Chan Master Xiaoyue's Emei Sect developed rapidly, flourishing more with each passing day.
Countless martial artists came to seek instruction. Chan Master Xiaoyue divided them into Buddhist and Daoist branches. His eldest disciple, Sick Vimalakirti Zhu Hong, taught the Buddhist methods, while the newly recruited Venerable Golden Light served as head of martial training.
In Buddhism, there was a Layman Vimalakirti whom Mahayana Buddhists called a lay Buddha. Like the monastic Buddha Shakyamuni, he was a Buddha in essence. The only difference was that Shakyamuni manifested as a monk, while he manifested as a householder, teaching those who had not renounced worldly life how to cultivate Buddhahood and guiding them along that path.
This elderly layman was a merchant, the wealthiest of them all, with vast riches and a household full of wives, concubines, and maidservants. He manifested an illness, and Shakyamuni sent his ten great arhats to inquire after him. They debated Buddhist teachings, but none of the ten disciples could match him. Shakyamuni then sent Manjushri, renowned for his wisdom, and their discourse continued until celestial maidens scattered flowers.
The Tang poet Wang Wei's courtesy name, Mojie, came from this.
Chan Master Xiaoyue's eldest disciple shared a name with the man from the Wutai Sect who had planned to steal the Taiyi Five-Mist Gauze and was killed by Shi Feiyang in the Qinling Mountains, but they were different people. He had been frail and sickly as a child, and his family was also the wealthiest around. They sought physicians and remedies everywhere, yet nothing cured him. When Chan Master Xiaoyue came to their door seeking alms, he saw that the child had exceptional innate aptitude and a karmic affinity with him, so he brought him up the mountain and taught him immortal arts.
Even now, Zhu Hong's face