Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

Hundreds of students walked quietly across the playground.

At the very front, walked a little girl in a blue and white school uniform.

The teacher on duty was blocking the school gate.

"Stop! No one is allowed to leave the school without a teacher's permission."

The girl slowly raised her head, her eyes tightly closed.

An aged male voice came from his mouth.

"The mountain gates are open. All beings may enter the Pure Land. Why are you hindering those with affinity?"

The teacher on duty turned pale, but did not back down.

Whether they are destined to be together is not for you to decide.

A grayish-white Buddhist mark appeared between the girl's eyebrows.

An invisible force slammed into the school gate.

The teacher on duty was thrown several meters away and slammed his back against the wall.

Hundreds of students surged forward in unison.

Just then, the school's loudspeaker suddenly blared.

"Chen Yuxin, Class 1, Grade 6. Zhao Chen, Class 3, Grade 5. Zhou Jiaqi, Class 2, Grade 4."

Inside the broadcasting room, the female teacher tightly clutched the student roster.

His voice trembled, but he didn't stop broadcasting.

"Chen Yuxin, you haven't handed in your math homework yet."

"Zhao Chen, your mother wants you to come home early this weekend."

"Zhou Jiaqi, you will be participating in next week's recitation competition."

The girl in the lead suddenly trembled.

Two lines of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"My name is... Chen Yuxin."

The gray-robed monk behind her quickly faded and disappeared.

The second and third students stopped in their tracks one after another.

More and more students opened their eyes, their faces full of confusion.

I had no idea why I was on the playground.

The teacher on duty got up from the ground and slammed the school gate shut.

"Everyone back in the gym! No sleeping! Call each other by name!"

Footage of the school's self-rescue efforts was broadcast throughout Linjiang City by the Ninth Bureau.

The citizens finally realized that the name was the key to defeating the gray-robed monk.

All the community broadcast systems were turned on.

The names of those affected were read aloud repeatedly.

Some people write their entire family's names on the wall.

Some people are looking through photo albums and reminiscing about the past.

Someone tied themselves to the side of the bed with a rope.

An elderly person living alone was eroded.

Community workers gathered around his home with his files.

"Zhou Guoqing, you are seventy-two years old and live in Room 201, Building 3, Xinhe Community."

"You go to the park to feed the birds every morning."

The Buddha mark between the old man's eyebrows kept flashing.

The hand that had been reaching for the doorknob slowly withdrew.

"My name is Zhou Guoqing, and this is my home."

The gray-robed monk behind him collapsed silently.

Those who fall into the deepest dream still cannot wake up.

A woman clutched a family photo, her expression growing increasingly flustered.

The face on the right side of the photo is slowly disappearing.

"What's my husband's name? I clearly remember it, but I can't recall it?"

The blue lotus amulet on his chest suddenly glowed.

A bluish light fell on the back of the photograph, revealing three characters: Liu Cheng'an.

The woman hugged the photo tightly and shouted loudly.

"Liu Cheng'an! My husband's name is Liu Cheng'an!"

On the edge of the old town, a man steps into the gray fog.

The name reappeared on the blank spirit tablet in his hand.

The faceless monk behind him slowly turned around.

Its face had no facial features, only a mouth that opened and closed.

"Clinging to one's name prevents liberation."

The man's eyes glazed over again as he tried to erase the name on the memorial tablet.

A blue lotus lantern descended from the sky.

Chen Mo reached out and caught the lotus lantern.

The lamplight enveloped the man and the monk.

The monk's figure faded rapidly, and the man became fully awake.

Chen Mo looked up and gazed into the distance.

The grayish-white fog had already covered three streets.

Tens of thousands of sleepwalkers are gathering in the direction of the air-raid shelter.

"Notify all branches of the Qinglian Society."

All the lotus lanterns offered were sent to various communities.

One member hurriedly asked a question.

"Now that all the lanterns have been sent out, what should headquarters do?"

Chen Mo placed his palm on the main Qinglian lamp.

The mark on his chest slowly lit up.

"I stayed at headquarters and used the main lamp to connect all the sub-altars."

"The monk wanted the people of Linjiang to forget themselves."

Then we'll call them back one by one.

Hundreds of lotus altars were lit up at the same time.

One by one, lotus lanterns flew towards hospitals, schools, and communities.

Information about those affected is continuously fed into the main light.

100,000, 200,000, 300,000.

As names kept flooding in, Chen Mo's face grew increasingly pale.

