The Lotus Sect was headed by the mysterious and unfathomable main vein of the Snow Mountains. Beneath it, seven great temples were like seven great rivers, winding and linking seventy-two middle-grade temples as they flowed through the Snow Mountain Region. At every intersection, countless small temples sprang forth.
At the end of Ice Wheel Bodhi Temple's river, beside Blue Lake, a thousand mastiffs raced across the snowy plains, crisscrossing in pursuit as they hunted snow deer. Suddenly, white dust billowed up on the horizon. The lead mastiff, frost flowers crowning its head, stared at the approaching yellow-hatted monks. The monks of Ten Thousand Mastiff Temple swiftly formed ranks and prostrated themselves in welcome.
The next day.
Two yellow-robed monks from Ten Thousand Mastiff Temple each rode a dog and led three more, galloping over the snowfields atop long-haired mastiffs. Rather than heading for Hantai Prefecture, they turned toward an even more easterly small temple—Moon Spring Temple.
"Master, Ice Wheel Bodhi Temple asked us to probe out the truth. Why did the superior only send us to Moon Spring Temple with two mastiffs?" the younger monk asked, puzzled. "If the Khutukhtu of Bodhi Temple holds us accountable..."
The older monk shot him a sidelong look and scolded, "You hopeless fool! Even the marmots on the grasslands have more sense than you. At least when mastiffs come, they know to burrow into their holes!"
The younger monk shrank back.
The older monk explained, "Ice Wheel Bodhi Temple lost a Little Living Buddha for no reason at all. That was a Little Living Buddha, a little sun in the sky! If they could lose one for nothing, they could lose a second, a third. Our Ten Thousand Mastiff Temple only has two Living Buddhas.
"Namkha Khutukhtu of Ice Wheel Bodhi Temple does not