Just as Hu Xiaotian was gripped by terror, he suddenly heard a gentle voice say, "Unenlightened, why are you tormenting a young man?"
Unenlightened was evidently the hideous old monk's Dharma name. He cackled. "Yuankong, you and Yuanmu imprisoned me for thirty years and ruined my life. You preach compassion at every turn, yet what you did was crueler than murder!" Carrying Hu Xiaotian, he flew to the summit and landed firmly on the edge of a rocky cliff.
On a stone platform a short distance ahead sat an elderly monk with his legs crossed. His face was kindly, and his white eyebrows hung down to his shoulders. He was the Monk Yuankong whom Unenlightened had mentioned.
Yuankong looked calmly at Unenlightened. "Thirty years, and you still refuse to repent?"
"I have never done anything wrong. Why should I repent?" Unenlightened clamped his hand around Hu Xiaotian's throat and said coldly, "I'm going to kill this brat right before your eyes."
Hu Xiaotian groaned inwardly. How had he stumbled into such rotten luck? Unenlightened was clearly an evil monk. In all likelihood, he wanted to kill Hu Xiaotian before Yuankong simply to provoke him.
Yuankong said, "The sea of suffering is boundless, but turn back and the shore awaits. Have thirty years still not been enough to awaken you?"
Unenlightened laughed. "Awaken me? You committed a grave mistake just as I did. Have you repented now? In everything I do, I seek only a clear conscience. What right does anyone else have to point fingers at me? Which of you has never done wrong? And who punishes you when you do? You cannot even keep yourselves in check, yet you have the gall to meddle in other people's affairs?"
Yuankong sighed. "Are you not afraid of..."
"What is there to