One Step to Perfection, Capturing the Spirit, Not the Form

Yuanhui, the Temple Master of Guishan Temple, sensed it too. His gaze shifted to the Secluded Courtyard, and for a moment, a thousand emotions stirred within him.

He could tell that the god the Marquis of Linru County had invited was neither Buddha nor Bodhisattva, neither arhat nor Vajra. It was a god of his own being, one that accorded with who he was!

In a single day, he had not only mastered the Heart Temple Method but had drawn inferences from it and made it his own!

“Yuanhui, Junior Brother, with such a commotion in your temple, has someone truly chosen this moment to invite Buddha into his heart? We sensed something earlier, though it wasn't clear. But now Human Thought is everywhere. It's so extraordinary that we could hardly overlook it.”

The white-bearded Monk and the others had sensed it as well. They opened their eyes and looked around.

Noticing Yuanhui's expression, the bearded Monk said, “Human Thought is everywhere. Clearly, a great literary master has entered the Way of Incense. To think he'd establish his god in Junior Brother's temple—and with something wondrous about it, too.”

The wooden-faced Monk said, "These thoughts are firm as bedrock. They'll hinder the great formation. Restrain the god!"

As soon as he spoke, cracks sounded all around them!

The monks' expressions changed. They focused their minds once more and worked the formation.

In the halls on either side, Qiuyuzi and Li Duoshou had noticed it too, but both were straining to hold the situation in check. One suppressed the ancient lamp, while the other steadied the Bronze Cauldron, subduing the divine power within them in hopes of restraining the two illusory Divine Senses!

Above them, the two Divine Dragon phantoms—one gradually turning purple-gold, the other crimson from head to tail—bared their