Chapter 39 — The Red Sun Hangs in the Sky, Refining the Yang Soul

The old monk's white brows twitched, and in the next instant he knew what flaw the boy meant. In his early years of training he had once overslept and missed one of Tathagata's lectures, and that very lecture had covered the move known as the Myriad-Arms Vajra. Buddhism speaks of fated encounters; having missed this one, the old monk could not consult Tathagata on the essence of the Myriad-Arms Vajra. He could only learn it from his fellow disciples, and it was, after all, not Tathagata's true transmission. His Myriad-Arms Vajra did indeed conceal a flaw no one could detect; he himself had found it, and had tried to patch it, only to discover that the more he patched, the more leaks appeared — the more holes he mended, the more he opened. To solve a problem one must first locate it. The Myriad-Arms Vajra is an exceedingly complex move, demanding the coordination of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind in every dimension; its transformations are beyond counting. No single minute flaw can ever arise from a single cause; very likely it springs from several, or even a dozen, causes that seem wholly unrelated. Ever since his youth the old monk had been searching for the cause of that flaw, and he had still not found it by today. A flaw had appeared in his Myriad-Arms Vajra; as his disciple, Mingxing's Myriad-Arms Vajra would naturally suffer the very same defect. The flaw was so minute that it could be exposed only when striking speed was unimaginably fast. It lay in this: as the arm rose past the point an inch below the throat, the vital force within it thinned slightly. Under a swift attack, that slight thinning made the arm rise a hair slower, and that single hair's delay left at the throat a fleeting opening, there and gone in a flash. The old monk's cultivation was too profound; few people could ever force out that sliver of a flaw. Mingxing, however, was different. In depth of cultivation Shen Mu stood even above Mingxing, and Shen Mu used his hand as a blade, impossibly swift; in the space of a few short moments he had already slashed a hundred times at Mingxing's throat! On the sixty-eighth strike, the golden light bell over Mingxing's body shattered for the first time. Mingxing gathered his vital force again and the golden bell reappeared — but Shen Mu's blade had already cut into Mingxing's throat. Blood streamed without cease from Mingxing's throat, and soon dyed his pure white monastic robe blood-red. The old monk sighed. "Foolish boy, your Myriad-Arms Vajra cannot hold his blade. Will you not change techniques?" Mingxing woke to himself. He had thought only of catching Shen Mu's blade and had forgotten that by caring only for defense he would fall into nothing but the posture of taking a beating, whereas his golden light bell could hold Shen Mu's blade off for a few moments and hand him the chance to defeat his opponent. It was Shen Mu's madness that had frightened him, making him forget his own strength! He changed his technique abruptly, clenched his fist and shook it in midair, and the fist blazed like the great sun's golden light, blindingly bright! The Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in Midair! In that instant a Buddha-voice actually flowed forth from his seal-art, soaring and far-reaching, and together with the palm-thunder it burst in a crash of thunder loud enough to refine and slay a soul! His Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in Midair differed in power from Shen Mu's version of the same move — it exceeded Shen Mu's by several times over! Struck by this move, Shen Mu went instantly dizzy and reeling, all three souls stirring, all seven spirits shaken. Tap-tap-tap! Shen Mu raised his fingers and, in a dazzling flurry, pressed a series of finger seals upon his own brow, tailbone, navel, crown, throat, heart, perineum and lung chamber, locking his three souls and seven spirits in place! Nether Demon Rebirth Art! The Nether Demon Rebirth Art that Granny Zhu had taught him was, in its original purpose, a demonic art for stilling the soul, locking the vital blood, and flaying skin to make garments — yet now he used it to seal his own soul, so that Mingxing's move could not refine it away! "Samaya!" A swift demonic utterance rang out. Shen Mu smiled, a flower held between his fingers; his palm shook and he blasted forth the Nether Demon Freedom Seal. Mingxing's soul lost its anchorage and was nearly torn from his body — but at that very instant Shen Mu shifted his technique, from demonic art to Buddhist art: the Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in Midair! Mingxing's Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in Midair made the fist the great sun, the thunder-voice scattering the soul and the golden light refining it; Shen Mu's made the fist the great sun as well, but the blazing Vermilion Bird vital force set the fist alight, and the flame was a primordial fire of horrifying intensity, able to melt steel. Shen Mu spread the five fingers of his fist wide, and the air in his palm exploded; a colossal blast struck face-on, scattering his opponent's soul. The old monk's Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in Midair differed from Old Man Ma's: clearly the old monk's was the orthodox form, while Old Man Ma's had been modified to emphasize raw power. Only Shen Mu lacked the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra, and so could not bring out its full might. Mingxing, his spirit shaken by the blast and nearly torn free, heard at once a low shout: "Samaya!" Shen Mu changed technique yet again — from palm to seal, a flower held aloft as he smiled, blasting forth the Nether Demon Freedom Seal a second time. He switched back and forth between the Buddhist and the demonic seal with perfect ease, without the slightest hitch, and Granny Zhu, the old monk and the rest were all shaken to their cores, stunned beyond all words. Conflict between Buddha and demon is inevitable: to circulate a demonic art and then drive a Buddhist one must be tremendously difficult — it could never be switched as freely as Shen Mu did. "It is the Overlord Body's vital force," said the Hard-of-Hearing Old Man, a smile on his face, in a low voice. Granny Zhu heard it, and her heart gave a small jolt. "The Hard-of-Hearing Old Man is right. Only the Overlord Body's vital force, which carries no attribute whatsoever, can switch between Buddhist and demonic arts without obstruction! Mu'er is indeed an Overlord Body — the village head was not mistaken!" The old monk rose to his feet abruptly, intoned a Buddha-name, and Shen Mu's Nether Demon Freedom Seal lost its power at once; an invisible force parted him from Mingxing. Mingxing was about to gather his spirit and match Shen Mu again when his vision went black and his body swayed. His throat had nearly been cut through by Shen Mu; he had lost too much blood. "I concede." The old monk glanced at Old Man Ma, beckoned Mingxing over, and said, "Junior brother, I have lost this round, but next time may not go the same way. Mingxing, you and I have wandered the world with nowhere to set down our feet; let us seek a good affinity nearby and find a village to settle in." Blood still flowed from Mingxing's throat as he stepped forward. The old monk bound his wound and applied medicine, then said with deep meaning, "Junior brother, a khakkhara can be remade once it is lost, but a head you have only one. To lose once is to lose everything. And as for this little donor — you cultivate demonic arts, treacherous and venomous; you have entered the demonic path. Beware lest you sink into hell and never be released in all eternity!" With that he swept away with Mingxing, their feet never touching the dust. Shen Mu leapt down from the stage and watched the old monk and his disciple go. Seeing Old Man Ma's grave face — plainly worried by the old monk's words — he hurriedly said, "Grandpa Ma, Granny, if the chance comes, will he kill us?" Granny Zhu laughed coldly. "Subduing demons and exterminating evil is that old bald donkey's very bread and bu