Chapter 195: Chapter 57: Encounter with the Heavenly Demon in the Demon-Imprisoning Hall
The old monk continued to strike the wooden fish, his mouth ceaselessly reciting scriptures.
“How should I address senior?” Wei Dongliu asked respectfully.
The other party did not respond.
“The path senior cultivates, is it Mahayana, Theravada, or Hinayana?” Wei Dongliu asked again.
The other party still did not respond.
“Although my companion has cultivated the Demonic Path, they are not beyond redemption,” Wei Dongliu carefully pleaded, “If senior could be lenient, I would be immensely grateful.”
The other party still did not respond, merely buried his head in continuously beating the wooden fish.
Wei Dongliu turned around and cast a helpless expression at the pitiful-looking Jiang Liyan.
Jiang Liyan responded with a pleading “please help me” gaze.
Wei Dongliu ignored her plea for help and was about to walk further inside when he suddenly heard the old monk say:
“Releasing her is possible, but with two conditions.”
“First, she has too heavy a karmic debt. If you ask me to release her, that karmic debt will be transferred to you, and you must shoulder it.”
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“Second, you must find the Flying Smoke Sword, which is deep within the inner hall.”
“However, the inner hall has been occupied by demons. If you wish to retrieve the sword, you must pass through there, and first transcribe scriptures here, otherwise entering will lead to certain death.”
Wei Dongliu: ?
He wanted to say something more, but the old monk simply gestured, and immediately in front of him appeared a desk, a chair, rice paper, writing brush, ink, and a neatly stacked pile of thread-bound books.
Alright, you’re a celestial being, so you call the shots.
So Wei Dongliu settled his heart and mind, sat down on the chair, and methodically began to grind ink.
Jiang Liyan, half-trapped under the alms bowl, alternated between watching Wei Dongliu, who was intently transcribing, and peeking at the old monk chanting sutras and reciting Buddhist scriptures. The initial panic of confinement subsided, and her eyes began to roll around curiously.
After copying one sheet of rice paper, Wei Dongliu suddenly sensed something amiss.
This seemed… not quite like the Buddhist Scriptures that speak of reason and the profound, but rather like a collection of fables made up of many short stories, mainly describing how the Sixth Heavenly Demon King, Poxun, engaged in magical competition with the great powers of Buddhism.
According to the scriptures, above the Heavenly Dome is the Desire Realm, which has six heavens, of which the highest is called “Transformational Freedom Heaven.” The beings of the Desire Realm, each skilled in shape-shifting, can stir up people’s six inner desires, corrupt their Daoist foundations, and cause people to fall without noticing, making it the “most evil of the Desire Realm.” Consequently, it is known as the Heavenly Demon.
At the highest point of Transformational Freedom Heaven resides the Sixth Heavenly Demon King, “Poxun,” with his five hundred daughters known as “Witches,” along with his subordinates “demon servants, demon offspring, demon wives, and various demon attendants, males and females,” who often descend to the Lower Realm to disrupt the cultivators’ practice.
After transcribing all the scriptures on the desk, Wei Dongliu had gained an extremely comprehensive understanding of what kind of creature the “Heavenly Demon” was, and also surmised what kind of “demons” would be waiting for him in the inner hall.
“Thank you, Master,” he said, standing up and bowing sincerely to the old monk.
The old monk still paid no attention.
Wei Dongliu approached the alms bowl, squatted down, and said to Jiang Liyan:
“I must ask Daoist Jiang to wait here for a while. I’ll be back soon.”
Jiang the Witch really wanted to say, “Don’t leave me,” but she was not impulsive by nature and understood that at this point she could only hope that the old monk would keep his word. So she put on a flawless smile and said:
“Go on, Daoist Wei. I can hold on for a little longer.”
“Mm,” Wei Dongliu stood, and walked toward the back of the grand hall.
After turning past the main hall, he saw that the surrounding light suddenly became deeper.
The candle flames on the walls flickered uncertainly, and the terrain began to slope downward.
Soon, he came upon another side hall, above which hung a signboard with three large characters:
Demon-Imprisoning Hall.
Wei Dongliu moved without a sound, cautiously instructing Ah Jing to help monitor the surroundings for dangers, then he stepped forward and walked in.
Inside, a wide road lay straight ahead, flanked on both sides by row upon row of Arhat statues, some expressionless and silent, others with brows raised in anger, each uniformly holding an alms bowl in their hands.
