Thomas Grant also looked at Brian Cooper in surprise. After a pause, as if he had figured something out, he said, “For an elder like you, Mr. Cooper, to have reached such an age, you must truly be a centenarian.

I suppose you must come from a very good family background, from a wealthy province or county, right?”

Brian Cooper gave a vague reply, brushing off Thomas Grant’s question.

The original owner of this body had spent his entire life in the village, with the farthest he’d ever gone being the neighboring township. He had no idea which country he was in, or which province or county he belonged to.

His life had been so uneventful—how was Brian Cooper supposed to answer Thomas Grant’s question?

He could only mumble his way through.

Thomas Grant didn’t mind, and while reminiscing, continued, “I’m from Yangliu Prefecture in Dachang Kingdom. I joined this temple three years ago.

When I first entered the monastery, my family had already run out of food.

My father went out every day to strip elm bark and dig up roots, while my mother stayed home drying the bark and grinding it into powder to make noodles for my brother and me.

Mr. Cooper, at least my family still had tree bark to eat back then.

But the droughts kept coming, and sooner or later, even the bark would be gone. What would we eat then?

Years like these aren’t unique to just our area.

Yangliu Prefecture suffered drought, the neighboring Changfeng County was hit by floods, and in the capital, it snowed in July—fifteen days of unending snow. Natural disasters never ceased, and man-made calamities were frequent.

Dachang Kingdom has been shrouded in such disasters for who knows how many years, with no end in sight.

It’s the same everywhere at the foot of the mountain. Even if you escape down there, isn’t it still hard to avoid death?

Not to mention, you can’t even get out…” He paused for a moment, and Thomas Grant’s voice grew low: “Last month, I met a menial monk from Pingyun County in Dachang Kingdom who joined the monastery. He said the guiding master led them from their home to the monastery, and it was only a few dozen li.

He had never known that such a large temple existed just a few dozen li away.

I still remember, when I was brought into the monastery by the guiding monk, it was also only a few dozen li from my home to the monastery.

But Pingyun County and Yangliu Prefecture are hundreds of li apart!

Clearly, we started from different places, so how could the distance to this temple be about the same?”

Thomas Grant looked up at Brian Cooper.

His reddened eyes were full of confusion and bewilderment—

And a lurking madness.

Brian Cooper felt a chill in his heart, instinctively sensing that something was off with Thomas Grant’s current state. But as he tried to examine this strange feeling, Thomas Grant suddenly withdrew his expression.

He licked the last grains of rice from his bowl, stood up, and said to Samuel Wright with a hint of respect, “Mr. Cooper, the enlightenment trial will be held tonight, so today the dining hall will no longer provide lunch or dinner for the lay disciples.

This is to allow the lay disciples to cleanse their stomachs and rid themselves of the taint of grains and meat.

So at noon and tonight, I won’t be bringing you any food.

I hope, Sir, that you may attain true enlightenment in one stroke, be admitted to the main monastery, and transcend the mundane!”

“Well, I’ll take your good wishes, little brother.”

Brian Cooper echoed insincerely, watching as Thomas Grant carried the food box out of the room.

“Dachang Kingdom, Yangliu Prefecture, Pingyun County…” He closed the door, sat on the stool, and repeated the place names Thomas Grant had mentioned, hoping to use them to jog the original owner’s hazy memories.

But the original owner had no concept of these locations.

In his memory, only the names of his home village, ‘Xiaogouzi Village’, and ‘Yuanhe Township’ stood out clearly.

Could it be that the original owner wasn’t from Dachang Kingdom?

William Grant had also carried him, and after just a few dozen li, they’d reached the gate of Xinfo Temple…

A tide of chaotic thoughts surged up.

But as Brian Cooper slowly exhaled, they were all pressed down.

Perhaps Xinfo Temple had a library or something similar. If he had the chance in the future, he could borrow books, read the local gazetteers, and eventually figure out which country Yuanhe Township belonged to, and what kind of place Dachang Kingdom really was.

But for now, there was something even more critical to his own survival—the enlightenment trial was to begin tonight.

The initiation ritual for a Buddhist sect was not held in the bright light of day, but at night.

That in itself was unusual, even bizarre.

And today, Brian Cooper had learned many ‘rumors’ about Xinfo Temple from Thomas Grant, and received even more strange and terrifying information, so he no longer cared that the initiation ritual was held at night.

No matter when the ritual was held, as long as he could muddle through, not attain true enlightenment, and not have his nature twisted, that would be enough.

According to Thomas Grant, of those who attain the true seed of Xinfo enlightenment, not even one in ten survives.

His body was already frail, and after taking the Five Defeats Decoction for three days, the aura of defeat circled him three times. By rights, he shouldn’t be someone ‘the sacred’ would choose.

But Brian Cooper still felt uneasy.

There were who knows how many strange and sinister things residing in his body—who could say whether the ‘sacred ones’ of Xinfo Temple would end up fighting ‘them’ for a place…

Chapter 13: The Delusion of Dread

The sky was dark and gloomy, and the mountain winds were rising.

Temple halls were scattered across the rolling mountains, each one radiating a different light, their colors mingling in a dazzling, chaotic array, making the sky seem even more muddled.

In a stone pavilion among the mountains, two people stood and sat.

The one sitting was casual in posture, with a thin face and long eyebrows, his expression full of unyielding malice—it was David Grant; the one standing looked ordinary, but was extremely respectful, bowing and fawning—it was the lay disciple and menial monk, Thomas Grant.