"My Buddha, the terms have been settled with the Heavenly Court."
In the Pure Land of West Heaven, inside Great Lingyin Temple, Mingxian Bodhisattva bowed to Jinjue Buddha, who sat upon a Merit Golden Lotus pedestal, and delivered his report.
Jinjue Buddha nodded with satisfaction. "Good."
Mingxian Bodhisattva could not help saying, "My Buddha, Southern Imperial's price was steep. Those treasures of heaven and earth are unique to our western Pure Land. In the past, the Heavenly Court could obtain only a little. If we hand over so much at once, they won't need to give us a second thought for the next thousand or two thousand years."
Jinjue Buddha was unconcerned. "I understand that."
"It wasn't he who set the price so high. It was His Majesty."
"His Majesty knows what I intend to do, which is why he named that price. Trading a thousand or two thousand years of resources for the future of Great Lingyin Temple—don't you think that's worthwhile?"
The future of Great Lingyin Temple?
The bodhisattvas and arhats in Spirit Tone Hall were all bewildered.
Jinjue Buddha slowly swept his smiling gaze over them, then said, "Earlier, I attended the Flat Peach Dharma Banquet at the invitation of Western Imperial and the Queen Mother of Yaochi."
"At the banquet, I observed a disturbance in the River of Time. Boundless Calamity Aura surged from the chaotic void, and I saw a vision of golden light and a Buddha's form radiant with wisdom. The Buddhist Sect's calamity is almost upon us."
The bodhisattvas and arhats were stunned. Azure Dragon Great Sage had been dozing at the very back, but the mention of the Buddhist Sect's calamity jolted him awake. Granted the station of Chaste Dragon Bodhisattva, he looked utterly at a loss.
"My Buddha, scarcely a thousand