Under the blood moon's glow, Mouse Garan's face was veiled in shadow, and the gaze in those rather compassionate eyes shifted endlessly.
He had come to Cloud-Brushing City bearing a mission from his sect.
Zen Master Xiong, universally acknowledged as the Demon Realm's foremost master of Buddhist learning, had once preached upon Ancient Calamity Mountain. The record of those sermons, Collected Roots of Supreme Wisdom, Divine Insight, was written down and passed on by his Tenth Dharma King. Its original copy was still enshrined on Ancient Calamity Mountain to this day, an eternal classic.
After Zen Master Xiong vanished, that Tenth Dharma King inherited his honored seat. He brought Ancient Calamity Mountain to greatness, established the foremost orthodox faith beneath heaven, and spread his influence in every direction. He became the foremost orthodox Buddha of this world, known as the "Light King Tathagata."
He posthumously honored Zen Master Xiong as the Buddha Ancestor of the Past, also granting him the title "Hidden Light Tathagata."
The meaning was: "That light is hidden; this light is king." It signified the inheritance of the lineage and the flourishing of the Buddha Sect.
But the founder of Black Lotus Temple, once the First Dharma King of Ancient Calamity Mountain, believed that many passages in the Collected Roots of Supreme Wisdom, Divine Insight, compiled by the Light King Tathagata, had fundamentally strayed from Zen Master Xiong's original meaning. To expand his own influence and seize the highest authority of the Buddhist Sect, the Light King Tathagata had secretly altered the Buddha's intent into his own.
For example, among the many recorded exchanges between Zen Master Xiong and his disciples in Collected Roots of Supreme Wisdom, Divine Insight, the one asking questions full of spiritual insight and offering views rich in Buddhist awakening was usually the