About a thousand feet ahead, a small figure sat cross-legged in the middle of the void.
A shaved head, a tattered gray monk's robe, bare feet, and a ramrod-straight back.
Dense golden runes surrounded him, slowly rotating, rising and falling. Each rune held a Mortal's wish sealed within it.
Compared to the half-Buddha, half-demon he had been at their last meeting, one side of his face compassionate and the other hideous, Little Monk was utterly quiet now.
The demonic markings on the left side of his face had vanished completely. His skin was as clean as freshly washed Porcelain.
He looked only seven or eight, but his eyes held centuries.
Before Zhou Xuan's consciousness had even settled, Little Monk spoke.
"You came to ask me to go outside."
It was not a question.
"To have me preach to those Mortals as a Preacher."
Zhou Xuan had prepared an entire argument, only for those two sentences to block it completely.
"How did you know?"
Little Monk did not look up. His finger gently nudged a golden rune before him, revealing an image of Jade Dragon City, of a million Mortals kneeling before a divine statue.
"Your vow power network is connected to me. I can sense everything happening outside."
Little Monk's voice was flat and mild, as though he were discussing something that had nothing to do with him.
"The Mortals' faith has begun to sour. Fear, jealousy, greed—those things are gnawing at your foundations. You need someone to stabilize the situation for you."
"And then you thought of me."
Zhou Xuan fell silent for a moment.
"Yes."
He did not beat around the bush.
"You are the vessel of vow power's origin, the person best suited to this task in the entire world. As long as you step forward—"
"I'm