After leaving the Buddhist Sutra Pavilion, Tongjing went straight to the Zen Room where Abbot Tongyuan cultivated in seclusion. Abbot Tongyuan rose to greet him. "You're back, senior brother."
Tongjing nodded and turned to close the Zen Room door. The two sat facing each other on meditation cushions, and Tongjing briefly recounted what had just happened.
Tongyuan frowned after hearing him out and said softly, "Is Hu Xiaotian really so unruly?"
"Worse than that," Tongjing said. "He even boasted that he would dig three feet into the ground throughout our Heavenly Dragon Temple to find that assassin. What outrageous behavior!" His face was livid with anger.
"Don't be angry, senior brother," Tongyuan said quietly. "What do you think is really behind this?"
"I'd say they're deliberately stirring up trouble," Tongjing said. "They keep insisting an assassin slipped in, but who saw him? Why did not a single monk among all those at our Heavenly Dragon Temple see him? Could all our eyes possibly be less sharp than theirs?"
Tongyuan nodded. "We still haven't uncovered the truth of what happened in Cloudsplit Valley, and now there's word of an assassin infiltrating Samantabhadra Courtyard to kill His Majesty. These are troubled times indeed."
"Hu Xiaotian is merely an Imperial Bodyguard," Tongjing said. "Without His Majesty backing him, he would never dare act so arrogantly in the Heavenly Dragon Temple. His Majesty first sent him to Cloudsplit Valley, and now he's instructed him to search all over the Heavenly Dragon Temple and stir up trouble. In my view, the one who truly wants to make life difficult for us is His Majesty!"
Tongyuan's gaze sharpened, as though reproaching his senior brother for saying such things aloud, but he shared the same thoughts. It now seemed that this Son of Heaven of Great Kang