The Truth Laid Bare

At the foot of the mountain beneath Golden Buddha Temple.

Hundreds of pilgrims were still being held back from the mountain path by the Demon Suppression Guards. Then footsteps sounded from above.

Dozens of Demon-Suppressing Captains came down the mountain, escorting a long line of monks.

The monks were filthy and disheveled, bound tight with ropes. Not one of them retained a trace of a revered monk's bearing.

The pilgrims erupted at the sight.

"Are those... monks from Golden Buddha Temple?"

"Why have they been arrested?"

"Where's the abbot? Where's Abbot Huiming?"

Lu Mingchuan ignored the pilgrims' chatter. After a captain returning from the mountain murmured in his ear, he waved a hand at the guards behind him.

"Let them through."

The Demon Suppression Guards stepped aside. Anxious pilgrims surged forward and crowded the entrance to the mountain path.

Boom!

Just then, a tremendous crash rang out from the summit.

The ground shook, and dust billowed up from Golden Buddha Temple.

The pilgrims looked up. The outer shell of the enormous golden Buddha was being stripped away inch by inch.

Dozens of Demon-Suppressing Captains had climbed onto the statue. With hammers, iron spikes, and ropes, they began dismantling it.

"Why is the Demon Suppression Division tearing down the golden Buddha!?"

"Get up there! Stop them!"

"What will we do without Golden Buddha Temple...?"

The pilgrims stared, unable to believe their eyes.

Then someone cried out, and they rushed toward Golden Buddha Temple with even greater urgency.

Only when they reached the foot of the statue did they see sheets of gilded copper being pried away, exposing the structure within.

Copper pipes, blood channels, a blood pool, and a stone platform were laid bare beneath the sun.

The captains carefully carried out the bodies, long since withered and shriveled, and laid