At the core of the Dazhi Root Realm, Monk Zhi sat atop a colossal golden lotus. The lotus bloomed with seven ranks, each petal adorned with one of the Seven Treasures of Buddhism. Every treasure symbolized virtues such as wisdom, auspiciousness, longevity, and stability. Enveloped by this sublime beauty, Monk Zhi appeared to inhabit a different world—much like when Zhou Tieyi manifested his Buddhist Kingdom in the Palm. So long as one could not shatter this dreamlike perfection, no force, however powerful, could so much as touch him.
Opposite Monk Zhi sat four other six-rank lotus thrones, each occupied by an elderly monk. One of them, a man with long eyebrows wearing red robes, had once been Monk Zhi’s mentor. But when Zhi’s cultivation surpassed his own, the abbot of Dazhi Zen Temple had voluntarily abdicated to support him wholeheartedly. Monk Zhi had lived up to the expectations of generations of predecessors, building the Buddhist Dazhi Root Realm upon the foundation of the Dazhi Zen Temple.
"Zhi Neng, are you not being too hasty in forcing those newly initiated disciples into the Dazhi Root Realm?"
Chapter 407