Lapis Lazuli Pure Land.
Inside the Moonlight Lapis Lazuli Great Hall.
Law Master Xuan Du sat cross-legged at the front. Luo Chen and Qing Shuang sat to either side, while sixteen monks with flagging auras and bloodstained robes sat below them in the hall.
Luo Chen could feel the scorching hatred in the stares boring into his back, as though they meant to pin him there.
The Hanging Temple had come to this battle with the tide behind it, its finest fighters out in force.
Yet in a single battle, more than half its thirty-six eminent monks had fallen to his sword, and its most gifted Prajna Hall Head Seat had died at Qing Shuang's hands.
To expect them not to hate him would be wishful thinking.
But Luo Chen had nothing to regret.
Someone had entrusted him with a task, and he had carried it out faithfully. Right or wrong, he had given it his all.
At the front of the hall.
Law Master Xuan Du spoke slowly. "Junior Brothers, how can we walk the path of cultivation with hearts full of hatred and resentment? We must guard against wrath and anger."
His voice drifted through the hall, accompanied by waves of Buddhist chant.
Their hearts gradually grew calm.
Luo Chen could still feel a few hateful gazes, but their intensity had faded considerably.
He twitched his lips and ignored them, looking instead at Law Master Xuan Du.
"Master, have you reached the Spirit Transformation Realm?"
Law Master Xuan Du nodded, then shook his head.
That response left Luo Chen uncertain.
Law Master Xuan Du sighed. "I have, and I haven't."
Luo Chen frowned. Recalling what Qing Shuang had said earlier, he began to suspect the truth.
Law Master Xuan Du might indeed be in the Spirit Transformation Realm