The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng rolled his eyes, having the urge to simply faint. If he knew that the mission was such a scam, he would not have accepted it. Wasn’t this just inviting trouble for himself? Indeed, there was no free lunch in the world. He thought he could use the Formless Door to travel the world and save money, but…

Sigh.

Fangzheng sighed as he seemed to see a glimmer in the darkness that laid before him. He realized that he had appeared on a road, with passersby walking past him in a hurry, but no one noticed the sudden appearance of a monk and a young boy with supple jadelike skin dressed in a red dudou. It was as though Fangzheng and Red Boy had always been standing there.

Fangzheng could only attribute it to the formidability of the System and could not bother to think further.

Surveying his surroundings, he seemed to be on an ordinary city street. Behind him was a supermarket named Eight One, and across him was a huge bath house that had a line of cars he basically could not recognize. There were all kinds of tiny shops that lined both sides of the road, some hairdressing salons, foot therapy houses, massage parlors, etc. There were women dressed simply by the doors, smoking as they chatted.

Compared to Mt. One Finger and One Finger Village, there was more color and less tranquility.

“Are these made by mortals? Man, how did they even do it? How are they able to do all of this without divine powers and Dharmic powers?” Red Boy was secretly alarmed. It was not that these things were extremely amazing, he was just astonished at the creative power of mortals. It was akin to how it felt normal if humans drank water from a cup, but if an animal were to sit there drinking water with a cup, would that be normal?

After Fangzheng heard Red Boy’s exclamation, he furrowed his brows slightly. Although Red Boy was strong, he was still an outsider who knew little about this world. It was temporarily not a problem, but there were bound to be problems if this continued. From the looks of it, he needed to give him lessons.

Just as Fangzheng was about to say something, the sirens of an ambulance blared.

Fangzheng turned his head over and saw an ambulance race over with its blue lights flashing on its roof. When Fangzheng saw the lights, he found them somewhat familiar. Only when the ambulance was long gone did Fangzheng smack himself in the face, “It’s very similar to the lights in the blurry imagery!”

Upon coming to this realization, Fangzheng began running over.

Red Boy did not dare stay too far from Fangzheng as he immediately followed behind. With Fangzheng not having any divine powers activated, how could he chase up to an ambulance that was moving at full speed?

Thankfully, the ambulance slowed down after turning a corner. Fangzheng briskly ran over and caught up.

The ambulance had stopped in front of a highrise building with people already waiting at the entrance. There was an elderly man lying on a makeshift stretcher made of cloth. Clasped tightly in his hands was a box.

The medics quickly transferred the elderly man onto the ambulance as he tried to say something. A middle-aged man by the side nodded his head repeatedly as tears dripped down his chin, “I know. I know. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely help you find it. Rest assured!”

The elderly man remained worried despite the man’s assurance.

“Sir, please release that box. It will affect the treatment,” said a doctor.

The elderly man hugged the box even tighter when he heard that.

The middle-aged man said helplessly, “Doctor, there’s… really no way about it. It’s his life. If it’s possible, can you…”

“What’s more important than life? It’s only a box. This old sir is a little muddled in the head due to his age. You can’t indulge to his whims.” The young doctor was a little displeased. With the elderly man hugging such a huge box at chest level, they would be unable to do their jobs.

The man wanted to say something when the elderly man began gasping for air. Clearly, he was having trouble breathing.

The doctor rushed over and grabbed the box, getting a nurse to administer oxygen. The doctor was astonished that despite not being able to breathe, the elderly man was still desperately hugging the box. His eyes were turning white!

“Why is this old man… so stubborn!” The doctor turned anxious as he exerted more strength to yank the box away. But the moment one of his hands touched the box, there was a Buddhist proclamation, “Amitabha. Patron, if you were to take away the box, the old sir might immediately pass away. If his will to live is gone, nothing can save him.”

“Who are you? Someone! Why is there a crazy monk here? Drag him out. Quick start the car and head to the hospital!” the doctor yelled in anger. Why were there always people coming to give trouble in such a situation? A patient’s fuss could be blamed on his age while the family’s fuss could be blamed on heir anxiety. Why did a monk appear out of nowhere? Besides, the monk had fair skin, and he looked handsome. He looked like he led a comfortable life and nothing like a real monk.

The family members never expected a monk to suddenly appear to interfere in the rescue operation. Immediately, a man ran over and pulled Fangzheng away. He yelled angrily, “Make way. Don’t delay the medical personnel. If he dies, I’ll fight it out with you!”

Fangzheng did not struggle and allowed two people to drag him away. After the doctor attempted to pull the box away a few times to no avail due to the elderly man’s desperate insistence, he had no choice but to give up.

The ambulance turned in another direction and sped off, going straight for Central Provincial Hospital.

After the ambulance was gone, the middle-aged man followed in a car. The other three got a taxi and were about to follow. But before they left, two men stared at each other angrily. They kept mumbling…

“Where did that crazy monk come from. He only gave us trouble.”

“Monk, it’s fine if my dad is fine but if something happens, I’ll smash your bald head in!”

“Cut it out. Let’s quickly head to the hospital. Sigh. What’s the matter with you.” A middle-aged woman tugged at the two man and got onto a taxi before heading to the hospital.

“Hehe, Master, you finally know what it means to get bitten by the hands that feed you. My mom was right. The worst thing to be in this world is a good person. You get misunderstood doing something good. Ignoring how you can get scolded, you can even get beaten. In bad cases, it can even be life-threatening. So what if your help was acknowledged? Would you benefit in any way?” tsked Red Boy.

Fangzheng smiled, “It’s no wonder you have such a wild temperament. You were indeed taught by your mother. Let’s go and take a look.”

“Whereto?” asked Red Boy.

“Central Provincial Hospital.”

“You still want to invite trouble for yourself?” asked Red Boy.

Fangzheng shook his head with a bitter smile. He was not certain that his mission concerned the elderly man in the beginning at first, but he had opened his Wisdom Eye just now. The scene he saw shocked him. The elderly man’s head had a fully bloomed golden lotus flower! He had never seen that much merit before! But similarly, the elderly man’s negative karma was nothing trivial either. But compared to the merit it was not worth mentioning.

Upon seeing the merit, Fangzheng had basically determined that he needed to help the elderly man. At the same time, he was impressed with him. “This Penniless Monk is going there to save a person, a person that deserves saving!”

“Why do you need to save him?” Red Boy was perplexed.