"This-"
When a person's emotions rose to a fever pitch, with a secret drug that unsettled the mind adding fuel to the flames, the violent swings in emotion could give rise to thoughts of suicide.
The people of Nagarjuna Victory Temple seemed utterly unconcerned that a monk had died a violent death on the spot.
Qu Zan's Eye of the Ghost God opened a faint sliver, and he saw threads of scarlet wrapped within the white smoke.
The white smoke was like kindling set alight, causing everyone's emotions to shift even more violently.
Soon, another monk lost his mind and knocked over the brazier beside him, spilling the butter inside.
It splashed all over the monk's head and face. Flames suddenly roared up, setting him alight. Like a candle burned down to its end, he was reduced to nothing but a charred corpse.
Throughout the ordeal, agonized, grief-stricken screams echoed through the assembly grounds, utterly heartrending.
Qu Zan, Namkha, and the others watched, their faces deathly pale.
Through his ghost eye, Qu Zan saw another wisp of scarlet rise from the corpse and drift into the sky.
Naturally, he knew where that wisp of scarlet was going. It was being absorbed by the Nagarjuna Bodhisattva Statue-
So we're being treated as sacrificial offerings! Qu Zan's heart clenched, and immense terror seized them.
Namkha whispered, "What should we do? It'll be our turn soon!"
"Why don't we just sit this out?" Gadeng said.
"How could we? We're already here. Do you think we can refuse to participate just because we want to?" Namkha said.
Gadeng said, "We'll just concede as soon as we go up."
Jiumo said coldly, "If you go up with that attitude, you'll die for certain!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"When two rats are driven into