Twin Suns Mountain.
The lofty plaque of the Gathering of Heroes Hall gleamed with golden light beneath the sun.
Inside the main hall,
two monks sat facing each other.
One was a white-robed monk with refined features. He looked sixteen, seventeen, perhaps eighteen years old, with a fair complexion. Yet what drew the most attention were the ordination scars atop his head—twelve in total.
Anyone with even a little understanding of Buddhism knew what twelve ordination scars represented.
Twelve ordination scars were also known as the Bodhisattva Precepts.
Within Buddhism, they symbolized status.
Beside the young monk sat another man, round-faced and big-eared, broad and powerfully built, with the shoulders of a tiger and the waist of a bear.
Thick body hair showed through his open robe.
"Junior Brother, want a drink?" the burly monk asked.
"Senior Brother, you've broken your precepts." The young monk smiled and shook his head.
"Hey! Haven't you heard the saying, 'Wine and meat pass through the gut, but the Buddha remains in the heart'? If the Buddha is in your heart, then everywhere is Buddha!" Having said that, he lifted the wine jar and took a deep draught. Wine ran down his cheeks and over his exposed chest.
Yet at this sight, the young white-robed monk showed not the slightest anger. Instead, a faint smile rested on his face.
The man before him was not family by blood, yet he was closer than family.
In this world, he had only this one relative left.
He had long known of the burly monk's ways.
Back at Vajra Temple, when the burly monk had cared for him, he had already broken the precept against drinking.
He had even been expelled from Vajra Temple after the abbot discovered that he had broken his precepts by drinking.
"Senior