The demonic path is criticized precisely because it is inhumane.

As the saying goes, killing without cruelty, like twisting a chicken's neck, is not the demonic path. But if you scald a chicken in boiling water, leave it barely alive, and pluck its feathers one by one with tweezers, that is the demonic path. It's the same logic as torturing cats and dogs.

Chen Huaian spent half a day reading the entire Heavenly Demon Technique.

Just reading it, without practicing, made him feel a bit psychopathic.