75: Chapter 75 The Debate Between Tao and Demon
On the evening of the third day, Lu Mingyuan went to the east wing as usual.
The tea had already been brewed, and two bowls of coarse tea were placed on the low table. Xuanweizi sat on the couch, holding a roll of bamboo slips, slowly reading by the twilight outside the window.
Lu Mingyuan sat down on a prayer mat, making sure not to disturb him.
After a long time, Xuanweizi put down the bamboo slips and looked at him.
“Didn't sleep well last night?”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
“I dreamed of Rahu.”
Xuanweizi was not surprised.
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘I am waiting. Waiting for the day you no longer like it.’”
Xuanweizi was silent for a moment.
“How did you answer?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
“Your Disciple said, ‘That day will never come.’”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“A good answer.”
He picked up the tea bowl and took a sip.
“But have you thought about it—why did he say he was ‘waiting’?”
Lu Mingyuan was startled.
Indeed, why say “waiting”?
Rahu was sealed deep underground in the west and could not come out. What was he waiting for?
Xuanweizi looked at him and said slowly,
“Because he knows that what one likes can change.”
What one likes can change.
Hearing these words, Lu Mingyuan suddenly felt a sense of unease in his heart.
“Disciple...”
Xuanweizi waved his hand, interrupting him.
“I am not talking about you. I am talking about the human heart.”
He put down the tea bowl, his gaze becoming profound.
“The human heart is prone to change. What is liked today might be disliked tomorrow. What is believed today might be doubted tomorrow. What is protected today might be destroyed tomorrow.”
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“That is what Rahu is waiting for.”
Lu Mingyuan remained silent.
“He waited for thirty thousand years, until the three clans fought. He wasn't waiting for the Dragon Clan, the Phoenix, or the Kirin Clan; he was waiting for the greed, anger, and ignorance in their hearts. Greed for territory, anger toward rivals, and ignorance that leads to obsession with conflict. Those things are what he waits for.”
He paused and continued,
“Do you have greed, anger, and ignorance in your heart?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
“I do.”
“Then that is it. Since you have them, he waits. He waits for those things to grow, waits for them to turn you into something else.”
Lu Mingyuan felt a jolt in his heart.
“But I...”
“But you won't?” Xuanweizi looked at him. “How do you know you won't?”
Lu Mingyuan was speechless.
Xuanweizi sighed.
“I am not cursing you. I want you to understand—the Dao and the Demon are not outside; they are within.”
The Dao and the Demon are not outside; they are within.
Lu Mingyuan turned this sentence over in his mind repeatedly.
“Master means... the Demon is not an external enemy?”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“The Demon is not an external enemy. The Demon is the Heart Demon.”
He stood up and walked to the window.
“Why was Rahu able to provoke the three clans? Because he understands the human heart. He knew the Dragon Clan was proud, so he praised them; he knew the Phoenix was aloof, so he flattered them; he knew the Kirin Clan was stubborn, so he went along with them. He didn't break in from the outside; he grew from within.”
He turned back and looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“Those Demon Puppets and Demon Generals—what do you think they are? They are people corrupted by Devilish Qi. But why were they corrupted? Because there were cracks in their hearts. Greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt—those cracks are where the Devilish Qi enters.”
Lu Mingyuan thought of the Demon Puppets he had seen in the Songgang Demon Cave and the Black Water Marsh. Before their deaths, they were also Cultivators and Mortals. But after being corrupted by Devilish Qi, they became like that.
“Then...” he asked, “where does the Devilish Qi come from?”
Xuanweizi was silent for a moment.
“It comes from An.”
An.
An again.
“Master,” Lu Mingyuan asked, “what exactly is the relationship between An and Rahu?”
Xuanweizi walked back to the couch and sat down again.
“Rahu is a Demon; An is a deficiency in the Heavenly Dao. Rahu wants to destroy the world; An wants to be complete. But they have one thing in common—they both need resentment.”
He poured a bowl of tea and took a slow sip.
“Rahu needs resentment to increase his power. An needs resentment to fill its deficiency. So they use each other. Rahu creates chaos, which generates resentment; An absorbs the resentment and becomes stronger; the strengthened An then helps Rahu create even greater chaos.”
Lu Mingyuan was alarmed by what he heard.
“Then they...”
“They aren't a single group,” Xuanweizi shook his head. “They simply take what they need from each other. But taking what they need is more troublesome than being a single group, because they cannot be broken apart.”
He put down the tea bowl and looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“Do you know why the Heavenly Dao has a deficiency?”
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
“Because there is too much resentment.”
Xuanweizi's voice became low.
“In every Great Calamity, countless living beings die. Those who die leave behind resentment. As resentment accumulates, the Heavenly Dao loses a piece of itself. When it is missing a piece, it wants to mend it. But its way of mending is to absorb even more resentment. The more it absorbs, the more it lacks; the more it lacks, the more it absorbs.”
He sighed.
“It is a vicious cycle.”
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a long time.
“Then... how can it be broken?”
Xuanweizi looked at him, his gaze deep.
“What do you think?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
“You cannot use resentment to mend resentment.”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“Correct.”
