The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Squirrel said, “Junior Brothers, what do we do? This is too big! How long will it take for us to finish it? I’ve had enough…”

“Same here. We’ve been having cabbage the past two days. We’ve used every conceivable method to prepare it. If this continues, I think I’ll be the first monkey in the world to die of cabbage poisoning,” said Monkey.

Red Boy said, “I now understand why the lesser demons on my mountain were all lacking in combat strength. It’s all because of this cabbage. If I have a chance to redo things, I will definitely add more variety to their meals.”

“What’s the point of saying this? Master said that we have to finish it in a week. It has already been nearly six days. It will spoil tomorrow if we don’t finish it. It’s quite a pity for such good cabbage to spoil,” Squirrel said somewhat regretfully.

Red Boy fell silent.

Monkey silently chanted the scriptures and, after a long time, said, “We clearly don’t have any solutions, but Master will definitely have one. Let’s wait until he returns.”

“Master? What solution can he have? If he had one, he wouldn’t have gone out traveling or forced Eldest Senior Brother to eat the cabbage until he was begging to be allowed to stop,” Red Boy said with a smirk.

“Who says I don’t have a solution?” Fangzheng walked in at that moment, and behind him was Lone Wolf.

Lone Wolf grunted. “Junior Brother, we heard you speak ill of Master behind his back. Good luck.”

Red Boy rolled his eyes and thought to himself, “This foolish dog. Since everyone has heard it, what can you use to threaten me? Is there a need for you to snitch on me?”

Yet Fangzheng looked up and said, “Jingfa, you mentioned that Jingxin spoke ill of me? What did he say?”

Red Boy’s eyes reddened the moment he heard that as he roared inwardly. “How shameless! These two bastards are way too shameless! This is just highway robbery in broad daylight!”

Finally, Red Boy promised to help Lone Wolf eat another cabbage leaf before Lone Wolf agreed to not snitch.

Red Boy looked bitterly at the gigantic cabbage leaf in his hand and felt extremely pissed. He grunted. “Master, do you have a solution?” Although he was asking, it was clear in his eyes that he was filled with disillusion. From his point of view, what solutions could Fangzheng have? This White Jade Cabbage was not Frost Bamboo. Frost Bamboo grew everywhere, and it grew all over the mountain. Others might have found it fascinating in the beginning, but over time, people got used to it. However, the White Jade Cabbage was different. It was way too huge! If it was given to the villagers, there would definitely be many questions. This was also why Fangzheng could be generous with the Frost Bamboo but kept the Crystal Rice close to his chest.

With something that could be produced in great quantity, people would only be curious in the beginning, but they would get used to it with time. But things that were scarce would immediately garner curiosity once they appeared. The ensuing curiosity would be one which cannot be abated. Even if Fangzheng trusted the villagers of One Finger Village, it was no longer a village that only had the native villagers. There were many apprentices that came from afar. Once the number of people increased, word would get around and lead to trouble. Eventually, this trouble would befall Fangzheng.

Since Fangzheng was as lazy as he was, he definitely couldn’t have things lead to that.

Since he couldn’t gift it, he could only eat it… But at present, everyone was nearly vomiting from eating too much of it. Who would still want more?

Fangzheng’s idea was to just keep up the vicious cycle. Since he couldn’t preserve it, he decided to deal with it like with ordinary cabbage!

But before doing so, Fangzheng still wanted to make a gamble. “System, can I try my luck at the draw?”

“Yes,” said the System languidly.

“Then let’s do it.” After Fangzheng said that, he silently chanted ‘amitabha,’ and prayed to hit the jackpot.

“Now?” The System was puzzled. Fangzheng usually hesitated when drawing, but he was rather straightforward this time.

“Yes, now. System Bro, don’t let me embarrass myself in front of my disciples. At the very least, don’t make me embarrass myself in front of Jingxin. I’m helping Bodhisattva discipline her disciple. How am I to lead him after I embarrass myself? Right?” Fangzheng mumbled.

However, the System completely ignored him. “Ding! Congratulations on obtaining a medium-sized Buddha Vat!”

“Yes! Thank you!” Fangzheng was overjoyed when he heard that. One Finger Monastery lacked many things at present, but most of them were huge items. Once those things were produced, they only brought about trouble. After all, things were no longer the same as before. Back when One Finger Monastery was renovated, it had been almost a year since someone had last visited it. Therefore, any changes could be waved away. But now that One Finger Monastery was enjoying visitors and incense offerings, with dozens of people coming every day, if something huge were to suddenly appear, the repercussions would obviously be troublesome.

However, smaller items were not as troublesome. Who would care if his monastery had an additional vat or tree?

Of course, most important of all, this was something that could solve his pressing problem! But here came the question. Medium-sized Buddha Vat? They came in different sizes?

“Of course Buddha Vats have different sizes. The one you use to hold water is a small-sized one. Now, you have drawn a medium-sized on,” The System explained.

Fangzheng was even happier when he heard that. The biggest vat he had in the monastery was the Buddha Vat. It was 1.5m in diameter and 2m tall! Such a huge vat would be a whopper in any household, but apparently, it was only the small-sized one! Then, how big was the large one? Fangzheng shot a glance at the gigantic and proud cabbage. Continue acting smug. I now have something to subdue you with!

A thought came to Fangzheng as he asked, “System, does Buddha eat pickled vegetables?”

“Uh, why are you asking? Don’t tell me…” The System was stunned.

Fangzheng said with complete confidence, “I’m going to pickle the vegetables! I have the cabbage and the salt. I even have the huge vat used to preserve the pickled vegetables. If I don’t even use these tools, what else can I do? Eat cabbage the entire winter?”

“I’m not sure if Buddha has eaten it before,” said the System.

Fangzheng had only asked in passing. He had only been making a guess, believing that the Spirit Qi probably couldn’t be locked in and that the White Jade Cabbage would be wasted. But even without the Spirit Qi, what was left behind was still cabbage, and although its taste was definitely inferior to White Jade Cabbage which was filled with Spirit Qi, it was still superior to all the cabbage in the world! How could such good cabbage be thrown to the side to rot? Besides, One Finger Monastery was not rich either. In winter, vegetables became expensive, so he needed to put it to good use.

Therefore he had originally already planned to pickle vegetables. Otherwise he would not have gotten Monkey, Red Boy, and the rest to buy so much salt.

He ignored his disciples and since he now had the equipment, he went straight to the kitchen, clearing up an empty spot. With a wave of his hand, there was a loud thud. Fangzheng even felt the ground shake! Then, he saw a three-meter tall, two-meter diameter vat in the room. As the vat was too huge, he even stored Red Boy’s crib inside.

But at this moment, no one cared about the crib. Instead, all of them were staring at the super large vat with widened eyes.

Squirrel made a few gestures comparing his own height to the vat’s before he mumbled. “Wow, this is too big… How much good food can this keep?”