I Can See Your Combat Power
Chapter 1250 - Chapter 1250 Chapter 542 Demonic Path

Chapter 1250: Chapter 542: Demonic Path Chapter 1250: Chapter 542: Demonic Path “`

The determination of Gu Han, with a demon skin and Buddha’s bones, was as ironclad; even if a strong cultivator of the King Realm claimed that the path of Corpse and Zen Dual Cultivation could not lead to enlightenment, he would only scoff disdainfully and then follow his own path.

Yet a mere casual remark from Yanshan left Gu Han’s complexion ashen, because he understood exactly what the other was implying.

Only geniuses can understand the world of geniuses; why else would a Zen Buddha Son with a bright future turn to the Demon Path and defect from the Sect, if not for the same issue discovered by Yanshan?

It’s just that Gu Han’s thinking was even more radical, believing that the single exclusivity of Vow Power was too limited; relying solely on the accumulation of this one type of power could not lead to a complete qualitative breakthrough. Only by finding and integrating other powers could he find the way forward.

In his quest to find a spiritual power that could merge with the Zen Sect’s Vow Power Buddha Light, Gu Han read through the Sect’s archives and made an astonishing discovery.

The only power that could merge with Vow Power Buddha Light was the deathly aura of corpses. However, cultivators who practiced this aura were without exception aligned with true evil and heterodoxy, which made him hesitate.

Therefore, those who dabble in Corpse Refiner techniques, inverting the natural order of human relationships, are disliked by all, for the principle that the dead should be honored above all else is the foundation of all rites and moral laws–disregard for the deceased implies that all teaching on propriety is but empty talk. Even the mighty Wang Clan of the south take utmost care during corpse refinement, fearing they might provoke public indignation.

After all, corpse refinement during the resistance against the Demon Race could be justified as a righteous cause for the Human Race, but now that the Human Race is thriving in martial dominance, further corpse refinement would only serve the powerful’s selfish desires. Nowadays, the majority of the Wang Clan’s Yin-Yang Masters employ spirits, and even those who practice with corpses do so only with the bodies of utterly wicked individuals or in utmost secrecy.

If even the holy lands are so cautious, one can imagine the situation for other forces; thus, the path Gu Han discovered was far from straightforward.

For this reason, he sat before the Buddha for a full three years–over a thousand days and nights–pondering the same question.

Should he yield to the perspectives of the common folk, or should he find a true path out for Zen cultivation.

The outcome goes without saying; the world lost an esteemed one of the Esoteric Sect and gained a top assassin of dual Demon-Buddha cultivation.

From external death to internal rebirth, with demon skin and Buddha’s bones, the Ink Lotus Arhat manifested by Gu Han through Visualization was a soul form with might surpassing the Zen Sect’s Bodhisattva Samadhi Golden Body.

This made Gu Han always believe that the path he chose was absolutely correct.

He was just waiting to find the method for Spirit Qualification of the flesh, and then to knock open the gates of the King Realm; he would be the savior of Zen cultivation!

And now the person before him actually said that his method was wrong; how could Gu Han tolerate this?

The ashen deathly aura surged out of his body, forming a ghost face totem that covered the sky above the training grounds, turning it dark. Gu Han, within the shadow, was like a ghastly demon from the abyss, roaring at Yanshan, who had skin clear and lustrous like crystal and features as handsome as a celestial being, “Nonsense! The deathly aura of corpses is the only way to strengthen Vow Power. The Zen Sect cannot break through the Arhat Fruit Rank because there is a limit to the cultivation of Vow Power. But with the support and integration of deathly aura, one can break through the existing shackles and directly attain Nirvana!”

“This path is unworkable!”

In discussing the future of Zen cultivation, Yanshan did not mince words and directly shattered Gu Han’s beautiful dream.

“But I have already done it!”

Gu Han, faced with denial, became highly agitated, “The Ink Lotus Arhat visualized through the dual cultivation of Demon-Buddha exceeds the Zen Sect’s Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Gold Body. Does that not prove the correctness of this path!?”

