Little Pink Starfish

Bodhi Temple Faces North, Turns Its Back to the South

“Where is Jing Shi?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked after toppling the Grand Buddha Hall. Only now did she feel a little better. She turned to the old Daoist.

Tian Xingzi replied, “We’ll have to search the temple.”

“You still need to search?” Yu Xiaoxiao frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be a fortune-teller?”

The Daoist… Could we not bring up fortune-telling right now, please?

“I’m seriously annoyed,” Yu Xiaoxiao muttered, stepping over the ruins of the Grand Buddha Hall as she walked deeper into the temple.

Now the Daoist finally understood what “annoyed” meant—he was annoyed too. The world was about to fall into chaos, blood would be spilled, and though he had glimpsed the heavens’ secrets, there was nothing he could do to stop it. “Princess,” he asked from behind, “are you a compassionate person?”

Yu Xiaoxiao punched a burly monk who had pinned Ergouzi to the ground. She knocked the monk flat, then turned to ask the Daoist, “What did you say?”

Could someone this violent be called “compassionate”? The Daoist had his doubts.

“Princess, he hit me,” Ergouzi cried.

“I saw,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. She grabbed the burly monk off the ground and asked, “Where is Jing Shi?”

The monk was clearly concussed and stared blankly at Yu Xiaoxiao without answering.

Ergouzi jumped up and smacked the monk on his bald head. “Won’t talk? Then we kill you!”

The monk promptly passed out.

Yu Xiaoxiao tossed him aside and said to Ergouzi, “Come with me.”

“Don’t worry, Princess, I’ll protect you,” Ergouzi declared.

“Forget it,” Yu Xiaoxiao muttered, walking onward. “I’m more worried about someone beating you up.”

Ergouzi looked dejected. Compared to the former pirates, his martial skills were embarrassingly bad.

“Stop him!” the chief’s voice rang out from down the temple corridor.

Yu Xiaoxiao looked up and saw a monk in a red robe running straight toward her. She asked the Daoist, “He’s wearing red robes—is he important?”

“Yes,” said the Daoist. “He’s one of the senior monks.”

“I’ll catch him!” Ergouzi volunteered.

“You just stand there,” the Daoist muttered. With that scrawny frame, what help could he possibly offer?

The red-robed monk, seeing only a girl, an old man, and a skinny teenager ahead, thought this group would be easy to deal with. He sped up, heading straight for Yu Xiaoxiao.

“He’s charging right at us, Princess,” Ergouzi warned.

Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t move. She stood still and waited.

The chief had been chasing after the monk, but when he saw Yu Xiaoxiao ahead, he stopped. Let this guy run into his own doom.

The red-robed monk reached them and swung his fist—aimed right at Ergouzi’s face. In his mind, Ergouzi was the only one who might put up a fight.

His punch came in fast—but it met Yu Xiaoxiao’s fist.

Tian Xingzi and Ergouzi both winced as the two fists collided with a heavy crack.

The monk froze, then screamed in pain. Had Yu Xiaoxiao not grabbed him by the front of his robes, he would’ve flown backward.

The chief caught up and saw the monk’s hand—already deformed. “That hand’s broken, right?” he asked.

“He won’t die,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied, then asked the monk again, “Where’s Jing Shi?”

After screaming a few times, the monk fell silent.

“Ah, I’ve got a temper,” the chief grumbled. “Princess, leave him to me.”

Yu Xiaoxiao threw the monk to the ground.

The chief stomped hard on the monk’s broken hand, prompting another agonized scream.

“Talk, or die!” Ergouzi threatened.

The Daoist rolled his eyes. “Is that the only line you know?”

Bodhi Temple was under the jurisdiction of Yongsheng Temple. Even the royal house of Vermilion Bird didn’t dare meddle in its affairs. It showed just how influential Bodhi Temple really was. This monk had never suffered such physical abuse in his life. Beaten and bruised, he finally raised a trembling hand and pointed north.

“North?” the chief asked Yu Xiaoxiao.

Yu Xiaoxiao looked at the now-swollen and bloody monk and said, “Ergouzi, Daoist, we’re going south.”

“What?” the chief exclaimed. “He pointed north, and you’re going south?”

Yu Xiaoxiao said coldly, “Monks from Yongsheng Temple… most of them can’t be trusted.”

The chief looked down at the monk—now looking like a pig’s head—and resumed the beating. “You took the Red Jade Phoenix, detained our man, got four kids killed, and you call yourselves monks? Where’s your compassion?!”

“They fed their compassion to the dogs,” Ergouzi said.

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Don’t insult the dogs. They’re worse than dogs.”

“Right, pfft!” Ergouzi spat at the half-dead monk and followed after her.

The chief turned to the Daoist. “You want to help me beat him?”

The Daoist quickly followed after Yu Xiaoxiao. Torturing people? Not his thing.

Mount Taichang’s north and south faces—Bodhi Temple was built facing north, turning its back to the south. A direct contradiction to the usual tradition of facing south. This was another clue that Bodhi Temple wasn’t what it appeared to be.

Yu Xiaoxiao, the Daoist, and Ergouzi continued southward through the temple until they reached a sheer cliff behind the temple. The rock face was smooth, with nowhere to climb or stand.

Ergouzi swallowed hard. “This rock wall is so high…” He craned his neck as far back as it could go and still couldn’t see the top.

“That’s not a rock,” the Daoist muttered. He wanted to explain it was a cliff, not a stone, but halfway through, he gave up. Why argue with a brain-dead kid?

“There’s a statue up there,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, staring up the cliff.

“Where?” The Daoist looked up, but saw only smooth rock.

Yu Xiaoxiao grabbed Ergouzi with one hand and the Daoist with the other. “I’ll take you up.”

“Ma—!” Ergouzi had time for only one syllable before they landed in a stone cave.

A massive stone Buddha was carved into the cave, sitting serenely. Before it stood a stunned monk, frozen as he stared at the three new arrivals.

The Daoist pointed at the monk and said, “That’s Jing Shi.”

At the same time, in another part of the temple—

Shing—! Xiao Wei’s blade fell, killing a monk.

Gu Xinglang picked up a ring of keys from another monk’s corpse and tried several before unlocking the copper padlock on a bronze door.

A staircase appeared before them, winding downward into the dark earth.

“Rooaar—”
A faint, beast-like growl echoed from below.

Gu Xinglang and Xiao Wei paused to listen—but the sound vanished as quickly as it came.