The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

After Fangzheng finished the story, he looked down to see that Mengmeng was already asleep. There was even a tiny bubble coming out of her nose.

Fangzheng immediately smiled and gave Squirrel a look. The little guy went to get Monkey, who immediately took off his monk clothes to drape over the little girl when he saw her sleeping soundly. He wore those clothes only to look like a monk, so he wasn’t afraid of the cold thanks to his fur.

As the moon rose into the sky, everyone stayed in high spirits as they talked about everything under the sky.

Zhao Gang had long become one with the villagers, while Xue Zong accompanied Shao Min. It was their first time experiencing such honest conversations. They found that no matter if the topics were specialized or for laymen, or even mixed with all sorts of random talk, they still found them enjoyable to listen to. It was much more interesting than listening to the conversations of wealthy magnates over fancy meals.

“This is life without any masks. It’s just pure bragging with no one calling them out,” said Shao Min amid stifled laughter.

Xue Zong chuckled. “Letting oneself loose is really a good feeling. Unfortunately, once we leave this place, things will be different. When you return, you need to rein in that temper of yours.”

Shao Min nodded. “Got it. I didn’t come for nothing. Are you going to return without showing your gratitude?”

“I’ll go offer some incense,” said Xue Zong.

Shao Min smiled.

Later into the night, the crowd finally couldn’t stay up any longer. They began packing up and scattered. However, what astonished Shao Min, Xue Zong, and Zhao Gang was that the villagers gathered all their trash before they went down the mountain. The mountaintop was left as clean as how it had been when they first came. When the trio went down the mountain, they turned to look back at One Finger Monastery and no longer dared to belittle the tiny monastery. After all, even at a huge national event, the aftermath of the event would be a mountain of trash. As for this village’s villagers, they might not have much better behavior by nature. The only thing that made them ensure that they didn’t leave trash behind was… their respect towards One Finger Monastery!

“People should be like this.” Xue Zong could not help but sigh. That night, they learned more about One Finger Monastery and Fangzheng from the villagers’ mouths. They were astounded by the Frost Bamboo the villagers talked about as well as Fangzheng’s bamboo carving skills which had utterly impressed even carving master Jiang Zhou. More importantly, Fangzheng had not used any of this for his own profit! He provided selflessly, making contributions deserving of praise. Since times immemorial, people had hardly been able to stand fast in the face of interests. To be able to do so for two matters, how could he not be worthy of respect?

However, little did they know that it was not that the monk wasn’t trying to profit from it, but that someone was preventing him from doing so!

After the mid-autumn festival, there was an autumn rain which led to colder temperatures. Many people began wearing sweaters as if the world had changed after one night.

However, the members of One Finger Monastery were exceptions. The monk was dressed in a thin white monk robe; Monkey wore a thin outfit; Lone Wolf only had fur, Squirrel was fat like a ball, and Red Boy bared his ass with his dudou… Such an odd combination was probably unique.

Perhaps it was due to the autumn rain, but the mountaintop also became colder, resulting in fewer incense offerings. However, most of the villagers were done with their autumn harvests and with nothing to do, they went up the mountain to offer some incense and request for some bamboo shoots to bring back.

Of course, Fangzheng did not give out the bamboo shoots without any scruples. Only if one was sincerely requesting for bamboo would Fangzheng give some. As for whether the other person was sincere or not, could anyone escape Fangzheng’s eyes?

After two to three days, Fangzheng began feeling bored. He called his four disciples and asked if anyone wanted to go down the mountain.

To Fangzheng’s surprise, Red Boy did not clamor to go down the mountain. Lone Wolf and Monkey had little interest. As for Squirrel, he was running around searching for pine nuts, so he had no intention of going due to his business.

Therefore, Fangzheng opened the Formless Door alone and stepped through it.

The next moment…

“Boom!”

“Ah!”

An ear-splitting voice sounded. Fangzheng seemed to see smoke which was followed by a jarring scream.

The sound was quite terrifying.

By the time Fangzheng realized where he was, he was surprised to discover that he was at a bus depot! There were people all around him, with many of them wearing tiny red hats. Some were raising tiny flags and waving them while shouting. “People from the Joy Group, gather here.”

Then, a group of people swarmed over.

“A tourist group?” Fangzheng was somewhat taken aback. He never found himself in touristy spots when he left the mountain. This was his first time. Although it wasn’t his first time seeing a travel group, it was the first time he was seeing so many travel groups together.

Fangzheng inquired and realized that he was in the southwest of China, one of the most popular tourist attractions in China. Upon hearing that, Fangzheng was enlightened. It was no wonder there were so many tourist groups.

However, this place was not a tourist destination, but a bus depot in the city. Many buses were parked here, ready to set off for designated tourist spots.

Fangzheng thought of the sound he heard previously and guessed that someone was going to encounter danger. Therefore he opened his Heavenly Eye and swept the area. However, he realized that everything was blanked in gray as though something was blocking his vision!

“System, what’s happening? Is my Heavenly Eye broken?” Fangzheng asked in surprise.

“There is karma in everything. The Heavenly Eye skips the causal reason of karma to see the effects of karma. To skip karma, one needs energy. It’s just like there’s a ravine in front of you. If it’s a short gap, you can easily take a step across it, but if it’s a huge chasm, you naturally can’t cross it; hence, you won’t be able to see very big karmic effects. To see it, try upgrading your Heavenly Eye first. You have upgraded it once. To raise it again, the price has increased to 20,000.”

Fangzheng touched his pocket. He had indeed received quite a huge sum of incense offerings during the mid-autumn season. Especially with Xue Zong who had donated 10,000. Although Fangzheng could only get a cut of 10%, that was an additional thousand. Together with all the donations from the past, Fangzheng only had 10,000 he could use. It was clearly insufficient for him to upgrade his Heavenly Eye.

After sighing, Fangzheng gave up and considered saving up. All his divine powers were waiting for the money to be upgraded.

With this in mind, Fangzheng gave up on joining the sightseeing and having fun. When he left the depot, Fangzheng kept his Heavenly Eye activated. He was surprised to discover that the world outside was especially clear. There was no grayish fog! That meant that those tourists could suffer some sort of effect, but the people in the city wouldn’t.

With this in mind, Fangzheng returned. He guessed that the Formless Door’s mission was related to the tourists.

Furthermore, Fangzheng discovered that not all the tourists had a fog over them. Only two groups of tourists did, but their numbers were quite huge. Back when Fangzheng surveyed his surroundings, he felt that everywhere was a blur, but now he realized what was happening. The two tourist groups were headed for the same location—Wumen Valley!