From the deepest Buddhist hall came a voice. "Lord Su, what tremendous killing intent!"
As the voice fell silent, yellow leaves flew to either side, revealing a secluded passage to the hall.
It was none other than Venerable Miaoyu's voice from that day.
That direction also led to the abbess's private chamber in the Falling Blossom Nunnery.
"I thought you had forgotten me after our meeting in the Capital City that day, Venerable. So you still remember!" Lin Xiaosu said.
"That day, Lord Su, you wore Lord Li's face. This poor nun remembers Lord Li, but when did she ever meet Lord Su?" Venerable Miaoyu said. "Had you not uttered those savage words today-'slaughter Jiangnan's million soldiers'-this poor nun still could not have imagined that such a ferocious official existed under heaven."
"The Buddhist Sect teaches 'formlessness,' yet you cling to appearances, Venerable!" Lin Xiaosu said.
"Cling to appearances?"
"Precisely! When you judge good and evil in this world, you see only the surface. In your eyes, slaughtering Jiangnan's million soldiers is savage. Yet Huzhou's hundred and seventy million people tell me that exterminating Jiangnan's wicked sects is a good deed!"
"The Buddhist Sect does not speak of good and evil. It values only cause and effect! When you attain the Red Lotus Nirvana Body someday, Lord Su, you will know that beneath the butcher's blade, cause and effect have already taken shape!"
"The Buddhist Sect values only cause and effect-well said!" Lin Xiaosu said. "You were a mighty Buddhist practitioner, Venerable, yet insisted on willingly sinking into depravity. Retribution followed. That, too, is cause and effect!"
Deep within the meditation hall, all was silent.
Yellow leaves drifted, and the entire mountain lay still.
After a long while, Venerable Miaoyu's voice rang out. "What brings you here today, Lord Su?"