Central Capital, Great Sage Wilderness.
Multicolored light filled the mountains, and auspicious mist blanketed the earth. Four Diamond Dharma Protectors, each as tall as a mountain, stood at the four corners of the wilderness, bending their bodies to lift a towering, magnificent golden mountain.
A great temple stood atop the mountain. Its gates were ninety feet high, gilded and inlaid with jade, displaying extravagant splendor. The plaque above bore the words [Temple of Severed Delusion].
This Buddhist temple had been built by the Rebirth Dharma Dao, originally to work with the Grand Formation against the Immortal Dao to the south. But as the war grew fiercer, it could no longer hold the battle line.
After Wolf Mountain fell, these Buddhist Cultivators hurriedly moved the great temple here, losing no small number of men along the way. They looked very much like routed soldiers fleeing defeat.
[Great Sage Wilderness] was the only boundary between Central Capital Circuit and Origin Capital Circuit. Its terrain was open, without any barriers. With [Wolf Mountain], the truly defensible position, breached, it was only a matter of time before this stretch of land was taken.
"Evil Land, what is your Glorious Age playing at!"
A lionlike roar of fury came from within the temple, making its gates shudder three times.
Over a hundred monks were gathered in the hall, many of them Dharma Masters who presided over local temples. They kept their eyes lowered, not daring to look up. Even the few Mahas seated high on lotus thrones turned their faces aside and closed their eyes to chant sutras.
The golden Buddha statue behind them shone brilliantly, illuminating the figures of the two men below.
A monk sat upright on a yellow-clay Treasure Platform, an air of wickedness about his face. His eyes were closed, and