At that time, Golden Cicada offended Tathagata. Tathagata punished Golden Cicada to reincarnate as Tang Monk, letting Tang Monk go to the West to retrieve scriptures, in order to promote Buddhism. For this, he held a Great Assembly of Ten Thousand Buddhas!

The Green Lion and White Elephant returned to the West, as they needed to carry Manjusri and Samantabhadra around.

I also need to return to the West, after all, I have the Bodhisattva's rank and cannot miss the Great Assembly of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

The Great Buddha Assembly lasted for ten days, and during these ten days, there was a tremendous change at Lion Camel Ridge!

Remember, one day in heaven is one year on earth!

When we returned from the West to Lion Camel Ridge, the entire Lion Camel Ridge was no longer the same as I had originally known it.

Lion Camel Ridge is divided into three levels. In the first level, the road is lined with corpses, clothes are made from human skin, and on the fences on both sides of the road, people's heads are hanging from the chin, with fresh heads still dripping with blood standing on both sides. The heads that have turned into skeletons have been made into "lamps". Some people oil is put into the skull, and it is lit up at night. With bloody heads in front and skull lamps at the back, it sends chills down people's spines.

Passing the road of corpses and human heads leads to the second level. The exotic plants and herbs that were originally here have all withered away. The dead old trees are completely black, with branches reaching towards the sky, looking like a burnt hand reaching out from the ground.

The moat outside the city, which was originally clear, has a foul stench now because the water is no longer water but blood. The demons have released human blood and piled human bodies in the moat.

On both sides of the city gate, there are decorations of human skulls. On the city walls, human bone flagpoles are erected. The original "Lion Camel Ridge" flag made of linen has also been replaced and turned into a flag stitched together with human skin.

In a corner of Lion Camel Ridge, a inn suddenly appeared at some point, and the owner of the inn is the goose that was saved by Tathagata.

After arriving at Lion Camel Ridge, the goose owner started to demand repayment from people everywhere, treating people the way they treated it!

Its specialty dish is called Hundred Flower Human Feet.

It binds captured people and places them on a copper plate. Then, it piles firewood and roasts the copper plate until it's red-hot. The people have to run around barefoot on it, and after a while, their feet get stuck to the copper plate and they can't run anymore.

The owner then chops off their feet to make the Hundred Flower Human Feet.

It claims it's an imitation of Hundred Flower Goose Feet, because that's how people eat goose feet.

The goose owner believes that since geese have wings, making Hundred Flower Goose Feet using this method is more flavorful than using human feet. Thus, it captured a skilled craftsman to create a device. The device locks several people together on copper pillars, mimicking the branding punishment, with two copper pillars, heating them up. One person has to hug the pillar far from it while the other one has to hug the heated pillar. This way, both people share and endure the heat evenly.

Most of the demon citizens did not approve of this practice. They thought that tying people's hands to pillars and branding them with a heated iron was sufficient, and making such a complicated device was unnecessary.

Upon hearing this, I was very angry. The essence of establishing Lion Camel Ridge was to protect these vulnerable monsters. Yet, they were actively attacking others. I tied up the goose owner, preparing to turn him into roasted goose feet to set an example.

However, the other demon citizens of Lion Camel Ridge united and opposed me, saying they wanted to overthrow my unreasonable rule.

"When we hadn't cultivated into human form, how much oppression did we suffer from humans? Was it justified for them? Now that we have established our own city, why should we bow down to humans?"

I was furious, feeling that they were ungrateful. I wanted to reveal my true form, but was stopped by the Green Lion, who looked at me and shook his head.

"We shouldn't act out of anger."

"So, are we going to turn Lion Camel Ridge into a hell on earth?"

"At least—" the Green Lion said, "we haven't started killing each other."

"Yeah, who made us leave here for ten years?" the White Elephant sighed beside.

The White Elephant's words suddenly made me think of something.

I found the imprisoned goose owner and asked why he did this?

Looking at me, the goose owner said, "Why can't I do this? Why should they be allowed to eat me?"

"Because if you do this, the Heavenly Court will send troops to annihilate Lion Camel Ridge. For so many years, the reason why the Heavenly Court allowed Lion Camel Ridge to develop was because we haven't killed anyone!" I said.

After hearing this, the goose owner sneered, "If you are afraid of the Heavenly Court's annihilation, why did you build Lion Camel Ridge in the first place? Knowing that you don't have that ability, why pretend to be righteous and give us a great opportunity, making us feel we can do as we please?"

Upon hearing this, I was puzzled, "So, have I done wrong in the beginning?"

"Do you think you were right? You just acted out of momentary kindness. I know you, you used to be a chicken, your fate is similar to mine, just that you were reborn as a great roc bird by chance. So, you thought you should show kindness, save us similar beings, and for what? Kindness? No, it's to make up for your own regrets from the past. How come no one saved me back then? Simply put, you were just momentarily kind, wanting to understand past grievances, in the mortal world, there's an old saying: good deeds are rewarded, although if kind, not rewarded. What you did was not a good deed, because you were just selfish and self-serving."

I fell silent and said, "Who told you these twisted words?"

"My savior." The goose owner looked at me, "In the days when you were not here, he always led us to resist other monsters."

For a while, I didn't know what to say.

It turned out that it was the merciful Tathagata who let the unrestrained demons of Lion Camel Ridge go and kill the innocent.