Small Chamber Mountain.
The fragrance of burning grease filled the air, accompanied by unsettling chanting.
Old Blind Man lay on the ground, staring toward a Esoteric Sect practitioner wearing a bright yellow rooster cap and a crimson monk's robe. His voice was like a cuckoo crying blood: "Miaohuo Bright Son, this old man is willing to atone for his sins. Please show mercy and spare my family—this old man clearly calculated that our causality had been settled—he shouldn't have suffered such a calamity in his twilight years."
Not far ahead, Miaohuo Bright Son sat cross-legged, his palms pressed together, with a brazier placed before him.
His skin was slightly dark, his nose high-bridged, and his eye sockets deeply sunken. A trace of a smile appeared on his face. "Benefactor—you have suffered no calamity. Instead, you possess great merit, because you brought this humble monk a Vajra Protector. This is a tremendous achievement."
"Then why?"
Though Old Blind Man's hollow eyes could see nothing, he could already sense the horrific state of his family.
"This is—your karmic reward. The Buddha has come specifically to guide you—being reincarnated into the Secret Treasury Domain life after life and sharing in ultimate bliss in the future, isn't that wonderful?"
"Only those with great merit can offer up their physical bodies and become ritual implements in their guru's hands, receiving the guru's chanting and blessings day and night—what kind of blessing is that?"
Miaohuo Bright Son spoke as though it were only natural.
Old Blind Man was speechless for a moment.
Miaohuo Bright Son, however, pressed his palms together and murmured a chant: "The Three Realms are without peace, like a burning house—seeing that the Five Aggregates are all empty—"
As the chanting continued, the brazier before him erupted with blazing flames, surging and leaping.