Beside the lake stretched a primeval forest like a sea. Deep within the Snow Mountain, this was a place few humans could reach, even those tenacious ascetic monks, but many animals had always lived here. Risking being killed and eaten by the monster in the lake, they emerged from the forest and gathered along the shore to drink, nervously raising their heads now and then to look around.
A breeze brushed past, scattering the thin ice along the shore. Two figures descended, frightening all the animals away.
Cao Yuan walked to the lakeside and sat down, lowering his bare feet into the water. The mottled, gold-paint-like substance gradually left his skin with the gentle ripples, presumably some means of treating his injuries.
Holding Big One, Zhao Layue walked up behind him and looked across the distant surface of the lake. She could faintly make out a huge shadow sinking toward the bottom at an astonishing speed.
The number on the lake's surface dispersed with the ripples until it vanished without a trace.
"Your killing intent is too strong. That kun has never been afraid of me," Cao Yuan said.
Zhao Layue had sent Ran Handong and Zhong Lizi back to the spaceship and come with Cao Yuan to this quiet, deserted lakeside, not knowing what else there was to say.
"Did you know the Great Compassion Monk changed his name?" she asked.
"I know. It doesn't sound good," Cao Yuan said.
After a moment's silence, Zhao Layue continued, "Did you know he wants to surrender?"
"Snow Ji won't go to the Dark Matter Sea, so the Founding Patriarch's idea is wrong. There's no need to discuss whether it's absurd," Cao Yuan said, looking at the lake.
A Golden Buddha stood on the surface, twisting and distorting slightly with the shifting