Xuanzang did not stop.
Lotuses bloomed beneath his every step as he reached the tree.
He gently raised the Nine-Ringed Monk's Staff.
Behind Xuanzang's head, the once-hazy mass of luminous fire abruptly contracted and condensed into a crystal-clear wheel, its hue like colored glass.
Within it, a scene could faintly be seen-great fires of compassion filled the heavens, burning an endless forest of afflictions, with Buddha seated amid them.
Xuanzang raised his staff and gently tapped the trunk.
The nine golden rings on the staff struck one another, releasing a delicate, clear chime, like a rattle in a loving mother's hand.
"Ding-"
Xuanzang murmured, his voice like a temple bell:
"Good man, the meaning of nirvana is the Dharma-nature of the All Buddhas. Dharma-nature knows no extinction."
Flames flowed down from the glasslike wheel of light along the Nine-Ringed Monk's Staff. Like nimble white snakes, they climbed onto the roots and wound toward the treetop.
Where the flames passed, leaves and branches remained unscorched, bark unharmed. Only black vapor, thick as ink, was burned out, hissing as it dissolved into wisps of smoke.
Compassion filled Xuanzang's face as he raised his staff again and struck the tree.
The second tap.
"Ding-"
"Tathagata is nirvana; nirvana is inexhaustibility; inexhaustibility is buddha-nature; buddha-nature is certainty; certainty is anuttara samyak sambodhi."
Boom!
White flames surged into the sky, engulfing the immense canopy that blotted out the sun and heavens, wrapping the Ginseng Fruit at its tips in fire as well.
Strangely, beneath those searing flames, the "infants" slowly stretched their curled, twisted limbs, then gradually dissolved into the purest spiritual light.
Then Xuanzang raised his staff a third time.
This time, he did not tap lightly, but drove it hard against the tree.
"Ding!!!"
"Nirvana may also be called certainty, and may also