In each alms bowl, there was a continuous banging sound, as if something within was striking the inner walls.
Perhaps Heavenly Demons were imprisoned inside? This thought suddenly crossed Wei Dongliu’s mind.
After turning several corners ahead, he suddenly realized he was getting lost.
Within the Demon-Imprisoning Hall, there were Arhat statues on both sides, with no distinctive structures for orientation, leaving one unable to discern the directions of east, west, south, and north.
Just as he was about to ask Ah Jing if it could make a small map or something to record the route he had walked, he saw a cluster of black fog suddenly turn out from up ahead.
The fog approached swiftly, almost instantly engulfing him, but Wei Dongliu remained undaunted, merely drawing out the Five Elements Divine Light and casually sweeping it towards the other party, at which point a scream immediately pierced his ears.
“Immortal, spare my life!” Seeing the divine light was overwhelmingly fierce, the other party decisively employed a lizard’s tail-cutting strategy, splitting off just a small wisp of fog to escape the range of the Five Elements Divine Light, then rolled upon hitting the ground, transforming into a beautifully shaped woman who pleaded pitifully:
“This unworthy woman was rash and offended the Immortal, deserving punishment, but I must boldly request that the Immortal spare my life!”
“Are you a Heavenly Demon?” Wei Dongliu stopped the divine light and asked indifferently.
“Yes,” said the woman timidly, “my name is ‘Ailian,’ and if the Immortal wishes to search for something, I am willing to guide you.”
Ailian? Wei Dongliu’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he recalled some scriptures he had copied before.
It was said that the Sixth Heavenly Demon King Poxun had five hundred daughters, each possessing the ability to transform in myriad ways. When walking the Lower Realm, they often took “Love” as their surname… so he asked:
“Are you a daughter of Demon Poxun?”
Ailian immediately prostrated on the ground, trembling as she said:
“No, how could someone like me be worthy of being a princess? This name was not granted by His Majesty, I merely chose it at random.”
Wei Dongliu listened patiently, thinking that Heavenly Demons are inherently sly, and he couldn’t tell whether this was really the case or if she was deliberately spinning lies to deceive him, so he continued to question:
“Why are you here?”
Ailian spoke softly and meekly:
“Reporting to the Immortal, this place used to be Golden Turtle Island of the Intercepting Cult, where several Immortals of the Intercepting Cult invited us Celestials from the Heaven Realm to the Lower Realm, to enjoy the music and dance, sharing the festivities.”
“Later, during the great war between Clarify Cult and Intercepting Cult, Golden Turtle Island also fell into the chaos of war. Some of us Celestials escaped back to the Heaven Realm, but those left behind, unable to escape in time, were suppressed and imprisoned by the powers of the Western Cult, and it has already been more than ten thousand years.”
“However, I managed to break free from the seal’s bind almost a few hundred years ago, yet I am unable to leave this great hall. My earlier transgression against the Immortal was an attempt to latch onto the Immortal to leave this place, but I truly didn’t dare harbor any malicious intentions, please forgive me.”
Wei Dongliu listened to her explanation with an impassive face, thinking that the Heavenly Demon was indeed full of deceitful talk.
Cultivators of the Intercepting Cult using Heavenly Demons for their own purposes, am I not aware of that?
Most likely, the Intercepting Cult cultivators summoned the Heavenly Demons to the Lower Realm, then refined them into Demon Heads to command them, much like what the Heavenly Demon Path does today.
And in the war between the Clarify and Intercepting Cults, Golden Turtle Island was captured by an alliance of Clarify Cult and Western Cult. These Heavenly Demons that couldn’t escape in time were then suppressed here.
Seeing his indifferent expression, Ailian tentatively said:
“If the Immortal wishes to find something here, I am willing to lead the way.”
“Can you read my thoughts?” Wei Dongliu suddenly glared.
“Not at all!” Ailian prostrated once more, “Please understand, Immortal, I can only see a few of your thoughts, like steam rising from boiling water in a copper cauldron; as for what is truly in the Immortal’s heart, unless you allow me to delve into your Sea of Consciousness, I would remain completely unaware.”
Wei Dongliu heard her out, pondering on the competency of the Heavenly Demon – such abilities were not mentioned in the scriptures.
However, whether her words contained truth or were riddled with lies was hard to say. I will not believe it all for now but will allow her to guide me instead.