Everyone present remained deathly silent. They all realized that something huge had happened.
A Holy Child reincarnated from a Bodhisattva had died at a Chan Master Dharma assembly. That was a major incident.
But compared to that, the Buddha Child had come to no harm. That was a blessing amid misfortune.
If something happened to the Holy Child, it was a sin, and they could not escape blame.
But if something happened to the Buddha Child, that would be a grave sin, one that ten thousand deaths could never atone for.
By comparison, with the Holy Child dead and the Buddha Child unharmed, it instead became something people could more readily accept.
Of two evils, choose the lesser. With that thought, everyone calmed down.
The Holy Child was already dead. All they could do now was clean up the aftermath.
The countless scripture passages and Sanskrit spells that had surged forth moments ago vanished at once. Immediately afterward, many of those in the inner grounds revealed pained expressions.
In their attempts to save the Buddha Child, each of them had used more or less whatever methods they believed would work.
Though they had ultimately done nothing, the price they had paid erupted all at once.
The inner grounds instantly descended into chaos.
There was no way for the Dharma assembly to continue. The Mana gathered between heaven and earth scattered in an instant, and all the Chan Masters delivering sermons stopped what they were doing.
"The Dharma assembly is over. Send all those who have fallen into demonic deviation to the Precept Holding Courtyard!"
The Precept Holding Courtyard consisted of the black meditation chambers found everywhere. Those who had fallen into demonic deviation due to bearing a price, or who carried karmic fire upon themselves, had to enter there. Only