The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“This huge?” Fangzheng jumped in fright!

Cabbages were one of the most common vegetables in the northeast. Fangzheng had spent his childhood in the cabbage fields, so he had seen an uncountable number of cabbages. However, Fangzheng dared to bet that such a huge cabbage—with natural genes—could easily be the biggest in the world!

This wasn’t the main point. It was still nighttime, and the moon hadn’t set. As moonlight shone on the cabbage, it even glimmered.

The silver moonlight came with hints of blue as it scattered across the cabbage. Its stalk suffused a unique silvery-gray and looked clean like jade. Above the jade-white stalk were green leaves. On second look, this was no cabbage. It was clearly a jade sculpture! At that instance, he realized why the cabbage was called White Jade Cabbage. Those monks on Mount Numinous sure didn’t strain themselves. They named it based on its looks! How lazy. They should be given a bad review.

Ka!

At this moment, there was a crisp sound.

It wasn’t very loud, but it was special when it happened on the current Mt. One Finger.

Now that it was late autumn and daybreak hadn’t arrived yet, the birds were still asleep. Since the frost had just come and the lands were cold, the bugs were in hibernation. The entire mountaintop had pin drop silence apart from the occasional wind.

As such, this sound attracted everyone’s attention. The eyes of Fangzheng, Monkey, Lone Wolf, and Red Boy all swept towards the source of the sound. They saw that unbeknownst to them, Squirrel had already run onto the White Jade Cabbage and bitten it!

The moment he bit down and made the loud sound, he froze in his spot. He looked pitifully at everybody with his large eyes… As though he was saying: “Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t on purpose?”

At that instant, everyone’s eyes reflected their urge to kill the squirrel. All of them had the same enemy!

“Jingxin, let’s add some meat for breakfast,” Fangzheng said with a scoff.

Red Boy licked his lips. “Master, although Squirrel is fat, he’s still a little too small. There won’t be enough meat for us. Why don’t we make soup?”

“I heard that some people like to barbecue things like pigeons or pigs. Shall we try roasting a squirrel? Something this fat will definitely produce a lot of juice,” Monkey said.

Lone Wolf gulped his saliva. “I don’t mind. I want to add some cumin…”

Fangzheng pressed his palms together and before he spoke again, he felt his leg pants tighten. He looked down and saw Squirrel hugging his leg. He was looking at Fangzheng with teary eyes as he shouted, “Master! I know you are the best! You definitely can’t bring yourself to eat me, right?”

Fangzheng nodded. “That’s right. I definitely can’t bring myself to do it. Besides, I’m a monk who will eventually become Buddha, so how can I kill and eat meat?”

Squirrel’s eyes lit up. There was hope!

Fangzheng continued. “So This Penniless Monk will just take in the fragrance while they are barbecuing. Watching is fine.”

“Pfft!” Squirrel rolled his eyes and fainted.

Everyone roared with laughter when they saw this. The little guy only knew how to eat and sleep all day. Although he was now intelligent, he was still like a child. He jumped around every day without a single worry on his mind. To think that he couldn’t detect the low-level teasing and ended up fainting out of fright…

Everyone shook their heads. Monkey carried Squirrel and stuffed him back into his squirrel nest.

As for the cabbage being bitten?

Squirrel was only so big. Ignoring that one bite, how much could he eat even if he was given free rein?

However, everyone did feel sad to see such a huge and perfect cabbage being damaged just like that.

As Red Boy looked at the hole, he said to Fangzheng, “Master, it’s damaged. What a pity.”

Fangzheng shook his head and smiled. “I planted this cabbage for eating. It’s not a decoration, right? Even if your Senior Brother didn’t bite it, we would have stewed it. Alright, since we are all awake, don’t waste time. Let’s get some cabbage and see how Mount Numinous’s cabbage tastes. I want to know how it differs from our own cabbage!”

The moment Fangzheng said that, the gluttons all instantly forgot to appreciate the beauty. Those with hands used hands. As for those without hands…

“Jingfa! Shut your mouth! If you dare bite it, you will not be allowed to eat!” Fangzheng, Red Boy, and Monkey berated at the same time.

What a joke. This was to be put into a pot for cooking. To put it in your mouth? Wouldn’t everyone end up eating your saliva? Just the thought was disgusting.

Therefore, Lone Wolf bitterly went from plucking the cabbage to becoming the one transporting the cabbage with a basket in his mouth.

The cabbage was too huge. Fangzheng guessed that just one leave could provide them for a long while. Therefore, after he plucked one leave, he tore it apart and threw it into the basket for Lone Wolf to ferry it away.

But here came the problem. What was he to do with the remainder?

The cabbage was too big and too heavy. The flower pot which had been used to grow it had already been crushed. The crisp sound in the middle of the night was the flower pot’s final cry before it gloriously sacrificed itself. Now that there wasn’t any flower pot, the White Jade Cabbage’s roots were all outside. If they didn’t rush to deal with it, no one knew if it would spoil… After all, this wasn’t something of this world. If it was like a dainty flower, no one could do anything about it either.

“Don’t worry. This is a product of Mount Numinous and definitely a premium product. Although it’s grown at the foot of Mount Numinous, it should still be better than the cabbage you have. Your cabbage here can last an entire winter without soil after its grown as long as the temperature is cool enough, so what more the White Jade Cabbage, a top-grade product of Mount Numinous?” the System said in contempt.

“So you mean it can last a while?” Fangzheng’s eyes lit up. Such a huge cabbage, it could basically resolve all his vegetable needs for a whole month! And it wasn’t like they were going to eat the cabbage every meal. They could get sick of ambrosia. Hence, if matched with other vegetables and eaten in a staggered manner, the cabbage could last them for at least two months! This was definitely value for money.

“Yes, it can be kept for a week!” said the System.

Fangzheng was just about to exclaim when he suddenly snapped to his senses. He said in surprise, “A week!? It can only be kept for a week?”

“What do you think? Do you think Mount Numinous’s White Jade Cabbage is like the cabbage you see everywhere? When it is out of its soil, it loses the nourishment of Spirit Qi. Most of the Spirit Qi it contains will be quickly dispersed. Without Spirit Qi, it will become an ordinary cabbage. Apart from its size, there will be nothing special about it. Of course if you don’t mind that, you can eat it for even longer,” said the System.

Fangzheng was left speechless when he heard that. He stroked his chin and looked at the White Jade Cabbage and indeed, storing the White Jade Cabbage was a problem!

“System, is there no other solution?”

“There is. You can seal it in a water jar that’s made completely out of jade to store it. That can extend its effective date to a month.”

“Completely out of jade? And it has to be sealed?” Fangzheng’s voice reached a crescendo. Although he didn’t know the price of jade, he knew it was freaking expensive! Furthermore, jade was usually tiny. A water jar made of jade? Stop kidding. Fangzheng guessed that he wouldn’t be able to buy one even if he sold the entire monastery.

“Are there any other methods? Something economical, a cheap solution!” Fangzheng had no choice but to add another sentence.