Chapter Ninety-Two: Only When the Heart Is Pure, the Buddha Land Is Pure

The furnace blazed with such searing heat that even Weni, standing several yards away, could barely endure it. She felt as though her own body might be reduced to ash at any moment, and her face involuntarily changed color.

A flame of this magnitude would be more than an ordinary person could survive for even a few breaths.

At that moment, she could not help but worry for Chu Youcai.

Chu Youcai, however, drew a deep breath, focused his mind, and hurled himself into the alchemical furnace. He did not close the lid, for on his first attempt he needed every possible safeguard.

The instant he entered the cauldron, he felt as though his skin might burst apart. Every pore in his body seemed scalded; every instinct urged him to retreat, yet there was nowhere to retreat to.

The pain was so agonizing it felt as though his heart and entrails were being torn apart, as though his skin might slough off, as though his body no longer belonged to him.

He did not know that the cultivation of demon arts was divided into many ranks, and that the method taught to him by the Willow Deity was the deity’s own unique art. Among all demon arts, it was among the highest and most difficult to endure. Those who chose it throughout history could be counted on one hand, and every one who achieved success quickly approached the bottleneck of fifty years’ worth of demonic cultivation.

In such circumstances, Chu Youcai could only curl his body into a ball, raise his toes, clench his fists, and desperately focus on the thought of unity between knowledge and action.

But every time he concentrated, the agony of his flesh instantly shattered the thought in his mind.

At that moment, Chu Youcai felt that in the very next instant, he might die here.

No. He refused.

How could he die here?

Suddenly, he remembered the oppression Chu Yuwang had inflicted on him, and the methods that had been used against his dead mother. Fury surged in his heart.

He needed power.

Without power, he could only watch those around him be humiliated one by one and die one by one, while he himself could only lie prostrate before the ground, left to the mercy of his enemies.

What was more, the inheritance of the Dao was so confining. Even after entering the Daoist gate, one still had to endure countless forms of suppression: the opposition between humans and demons, the rules of the sect, and more.

Those things, in truth, were the shackles of his own heart.

He had no choice.

This path of demon cultivation, he had to walk it to the end.

Chu Youcai murmured the incantation taught by the Willow Deity, using every ounce of strength in his body to resist the sensation that his flesh was nearing death and collapse.

A battle to the death. He would be reborn in fire. He would break from his cocoon and become a butterfly.

He remembered that the scripture of Vimalakirti had once said: when the heart is pure, the Buddha-land is pure.

At that thought, Chu Youcai suddenly attained enlightenment.

As the saying went: to exist and yet transcend, to remain amid defilement yet stay unstained, to let the heart arise nowhere and live everywhere.

He suddenly let out a thunderous roar, and the searing heat around him seemed to become some kind of natural instinct within his body. His skin no longer felt as though it were being peeled away, but instead a strange ease and comfort arose.

At that moment, he felt countless impurities within him being expelled. His body became ever more refined, as though it had undergone a tremendous ascent.

Yet almost at the same time, the force of the flame vanished, and the furnace fire turned faintly blue. The ice talismans within the cauldron activated.

At once, it seemed as though countless snowflakes had filled the air. The entire furnace became terrifyingly cold, as if he had been hurled all at once from a desert in midsummer into the frozen wasteland of the far north.

From extreme heat to extreme cold, Chu Youcai nearly lost control of his body, and his consciousness nearly vanished!

This time the danger was even greater.

Weni, watching from afar, was stunned. She had not expected Chu Youcai to hold on for so long, and admiration welled up in her heart for him.

But no sooner had that thought arisen than she sensed the abrupt shift in temperature and saw the sudden eruption of cold. Anxiety surged without limit; she even began to suspect that Chu Youcai might already have fainted. Had she not seen that his eyes were still open, she might have risked her life and rushed forward regardless.

Just as Chu Youcai was on the verge of being unable to endure it, he suddenly felt the summit of the ice mountain within his body slowly emerge from the earth and rise high into the air.

And the power of the cold seemed almost to become nourishment for that summit, causing it to grow ever taller and more immense.

The icy sensation vanished at once.

Chu Youcai was overjoyed.

So that was it. He suddenly understood why the Willow Deity’s demon art had some resemblance to Daoist methods. The chill he now felt was strikingly similar to the ice mountain summit that formed the foundation of the Dao within his body.

Demon is Dao, and Dao is demon; in their origins, the two are alike in many places.

Who would have thought that possessing a Daoist foundation would bring such benefit? Truly, after the dark willows, there are bright flowers, and beyond a village lies another village.

With this surprise, Chu Youcai’s body gradually adapted to the alternation of ice and heat from outside. Slowly, he began to transform: his skin grew thicker and thicker, and then countless new flesh sprang forth.

Meanwhile, the specially prepared medicinal liquid continuously fused under the influence of the flame and ice talismans, seeping into his body and refining his spirit as well. He was broken and then remade, like a man entirely reborn.

An indescribable exhilaration.

Weni, meanwhile, was utterly speechless. By now Chu Youcai had remained in the furnace for a full two hours, and the hour was nearly midnight. Yet he seemed to enjoy it all, and on the surface of his flesh there now glimmered many flecks of golden light, as though his body had been coated with some crystal of gold and jade, like the true body of a Buddhist saint.

At this moment, her reverence for Chu Youcai had risen beyond measure. She, being of a jade body, knew only how to absorb the power of moonlight. Even after decades of such refinement, her accumulated strength was not greater than the power Chu Youcai had refined here.

This man had such indomitable will and such talent. No wonder he dared to make a grand vow against the overbearing Chu Yuwei!

Deep confidence in Chu Youcai swelled within her.

Then, at last, the medicinal liquid was completely melted away. Chu Youcai sprang up through the air and leapt out of the furnace.

Weni hurried forward and asked, "Young Master Chu, are you all right?"

Chu Youcai smiled faintly. Firelight flickered in his eyes as he turned and exhaled toward a pear tree in the courtyard.

The breath formed a visible shaft of light, striking the tree half a yard away. The air seemed torn apart, and even the bark on the trunk cracked slightly.

Seeing this, Weni shook with surprise. "You’ve cultivated demon arts?"

Chu Youcai looked at the bark and felt that the force was still weak, and he shook his head. "It is not so easy. I have only completed the first step. Next, I must still kill my spirit and kill my flesh, but that will not be accomplished overnight."

Then he noticed the weariness on Weni’s face and said, "It’s late. Go and rest. Yesterday’s fighting must have consumed most of your strength."

Seeing that Chu Youcai was unharmed, Weni finally felt her heart settle. Added to that was her own overwhelming fatigue, which she could scarcely endure. She answered and left the courtyard, heading toward the gate of the newly purchased neighboring yard.