A flicker of confusion crossed Guanyin Bodhisattva's eyes, then vanished at once. No one noticed anything unusual about her except Ye Chen.
"Who are you?" the Bodhisattva asked Ye Chen softly. Her tone was the same as before, devoid of emotion, as detached from worldly concerns as ever.
But Ye Chen knew the Bodhisattva must have noticed something about him. He was certain he hadn't imagined the strange glint that had flashed through her eyes.
"Bodhisattva, I'm Ye Chen," he replied calmly. Although he didn't know why she had taken an interest in him, he wasn't panicking.
"Ye Chen? Are you going with Xuanzang on this Journey to the West?" A trace of doubt entered the Bodhisattva's voice. Clearly, she hadn't heard of him before.
"That's right," Ye Chen replied simply.
Guanyin Bodhisattva's expression slowly grew more complicated. She stared intently at Ye Chen and remained silent for a long time. Just as everyone began to think that this was merely an image the Bodhisattva had left behind, she suddenly spoke.
"Ye Chen, why do you possess an Indestructible Body that neither ages nor dies?" The Bodhisattva came straight to the question that troubled her, and it struck at the deepest secret in Ye Chen's heart.
Ye Chen could only look at the Bodhisattva. He didn't dare answer. He couldn't let anyone learn his secret, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.
"Could you be the incarnation of some immortal?" The Bodhisattva wasn't entirely certain of her own guess. "If you aren't an immortal, why are you beyond the Three Realms and outside the Five Elements?"
"Bodhisattva, I don't know what you mean." Ye Chen couldn't understand why Guanyin Bodhisattva thought he was an immortal's incarnation. If he were, shouldn't she, Guanyin Bodhisattva, have recognized it at