In one of the most exquisite buildings in Lu Wang City, the leaders of the Crying God Church have gathered together.
This building is entirely made of azurite. Azurite is one of the most beautiful metals that commoners have access to, as its colour changes depending on the weather. It can change into any of the 7 colours of the rainbow and it is also one of the most expensive metals that you can buy with gold taels. Of course, the church leaders did not spend a single coin on the construction of the building, and it was the pious devotees of the Crying God Church that paid for the building.
"The entire city has been locked down. Nobody can leave the city and those who enter, are not allowed to leave. As a result, our collections have reduced as the profits of our members have reduced yet our workload has increased. There are more people coming for our sessions to feel better." One of the leaders said.
"Damn! We set up our operations here because we believed that the city was safe and prosperous. Why did they have to come here!" Another leader exclaimed slammed the table in anger.
"Should we incite our believers into protesting against the lockdown of the city? Recently, one of my concubines has been hinting to me that she would like a new sunstone bracelet as the weather is getting colder." Another leader carelessly says.
One leader in glasses shrewdly says, "We should just hold out and cater to the needs of the people during this period. Once we have taken over the entire town, we can live comfortably for the rest of our lives." He then lets out a disturbing laughter "Hue Hue Hue Hue".
"Do you have any idea how much we will lose if we just continue letting things run as they are right now?" a fat man makes a dig at glasses.
"Treasurer, do some work!" he shouts at one of the men standing at a corner.
"Yes, boss! After some calculations, we will be losing almost seven thousand gold taels a day and this number is expected to increase!" the treasurer says loudly.
"Have you all forgotten the purpose of the Crying God Church after enjoying the pleasures of the barbarians?" A dark skinned man who is seated in the middle says.
"Praise the Sun God!" everyone else who is seated at the table immediately responds.
"Let me remind you, our purpose here is to spread the religion of the Cry God Church, and then slowly bring over our warriors and take over this continent. The great Prophet has foretold that the stairs leading to the heavens is located here!" the dark skinned man says solemnly.
...
Several months passed just like this. Ning Ming left with his grandson the next day like he promised and Governor Shang was successfully recommended into the Crying God Church.
At first, he thought it was complete and utter rubbish how everyone would start crying together and feel better later, but somehow he would always start crying with everyone once the group leader finished praising the Sun God for sending his child to our world.
"The son of God cried every day, to wash us of our sins until he eventually died of dehydration and exhaustion. He deserves our praise and devotion, and this god is the Crying God! Pray to the Crying God for salvation!" is what the priest would say, and then everyone would start tearing and cry together.
Once you were done crying, you would feel refreshed and much better, as if all your sins have been forgiven by God. The sessions increased and the influence of the church grew explosively in Lu Wang City, almost engulfing the entire city.
Right now, it was likely that everyone except General Ling's soldiers and the families of the two directors who saw what happened in the yamen are members of the Crying God's Church.
None of the spies that General Ling sent in to infiltrate or Governor Shang found anything suspicious about the Crying God Church but everyone felt that something odd was going on, and refused to stop their investigation.
At first, General Ling felt that everyone was lying to him and they really did turn into devotees of this crazy church, especially since everyone who returned from the church was in a daze, as they were dumbfounded by what happened in the group session. They were soldiers! They were warriors! They bathed in the blood of their enemies, yet they were crying like babies during the group session.
General Ling eventually attended one session, but he stormed out with tears and ran straight back to his room. He did not exit his room until the next day and none of the soldiers dared to talk about how they saw the general running home as he cried.
After that day, General Ling would just drill his soldiers and quietly lived in the city as he believed that the church worshipped a devil. He wanted to smash the church and gave Governor Shang and his spies as much time as they wanted to find something, or just a nonsensical reason so that Governor Shang could give him the proper justification to burn the entire church down and wash away the embarrassment he felt.
Soon, almost a year had passed and General Ling made the decision to allow his troops to hunt for rations, this message was also conveyed to those in He Jin city and Lin Yu City.
The spies in the Crying God Church have almost gone insane from crying daily but they had gained some status in the Crying God Church. Governor Shang, who used the pseudonym of Dao Le, has become a priest in the Crying God church and regularly holds his own crying sessions.
He had learnt that it was an odourless and colourless scent that was emitted from a purple jewel, which is embedded into the priest's staff that makes people shed tears uncontrollably. When he shared this news with General Ling and his spies, they almost wanted to smash the church for "lying to the people", but Governor Shang stopped them, saying that they needed more proof and that he was sure there were more unspeakable secrets behind the Crying God Church.
...
Not far away from the city, several carriages are heading towards the gates of Lu Wang City and inside the carriage are the judges and the guards. In Wei Gou city, they smashed a martial cult, where used the yang energy of virgin boys to learn skills that would charm women. They claimed that they only used it to charm beasts and they were beast tamers, but they all turned out to be pimps in the end.
They then went to Shen Bai city, and Hong Chi village where it was peaceful and the people were happy. In Xue Zhang city, Judge Cui somehow became a justice of the peace and legitimized the marriage of two prominent families.
Later they moved to NanWei town which was in chaos, as the people were terrified that the bandits who burned Yi Shi village was coming to attack them next and had to calm the townsfolk down and restore order.
Finally at Chu Hou town which was near to Lu Wang City, they too had problems entering the city and eventually, everyone had to beat down and suppress the city defence force before learning about what had happened in Lu Wang city, Lin Yu city and He Jin city.
Since Chu Hou town was already under martial law, had a curfew imposed and the people were terrified. They naturally had nothing to do there so they just left Chu Hou town and moved towards Lu Wang City, instead of going into the forest for their third mission.