After bathing, Chen Yi lit a lamp in the study, furrowing his brows as he pondered the road ahead.
The strange poison that the Empress Dowager used on him was the "Bodily Relic Soup," inspired by the Buddhist imagery of the "bodily relic." It was said that enlightened monks who had mastered Buddhist Law, upon passing, left behind incorruptible bodies, their appearances as if still alive.
It was rumored that the Sixth Patriarch Huineng of Zen Buddhism had a body that did not decay after his death, resembling a relic. To this day, it is enshrined in a temple, attracting countless pilgrims to offer incense and prayers.
But a legend was just that—a legend. More often than not, these bodily relics were simply the dried remains of recently deceased monks, coated in gold leaf to craft sculptures aimed at drawing in pilgrims.
