Boom! The ten-foot clay Buddha statue collapsed, its limbs shattered, and a thousand prayer flags burned to ash.
Countless thangkas danced amid the flames. Butter wrapped around the fire, pouring and flowing, seeping into the dungeon below.
"Master, save me! Master!"
"Alas! Master knows! I beseech you to think of me at this moment and guide my consciousness into the luminous Dharma realm!"
"An enemy is a field of blessings for cultivating forbearance; death is an aid to enlightenment."
"Do not cling to the false names of good and evil! If you believe in Karma, then know that the one killing me today is also planting the seeds of future suffering. Repent at once; cultivating the Dharma is what matters! Repent at once; cultivating the Dharma is what matters!"
The monks on the prayer mats pressed their palms together.
When the flames licked their skin, melting it until it festered, their composed faces twisted in an instant.
"I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Ah! My hand! You despicable maggot!"
"You brat, are you not afraid of the Lotus Sect's retribution? Ah! The Suanni Beast will tear you into ten thousand pieces!"
Red Dragon circled overhead.
Liang Qu turned his head. "Cha Qing, what are they babbling about?"
Cha Qing wiped away the sweat roasted out by the heat. "Most are humbly begging you for mercy. Some are threatening you with the Lotus Sect. My lord, there is no need to heed them."
"That's good."
Wails rose in waves.
The monks scattered and fled, stripping off their flaming kasayas and running naked from the temple—only to be swept into the torrent, hurled high into the air, and dropped from a thousand meters up back into the inferno.
Even after they had become curled lumps of charred black,