Chapter 684: Great Demon 47

"Speaking of which, I’m quite curious, Shi Miao. Since your relationship with Jing Yue was nothing but a sham, can your Dao Heart possibly remain stable?" Qinglian looked at Shi Miao with malice, his eyes filled with ridicule.

Shi Miao, now the center of attention, was startled. She couldn’t utter a single word. A black line slowly appeared between her brows, faintly emitting an ominous aura.

Seeing her state, Qinglian burst out laughing. "Has your Heart Demon acted up? Shi Miao, a woman with a heart of stone like you, has actually succumbed to a Heart Demon? What kind of person could possibly accomplish that?"

Tan You rubbed her nose. "Back when Qing Ming had his Human Clan bloodline purged, Shi Miao stormed the Demon Market and was forced to retreat in defeat. The seed must have been planted then. As it happened, my skill with Arrays had just reached a minor level of proficiency, so she was the perfect subject to test my skills on."

"HAHAHA, wonderful! This is truly wonderful!" Qinglian threw his head back and roared with laughter. "What goes around really does come around!"

"After tasting the benefits of proving her Dao by killing her husband, is she now planning on proving her Dao by killing her son?"

Shi Miao’s expression shifted drastically, but she remained silent. Beside her, Shi Qi and Shi Yuan hung their heads, wishing they could become invisible.

Tan You explained, "She went to the Demon Market intending to bring Qing Ming back, all to secure her future cultivation path. But now, with his half-Cultivator bloodline purged, Qing Ming is entirely of the Demon Clan. He is no longer Shi Miao’s child, so she naturally cannot ’prove her Dao by killing her son.’"

Shi Miao glared at Tan You. "We have no past grievances or recent enmity. Why do you insist on obstructing me? He’s just a lowly Half-demon..."

Tan You laughed, her laughter growing louder. "You Human Clan Cultivators are truly ridiculous. On one hand, you preach universal love for all beings, yet on the other, you disregard life and treat it as worthless as dirt."

"But in my eyes, whether one is a Cultivator, a demonic beast, or a Half-demon, every single life deserves respect and decent treatment. These Half-demons are pitiful enough already. They were brought into this world because of your selfish desires, something they had no choice in."

"And after bringing them into this world, not only did you shirk your parental responsibilities and fail to shelter them from hardship, you instead subjected them to countless tempests. Is that fair to Half-demons?"

"Don’t talk to me about ’lowly’ this or ’noble’ that. In my eyes, a Half-demon’s life is far more precious than yours. A person who shows such disregard for life—what right does she have to be cherished by anyone?"

"Otherwise, when Jing Yue needed to undergo his Emotional Tribulation, why would he have chosen you of all people?"

Qinglian scoffed. "The two of them are six of one and half a dozen of the other. Who’s to say which one is nobler? Neither is a good person."

"To be honest, I had a chance to possess Jing Yue’s body back then. But whenever I thought about the things he’d done, I just felt Jing Yue was utterly filthy. Even if his true form was spotless, I still found him disgusting."

Tan You said, "And so, after turning him down in disgust, you ended up like this."

Qinglian materialized into his human form. "My Lord, you really know how to twist the knife."

Jing Yue, who had been silent since his appearance, finally spoke. "Back then, I did indeed resort to trickery to pass my Emotional Tribulation. But I ask you, what would you have done in my place? I am a Buddha’s Son, born with a heart for Buddhism. My six senses are inherently pure. How was I supposed to experience an Emotional Tribulation?"

Tan You was surprised. She considered for a moment. "I don’t understand the Buddhist Law, nor have I ever read any Buddhist sutras, but I have a general idea that it emphasizes emptiness and purity. That being the case, are those monastic rules and regulations something that exists in nature?"

"They were simply created by man because you cannot control your own innate desires. They were made so that by adhering to these constraints, Buddhist cultivators could achieve inner peace and tranquility. In essence, they are an artificial construct."

"But Buddhahood isn’t about adhering to those regulations and external formalities. It’s about what is in your heart."

"If the Buddha is in your heart, you will see the Buddha in everything. But to blindly fixate on external matters will only leave you a pale imitation of the real thing. It’s as the saying goes: ’Wine and meat pass through the body, but the Buddha remains in the heart.’ As long as the Buddha is in your heart, you are naturally free from all taboos."

"If I were born with a heart for Buddhism and needed to undergo an Emotional Tribulation, yet found myself unable to develop feelings for anyone, I would renounce my status as a disciple of the Buddhist Sect. If my tribulation required me to trample on another’s life, I believe it would be better not to pass it at all."

"All personal love must make way for universal love. Without universal love, personal love is nothing but narrow-mindedness."

"And taking a huge step back, even if you had loved with all your heart, as long as you had a clear conscience and the Buddha in your heart, the Buddha would still have accepted you."

"Excellent! Well said!" The Peacock was the first to clap and cheer. Influenced by him, some of the spectating Cultivators also voiced their agreement.

"She may be from the Demon Clan, but she really knows what she’s talking about!"

’What truly is the Buddha? I used to think I understood, that it was all about following the monastic rules. But now...’

’Looking at it this way, this Golden Ring Snake seems more like a Buddha’s Son than Jing Yue does.’

Being described with the classifier for snakes, Tan You had to be philosophical about it. ’What can I do? The original owner of this body was a snake, after all.’

Jing Yue stared at Tan You, murmuring, "Emptiness... Purity... Emptiness..."

Tan You said teasingly, "Generally speaking, those who go around shouting about having pure senses and seeing the world as void are often the ones whose senses are the most impure. Buddha’s Son Jing Yue, which category do you fall into?"

Jing Yue averted his gaze, refusing to look at Tan You. Losing interest, Tan You pouted. She turned to the silent Qing Ming and patted the back of his head in exasperation. "Don’t you dare get stuck in your own head."

Qing Ming froze for a second, then quickly snapped out of it. "My Lord, I know. No matter how I came into this world, I have to keep living. I have to try my best to live."

"Even if my origins are this shameful..."

Tan You couldn’t help but laugh. "What is there for you to be ashamed of? The real sinners are standing right over there, perfectly fine. What did you do wrong? Children don’t get to choose to be born. It was your parents who brought you into this world. That was their mistake, so don’t take the blame for what others did."

"Instead of blaming yourself, run them over."

Bai Ze chuckled. "Now that’s a way to make enemies. Qinglian, what are your plans? The resentment clinging to him won’t be easy to dispel."

Qinglian said, "It’s no use. As long as Jing Yue hasn’t gotten his comeuppance, my resentment will never fade."

Comeuppance? Jing Yue pressed his palms together. "Fellow Daoist Qinglian, it was indeed a moment of folly on my part that led to such a grave error back then. After hearing Fellow Daoist Jin Huan’s words today, I finally realize just how absurdly wrong I have been all these years."

"I caused your death and the destruction of your Dao back then. Today, I shall repay a life with a life. In this way, all our debts and grievances can be considered settled."

Qinglian nodded reluctantly. "Fine. Just as you said. A life for a life, and we’ll call it even."