After the small kingdom fell years ago, Master Chishan suddenly developed a Heart Demon. But at the time, the Heart Demon was still weak, and as a Buddhist Cultivator, his first instinct had naturally been to suppress and kill it with his own Thought Force. Thus, he had not returned to Bitter Crossing Temple.
When Chishan first entered the small kingdom, he had only been at the Late Golden Core stage. By the time he had helped the new king ascend the throne, taken a sword wound, and left in wretched straits, he had already reached Golden Core Peak. Sensing that he was about to advance, he chose to leave at once and continue his wandering. What Chishan had been thinking at the time was likely known only to Chishan of that day. In any case, once he reached the Nascent Soul stage, he had almost impatiently returned to the small kingdom.
He had wanted to see whether this small kingdom had lived up to the salvation and sacrifice he had once given it.
On the way there, he had imagined ten thousand possibilities, yet never this one... It had already vanished while he was lost in despair with no way to ease it. He had not even found the broken walls and crumbling ruins from before, because a kingdom without people decayed at an inconceivable speed.
When the Heart Demon appeared then, it instead gave him the strength to keep fighting it.
Had he returned to Bitter Crossing Temple then, perhaps the elders in the temple could have removed his Heart Demon for him. But though Chishan seemed gentle as the breeze, he was an exceedingly stubborn man. He chose to continue cultivating.
Thus, the Heart Demon found fertile soil in which to grow. When he returned to Bitter