Inside the Hall of the Five Buddhas, Li Huowang once again met with Abbot Xinhui. This time, the abbot was not alone; four elderly monks sat in a row behind him.
"Since you are here, Daoist Xuanyang, let's not waste words. We need to perform a grand ritual of universal salvation to deliver him."
"Fine then, Abbot, let's begin," Li Huowang spoke up without hesitation.
"Be patient, Daoist Xuanyang. The karma of Master Danyang is tied to you. Before we can perform the ritual, you must first settle your mind."
"Settle my mind?" Li Huowang asked with suspicion.
"Amitabha. Benefactor, your mind is far from settled. Your heart is ill."
Before the abbot could finish, Li Huowang swiftly refuted in a harsh tone, "I'm not sick!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Li Huowang startled himself with the sheer volume of his own voice.
Looking at the five elderly monks before him, their gazes heavy with meaning, Li Huowang took a deep breath and clenched his trembling fists. "Abbot, may I ask, what should I do to settle my mind?"
A scripture with a yellow cover was handed to Li Huowang. "Take this *Sutra of the Five Aggregates are All Empty* and recite it three times daily—morning, noon, and night."
Li Huowang took it and flipped it open. The Buddhist scriptures inside were obscure and bewildering, and he found it impossible to grasp their meaning through the mist of words.
"So I just have to recite it? There's no cultivation technique? I don't even have to ingest anything?" Such a simple process was far less complicated than Li Huowang had expected.
Seeing Abbot Xinhui shake his head, Li Huowang picked up the scripture and started to walk out. Just as he was nearing the door, he turned back to the old monks sitting cross-legged on their rush cushions.
"Abbot Xinhui, does Zhengde Temple have any cultivation techniques?"
"Of course. If you are willing to shave your head and become a monk of our temple, you may freely browse the Scripture Pavilion."
Hearing this, Li Huowang turned and left without a second thought; there was no way he would become a monk.
"Daoist Xuanyang, you should stay at the temple for a while. Coming and going like this is troublesome for you and for us."
This time, Li Huowang did not refuse. Since he had already decided to trust them, remaining overly guarded now would only make him seem petty.
A private room in Zhengde Temple was prepared for him, and Li Huowang stayed inside quietly, reading the scripture he had been given.
For the first few days, Li Huowang remained a bit tense. But when he realized that no one in the temple paid him any mind—even when he wandered into the bustling main hall to watch monks interpret divinations—he gradually let his guard down.
Late at night, accompanied by the glow of an oil lamp, Li Huowang held the scripture in both hands and recited: "My life has ended. The holy path has been established... What needed to be done is done, no further existence to receive. While speaking this Dharma, the five bhikshus... of all afflictions, their minds found liberation, faithfully receiving and practicing..."
When he first began reading the so-called *Sutra of the Five Aggregates are All Empty*, Li Huowang felt nothing. But as the days went by, he noticed his quality of sleep improving and realized the scripture actually worked.
After calmly reciting the text one more time, Li Huowang slowly closed the book, blew out the oil lamp, and prepared for bed. His mind immediately began to calculate what he needed to do next.
Once I take care of Master Danyang, I'll go find Black Taisui. If I can stabilize my condition, then I can live a stable life in this world.
But that Black Taisui seems pretty fierce... If I do manage to catch it, how will I restrain it and cut flesh from it every month to eat?
And then there's power. I have to acquire enough power to protect myself, but that's also going to be difficult.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly saw the shadow of a head flash past the door, and his body tensed instantly.
Is someone in the temple spying on me? Li Huowang slowed his pace, crept toward the door, and slid open the latch.
He pulled the door open just a crack. The moonlit courtyard outside was empty. Cautiously, Li Huowang poked his head out and saw, in the distance, the corner of a yellow monk's robe swiftly disappearing into a shadowed corridor.
What kind of game is this temple playing? After pondering for a moment, Li Huowang slowed his stride and followed.
Taking a few quick steps, Li Huowang saw the bald-headed figure ahead under the moonlight. He could not see the monk's face from behind, but noting the lack of discipline scars on his scalp, he surmised that the man's status in Zhengde Temple was not high.
And so, within the silent temple, one figure walked ahead while another followed at a distance.
After some time, the monk suddenly swerved and slipped through the crack of a partially open door nearby.
Li Huowang was about to follow him in but had second thoughts. He instead rounded to the other side of the building, wet his finger with saliva, and poked a hole through the paper window.
Compared to the Hall of the Five Buddhas where the abbot stayed, this hall was small, even cramped. Not only was the Bodhisattva statue inside—one hand forming a mudra and the other cradling a vase—considerably smaller than a person, but the offering platform only had two lit candles, plunging the hall into deep shadow.
Someone was kneeling in worship before the statue, but it was not the monk he had followed. It was a woman.
A woman? In the temple, this late at night?
Before Li Huowang could make sense of it, the woman began to murmur.
"Compassionate Bodhisattva, I beg you, please grant me a son. If I cannot give birth to a son, my husband will sell me."
As she spoke these words, a bare-chested monk stepped out silently from behind the Bodhisattva statue.
He held a strip of red cloth, which he gently tied over the woman's eyes.
The woman's body shuddered violently, but she did not resist. Her breathing grew heavy. With each breath she took, seven or eight bald-headed monks emerged from the surrounding darkness, palms pressed together as they slowly encircled her.
So this is the truth behind the 'miraculous' fertility prayers?! Li Huowang stared at the scene before him, utterly stunned. The sight overturned everything he had believed about Zhengde Temple.
Suddenly, he sensed something and spun around. There, in the bright moonlight of the courtyard, Jiandun stood as still as a statue. I've been caught!
Watching Li Huowang, Jiandun said nothing. He simply waved his hand gently and turned to leave.
Glancing one last time at the chaos beginning to unfold inside the hall, Li Huowang quietly followed him.
Jiandun did not lead Li Huowang elsewhere. Instead, he brought him back to his own quarters, lit an oil lamp, and sat down on a stool.
"I know what you must be thinking. Perhaps you believe the monks of Zhengde Temple have impure hearts and minds? But do you really think those pilgrims are fools? Why else would they come here to pray so late at night?"
Standing in the doorway, Li Huowang remained silent, waiting for the monk to continue.
"Some people want sons, so we give them sons. Monks are meant to be compassionate; this is us performing a good deed."
Hearing this, Li Huowang could not help but frown. "Your temple certainly performs many great acts of 'benevolence,' then."
"No disciple of Zhengde Temple has ever claimed our Bodhisattva can grant children. The pilgrims started these rumors themselves. We never said a thing, and they never asked."