Xiuxin's entire body stiffened, her pupils contracting sharply.
Her expression turned suddenly grave. She narrowed her eyes and, in an uncharacteristically cold tone, stared at Xiuzhu.
"Who are you?! Junior Brother Xiuzhu would never say such a thing!"
Xiuzhu blinked, seemingly confused. He scratched his bald head and looked genuinely puzzled:
"Senior Sister, what are you talking about-? Didn't I just speak the truth?"
His tone was filled with doubt, as if he genuinely didn't understand why Xiuxin would suddenly accuse him.
Xiuxin frowned with suspicion, studying Xiuzhu carefully. But the latter's expression and demeanor were exactly the same as usual, innocent and candid.
Could it be... that she'd simply blurted something out without thinking?
Xiuxin considered the possibility. Xiuzhu was indeed still young, and often straightforward to a fault. Perhaps that disturbing comment had simply been a careless slip of the tongue.
Moreover, even the Three Great Chan Masters had not noticed anything wrong with Xiuzhu,
She was probably overthinking it. Maybe she had just been too tense.
Xiuxin decided to let it go for now and offered a stern warning:
"Junior Brother, you must never say such things again. If anyone hears and suspects you of harboring thoughts of harming the Three Great Chan Masters, "
Before she could finish, Xiuzhu suddenly let out a strange, eerie laugh.
"And if they do suspect me, so what?"
Xiuxin's body jolted and she froze, realizing in an instant that she'd been played.
Though the face before her was still Xiuzhu's, the entire demeanor, aura, and gaze had changed, so much so that just a glance revealed this was not the same person at all.
Xiuxin's expression darkened and she gripped the Buddhist prayer beads in her hand tightly, her forearm muscles bulging, clearly ready to strike at any moment.
She spoke coldly:
"Who are you really?!"
Xiuzhu replied with a smile:
"Senior Sister Xiuxin, what nonsense are you saying? Of course I'm the Pure Land's Buddha-child Xiuzhu, officially acknowledged by the Three Great Chan Masters, how could that be false?"
Xiuxin's voice quivered with anger:
"You possessed Xiuzhu?"
Xiuzhu replied calmly:
"If I were some ancient monster capable of possession, how could the Three Great Chan Masters not detect it? Alas, I told you already, I am Xiuzhu, Senior Sister, why do you insist otherwise?"
He sighed as if aggrieved, then suddenly changed his expression and muttered to himself:
"Could it be, Senior Sister Xiuxin is the one who's been possessed?"
Xiuxin instantly realized the implication and laughed bitterly:
"So, this is your plan, to falsely accuse me of being possessed?"
In the Pure Land, nearly a third of monks who had reached mid-tier cultivation had trained in Divine Eye of Mind Perception, and the monks of the Discipline Hall were all well-versed in this Divine Ability.
Whether someone spoke truth or falsehood, they could tell at a glance.
Trying to frame someone in the Pure Land, especially someone like Xiuxin, the most powerful current Buddha-child, was utterly laughable!
Xiuzhu's eerie grin widened.
"Oh my, do you really think I'm that stupid, Senior Sister?"
"Of course I won't accuse you in front of everyone, Buddha-child suspected of possession? Only the Three Great Chan Masters have the right to judge such a thing!"
Heh. Ridiculous!
There wasn't the slightest chance of such a false accusation working. If anything, bringing it to the Three Great Chan Masters would only make it more impossible!
This guy who possessed Xiuzhu, did he truly have no brain?
Xiuxin smirked and was just about to voice this thought, when suddenly, a terrifying realization struck her:
Someone capable of possessing Xiuzhu, a Buddha-child protected by a relic, and who had managed to hide undetected within the Pure Land for so long, how could they be that foolish?
Impossible.
So.. why had he deliberately exposed such obvious flaws in her reasoning?
Why bring the case before the Three Great Chan Masters?
Did he really not know this would be suicide?
There could only be one explanation.
A possibility so unthinkable that it chilled Xiuxin to the core.
Her expression grew increasingly unreadable.
She thought of the Great Masters' recent strange behavior, and doubt crept into her heart. Yet ultimately, she looked squarely at the figure before her, inhaled deeply, and said in a low voice:
"You're trying to make me doubt the Great Masters, to shake my Dao-heart? I'm telling you, that's impossible!"
Xiuzhu burst into laughter.
"Impossible?"
A fierce gleam flashed in his eyes. In an instant, he leapt forward and struck out with a palm toward Xiuxin:
"Once you stand before the Three Great Chan Masters, you'll know whether it's possible or not!"
Xiuxin was well aware that the other party meant no good. Without knowing the attacker's exact goal, she didn't dare take the strike head-on. She raised her hand, intending to deflect the blow and escape.
But in that moment, she realized, this palm strike was no ordinary move.
Xiuzhu's palm split open down the center, revealing a blood-red eye!
But it was no human eye, it was composed of countless smaller eyes, like the compound eye of an insect, densely packed and utterly grotesque!
Xiuxin had barely glanced at it when her consciousness wavered.
Suddenly, she was back in her mortal days, before she had inherited the Dharma Name 'Xiuxin'. At that time, she was still Shi Wenxuan, a wealthy young noble from Zhou's border region.
Though the capital was a paradise of prosperity, the borderlands were plagued by Night Barbarian raids. While not wholly lawless, the chaos had bred rampant banditry.
That year, Shi Wenxuan was twenty-three.
She had left home for a night of revelry, but upon her return, found her estate in ruins, over sixty family members had been butchered by mountain bandits. The women had all been taken.
Shi Wenxuan had gone mad with grief. She charged up the mountain alone, but barely made it halfway before collapsing from exhaustion and tumbling off a cliff.
Miraculously, she didn't die.
But she wasn't lucky either.
At the foot of the cliff was the mass grave of the bandits. In it, she found the dismembered remains of her mother and sister.
Xiuxin shuddered violently.
Bathed in the golden radiance of the relic within her mind, she awoke immediately.
That-that had been her heart-demon!
Xiuzhu's palm hadn't even struck her physically, yet it had already triggered her deepest inner trauma and karma.
Even worse, when Xiuxin snapped back to reality, she realized that during her momentary blackout, her body had already launched a counterattack on Xiuzhu without her control!
But Xiuzhu didn't counter the blow. Instead, he fled in apparent panic and screamed:
"Help! Xiuxin has been possessed!"
Chen Kuang's plan was simple, besiege Wei to rescue Zhao.
Since both he and Xiuzhu had gained the trust of the three demon-headed masters, it was now impossible for them to leave the Pure Land until those demons had achieved their goals.
So they would instead select a virtuous, clear-minded person, someone who could become the scapegoat, be framed as the Pure Land's enemy, and be cast out.
Thus creating a chance to get word out.
To let the outside world know:
The Pure Land has become a den of demons!