in the edge

Chapter 542 Good and Evil

Fire Star Lord was the first to be captured, and Du Chengfeng was personally responsible for his supervision.

The main reason was that apart from him, no one could control the Fire Star Lord. Not to mention the Fire Star Lord, even if he was an ordinary master of evil spirits, those yamen runners with average skills would not be able to lock him up in jail.

Therefore, as the first prisoner he caught personally, Du Chengfeng decided to supervise him personally.

"Detention for fifteen days."

This is Du Chengfeng’s judgment on the Lord of Fire.

"Not bad. I was planning to lock you up for two months to wake you up, but I went to ask the county magistrate and found out that fifteen days is the maximum sentence for your crime. Just be happy."

"you……"

The Fire Star Lord was so angry that he couldn't speak for a long time.

"Don't you have any mercy at all? Didn't we agree to a fair fight..."

"One yard owned by a yard."

Du Chengfeng shook his head.

"A fair duel is something you can do after you recover. For now, I also need to practice."

“Is this your practice?”

The Fire Star Lord, who was imprisoned in the cell, was dumbfounded.

"You consider locking me up as cultivation? What are you cultivating?"

"Things like spiritual practice are all private. Have I ever asked you what you are practicing?"

Du Chengfeng started scratching his head.

Although he said this, Du Chengfeng actually had no idea what he was cultivating - if it were in the past, he would probably just say that he was doing this for fairness and justice, or he would simply find an excuse and say that the door split open by the God of Fire fell on his feet.

But now, he has learned how to examine his own thoughts, so he immediately discovered that these statements were just superficial reasons.

What really drives him to do this is far more than just superficial things.

Rather, it was some kind of thought hidden deep in his heart that even he himself did not clearly feel.

"You seem to be thinking of something dangerous."

It was at this time that the Fire Star Lord suddenly spoke.

"Your complexion isn't right. You look like you're about to fall into the devil's way... I advise you not to do such a stupid thing."

"No, why did I do something stupid?"

Du Chengfeng was quite dissatisfied as his train of thought was interrupted.

"I'm just sitting here for a while, how do you know it?"

"Of course I know."

The Fire Star Lord nodded.

"Because I did something like this when I was young."

Speaking of this, the Fire Deity also talked about some of his experiences.

"At that time, I had just achieved success in my cultivation and had just flown to the sky. I was just like you now. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't confused. After all, it was the first time I knew that there were people better than me, that there were bigger things than me, that the world was so vast, and that life was actually like this... At that time, I had not yet been called the Fire Star Lord, nor had I chosen this lineage."

This was somewhat beyond Du Chengfeng's expectations. He thought that the Lord of Fire was just like the coyote. He made his own choice first, and then continued to stick to his own path after reaching heaven.

But now it seems... this Fire Star Lord is actually the same as him?
Can you actually change your path? Or, can you actually change your path?
“Nature can change.”

The Fire Star Lord nodded indifferently.

“No matter how great your achievements are in the mortal world, they are only mortal achievements. After flying to the sky and seeing the wider world, you will find that you have always been a frog in the well... At this time, it is natural for your heart to be touched, and it is natural to change your path.”

"Um……"

Du Chengfeng was silent for a moment.

He could understand what the Lord of Fire said.

From this point of view, the situation of Huode Xingjun is actually different from his. Huode Xingjun originally had his own will, but changed his path after ascending to heaven. As for him... he was more chaotic from the beginning, and he was still chaotic after ascending to heaven.

Strictly speaking, the situations on both sides are actually quite different, but there is some commonality in terms of finding new paths.

"So you said this to express..."

"Listen to what I have to say first."

The Lord of Fire waved his hand, signaling Du Chengfeng not to interrupt.

"At that time, I made many attempts. After all, I was still young and didn't know which path was more suitable for me, so I just tried them all and tried to walk for a while... It was because of these many attempts that I summed up some things that can be called experience."

"Oh?"

Hearing that the Lord of Fire finally started to get to the point, Du Chengfeng began to concentrate.

He was a little curious about what this old man could conclude.

"The so-called path, or the mental method to control everything, all kinds of methods, are nothing more than two paths."

Having said that, the Fire Star Lord pointed around and patted his chest.

"One is to seek outside, the other is to seek inside. No matter what path you take, it is basically derived from these two."

"This...is true."

Du Chengfeng nodded.

Although he had not made any summary in this regard, but when he heard the theory of Fire Star Lord, he instinctively felt convinced - after all, although this summary was relatively vague, it was accurate enough in terms of classification. Anyway, it was only divided into two types, inside and outside, either outward or inward. This classification angle was quite interesting.

"That is to say, looking within is definitely better than looking outside, so you..."

"That's why I called you."

The Fire Star Lord's expression turned serious.

“Do you really think that looking inward is a good thing?”

"……if not?"

Du Chengfeng was quite puzzled.

After all, this kind of thing sounds like martial arts training, so internal martial arts must be better than external martial arts. Anyone with a little common sense can think of this. Why does it seem that this is not the case according to the Fire Star Lord's intention?
"Looking inward is a good thing. It allows you to be independent of external things."

To Du Chengfeng's surprise, the Fire Star Lord was the first to acknowledge his statement.

Then, the old man with red hair and beard shook his head.

"But just like those evil spirits or mental strength, and the power of incense and vows, nothing is completely without hidden dangers. Even if you seek within, it's the same... Think about it carefully, which one is more difficult, seeking within or seeking outside?"

"It must be inwards...wait." Du Chengfeng, who was about to give the answer, was suddenly stuck.

It seems that this is not the case.

