Challenging the Dojo (2400+ words)

Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple.

Underground palace.

Though it was Aaron's first time here, he knew the place as well as his own home.

He raised a hand and saw the 'White Bone Relic' strung around his wrist.

"Use 'Unfixed Mind Zen' to sense the aura upon the White Bone Relic... and that will be the map of the underground palace..."

A glint of wisdom flashed through Aaron's eyes, as though Brahman's wisdom was blessing him at every moment.

But in truth...

Though he had made use of Brahman, he had never given Brahman a chance to possess him.

That was the true meaning of Brahman and Self Are Not Two—pure freeloading!

He took Brahman's benefits without being tainted by Brahman.

"Compared to that, Great Passage, who truly learned 'Brahman-Self Unity,' is in for far worse..."

Aaron could still remember what Great Passage had looked like when he last saw him—well, in the simulator.

It was hard to say whether Great Passage had come looking for him with a stronger desire for revenge, or a stronger yearning for self-destruction.

Chilling winds howled through the underground palace.

Aaron's footsteps suddenly halted.

Before him stood an enormous hall, its eternal lamps burning without end.

By the dim light, he could make out the ferocious, terrifying statues of Vajra Buddhas surrounding it.

Yet what those statues encircled was... an empty, enormous lotus dais?

There was indeed nothing atop the lotus dais where Brahman should have been enshrined.

Below it, a monk, tiny as an ant, was trying to climb upward...

"Brahman-Self Unity... What is Brahman? What is the self?"

Monk Great Passage stared blankly ahead, doing nothing but climbing the mountain-like lotus dais.

The next instant, his eyes rolled back, and he fell straight from the dais, landing in a miserable heap.

Aaron approached