The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“Phew…” Zhao Yumin and Ruan Xianghe exhaled a foul breath of air nearly at the same moment. They looked into each other’s eyes and saw the astonishment within. This monastery was definitely not simple!

By this point in time, Ruan Xianghe had wiped away her supercilious thoughts. She began to size up the tiny monastery with a calm gaze as she wondered. “Could it be that this monastery is really not that simple? That it truly has divine powers?”

With bellies full of questions, the trio entered the temple hall. They didn’t see any Buddha statues, and there was only a golden portrait. Of course, none of them really thought it was real gold. They just thought it was some other material. In any case, they offered incense and kowtowed. All three of them prayed for their families, especially Jiang Ting. She had prayed for peace the last time, but she had not done so with sincerity. However, after what happened to Fatty and Monkey, she was still very trustful of One Finger Monastery. She sincerely made her wish and felt something starkly different from the last time after doing so. When she kowtowed, she felt as though someone was gently caressing her head…

It frightened Jiang Ting enough to raise her head suddenly, only to discover that Ruan Xianghe and Zhao Yumin beside her had only paid their respects perfunctorily. They were already outside, and there was no one in the empty temple hall!

With this in mind, Jiang Ting jumped in fright. She looked around and looked suspiciously at the Ten Thousand Buddha plaque, yet it remained unchanged.

However, Jiang Ting was very certain that someone had touched her head. But with no one around, who could it have been?

After she left the temple hall, Jiang Ting probed. “Director, did you see anyone else in the temple hall?”

Zhao Yumin was taken aback as he said, “Someone else? Weren’t we the only ones?”

Jiang Ting said, “There really wasn’t anyone? Then, did any of you pat me?”

Ruan Xianghe frowned. “No, we left once we finished paying our respects. Did someone pat you?”

Jiang Ting felt a little uncertain when she heard that. After all, the pat had been too light. It was so light that she felt it was just a hallucination on her part. Since she was fine, Jiang Ting shook her head and said, “Perhaps I was just imagining things. It’s fine.”

Ruan Xianghe said in concern, “Little Jiang, you must be overworking yourself lately. Remember to get more rest when you are bad, okay?”

Jiang Ting smiled ruefully. She knew that Ruan Xianghe was suspecting that she was hallucinating from her exhaustion. However, she didn’t provide further explanation because she also felt that it must have been a hallucination.

At that moment, an exclamation sounded.

“Eh?”

The trio looked over and saw a monk standing at the door to the backyard. He was looking at Jiang Ting with surprise.

The person was none other than Fangzheng. He was really shocked. Others might not be able to see the change in Jiang Ting, but Fangzheng could see it. Jiang Ting had an additional layer of Buddhistic glow! It cascaded down from her head and looked like a golden shield!

Many people came to Mt. One Finger every day, and the number of people who paid respects to Buddha was quite sizable. However, this was the first time he was encountering a situation like Jiang Ting’s.

Fangzheng activated his Heavenly Eye and took a look. The next moment…

Fangzheng saw a series of images and saw Jiang Ting wiping glass when she accidentally slipped. She then fell from sixteen stories and ended up dead!

“System, what’s going on?” Fangzheng asked.

“Don’t make a fuss. This patron has a lot of merit on her. She prayed today for peace, while she will likely face a calamity in the future. Therefore, she has activated the feedback abilities of the Thousand-armed and Thousand-eyed Guan Yin and has been augmented with a protective charm. With this, she should be able to survive the calamity,” the System said.

“Oh? What kind of people can receive this feedback?” If something like that was really possible, Fangzheng’s heart would turn aflame with excitement. It would be difficult for his monastery not to become popular if that was the case.

“You are overthinking things. To receive feedback from Bodhisattva, three requirements need to be met. First, one’s merit must be greater than one’s negative karma. Furthermore, the merit must condense into a lotus flower Dharma aspect, but it will work even if it’s just an illusory figment. Second, the request must match the Bodhisattva’s powers. Third, it has to relate to something that will happen in the future. The lack of any one of these three requirements will make it impossible to activate the Bodhisattva’s feedback powers.”

Fangzheng clicked his tongue when he heard that. To have merit condense into a lotus flower? That was difficult enough! Ordinary people had merit equal their negative karma or had slightly more merit than negative karma. Only the truly kind-hearted people who enjoyed helping others would have their merit transform into a golden halo. To then condense a lotus flower, one needed to have merit gained from saving the lives of others or through sufficient accumulation. Such people were rarer than one in a hundred!

After all, not everyone encountered people who were in need of help every day. How could they have so many lives to save? It was even harder to accumulate merit. It was easy to do one good deed, but to persist and do good daily, that was too difficult.

As for the second criterion, Fangzheng felt it was quite okay. After all, people who came to a monastery to pray would know a little bit about it. It was rare for someone to pray to the wrong Bodhisattva.

However, to concern something that would happen in the future, it had to be something concrete. If a beggar prayed to be a billionaire the next day, unless the amount of merit he had was enough to make Bodhisattva interfere with the world and turn the cosmos on its head, it would only be a dream… And people who had that much merit were destined not to be ordinary. There was no way they would pray for something that meaningless.

Just as these thoughts went through Fangzheng’s mind, he nearly forgot to greet the three people in front of him.

Ruan Xianghe saw Fangzheng staring at Jiang Ting in a daze. His gaze was penetrative and direct, so she instantly felt unhappy. She frowned and thought to herself, “He’s ultimately a young monk. He doesn’t have deep enough insight into the Buddhist Dharma. He can’t help himself when he sees a young lady. I can’t understand how such a monk can end up taking the important position of being this monastery’s abbot. Could it be that there was no one else available?”

Zhao Yumin was also a little pissed. Jiang Ting was the daughter of his old friend. To have her being stared at by a monk naturally made him uncomfortable. Therefore, he coughed dryly to snap Fangzheng to his attention.

However, even when Zhao Yumin’s fake cough turned into a real one, the monk still didn’t retract his gaze. Even with his bearing, he couldn’t help but curse. He thought to himself, “This young monk does look handsome, but why is he so shameless. How can you keep staring at a person like that?”

Compared to the two directors, Jiang Ting, who was the recipient of the intent faze, felt a little shy under Fangzheng’s stare. However, she soon noticed that Fangzheng’s eyes were not really on her, and his focus was not on her body. From the looks of it, Fangzheng… was apparently in a daze!

Upon seeing this, Jiang Ting immediately felt at a loss whether to laugh or cry. She subconsciously touched her face and felt a little disappointed. After all, Fangzheng was a handsome monk. To be looked at by a member of the opposite sex was a way of proving her charms. This was all the more so when the member of the opposite sex was a monk who upheld the precepts. That would have boosted her pride, but unfortunately…

“Young Venerable One, are you done looking?” At that moment, Ruan Xianghe could no longer hold back as she berated Fangzheng. She wasn’t the person in question and had not noticed that Fangzheng’s focus was a little special.