Originally, he thought that looking inward was more difficult. After all, that meant grasping one's own thoughts, clarifying one's own heart, and then finding the most firm things in one's heart - but if one thinks about it carefully, is this really that difficult?

It was difficult, but it didn't seem that difficult, simply because he could do this kind of thing by himself.

But if he seeks help from outside, he may not be able to do it by himself alone.

“To seek outside is to go through all actions, to do all kinds of things, and to find the wonderful Dharma from them.”

The Fire Star Lord continued speaking.

"But things may not happen as you wish, and you may not get what you want. The outside world may not revolve around your will. Your will may be captured by other wills... just like you have captured me now. I have been imprisoned by you, and all my previous training has gone to waste."

"Ah this."

Having said that, Du Chengfeng suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

The old man was actually a nice person, and was even willing to give him some advice. But he, on the other hand, not only put the old man in a sack, but also put him in jail.

Of course, even if he is a good person, it is definitely not an option to let him go.

"So... seeking help from outside is more difficult?"

Du Chengfeng continued with the previous topic.

"Then you mean..."

"The difficult road is safer to walk on, while the easy road is more dangerous to walk on."

Fire Star Lord's face darkened for a moment, but he continued the discussion with Du Chengfeng.

"You just took the easy path, the path of looking inward... Do you know how big a hidden danger this is?"

"What's the hidden danger?"

Du Chengfeng was a little puzzled, as he had never encountered such a hidden danger before.

Moreover, the Lord of Fire talked for a long time but actually didn't make it clear what was going on. He just heard that after talking around for a long time, he finally got to the point where he was imprisoned - it was obvious that the Lord of Fire's ultimate goal was to get him to open the prison door.

That definitely won't work. How could he open the door after talking for so long without saying anything useful?

"Tell me what the hidden danger is first."

"This kind of thing... is hard to explain."

The Fire Star Lord sighed, but continued speaking.

The young Fire Star Lord back then, like Du Chengfeng now, also took the path of looking inward, trying to illuminate his whole body to dig out the idea that he really wanted to do from the bottom of his heart. The young Fire Star Lord even succeeded at one point. At that time, he really dug out the obsession hidden in his heart, and that power even made him incomparably strong.

"Then, the old man at that time had a title."

Recalling the past, the Fire Star Lord had a somewhat sad expression on his face.

"Fire Devil Lord, this was my name at the time."

"...Is there any difference?"

Du Chengfeng started scratching his head.

He didn't see the difference between the two. In his opinion, it was nothing more than changing a word - changing "star" to "demon". There didn't seem to be much difference between the two. Was this kind of thing really worth singleing out?

"The difference? The difference is huge."

The Fire Star Lord sighed.

There is indeed a difference, and it is even a big difference - Fire Star Lord is a respected power, and other powers will bow and salute when they see him, and respect each other. Although they are indeed competitors as powers, at least on the surface, Fire Star Lord still has his own majesty.

But if it were Lord Fire Devil...

"The word 'demon' means that you are destined to be evil. If you are an evil person, naturally everyone will want to kill you... Fortunately, I realized the problem in time. Otherwise, I would have been sealed and suppressed long ago, and my body would have been chopped into pieces."

"Ah this."

Du Chengfeng was speechless for a long time. He had never thought that there was such a thing.

But then again, what does this have to do with looking inward or looking outward?
Could it be that if you seek outside, you are the Fire Virtue Star Lord, and if you seek inside, you become the Fire Virtue Demon Lord? How did the two come together? Why were they suddenly mentioned together?
"Of course we should talk about them together. After all, the two are the same thing."

Having said that, the Fire Star Lord looked at Du Chengfeng.

"What do you think good and evil are?"

"Good and evil, isn't that just good and... huh?"

Du Chengfeng was about to answer, but suddenly realized that something seemed to be wrong.

Good and evil are good and evil. This has always been Du Chengfeng's understanding. Mainly because there is not much to say about this kind of thing - good is good, evil is evil. There seems to be nothing to talk about with this simple concept.

Of course, many times, things like good and evil are inherently vague, and many things cannot be simply distinguished by a simple binary theory of good and evil, so such things are even less worth talking about.

But when Du Chengfeng talked about his thoughts, the Fire Star Lord shook his head.

"Good and evil, this kind of thing is very simple, or rather, it has always been very clear..."

Having said this, the Fire Star Lord raised his finger.

"What is good? Benefiting others is good. When your behavior benefits others, no matter what you do, it is good in the eyes of others."

Then, the Fire Star Lord raised another finger.

"What is evil? Selfishness is evil. When your behavior is good for yourself, no matter what you do, in the eyes of others, you are evil."

"This……"

This was the first time Du Chengfeng heard of this method of division. He had never thought that things like good and evil could be divided in this way.

But when you think about it carefully... this thing sounds like it makes some sense?

It does make some sense. He was even convinced by the Fire Deity Star Lord for a time, and even began to understand why the Fire Deity Star Lord was once called the Fire Demon Lord. If, as the Fire Deity Star Lord himself said, the Fire Deity Star Lord in his youth was inward-looking, only knew how to practice his own way, but ignored the feelings of other powerful beings, then he would naturally be called evil and would attract the joint attack of many powerful beings.

Now, the reason why the Fire Deity is called the Fire Deity, in addition to changing his mind, his generous attitude of sharing his experiences generously may have played a big role.

"So, don't do evil out of sheer willpower. Doing evil out of sheer will only make you enemies for nothing... Even if it's for your own benefit, you should still do good things."

Having said this, the Fire Star Lord pointed to the prison door.

"Open this and let me out. I will remember your kindness."

"not open."

Du Chengfeng shook his head decisively.

"According to what you said, I am now a bad guy, how could I open the door for you?"

(End of this chapter)