The Stone God Princess used another approach to draw Jiang Xuejun into her scheme. Though Daoists were less eager than monks to spread their teachings, they were just as arrogant and conceited, and especially lofty-minded. They always felt they floated above the mortal dust, yet also harbored a competitive desire to save all living beings.
The shamans of the Rong Tribes begged Jiang Xuejun to become their savior. They said they often suffered from diseases, demon beasts, and other threats, and pleaded for her protection and blessings.
Jiang Xuejun already had a lofty, competitive disposition. Her desire to sweep away the demons and slaughter every evil creature was no different from Zhu Youmu's.
The trap the Stone God Princess had tailored for her soon caught her. After repeated invitations and polite refusals, she too moved into the Holy Mother Palace.
One followed Buddhism, the other Daoism. The Great Buddha Temple stood in the west, the Holy Mother Palace in the east, and the Thirty-Six Kingdoms split into two camps: one Buddhist, the other Daoist.
Jiang Xuejun first worked to consolidate their faith. To begin with, people from every tribe brought all their worldly possessions to pay homage to the two of them, placing them high on pedestals.
Later, friction began to arise between the Eastern Eighteen Kingdoms and the Western Eighteen Kingdoms. Minor friction between tribes gradually became major friction, then small clashes, then large conflicts...
In many disputes, each side had its own plausible argument. Take a patch of land, for example: you said you arrived first, while I said my ancestors had lived there thousands of years ago. I had merely left for a time, and now I wanted my land back—shouldn't you return it? Even the Buddha himself could not mediate something like that. In the end,