In the marketplace of the Plague Tribe's territory, people streamed to and fro in a lively bustle.
A figure in a bamboo hat and black robe crept furtively up to a passerby and whispered furtively, "Friend, want a sutra?"
"Huh?" The passerby looked wary and confused.
The hat-wearing man lifted half his black robe, revealing a dazzling array of Buddhist scriptures hanging in the inner pockets. "Authentic direct transmission from Three Treasures Mountain—thirty hand-copied sutras by a young holy monk of the Buddhist Sect, take your pick. How about one? Recite them often to accumulate virtue, guaranteed to deepen your Dharma and bring success in cultivation."
The passerby took a step back and shouted, "Someone's spreading false beliefs! Don't let him get away!"
But before his voice had fallen, the man in the bamboo hat had vanished.
In another corner of the marketplace, the hat-wearing man sprang out again and stopped someone. This time, he changed his pitch. "Hello, may I ask if you wish to go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss?"
"What's the Land of Ultimate Bliss?"
"A world where you don't have to work, don't have to study, don't have to suffer, and do nothing but eat, drink, and have fun every day."
"How do I get there?"
"Take refuge in the Buddha, keep your faith steadfast, and once you die, you can go... Hey, why are you attacking me—"
With an ever-growing posse chasing him down, Jingli ran from the Plague Tribe's territory, bedraggled and dust-covered.
He truly could not understand where things had gone wrong.
The task his junior brother had assigned him was to spread the Dharma throughout the Floating Continent, securing a corner of this world's Divine Path beliefs in advance so they could promptly catch any movements Ao Kui made through faith.