"Bald Thief, you dare use crafty words to deceive the eldest prince! I am here under the orders of the king to exterminate you traitors! And this man—do you dare say you don’t recognize him?"
Zhou Mingguang raised the royal decree given to him by Qin Sang and, with a fierce gesture, one of his attendants pulled a well-preserved head from a bundle and threw it forward.
Abbot Yuanzhen's face turned ashen as he hurriedly caught the head, his hands trembling violently.
The monks behind him fell to their knees, wailing in grief, calling out for their master or grandmaster.
Zhou Mingguang remained unfazed, unfurling a scroll with a list of names.
"Xuanji Temple, head of the Arhat Hall, Dharma name[1] Yuanjue! Hmph! This man held a high position, yet he willingly became a lackey of the fake emperor, nearly ruining the king's grand plans. The evidence is irrefutable, so what do you bald thieves have to say now?"
"Nonsense!"
A large monk, eyes bloodshot and teeth clenched, growled, "Master was an innate stage expert! There's no way you traitors could have bested him! What vile trick did you use to harm my master?"
Hearing this, Zhou Mingguang cast a discreet glance at Qin Sang.
"Traitors?"
Zhou Mingguang nearly laughed out loud, his voice dripping with malice. "It seems that Yuanjue isn’t the only dog of the fake emperor in Xuanji Temple. Everyone, listen up! Search the temple thoroughly! Anyone who dares to resist—kill them without mercy!"
In an instant, the sound of drums and armor clattering filled the air.
The monks of Xuanji Temple formed a battle formation, clearly prepared to resist to the end.
The atmosphere grew tense, a deadly stillness hanging in the air.
At this moment, Abbot Yuanzhen suddenly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, solemnly handing the severed head to a monk beside him.
"Amitabha."
Abbot Yuanzhen stepped forward. "General Zhou, my junior brother Yuanjue left the Great Sui Kingdom to travel the world and has been away for ten years. He must have only just returned to the kingdom and, not knowing the truth, was momentarily confused and deceived by the fake emperor. The monks of Xuanji Temple would never willingly serve as the fake emperor’s lackeys. I ask General Zhou to discern the truth."
"Abbot!"
Seeing that Abbot Yuanzhen seemed willing to admit guilt and accept punishment, the monks of Xuanji Temple were shocked.
The cliff had two faces, east and south. The eastern face, aligned with the sunrise, symbolized the Buddhist principles and served as the secluded retreat of the grandmaster of Xuanji Temple.
Zhou Mingguang waited with his soldiers at the base of the steps while the old abbot went up to invite each of the grandmasters down. Most of them were frail old monks, including top-tier experts and eminent monks who knew nothing of martial arts.
Abbot Yuanzhen patiently consoled each one, clearly exhausted. Zhou Mingguang ordered his soldiers to conduct a perfunctory search, while he mentally calculated the time.
According to their agreement, he needed to delay for at least a quarter of an hour for Qin Sang.
Meanwhile, Qin Sang, now dressed in civilian clothes, had quietly climbed to the top of the cliff. He lay low, watching carefully, and as soon as he saw the innate-stage grandmaster of Xuanji Temple being escorted down, he began silently descending the cliff.
He had prepared a rope earlier, but the uneven carvings on the cliff provided enough footholds for his qinggong, making the rope unnecessary.
At the end of the stone path, a staircase extended downward. Qin Sang landed lightly on the path, his footsteps silent, and began descending the stairs.
The staircase was deep, and the silence was profound.
On either side were mountain caves, once occupied by the meditating grandmasters of Xuanji Temple, who had now been escorted out.
If it weren’t for Zhou Mingguang’s relentless interference forcing them out, Qin Sang would never have been able to slip in undetected.
Finally, he reached the end of the staircase, where a narrow crevice in the corner stretched into the darkness.
The crevice was narrow on the outside but widened inside, containing dangerous traps that Qin Sang was already aware of. He carefully stepped forward, avoiding all the traps. The crevice split into several branches, each leading to a place where Xuanji Temple stored its rare treasures.
Qin Sang headed straight for the place where the bell was kept. The other branches also held treasures of immense value, but to Qin Sang, they were as worthless as dust, and time was not on his side.
The small grotto had been artificially shaped into a square, with a luminous pearl embedded in the ceiling, casting a bright light.
In the center of the grotto stood a stone pedestal, on which rested a purple bell, a jade slip, and a talisman, all covered by a glass dome.
The pedestal had one final trap, which Qin Sang carefully dismantled by locating the poison arrow and disabling the mechanism. He then lifted the glass dome.
Time was running out, and Qin Sang, suppressing his excitement, quickly gathered the three items and quietly exited the grotto.
1. A Dharma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism. ☜