天竺之外 Still Far From the Mountain
就到了天竺國，也不是如來住處，天竺國還不知離靈山有多少路哩。那城想是天竺之外郡，到邊前方知明白。」就到了天竺国，也不是如来住处，天竺国还不知离灵山有多少路哩。那城想是天竺之外郡，到边前方知明白。」
逐句解 Line by line
"And even once we reach India, that is still not where the Tathagata lives. There is no telling how much road lies between India and Spirit Mountain.
哩 is a closing flourish, read neutral li — a little shrug of a sound with no meaning you can translate, closest to trailing off with you know. Pilgrim is doing something faintly deflating here: he takes his master's hopeful guess and adds another unmeasured stretch of road on the far side of it.
"That city is likely an outer prefecture of India. We shall know for certain once we get up to it."
郡 is a prefecture, an administrative unit below the province — and with this word the chapter quietly announces what kind of story it is going to be. The last several chapters have been about caves and fiends. This one is about local government.
Pilgrim's answer is a small masterclass in disappointing someone kindly. Not India; and even India is not the destination; and the distance from India to the destination is itself unknown.
But the last word he uses is the one that matters. An outer prefecture is a real administrative thing, with a magistrate and a tax base and a granary. From here to the end of the chapter there will be no demon to fight. The obstacle is a drought, and the cause of the drought turns out to be a domestic argument three years old.