This chapter's epigraph comes from the opening lines of the novel's first chapter, in which the young master asks his master what else he wants. The young master answers that he wants to be imprisoned. The word on the man's shirt means "prisoner" . The man replies that the word means "poor and barren" and that his sect needs to show some "honesty" in order to get out of jail. This is extortion, he says, and the man says that by all means those who don't fear to die can try their hand at it. He then tells the story of Mingyue, who has been abducted by a blind man dressed as a taoist. Mingyue has been kidnapped by the blind man, who wants to "skin" her, "pull out her veins" , and "bleach her out." Mingyue was taken by the crows, who flew away from the court. The master says that he hid behind a pine tree when the man came and told him that he was weak and powerless.