Chapter 48: The Problem of Demons

  The blind man with a bamboo stick walked with great difficulty, and after a long time, he arrived at an ancient courtyard outside the west of the provincial city. He gently pushed open the gate and walked in. It was a bit strange that the blind man avoided the main hall and instead entered a small bungalow on the side of a three-story building in the yard.

  He entered the small bungalow, and the blind man quietly instructed the servant to prepare some ice cubes and a large bucket of cool water. After sitting for a while, he went into the bathroom. He poured the ice cubes into the large bucket of cool water, making a splashing sound. The clear and cool water quickly washed over the ice cubes, filling the room with a refreshing coolness that was hard to resist, even in the sweltering heat of late September.

  The blind man, however, seemed to feel nothing.

  He placed the bamboo stick beside the bucket, felt his way to remove his clothes, revealing a lean and rugged yet flushed body all over, then slowly slid into the icy water.

  All I heard was a hiss.

  It was as if a piece of red-hot iron had been plunged into cold water, and the air in the wooden bucket shot out with a hiss. The blind man's face contorted in pain, and upon closer inspection, his eyebrows and hair ends were already scorched and curled up.

  The scene depicted was so beautiful, but it was a large construction site full of mud pits. At this time, it was the workers' lunch break. In the corner of one side of the construction site, under the pagoda tree, it was exceptionally quiet.

  Yitian Xing was careful and wondered if anyone had noticed that he secretly took out a small sparrow from the aluminum lunch box.

  He looked at the red bird spinning around with its shiny black eyes and chuckled: "It seems that the old ancestor of the Temple of Return to the Origin has given you some benefits, and you can actually fly"

  The little red bird tilted its head and rolled up its eyes.

  Yi Tian Xing's eyes widened in shock, thinking to himself "You little beast, how dare you show me a disdainful attitude as if you were human?" He was secretly scolding the little beast, but forgot that he was the father of this "little beast".

  "Hmm, now you can fly. You've inherited my strong bones and aren't afraid of anything, not even fierce birds of prey. I'm sure you don't want to be cooped up in a small box every day either... Ugh, it's suffocating just thinking about it. From now on, you can play outside by yourself, just remember not to go around spitting fire everywhere. Your old man doesn't want to be an honorary firefighter... Of course, you still have to come back and report to me every day. No staying out overnight! If you're hungry and want some milk, come back to your dad's side, I'll hold you while you sleep."

  "Cuckoo..."

  "This shout is indeed not pleasant to hear, blame me, blame me, next time let your mother Lelai re-teach you" Yi Tianxing shamelessly laughed.

  "Cuckoo... cuckoo..."

  Yi Tianxing raised an eyebrow and said, "When you go, just remember that if you encounter any formidable characters, don't bother with anything else, just run back to me, got it?"

  The little red bird tilted its neck, its bright red feathers quivering slightly, as if indicating that it had understood.

  It chirped a few times towards Yitian, then flew to the locust tree with its small wings still wet and not fully dry. It landed on a branch of the locust tree, grasping a thin twig with its small feet, and perched there, twisting its reddish-brown head with a hint of silver white, looking around with a rather pleased expression.

  Yì Tiān Xíng pointed at it and laughed, saying: "This name 'White Eyed Sparrow' really suits you, just say a word and run away? How can you not show some reluctance to part? Humans have dignity, demons also need demonic demeanor."

  A strange word escaped his mouth, and Yi Tianxing seemed to have thought of something, lowering his head into a moment of silence.

  ……

  ……

  The scorching sunlight of noon in the South Garden of Shandong University shines on the young man under the pagoda tree.

  "Old dad, I don't want to be a monster," the young man suddenly raised his head and said softly, looking at the little red bird curiously looking around on the branch: "But these days in the Temple of Return to the Origin, practicing Buddhism, I discovered a big problem."

  He didn't care whether Xiaohong could understand or not, and just kept muttering to himself.

  "The Heart Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra, these sutras clearly explain the various states of mind. Now, the fire element is running freely within my body... but according to Buddhist cultivation methods, the true yuan should be flowing through the meridians, so why can't I find those blasted meridians? What's with the Purple Mansion and the Void Sea? Following the Heart Sutra's method, I carefully examined my own body like a forensic doctor, but still couldn't find it." He let out a bitter laugh. "If it were just a problem with my physical constitution, that would be one thing... but why is the true yuan running so smoothly within me, without any obstruction? It's as if I'm just an empty vessel, a human-shaped fire spitter or something! I almost suspect I'm not even human!"

  He beckoned to the little red bird on the branch

  The little red bird flew back cleverly

  Yitian Xing looked at the adorable creature and scratched his head, sighing: "Actually, I should have understood it earlier. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, you still came out of my body after all. A guy who can give birth to a big silly bird, isn't he a monster?"

  He had already sensed this problem when he first retreated to the Temple of Return to the Origin, and was about to ask Bin Ku, but was led by the old monk to the Arhat Hall, where he saw the Buddha with joy, and for a moment forgot about it. Suddenly, he thought of this huge problem again, and couldn't help but feel doubt growing.

  For seventeen years, Yi Tianxing had been confused about his own identity. In his early years, he thought he was destined to be a demon. After meeting the old master, his heart knot was slightly relieved. When he first entered the Guiyuan Temple, he thought he was a cultivator and didn't think much of it. However, after practicing several Buddhist scriptures, he encountered another difficult-to-understand dead end. Such things, he dared not speak to others about, so he could only vent his frustrations to his own Zhuque BB.

  "I don't want to be a monster, monsters have no good ending in the human world" Yi Tianxing looked into Zhu Que's bright eyes and said seriously: "The key is that monsters don't have good marriages. Look at Bai Niangzi, she's both virtuous and talented, and can even make money for the Xu family, but in the end, she was almost divorced by Xu Xiaobai. Your mother Lele, although she's a kind person, can't guarantee that she won't make mistakes sometimes. We can't give her the opportunity to make mistakes."

  He spread out his palms, and the little red bird flapped its wings and took off.

  At noon, in the provincial capital university, Yi Tianxing slowly walked towards the east gate of the school. On the roadside trees beside him, a red sparrow shadow fluttered up and down with him. He decided to go to the cinema outside the east gate to watch an American blockbuster, "True Lies", starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.