The bright moonlight was locked outside; within the dim Hall of Silent Meditation, two blue lanterns flickered.
Danny Crimson knelt dumbfounded at the center of the grand hall, his body covered in blood, wounds left untreated.
Behind him, Elder Sky also knelt.
Neither of them spoke a word.
After a long time, the main doors thundered open, and Master Sage Subhuti strode in.
His white robe was stained with blood, his face full of rage as he walked straight to his seat and sat down.
The two disciples bowed deeply and kowtowed without a sound.
"Do you have anything to say?" Master Sage Subhuti glared coldly at Danny Crimson and rebuked him.
"Your disciple was wrong," Danny Crimson bowed his head and replied.
"Speak! What mistake?" With that, Master Sage Subhuti grabbed the bamboo scroll beside him and slammed it heavily onto the floor.
The crisp sound echoed throughout the hall.
A pair of aged eyes half-squinted, staring coldly at Danny Crimson, who dared not lift his head.
Danny Crimson hesitated, unsure of how to begin.
Seeing this, Elder Sky had no choice but to speak up: "Master, about this matter..."
"Did I ask you?" Master Sage Subhuti glared at Elder Sky.
Startled, Elder Sky could only lower his head and bow.
After a long pause, Danny Crimson swallowed hard, straightened up, and said: "That monkey tried to sneak into the Scripture Tower at night, so..."
"So you wanted to kill him?!"
Before he could finish, Master Sage Subhuti grabbed the inkstone from the low table and hurled it.
His movement was not fast, but Danny Crimson did not dare to dodge.
"Dares not, dares not? It was bad enough when those outer disciples caused trouble, but you, my personal disciples, have all received my direct teachings. Yet you wade into muddy waters and lower yourselves! Foolish! Utterly foolish!"
"Master..."
"Don't call me Master! I have no disciple like you! After all these years of cultivating the Dao and seeking immortality, what have you learned? To develop such a temperament! Do you think cultivation is just about Dao, not about the heart?"
The grand hall was so silent that only Master Sage Subhuti's heavy breathing could be heard.
Elder Sky knew that Master Sage Subhuti was truly furious—angry at Danny Crimson for drawing his sword on a fellow disciple, and even more so because he had fallen for a provocation.
Anna Yang's maneuver was a direct slap in the face to Master Sage Subhuti.
After a moment, Elder Sky spoke: "Master, this all started because of me. If not for me... Senior Brother Danny would not have quarreled with Junior Brother Simon. If you must punish someone, please punish me."
"Hmph!" Master Sage Subhuti turned away, refusing to look: "You are already at the Divine Transformation stage, yet your temperament hasn’t changed at all. You’re just as you were when you first arrived at the monastery, a destitute clerk. Calling you stubborn is a compliment; truthfully, you’re just thick-headed! Even your overly-obsessed Junior Brother Simon is better than you! I have nothing more to say. Reflect on this yourself. If you can't figure it out, then don't bother cultivating immortality!"
With that, Master Sage Subhuti shook his sleeve and stood up, staring at Danny Crimson: "Tonight, you two will kneel here until dawn and reflect on your mistakes. Danny Crimson, starting tomorrow, you will copy Chapter 24 of the Dao De Jing one thousand times. If you fail, do not come see me again!"
"Yes." Both disciples bowed respectfully.
...
Eighty-one thousand miles away, at Flower-Fruit Mountain.
Under the starry night, two figures—one old, one young—silently appeared in the sky.
The elder wore a yellow Eight Trigrams robe, a golden hair crown, and carried a horsetail whisk. His white hair and long beard framed a kindly face, and beside him stood a purple-robed Daoist boy.
This was none other than the Grand Supreme Elder Lord and his attendant.
Sweeping his gaze over the silent forest below, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord narrowed his eyes. "This is it—the source of the sudden rupture in the Heavenly Dao."
As he spoke, he seemed to sense something else and flew off to one side, with the purple-robed Daoist boy hurrying after him.
Soon, the two landed quietly in a canyon.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord took a few steps forward, stopped, closed his eyes, then reopened them—his once dark pupils now shining silver!
With his silver eyes, he scanned the shadowy canyon under the moonlight, then reached out and grabbed—a mass of yellow-brown mist was drawn into his palm.
Handing his horsetail whisk to the attendant, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord rubbed the yellow-brown mist between his palms, carefully examining it.
"Master, what is this?" the Daoist boy couldn't help but ask curiously.
"A wandering spirit—the spirit of a tiger." The Grand Supreme Elder Lord rubbed his hands, and the mist instantly dispersed, vanishing without a trace. "Its lifespan was not yet exhausted, yet it died. The Underworld would not accept it, so it became a wandering spirit, drifting in the place it once lived. This spirit must have existed for many years; its memories have faded, so nothing can be read from it."
With that, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord stomped his foot.
Soon after, a silvery figure emerged from the ground—a short, plump old man dressed as a wealthy landowner, hunched over and leaning on a cane.
As soon as the old man saw the Grand Supreme Elder Lord, he hurriedly knelt and kowtowed in fear.
"This humble one greets the Grand Supreme Elder Lord!"
"Are you the local earth deity here?" The Grand Supreme Elder Lord stroked his beard and asked.
"Reporting to the Elder Lord, I am indeed the earth deity of Flower-Fruit Mountain."
"Then tell me, what was this spirit in life, what did it experience, and how did it die?"
The earth deity raised his head, thought for a moment, and replied, "Reporting to the Elder Lord, this wandering soul was once a tiger. About twelve years ago, the giant stone atop the mountain cracked, giving birth to a stone monkey. This tiger was slain by that stone monkey."
"Stone monkey?" The Grand Supreme Elder Lord raised his head, stroked his beard in thought, and asked, "Is that stone monkey still in the mountain?"
The earth deity gently shook his head. "That stone monkey left for the sea eleven years ago and has never returned. Where it went, I do not know."
"Oh?" The Grand Supreme Elder Lord calculated with his fingers, then fell into deep thought. "Strange... to have gone to sea at this time..."
After a long while, he sighed deeply. "You may go."
"Yes." The earth deity bowed and took his leave.
The Grand Supreme Elder Lord and the Daoist boy soon arrived at a town abandoned due to famine.
Ten years had passed. The once withered forest had revived, but the people who fled had not returned. The town remained dilapidated and deserted.
Without noticing the lonely grave on the hillside, the two soared past and landed before a ruined wooden house.
Again, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord reached out and caught a mass of gray mist.
After a careful examination, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord sighed, "Again, the same."
He scattered the wandering spirit in his hand and stomped his foot to summon the earth deity.
A tall, thin earth deity, resembling a bamboo pole, respectfully greeted, "This humble one greets the Elder Lord."
"Let me ask you, how did that wandering spirit die?"
The earth deity replied, "That spirit was once a hunter here. Eleven years ago, he was slain by the stone monkey passing through. Since his lifespan was not yet over, the Underworld would not accept him, so he could only wander here."
"The stone monkey again. It seems we've found the source." The Grand Supreme Elder Lord sighed.
After sighing, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord turned to leave, but seemed to sense something else, and asked, "Did the stone monkey only kill this hunter? Did he harm any other lives here?"
The earth deity thought carefully and replied, "No."
"Good." With that, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord and the Daoist boy soared into the air and continued westward.
...
At Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave, Master Sage Subhuti was suddenly startled as he walked along a moonlit corridor, turning to look eastward.
"What must come has finally arrived."