Chapter 331

Bai Suzhen: "Let us continue with the earlier question. For demon-kind cultivation, there is really no difference from that of humans. The aspect of conforming to Heaven is the same; the aspect of defying Heaven, however, is far harder."

Bai Suzhen: "After all, most demons attained the Dao through being different species, and their wild nature is always hard to tame. To go against one's own nature and give birth to human nature — that is truly a thousand difficulties wrapped in ten thousand more. Without human nature born, the beastly nature takes over the mind; without wisdom emerging, the Dao-heart cannot coalesce. Such demons and devils, even if by chance they cultivate and obtain great divine abilities, are still single-minded, easily plotted against by others, and die without even knowing how they died. The ancient heavenly demons cultivated only the divine abilities of the physical body; their forms were as vast as mountains and rivers of stars, yet in the end they all vanished — mostly for this very reason."

Xiao Bai: "So that is how it is. Human nature — it turns out to be this important for demon-kind as well! Many thanks, Sister, for your guidance."

Bai Suzhen: "No need for such courtesy — you and I are truly fated! Beyond human nature, a cultivator must also pass through the seven emotions, tempering the heart amid the mortal world, only then can a flawless Dao-heart be forged. Within Shangcheng there are Reincarnation Heavenly Pills, which save a great deal of trouble. Xiao Bai, we absolutely must not become the sort of demon who only trains divine abilities and never grows in wisdom."

Xiao Bai: "Thank you, Sister, for the reminder — I understand. Xiao Qing is very worried, so let me go speak with her first."

Nie Xiaoqian: "When I read Daoist scriptures before, I came across the idea that the Dao of Heaven is natural, and I assumed that simply following one's own will, in accordance with the natural way of Heaven and Earth, was cultivation! Turns out I had been reading it wrong."

Zhang Taixuan: "If merely going along with nature could achieve the Dao, then there would be no need for humanity at all. The beasts of the wild — which of them does not simply follow its nature?"

Zhang Taixuan: "You must understand: the path of cultivation is the supreme Dao of stealing yin and yang, wielding creation, toying with heaven and earth, and attaining immortality. Beasts that follow their nature without wisdom — how could they possibly comprehend this?"

Zhang Taixuan: "Take the ancient heavenly demons that Miss Bai used as an example. Most of them possessed only the formidable physiques and divine abilities bestowed by Heaven and Earth, yet their Dao-hearts never coalesced and their wisdom never awakened. They could only act on instinct, and probably could not even grasp the principles behind their own divine abilities — how then could they step onto the Dao path and seize control of their own fate?"

Zhang Taixuan: "Even if, by chance, some heavenly demon caught a faint glimpse of Heaven's secret and knew that the coming age would no longer suit heavenly demons, they could only follow their own instincts and flee into the deep mountains and great marshes, thinking they could thus evade the calamity of death. Yet how could they know that the great tide of Heaven and Earth rolls on like a surging flood, wave upon wave ever higher — when has such a thing ever been something one could evade simply by wishing to?"

Zhang Taixuan: "If there truly were a heavenly demon that defied the fear born of its own instincts, going against Heaven and stepping forward with the tide of the age, it would long ago have been pushed by Heaven and Earth to the loftiest position in all creation. The great primordial powers who left their names recorded between Heaven and Earth mostly came about in this way."

Bai Suzhen: "Stripping the fear from one's beastly nature and swimming against the current — easy to say, yet terribly hard to do. Snakes fear hawks; rabbits fear tigers. The crises of Heaven and Earth, for a heavenly demon, are things more terrifying than encountering a natural predator. To be able to reverse such an instinct — even among demon-kind, such a one is one in ten thousand."

Zhang Sanfeng: "Therefore, among the great powers born when Heaven and Earth first opened, which one was ever an easy opponent?"

Lin Fengjiao: "This is what the Daoist schools call a firm Dao-heart — courageous and ever advancing."

Zhang Taixuan: "Precisely! Laozi actually laid it out plainly long ago in the Dao De Jing — 'If the mind does not die, the Dao is not born; if desire is not extinguished, the Dao does not exist.' The Quanzhen patriarch also said that when the mind dies the spirit lives, that is Quanzhen! So it is said: a true transmission in a single phrase, a false one in ten thousand volumes of scripture. The ordinary Daoist scriptures — everyone is welcome to peruse them often; within them lies supreme wisdom."

Ying Zheng: "Listening to the Dao Lord's words, I feel as if a thousand doors have suddenly been thrown open!"

Yue Buqun: "In the past we only cultivated strength, and our understanding of the Dao was never deep. Today's words have given Yue a feeling of cold running down my spine. If I were to go on as before, muddled and ignorant, knowing only how to cultivate strength — how would I differ from those heavenly demons cast off by Heaven and Earth?"

Xiong Ba: "What Sect Master Yue says is most reasonable. Before, I even felt that Miss Bai was not imposing enough, that her thousand years of cultivation lacked martial grandeur. I never expected that she had long since grasped Heaven's secret, and is a senior who has forged a firm Dao-heart and stepped onto the Dao path. Though my strength at that time surpassed hers, I was as muddled as a beast — how laughable that is."

Bai Suzhen: "Chief Xiong overstates things. Whatever little achievement I have today is entirely thanks to over a thousand years of cultivation. All of you, within the chat group, will, under the Dao Lord's influence, come to awaken to the wonder of the Dao-heart."

Su Xiao: "Sister Bai is too kind. I seem to be a bit slow — I don't know when I will be able to awaken to it! Today's words are far too precious. @Zhang Taixuan, could you record them and place them in Shangcheng for later comers to download?"

Zhang Taixuan: "Of course."

Han Paopao: "Miss Su, Dao Lord — this act of yours is truly of boundless merit!"

Hu Yifei: "Reading today's conversation, those who come after will surely avoid many a wrong turn — what a wonderful blessing!"