Deep within Evening Rosy Clouds Temple, inside a Buddhist hall.
Though worshippers crowded the grounds outside this peaceful Buddhist sanctuary like clouds, not a hint of their clamor reached the interior. Only two bald young monks sat before a gilded Buddha statue, tapping small wooden fish.
Tok~ tok~ tok...
In a room off the side hall, Venerable Huineng sat cross-legged beside a tea table in his kasaya. His two white eyebrows drooped, and everything about him radiated benevolence as he asked softly:
"Benefactor Hua, has your heart settled?"
Wisps of steam rose from the tea table.
Dressed in a scholar's robe, Hua Junchen sat upright on a meditation cushion, listening with his eyes closed to the rhythm of the wooden fish. After a long silence, he opened his eyes and sighed:
"Alas, I still can't settle down. Ever since I set out for the Capital City, I've felt as though I've run into something unclean. It's right beside me, impossible to shake off, but I can't find where the problem lies..."
Venerable Huineng had studied at the Thousand Buddha Temple and did have something of a secluded master's bearing. Unhurriedly, he said:
"If you cannot find it around you, then an inner demon must be at work. Has something been weighing on your heart recently, Benefactor Hua, something you have yet to resolve?"
Hua Junchen was cheerful and easygoing, and came from a distinguished family. Things rarely went against his wishes. If anything weighed on his heart, it was probably how he had wanted his daughter to become a wandering heroine back then, only to leave her with a lingering ailment in both legs. He considered briefly:
"Master, do you mean the problem lies with Qingzhi?"
This was not Venerable Huineng's first time dealing with Hua Junchen, and he knew