The Seventh Master said the Evil Buddha had founded the organization to find Gongsun Jing's reincarnation.
It wasn't as though that possibility had never occurred to me.
If that really was the case, had he found Gongsun Jing?
He had succumbed to darkness because of Gongsun Jing's unjust death, which showed just how important Gongsun Jing was to him.
If he found Gongsun Jing, how would he face him?
Although he hadn't been the one who betrayed Gongsun Jing back then, the two of them had met because they shared the same ideals, and they had become close, trusted friends because they both aspired to help all living beings.
If Gongsun Jing knew he had become the Evil Buddha, who committed every kind of evil, would Gongsun Jing acknowledge him?
He might even feel ashamed himself, so regardless of what happened after they acknowledged each other, he ought to disband the organization.
So I figured he hadn't found Gongsun Jing's reincarnation.
Besides, roughly fifteen hundred years had passed since 500 CE. Even if each of Gongsun Jing's reincarnations lived to a hundred, he would have been through at least fifteen lives by now.
He still hadn't found him after fifteen reincarnations?
"Wu Huaqing wanted money and power. His sudden rebellion against the Evil Buddha must have happened because those weren't what the Evil Buddha wanted. They were pursuing different things, and that was what led Wu Huaqing to rebel."
The Seventh Master analyzed it. "Then what exactly does the Evil Buddha want? I think he must want to find Gongsun Jing and explain the truth about what happened back then."
I nodded. "Your analysis makes sense too, but over a thousand years have passed, and the Evil Buddha has been alive all this time. Shouldn't he at least have found