"Buddhist grounds are no place for insolence!" The monk dressed like a Daoist, Huiqui, swept his sleeve, his face full of fury.
"Huh?!" The fat man stared at Huiqui, then at the Daoists behind him. His mind short-circuited. If Huiqui's clothes hadn't suddenly changed, he might have suspected they were all putting on an act.
But by now, Jiang Cheng and Ye Qiutang had begun to understand. Jiang Cheng pressed his palms together and addressed the furious Huiqui. "Please calm down, Master. May I ask where we are?" As he spoke, he pointed at the building before them.
Though Huiqui still looked furious, he pressed his palms together and replied, "Don't you know this is the Scripture Library, a restricted area of our temple?"
Jiang Cheng then turned to the Daoists not far behind Huiqui and asked them the same question. This time, however, he got a completely different answer. The Daoist at the head of the group spoke first. "You three pilgrims, what exactly do you mean? Senior Brother Xuanqi already explained it clearly. This is the Sutra Hall, a restricted area of our temple!"
Jiang Cheng studied them, his gaze sweeping over each of their faces, but he saw no sign that they were acting. He slowly backed toward the Sutra Hall. Seeing this, Huiqui and the Daoists behind him pressed forward.
The next moment, a strange scene unfolded. As the Daoists passed the spot where Huiqui had stood, they all changed appearance. First, their Daoist robes gradually faded; then their tied-up hair slowly shrank. The transformation was astonishingly fast. In barely the blink of an eye, they had changed from Daoists into monks.
Now the newly transformed "monks" pressed their palms together and joined Huiqui at the front in trying to stop Jiang Cheng. "Three benefactors, this