[Detection detected that the Azure Lotus faction is upholding the human race's self-perception]

[All spirits resonate in response, gaining the temporary ability: Guardian Lotus Lantern]

The lights will never go out, and the names will never be forgotten.

The flame of the main Qinglian lamp suddenly surged.

The disappearing identity records have finally stopped fading away.

At the same time, at Jinglian Temple.

The third chime descended from the distant underworld.

Boom!

The eighteen Buddha statues inside the main hall all opened their eyes.

There was no golden light in my eyes, only a deathly gray.

The eighteen young monks froze.

A grayish-white Buddhist seal appeared between his brows, and he rose and walked toward the temple gate.

Xuanku raised his nine-ringed staff and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

Clang! Golden Buddha light spread out in all directions.

The eighteen monks were instantly awakened.

A disciple looked at the Buddha statue, full of doubt.

"Master, why has the Buddha statue become like this?"

The faces of the eighteen Buddha statues slowly melted away.

Eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and nose all disappeared, leaving only a smooth face.

"It's not a problem with the Buddha statue." Xuanku looked up and gazed intently.

"It is a creature of the underworld, using the Buddha statue to spy on the human world."

He removed the Pure Lotus Dharma Seal offered before the Buddha.

"In the ancient times before the cycle of reincarnation collapsed, there was a Buddhist city in the underworld beneath the Linjiang River."

"The Buddhist monks in the city are responsible for guiding the souls of the dead. After the cycle of reincarnation is broken, the Buddhist city is trapped in the underworld."

"The Buddhist practitioners inside will never be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation again."

The disciple asked, "Do they want to return to the human world?"

Xuan Ku gently shook his head.

"Ten thousand years have passed, and they have forgotten their original intentions."

"They believe that living is suffering."

When all beings sleep eternally, they will be freed from birth, old age, sickness, and death.

The eighteen faceless Buddha statues opened their mouths simultaneously.

The overlapping scriptures resounded throughout the entire hall.

"No birth, no death, no joy, no sorrow. The human world is a sea of ​​suffering, but in dreams one finds a pure land."

A grayish-white light emanated from the Buddha statue, coalescing into a giant hand.

The hand did not harm the monk, but went straight for Xuanku.

A golden Dharma image rose behind Xuan Ku, fiercely meeting the attack.

Boom! The temple shook violently, and countless cracks appeared in the roof.

Xuan Ku retreated three steps, and a gray-white Buddhist seal appeared on his wrist.

The Buddha's mark pierced through the prayer beads and continued to spread towards the heart.

An aged thought entered his mind.

"For Buddhist practitioners in the human realm, your physical body can serve as a vessel for the Pure Land of No Birth."

Xuanku stopped fighting and turned to walk towards the temple gate.

"All disciples shall remain in the monastery, and shall not sleep or recite any other scriptures."

The young monk quickly caught up.

"Master, where are you going?"

Xuanku pushed open the temple gate, and gray mist rose from the old city outside.

"The Zen Master Wusheng has chosen me."

"If it remains here, it will descend through the disciple's Buddha-nature."

Since I can't avoid it, I'll go and take a look at its temple.

Lu Cang received a message from Xuan Ku at the Ninth Bureau of Linjiang City.

Before any countermeasures could be devised, a loud explosion came from the old city area.

Boom! A large area of ​​abandoned buildings collapsed with a deafening roar.

The long-forgotten air-raid shelter has been revealed.

The area behind the opening is no longer a concrete passage.

It is a winding mountain road covered with gray and white ashes.

At the end of the road, an ancient temple appears and disappears in the distance.

Tens of thousands of sleepwalkers walked along the mountain path, heading towards the mountain gate.

Each person who steps through the mountain gate.

In the Ninth Bureau's files, one identity record has completely disappeared.

The statistician stared at the blank screen, his voice trembling.

"Just now...did we lose a large number of people?"

Lu Cang placed the Green Lotus Lantern in the center of the archive.

As the lights came on, those vanished names became faintly visible.

Lu Cang's expression darkened completely.

"We can't wait any longer."

He picked up the communicator and gave the order.

"Su Wan, Action Team One, enter the air-raid shelter."

"Chen Mo took the Guardian Lamp to provide support."

Master Xuanku was responsible for dealing with the lingering negative thoughts of Buddhist practitioners.

Su Wan has already arrived in the old town.

"So what are you planning to do?"