Jizu Mountain, a famous Buddhist mountain in Kangzhou, stood 3,218 zhang high and covered 170 li. It held seventeen temples large and small, foremost among them Kasyapa Temple atop Yunlai Peak.
Yunlai Peak was also Jizu Mountain's highest peak. From there, one could watch the sunrise in the east, gaze down upon the sea of clouds in the south, look west toward the Er River, and view Qingyang Mountain, another Daoist holy mountain, in the north. These were known as the Four Views from the Summit, and pilgrims came and went without end.
It was May. The wind was gentle and the sun fair; dense pine forests blanketed the mountain, verdant bamboo grew in clusters, and birds and beasts appeared and vanished among the trees. It was a harmonious spectacle of nature.
Yet within Kasyapa Temple atop Yunlai Peak, the atmosphere was grave. Not only had pilgrims been turned away, but the mountain gates had been shut. From the abbot and the heads of the various courts to ordinary monks, all had gathered in the Great Hero Hall, seated cross-legged upon prayer cushions, turning Buddhist beads and chanting the Buddha's name, their voices rolling like thunder.
The Great Hero Hall was Kasyapa Temple's main hall, enshrining the statue of Our Master, the Honored Buddha Shakyamuni. Ever-burning butter lamps were lit before the statue, colored banners and hanging curtains draped its sides, while Kasyapa Venerable and the Eighteen Arhats attended nearby. The entire hall was lavishly adorned, solemn and imposing.
Besides the temple monks, more than a dozen Innate Realm experts stood solemnly to the side, facing the gates of the Great Hero Hall as they silently awaited the arrival of a great enemy.
This group was dressed in all manner of attire. There were scholars in Confucian robes, handsome-featured and