Chapter 85: Three Days of Meditation, the Inner Demon Knocks

I agreed to the old monk’s request.

He made no arrangements for a guest room, merely pointed to a meditation cushion in the main hall.

So, cradling Yi-Yi in my arms, I sat quietly before the statue of the “Buddha of Inner Demons.”

The old monk sat cross-legged opposite me, eyes closed, silent, as if he himself were a statue hewn from stone.

Once again, the great hall sank into that heart-stilling, suffocating silence.

On the first day, my mind was as calm as still water. I circulated the Longevity Technique—the Nascent Soul method I discovered in the Immortal Hall after reaching the Nascent Soul stage—using my own Daoist power to envelop Yi-Yi and myself, sealing us off from all external disturbances. No matter how the sea of karma raged, I remained unmoved. Yi-Yi slept peacefully in my arms, and the shadow at her brow faded, growing much dimmer.

On the second day, things began to change.

I discovered that the power of the “Eye of Brahma” did not attack from without, but seeped in from within. It stirred my own thoughts and emotions.

Unbidden, memories from my past began to surface in my mind—pride, hatred, longing. Emotions of every kind, like inner demons, sprouted in the depths of my Daoist heart, battering my defenses. I understood then that the “Eye of Brahma” was forcing me to confront my own karma.

I clung tightly to my Daoist heart, refusing to be swayed. Yet beads of sweat began to gather on my brow.

On the third day, the final night, a sudden change occurred.

Yi-Yi, nestled in my arms, began to talk in her sleep.

“Papa... don’t go... Yi-Yi is scared...”

Her voice brimmed with fear and anxiety. Her small body trembled in my embrace, and the shadow at her brow, in that moment, grew clearer than ever, even emitting an eerie red glow.

A shock ran through me as I hurried to probe her spirit.

In the depths of her consciousness, I saw a statue identical to the “Buddha of Inner Demons” in the hall, slowly taking form!

And the face of that Buddha—was my own!

Cold, unfeeling, seeing all beings as ants—that was the face of me!

The “Eye of Brahma” had used my love for Yi-Yi—my strongest attachment—as a catalyst, planting a seed of inner demon within her!

“This is bad!” My face changed dramatically.

This was no longer mere corruption—it sought to make Yi-Yi a vessel for the inner demons, a living “Eye of Brahma”!

“Papa...” Yi-Yi’s murmurs grew more pained.

Just as I was about to act recklessly, determined to destroy that statue no matter the consequences or karmic backlash, to save my daughter—

The old monk finally opened his eyes.

What eyes they were! No whites, no pupils, only a warm, jade-like radiance, as if they held the stars of the universe within.

“Benefactor, the time has come.”

His voice was soft, yet it resounded through the entire hall like a divine decree.

“The teachings say: If I do not descend into hell, who will?”

“For three thousand years in this era of declining dharma, I have remained. Today, I will offer up the ‘Path of Self-Sacrifice’ cultivated in these three millennia, and for your beloved child, sever an inner demon.”

As his words fell, the old monk’s body began to crack, fragmenting into flecks of golden light.

At the same time, the “Eye of Brahma” on the statue’s brow flared with dazzling brilliance!

The monk’s body was turning to light.

This was not death, but a return to a higher state of being. He transformed the purest Buddha-nature and compassion accumulated over three thousand years into the final fuel, igniting himself.

“Benefactor, do not act rashly.” The monk’s voice now echoed not from his lips, but throughout the hall, resounding in the depths of my heart. “The inner demon was born from you. Forcefully eradicating it will only wound your daughter’s spirit at its very root. To dispel the demon, one must resolve its source.”

His words awakened me.

If I destroyed the Buddha of inner demons in Yi-Yi’s consciousness by brute force, it would be no different than attacking a part of her very soul. That cold reflection was also her twisted perception of “Papa.”

I forced down my violent urge, and watched as the golden light did not fly to Yi-Yi, but instead, like a reversed golden river, surged toward the “Eye of Brahma” on the brow of the statue of inner demons!

“What is he doing?” I was shaken to the core.

He was not attacking—but purifying!

The old monk used himself as the crucible, three thousand years of Buddhist cultivation as the blazing fire, to draw into his Dharma body all the greed, anger, delusion, resentment, and karmic burdens accumulated in the “Eye of Brahma” over countless ages and multitudes of sentient beings!

“If I do not descend into hell, who will...”

That vast, sorrowful vow rang out again. I saw, within the golden light, the monk’s illusory Dharma body enduring the burning of boundless karmic fire. His face twisted with the agony of billions of souls, yet he remained seated, solemn and dignified, never retreating an inch.

He was using his “emptiness” to contain that endless “fullness.”

This was a path I had never glimpsed before!

The cultivation method I practiced was the ultimate “fullness,” while his path of self-sacrificing Buddhism encompassed all, redeemed all—it was the ultimate “emptiness.”

Two utterly different, yet ultimate, roads collided fiercely within my heart at that moment.

As the karma was constantly drawn out, the “Eye of Brahma” began to change. Its pupil, once dark as a black hole, gradually cleared and brightened, becoming as pure as the eyes of a newborn infant, reflecting the most primordial purity of the universe.

Meanwhile, in Yi-Yi’s consciousness, the Buddha statue born of my inner demons, having lost its source of power, began to crack apart, roaring in unwilling defiance.

“Papa...”

Yi-Yi’s murmur was no longer fearful, but tinged with longing and confusion.

I knew she was saying her final farewell.

Farewell to the twisted, cold, and powerful phantom of “Papa.”

At last, as the monk’s final radiance merged into the “Eye of Brahma,” he vanished entirely from this world, leaving behind only a long, lingering sigh.

“The mirror is cleansed. Benefactor, look within yourself.”

At the moment those words faded, the inner demon Buddha in Yi-Yi’s consciousness collapsed with a thunderous crash, dissolving into the purest soul energy and returning to nourish her own being.

At the center of the hall, the towering stone statue of the “Buddha of Inner Demons” split open from the brow, then toppled and shattered into rubble.

With the loss of its vessel for countless obsessions, the demon was no longer a demon.

The purified “Eye of Brahma” separated from the statue, floating gently in the air, radiating a soft, pure light.

The eighth spirit stone now lay before my eyes.