The fire on the territory of a huge temple complex, which belonged to the Buddhist sect of the Black Lotus, was extinguished quite quickly. Only a small house in the temple park burned down... But among the ruins, three corpses were found - a man, a woman and a child. Innocent pilgrims who became victims of the unfortunate case? However, Sano learns that all three were killed before the fire... And this is only the first step in investigating the secret actions of a mysterious group of fanatics, patronized by the mother of the shogun himself...