Inside the hall, a hundred practitioners stood by sect affiliation. Two high seats faced each other: on the left, the venerable Abbot Qingxuan of Emei, her eyes bright beneath a weathered face; on the right, a handsome young Celestial Master of the Zhang lineage, clad in purple‐sash robes, crowned and girded with dragon motifs, wielding a seven‐star demon‐slayer sword and a dragon‐whisk fly-whisk.
Cui Shensi knelt before Abbot Qingxuan. "Cui Shensi of the Ma lineage pays respects."
She gestured to the youth. "And this is Zhang the new Celestial Master of Longhu."
They exchanged bows. Qingxuan smiled warmly. "Ma Daozhang's finest disciple—pity he cannot attend."
Cui Shensi explained, "He's detained by urgent matters. Zhengqing and I stand in his stead."
Zhang inclined his head. "Your presence equals Master Ma's. Please, be seated." Qin Xiaoshuang guided them to seats on the west side.
Others arrived in turn—some thirty from large sects, a dozen from smaller ones.
At noon, ten banquet tables of vegetarian fare were set. Qingxuan rose, raised her cup, and spoke with clarity that filled the hall.
"Fifty years have passed since the Taihu Isle assembly. Today's gathering is the grandest in three centuries, yet this summit concerns far more than ceremony." She paused, letting her words settle. "Seven days ago, I witnessed a divine light atop the Golden Summit. Within that radiance appeared omens—signs pointing to our sects' destiny. I invite you all to investigate together."
She signaled Qin Xiaoshuang to fetch a painting. Qin called out softly, and soon a golden monkey sped in, unrolling a scroll before disappearing into the trees. The hall murmured as the painting was unfurled and mounted on the east wall.
Cui Shensi squeezed through the crowd to view it: on the left, two figures on a cliff; on the right, a boundless sea of clouds, at its center a golden ring radiating five–colored light and harboring a single blood–red eye veined in black.
"What demonist apparition is this?" a middle-aged man demanded.
Zhang spoke: "Abbot Qingxuan and I scoured Longhu and Emei archives. This is the sealed Chaos Entity from 360 years ago."
A hush fell. Qingxuan continued, "Born nameless and limbless, blind and deaf, yet bearing a demon eye with sight of the Five Phases, it fed on human spirits. During the Ming‐to‐Qing transition, it slaughtered countless innocents until our sects—Emei, Longhu, and others—joined to imprison it in these mountains. Now the cycle renews every sixty years. Has the Buddha's light warned that the Chaos Entity will break free?"