The words had barely fallen.
Both Burning Lamp Buddha and Tathagata were shocked by their leader's ruthless and black-hearted methods.
But then they thought again, for the merits of the Journey to the West, it was only right to fight desperately. Wasn't the previous Investiture of the Gods tribulation also a facade of righteousness, with covert schemes and deceptions?
It was just finding a scapegoat to scare those people.
It wasn't about turning the entire Spirit Mountain into executioners.
After a moment of distraction, the two immediately nodded in agreement.
Then.
They set out to find Sun Kong to convey the will of the two Saints of the Western Sect.
But they didn't expect.
At this very moment, Sun Kong, who didn't need such despicable means and wasn't looking for a scapegoat, just as everyone was about to buckle under the disturbance of hundreds of billions of sentient beings.
He had already thought of a way.
To be precise, it was a method that wasn't a method, meaning he planned to combine his own strengths with his past life's experience.
To create a Journey to the West version of a large-scale marketing campaign!
"Marketing?"
"What is marketing?"
Hearing Sun Kong's word, Tathagata was the first to be stunned. Not only did he not understand its meaning, but with his cultivation of High-grade Quasi-Saint, predicting five thousand years into the past and five thousand years into the future.
He had still not calculated when this word would appear.
He couldn't help but be dumbfounded!
"Yes, Junior Brother Sun, you have already received the blessings of two Sect Leaders and become the Deputy Buddha without even starting the Journey to the West. You should show your gratitude."
"Although the methods of the two Sect Leaders are somewhat malicious and do not align with the principles of my Buddhist followers, they are for the greater good. How can your marketing... win?"
On the other side, Burning Lamp Buddha and Tathagata had similar reactions. Although they knew that the Journey to the West tribulation had already deviated from its original design.
They were not chess players controlling Sun Kong, but rather pawns crossing the tribulation with him.
But thinking of the billions of sentient beings outside causing disturbances, making life unbearable, they could only suppress their urge to get angry and ask again.
Seeing that neither of them seemed to understand.
Sun Kong didn't beat around the bush and simply explained the marketing strategy he had temporarily devised.
Broadly speaking, it was to use knowledge from his previous life to convert the impulse of hundreds of billions of sentient beings, who had been incited by rumors from some bastard, into other impulses.
Since someone was spreading rumors, and Sun Kong's place was the best for competing for the merits of the Journey to the West, then why not just not refute it, but instead magnify the rumors even more?
To achieve a "rumor to counter rumor" approach!
Specifically, it was divided into three steps.
The first step.
Sun Kong planned to have the Buddhas of Spirit Mountain temporarily leave Spirit Mountain and New Flower Fruit Mountain, and travel throughout the three realms of the Great Wilderness to spread an even bigger rumor.
That is, the merits of the Journey to the West were magnified ten thousand times, but that was only for those below Golden Immortal.
They were to tell more people that the Dao Ancestor had spoken, that those below Golden Immortal were competing for ten thousand times the merits of the Journey to the West, while those from Grand Unity Golden Immortal to Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal were competing for a hundred million times the merits of the Journey to the West.
And Quasi-Saints had the opportunity to compete for a trillion times the merits of the Journey to the West.
This statement seemed very false at first glance.
However, as long as the Buddhas acted according to his wishes, saying it once, ten times, a hundred times, or ten thousand times, someone would believe it.
They all say that three men talking can make a tiger appear.
Finally, as long as more people were convinced, it would spread automatically and cause the hundreds of billions of sentient beings surrounding Sun Kong and the others to gradually disperse.
If all else failed, he would cooperate with his Sacred Water Elixir and perform a live demonstration of some Buddha who had preemptively helped the Journey to the West group by arranging a certain tribulation, thus gaining an increase in cultivation.
After all, the Dao Ancestor was temporarily absent, and no one would question them if they spoke under his name.
Even the Six Saints could not falsify it.
And Sun Kong's Sacred Water Elixir was more real than the tip of a needle.
Previously, even the Saints had tasted it and praised it highly. Once it was spread in a different form as Merit Soup, it was expected to quickly create this super rumor.
And it would drown out the previous one.
Then, they would be out of trouble!
"This method is brilliant!"
Tathagata exclaimed first, looking at Sun Kong, he couldn't fathom how he came up with such a brilliant idea.
Although doing so would damage the prestige of Buddhism, Sun Kong had also considered it. He was only sending out three thousand Buddhas, not disciples or inheritors.
This clearly showed that he had considered that ordinary Buddhist members might not have enough strength and could easily be caught if they lied poorly.
"Yes, it still has to be Junior Brother Sun. You are amazing to have thought of such a perfect idea. Burning Lamp truly admires you."
Burning Lamp Buddha looked at Sun Kong with even more fervent eyes, without any ambiguous thoughts, purely impressed by Sun Kong's astonishing intelligence.
Although he also knew that this method was similar to the methods of the two Saints of the Western Sect, both aimed to resolve the situation by shifting the conflict. However, having experienced too many noisy and sleepless nights, he had to agree.
The system's long-awaited reward notification also arrived!
[Ding! Host's "Rumor to Counter Rumor" strategy shocked Tathagata, making him more admire the host and obey him implicitly. Reward: One ordinary innate spiritual treasure.]
[Ding! Host's "Rumor to Counter Rumor" strategy shocked Burning Lamp Buddha, making him more admire the host and want to win him over even more. Reward: One Sea-Calming Bead!]
Seeing that the two leaders of the Spirit Mountain Buddhas had agreed.
Sun Kong finally didn't waste his brain cells, having painstakingly devised this poisonous plan that didn't kill but was no weaker than killing.
Just as he was about to take a break and have them recruit three thousand Buddhas to execute this plan.
He didn't expect.
Tathagata and Burning Lamp Buddha, whose curiosity outweighed their desire for execution, actually continued to ask about the next two steps!
"You still want to know the next two steps?"
"Is that necessary? I feel like just this first step alone can attract ninety-nine point nine percent of people to leave and stop focusing on me."
"However, since you are so eager to learn, then fine, make my Deputy Buddha position permanent, and let's discuss salary and annual compensation."
"I didn't mention salary before for everyone's sake, but from now on, I'll be going on the Journey to the West, and I'll need to support a million monkey grandchildren. This will be quite an expense..."
Sun Kong's seriousness lasted for less than a quarter of an hour before he returned to his carefree demeanor, once again employing this suicidal method of asking for a salary from Tathagata and Burning Lamp Buddha.
The two were speechless, yet they were also persuaded by his words and had to make a slight sacrifice.
"Regarding making your position permanent, we cannot make that decision. We must consult the two Saints of the Western Sect. However, regarding salary... our Spirit Mountain is not short of gold and silver. Just name your price."
"Yes, Junior Brother Sun, we are all family. We Buddhist followers don't need gold and silver. Just providing for your two younger brothers, three younger brothers, and a mere million monkey grandchildren, that shouldn't be too much, right?"
As the two spoke with smiles, estimating the number of monkey grandchildren and their food consumption, as well as daily expenses, they took out a mini golden mountain from their bodies.
This golden mountain, once expanded, would be at least ten thousand feet high, enough to support not just a new Flower Fruit Mountain, but even half of Spirit Mountain's inhabitants.
Unexpectedly.
He was met with Sun Kong's disgusted expression!