Brother Brightheart arrived in the Everpeace Empire to find the sky still layered with clouds—the aftermath of the great snow disaster had yet to fade. Imperial soldiers bustled about, providing disaster relief; refugees fled famine, while bandits prowled the land, looting and pillaging. Everywhere, starving people struggled to survive.
"Hey, look—a pale, tender little monk!"
Some starving peasants spotted him and cheered, "We can eat him without even washing!"
Brother Brightheart immediately bolted. The starving peasants, weak from days without food, couldn't catch him and gave up, grumbling, "I told you not to shout. Just grab him when he gets close and bite—this pale monk won't get away then."
Brother Brightheart was terrified. He hadn’t eaten for two or three days and couldn’t find a scrap of food—yet he’d been chased by starving mobs more than a dozen times.
Inside Great Thunderclap Temple, all was peaceful and serene, but the outside world was perilous—famine everywhere. The Buddhist scriptures had nothing to say about this, and perhaps only those with full bellies and warm clothes could afford to ponder the sutras.
Even the Heart Sutra he carried was useless—it couldn’t fill his stomach.
This place was remote and overrun with refugees; the imperial court’s reach was too short. Everywhere lay the corpses of the starved, bodies sprawled haphazardly along the roadside.
Wild wolves and stray dogs had grown into demons from feasting on human flesh, roaming in packs to hunt the living.
Dogs, once tame, turned man-eater in disaster years—breeding fast and fiercer than wolves!
"This is hell..." Brother Brightheart wept as he looked around at corpses and monsters everywhere.
"Monk, do you have any children?"
A gaunt refugee grabbed his robe, clutching a child, face hollow with hunger: "Give me your child, I'll give you mine. You eat mine, I eat yours..."
Brother Brightheart screamed, broke free, and fled in panic.
"World-Honored One—"
Brother Brightheart ran for miles until he could go no further, collapsing to his knees and crying out in anguish, "You sit in Great Thunderclap Temple—can’t you see this human world?"
Dazed and stumbling, he pressed onward. Up ahead stood a small temple. Brother Brightheart burst inside, only to find several flayed bodies hanging upside-down from the rafters. A few monks crouched in the corner, eating meat from iron basins. Seeing him enter, the monks were startled and shouted, "Abbot, abbot, there’s a lone monk here!"
The old abbot hurried out and said, "Where does this monk come from? We’re running short on rations here—refugees have gnawed the topsoil clean. Yuanding, give him a bowl of food and send him off. My Buddha is merciful."
A basin of human flesh was set before him. Brother Brightheart stared blankly, and suddenly felt the Buddha in his mind collapse—shatter.
He leapt up, pounding the Buddha statue in a frenzy, toppling it and smashing it to pieces. The other monks rushed to stop him, shouting angrily, "You’re mad, monk—possessed by demons! Blaspheming the Buddha, betraying your teachers and ancestors!"