Chen Kuang did not look back, but he knew, the three demon-headed monks must be watching him with expressions of gratification.
As for what was really behind their eyes... or those grotesque cavities, he couldn't say. But it was most likely pure malice.
The so-called "demons" from the Realm of Desire were, by their very nature, creatures of greed and destruction toward the material world.
After the Garan Temple assembly, the Pure Land indeed launched a seven-day vegetarian celebration. Devotees dressed in garlands, carrying fragrant fruits, paraded through the streets with song and laughter, offering blessings to one another.
Monks set aside their wooden fish and prayer beads, strolling freely through the streets, indulging in the festivities.
Smiles adorned every face; doors remained unlocked at night. The surroundings of Dharma wheels and pagodas blazed with lamps, incense smoke almost obscuring the heavens, painting a utopian scene.
As the center of this celebration, the newly returned Buddha-child Lionheart, Chen Kuang, was ushered into the legendary Golden Lotus Throne left behind by the Buddha himself, and carried through the entire Pure Land in a splendid palanquin.
Wherever he went, crowds surged, and carts overflowed with flowers and fruits.
The scale of reverence and praise evoked by this spectacle reminded Chen Kuang of the ancient tale of Wei Jie, so beautiful, the mere act of watching him led to one's death.
Had he not constantly recalled the grotesque faces of those three demonic abbots, he might truly have been intoxicated by this magnificent illusion, drawn into the seemingly transcendent, serene realm of the Pure Land.
But the clearer he remembered their hideous true forms, the colder the sweat that beaded on his brow as he sat within the ornate palanquin, watching the delighted masses through layers of fluttering silk veils and prayer flags.
This, this was killing by exaltation.
The three demons had calculated human desires precisely. With such adoration and acclaim, even if Chen Kuang harbored other intentions, so what?
Who could so easily relinquish this supreme authority, this sincere devotion, this fervent worship?
As long as Chen Kuang sat on that Golden Lotus Throne, a single command or whim could sway life and death, manipulate minds. Such unbridled power far surpassed that of any mortal emperor.
Once one indulges in even a shred of this desire, there's no turning back. He would have no choice but to fall in line, and become their pawn.
Unfortunately for them, Chen Kuang's disposition was far from ordinary.
He held no particular hatred for power or wealth, but he had little interest in them either. What he truly craved existed between life and death, to seek life amid death, or to court death within life.
In truth, this yearning was a residual inner demon left by the scars of his past life.
Because of this, temptations irresistible to others held no sway over him.
After three days of ceremonial procession, Chen Kuang spent the next four days within Garan Temple, engaging in Zen debates with visiting monks.
Although he lacked formal Buddhist training, the Karma-Forged Red Lotus contained fragments of Lionheart's thoughts and insights.
Thus, even when exchanging discourse with seasoned monks and True Pearl Disciples, he never faltered.
Sometimes, he even invoked rhetorical tactics and philosophical paradoxes from his past life, gaining the upper hand.
Over the course of these seven days, Chen Kuang carefully embedded references to Heavenly Demons into his arguments, successfully confirming that the three demon-possessed masters lost nearly all perception once outside their meditation chambers, their divine senses were trapped within their decaying bodies.
Otherwise, they would never have let him continue issuing covert warnings.
Upon reflection, this made sense. If these three Saints could truly act with impunity, Chen Kuang would have been long dead, and the Pure Land utterly destroyed.
More troubling, however, was the presence of agents among the monkhood, some of the demon's inner circle. Whether these were likewise possessed by demons, he couldn't yet be sure.
But even more unsettling was the Bodhi Tree outside his meditation chamber.
On the day he returned from the grand assembly, he discovered something unusual,
Fresh blood.
And not animal blood, human blood.
Chen Kuang's heart sank. Judging by its freshness, the blood had been shed the night before.
Yet at the time, he had sensed no presence near his quarters... Which meant there was only one possibility,
There was something very wrong with that Bodhi Tree.
However, no matter how he attempted to communicate with the tree, it only ever repeated the same phrase:
"You've finally returned..."
When others came to meditate beneath the tree, nothing seemed amiss.
As Chen Kuang grew closer to Xiuxin, he casually mentioned the Bodhi Tree. She, too, had never sensed anything unusual, she had even meditated beneath it herself.
Chen Kuang considered cutting it open to examine it, but this was the Sacred Tree of the Pure Land. Even as a recognized Buddha-child, destroying it without reason would likely see him hunted down.
And yet... the idea wouldn't leave him.
Gradually, it evolved into a more complete plan.
He summoned Xiuzhu and discussed it in private. The next day, they held a Zen debate centered on the topic of: "Refining the Heart."
Chen Kuang argued that one must experience the dust of the mortal world in order to purify the heart.
Xiuzhu contended that if one's heart was already as clear as a polished mirror, there was no need for external refinement.
Neither relented; the debate ended in discord.
The monks who listened were also split into factions, and the debate continued for days without resolution.
After the seven-day celebration, the Pure Land returned to normal.
But as Chen Kuang walked through the streets, he clearly sensed that both devotees and monks still bore traces of indulgence on their faces, unwilling to return to restraint.
The rigorous precepts they had once internalized now felt like chains, constraining, suffocating.
And over the next month, this phenomenon only intensified.
Once long-repressed desires had been set free.
Three days might have been manageable, but after seven, the tide had turned, irreversibly.
Many devotees, under the pretense of "benevolence," began organizing banquets to honor monks.
Monks who were supposed to remain detached and ascetic began accepting these invitations.
One monk, then two, then three...
Such events became increasingly common, and eventually, entire temples began loosening restrictions.
Banquet scales grew larger. To accommodate them, lay disciples and devotees, originally confined to the Pure Land's outskirts, began migrating inward, mingling among the temples.
At the same time, Monks who violated precepts began to increase in number.
At first, no one noticed.
But once Garan Temple's Abbot conducted a formal tally, the results were shocking:
This month's number of transgressions was hundreds of times the usual!
To be clear, it didn't mean the absolute number was massive.
Normally, the monthly count of rule-breakers was in single digits, often zero.
Even if it multiplied several hundredfold, it was only a few hundred monks. But in a population of tens of thousands of disciples, this change was still a critical alarm.
Garan Temple's abbot, Dharma Master Huijue, was a true monk of the Profound Realm.
With sharp intuition, he immediately recognized the severity of the situation.
He knew it stemmed from the seven-day celebration, but since that had been initiated by the three great Chan masters, and unanimously approved at the time, he dared not challenge it openly.
That would be like pointing at the three masters and calling them fools.
Yet this couldn't be left unaddressed either.
Huijue went to consult with Xiuxin. She too was deeply troubled. Frowning, she said:
"I knew from the beginning something was wrong... That's why I challenged the Chan masters during the ceremony, hoping to block their decision through a challenge to Chen Kuang. But now, his position is secure. I've come to acknowledge him as Senior Brother Lionheart. That path is no longer viable."
Huijue was stunned.
This meant, Xiuxin's challenge back then wasn't truly aimed at Chen Kuang, but rather, at the three demon-hosted masters themselves!
That was true heresy.
And yet, Huijue's heart mirrored her dissatisfaction.
"Senior Brother Lionheart must still stand with the Chan masters. The only one we can still hope to rely on now... is Xiuzhu."
Xiuxin pondered briefly, then made a decision:
"Let's go find him. Tomorrow, we'll bring our concerns to the Chan masters directly!"