“It must be mended with... something else?”
Xuanweizi nodded again.
“Correct.”
“With what?”
Xuanweizi did not answer, he just looked at him.
Lu Mingyuan suddenly seemed to understand something.
“With the heart?”
Xuanweizi shook his head slightly.
“Think again.”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time again.
“With... the Dao?”
Xuanweizi still shook his head.
Lu Mingyuan could not think of anything else.
Xuanweizi looked at him and said slowly,
“With love.”
Love?
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
Xuanweizi nodded.
“Yes. Love.”
He looked out the window, his gaze distant.
“Do you know why there is resentment? Because of loss. Losing loved ones, losing homes, losing oneself. Loss leads to resentment. Resentment leads to hatred. Hatred leads to the desire to destroy.”
He turned back and looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“But do you know why there is love? Because of receiving. Receiving warmth, receiving companionship, receiving understanding. Receiving leads to love. Love leads to the desire to protect.”
He paused and added,
“Resentment must be mended with love. Not the grand, dramatic kind of love, but love in small bits and pieces. It is the way a mother looks at her child, the hand of a friend on a shoulder, the bowl of water handed over by a stranger.”
Lu Mingyuan was dazed by what he heard.
“Those things... can also mend the Heavenly Dao?”
Xuanweizi smiled.
“What do you think the Heavenly Dao is? Some lofty, superior thing? It is not. The Heavenly Dao resides in the human heart. If there is love in the heart, there is love in the Heavenly Dao. If there is resentment in the heart, there is resentment in the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao is the sum total of human hearts.”
He picked up the tea bowl and took a sip.
“Therefore, mending the Heavenly Dao is mending the human heart. When the human heart is mended, the Heavenly Dao naturally becomes whole.”
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He had never thought that mending the Heavenly Dao could mean this.
He had thought mending the Heavenly Dao required great Divine Abilities, immense power, and massive Karma. But Xuanweizi said it was the way a mother looks at her child, a friend’s hand on a shoulder, or a bowl of water from a stranger.
Those... could also count?
“Master,” he asked, “can those small things really mend the Heavenly Dao?”
Xuanweizi looked at him.
“Have you seen the old man who repairs the road?”
Lu Mingyuan was startled.
“I have.”
“He hammers away stroke by stroke; how many years has he been doing it?”
“I don't know. A long time, probably.”
“How long is the road he has hammered?”
“Not long. Just that one stretch.”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“Just that one stretch. But for how many people has he made that stretch easier to walk? Will those who walk it feel even a tiny bit of gratitude? That tiny bit of gratitude is love.”
He paused and said again,
“Love doesn't have to be earth-shattering. Bit by bit, it accumulates. Once it reaches a certain level, it can mend the Heavenly Dao.”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Suddenly, he seemed to understand.
“So... the Demon is not an external enemy, but a lack of love in the heart?”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“Correct. The Demon is the projection of the Heavenly Dao's deficiency within the human heart. Where the heart lacks love, the Demon can enter. Where the heart has love, the Demon cannot.”
He looked at Lu Mingyuan with a gentle gaze.
“You once asked, ‘After the heart becomes the Xuan Shu, where should one go?’ Do you have an answer now?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time and said slowly,
“Let there be love in the heart.”
Xuanweizi smiled.
“It is good that you understand.”
The night grew deep.
Lu Mingyuan came out of the east wing and stood in the courtyard.
The moonlight was bright, falling on the old cypress tree, the old well, and the half-closed temple door.
He thought of the old man repairing the road, the Great Master sweeping the floor, Tang Zhuo making hidden weapons, and Hui Ke practicing his boxing.
None of those people ever spoke of grand principles. But what they did was the Dao.
Hammering stroke by stroke, sweeping bit by bit, working day by day.
That hammering, sweeping, and working were all love.
The path of love is not built by those who talk about it.
It is walked into existence by those silent people over the course of a lifetime.
He suddenly felt a bit ashamed.
In five years, he had traveled to so many places, seen so many people, and pondered so many questions. Yet he only understood the simplest truth today.
The sound of light footsteps came from behind him.
Qingyuan poked his head out again.
“Junior Martial Uncle, are you unable to sleep again?”
Lu Mingyuan turned back to look at him.
Under the moonlight, that young face was full of concern.
“I can sleep tonight,” Lu Mingyuan said.
Qingyuan was startled, then smiled.
“That's good. Your Disciple saw that your complexion wasn't right these past two days and was worried.”
Lu Mingyuan looked at him and suddenly asked,
“Qingyuan, do you like cultivating?”
Qingyuan was stunned.
He thought for a good while before saying,
“I do. Although it's tiring, I like it. I can feel myself changing a little bit every day; that feeling is really wonderful.”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
“Then cultivate well.”
Qingyuan gave a silly grin and returned to the west wing.
Lu Mingyuan stood for a while longer before turning to go back to his room.
Lying in bed, he looked at the moonlight outside the window.
The moonlight was very bright.
He suddenly felt that something in his heart was full.
It wasn't a fullness of knowledge, but something else.
He couldn't quite put it into words.
But he knew that from today on, some things were different.
He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
That night, there were no dreams.