Yanshan said nothing, nor was he intimidated by the overwhelming spiritual pressure from the pinnacle of the Fierce Realm. He simply looked at Gu Han with a mixture of regret and sympathy.

This look nearly drove the Corpse Monk to madness. To prove that he was right, he projected his soul into the midst of the arena!

“Look at it!”

“`

Gu Han, with his arms spread wide, screamed madly, “Ink Lotus Arhat, isn’t it closer to the Bodhisattva’s Enlightenment than those Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Gold Bodies in Buddha’s Country!”

Surging with deathly energy, an ink lotus condensed, bearing thirty-six petals, each petal jet-black. Within the ceaselessly flowing deathly energy, countless faces were faintly visible.

Greed, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, heretical views.

Mortal beings suffer from these six poisons, and the deeper their obsessions, the heavier their resentments. To conjure these thirty-six petals of the ink lotus, Gu Han travelled throughout Xiehe, seeking thirty-six souls burdened with deep grievances.

Each of these thirty-six individuals epitomized the six poisons to the extreme, from the insatiable avarice of owning thousands of acres of good land but still skimping on one’s own parents’ sustenance, to the folly of a child who, obsessed with paintings, would rather sell his children and pawn his wife into prostitution to buy counterfeit artwork.

The more blissful Buddha’s Country’s pure land is, the more suffering is involved in the formation of the lotus petals; ultimately, these thirty-six ink petals could utilize the poisoned resentment of all beings in the world.

Sitting above the ink lotus, however, was an Arhat shining with golden light, whose appearance bore a striking nine-tenths resemblance to Gu Han, his Dharma eye slightly closed, looking down upon all living beings with an indescribable warmth and solemnity.

This was a Buddha figure that only the most elite Zen disciples could visualize, signifying that Gu Han, this Arhat, indeed possessed the qualifications to be among the eighteen eternal Arahants.

This was also his biggest confidence that he had taken the correct path.

Yanshan merely looked up at the ink lotus Arhat and said indifferently, “This is not a Bodhisattva, nor is it a Buddha. It’s just a Ghost Arhat with an extremely violent nature, trampling on the sorrows of all beings.”

“Ghost Arhat!?”

Gu Han, outraged by the assessment, retorted, “I dare ask Master Yanshan, is there any Arhat in the entire Buddha’s Country whose power of will is more pure than that of this old monk?”

“Evil spirits infiltrate the monastic treasure, wearing robes and wielding Dharma while perverting the teachings and destroying the precepts of Refuge, the more profound the cultivation, the greater the harm.”

Yanshan, looking at the compassionate-faced Arhat with a sigh, said, “The Buddha does not cling to a constant heart, he takes the hearts of all beings as his own; demons also do not cling to a constant heart, likewise taking the hearts of all beings as their own. Yet people are deluded, always thinking that those strict precepts are a shackle, and only actions that follow their desires are true to themselves, but the heart’s demons arise from greed and desire. Master Gu Han, you have fallen into demonhood!”

“Fallen into demonhood!?”

Gu Han found this utterly absurd and wanted to deny it with a sneer, but he was as if choked and could not utter a single word; Yanshan’s straightforward finger, pointing right at his heart, seemed like the tip of a spear, piercing his deepest and most secretive shame.

The Corpse Monk was not always fond of killing; at least during the initial practice of the corpse and death energy arts, he could correct his own murderous intent with pure Buddhist teachings.

But as resources were vied for and he broke the precept of killing, he increasingly disregarded human life. At first, he thought this was his true nature, but now that Yanshan had exposed him, he startlingly realized that he might have truly fallen into the path of demons.

But how could he possibly admit that? Accepting Yanshan’s words would mean the denial of the possibility of attaining Buddhahood through the demonic path, and then wouldn’t the reason he abandoned the path of enlightenment through Zen be utterly overturned?

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