristics. Combined, they are the complete Dao."

"That is enough. Once understood, one can merge; once merged, one can penetrate; once penetrated, one can attain."

Lu Mingyuan nodded. He sat down cross-legged in the center of the seven lights. The seven lights began to approach him—not moving, but merging. The light entered his body, entered his Meridians, and entered his Dantian.

The tree in his Dantian grew from 20 zhang to 30 zhang. The human form sitting under the tree opened its eyes.

That was the true Epiphany.

Lu Mingyuan smiled, a very light, faint, and warm smile.

The seven lights disappeared, not extinguished, but merged into his body. He sat in the Chaos, his body emitting light. Seven colors intertwined. Chaos flowed around him like a river.

He was the Dao, and the Dao was him.