The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

There was He Haijiang as well. She had trusted him so much, but in the end, all he had done was lead her towards death one step at a time. Finally, despite being just above her, he couldn’t even muster the courage to look down. At that instant, her heart turned cold. Helpless, she subconsciously thought of two people—her father and mother.

He Haijiang sat helplessly above in a daze.

At that moment, a hand gently patted him on the shoulder. He jumped in fright as he turned around and shouted. “Who is it?”

He saw a white-robed monk standing behind him with a calm smile. His palms were pressed together as he said, “Amitabha. Patron, calm down.”

“You… You are a monk? Are you from the rescue team? Why are you here so late? Are you aware that a second’s delay can cost a life?” He Haijiang seemed to have found an outlet to vent as he roared hysterically. “If you had come earlier, Mujie would still be fine! It’s all your fault. You need to be held respon…”

Regardless of how He Haijiang shouted, the monk before him smiled warmly, but he could not help but curse inwardly. F**k, you actually know that lives are at stake? If you know it’s dangerous, why enter the mountains to court death? Regardless of his inner thoughts, the monk spoke calmly. “Are you talking about the patron below the cliff? But she isn’t dead, you know?”

“She isn’t dead?” He Haijiang was taken aback as he grabbed the monk’s arm, asking for confirmation, “She’s not dead?”

The person in front of him was none other than Fangzheng. He had seen everything and was completely disappointed with the two of them! At the same time, Fangzheng had no intention to immediately rescue them. Since they had made a mistake, they needed to receive some punishment.

Fangzheng nodded. He Haijiang was instantly delighted as he pointed down the cliff. “What are you waiting for then? Quickly rescue her!”

Fangzheng immediately frowned when he heard that. Good going. Quickly rescue her? You sure make it sound easy! Since it’s so easy, why don’t you do the rescuing? Why were you crying like a girl above just now then?

With this in mind, Fangzheng pressed his palms together. “Amitabha. Patron, This Penniless Monk cannot rescue her. If you wish to rescue her, you need to rely on yourself.”

“Myself?” He Haijiang was taken aback. Looking at Fangzheng who was empty handed, and then looking back at himself, he suddenly realized that the monk really didn’t seem capable of doing anything. He could not help but complain. “Why don’t you as a member of the rescue team have any tools? How are you to rescue people without tools?”

Fangzheng returned with a question, “Oh? Patron, you want tools? This Penniless Monk can help you think of a solution for that.”

He Haijiang looked at the cliff behind him and then the monk before his eyes darted around in thought. “I need a rope! A strong one.” From his point of view, Fangzheng was empty handed. He definitely didn’t have a rope, so by saying that, he wouldn’t need to take the risk of heading down…

But the moment he said that, Fangzheng smiled and took out a thick nylon rope from his clothes. The end of the rope was inside Fangzheng’s clothes, making it impossible to tell how long it was. “What a coincidence. This Penniless Monk happens to have a rope. Patron, take it. Use it to rescue your lover.”

When He Haijiang saw this, he was taken aback. Looking at the nylon rope which was as thick as two thumbs, he looked back at Fangzheng, before looking at the seemingly bottomless abyss. He gulped a mouthful of saliva and seemed to be making a difficult decision.

“Patron, time is of the essence; if you don’t hurry, Patron Cheng will really be in danger,” Fangzheng reminded.

“I…” He Haijiang was in a dilemma. Although he wished to rescue Cheng Mujie, he was more afraid of falling to his death himself by going down. He did not know how to reject Fangzheng and could only rack his brains to think of an excuse. That’s right, he wasn’t thinking of how to rescue Cheng Mujie, but of an excuse to get Fangzheng to go in his stead.

At this moment, He Haijiang saw that although Fangzheng’s clothes were baggy, they weren’t bulging. It was impossible he had a lot of such a thick rope in them. With this in mind, He Haijiang thought of an idea and said, “How long is that rope of yours? I need a rope that’s dozens of meters long.”

Fangzheng stuffed the end of the rope into He Haijiang’s hand and smiled. “This Penniless Monk came out in a rush and has no idea how long it is. Why don’t you try pulling to see how long it is?”

He Haijiang looked suspiciously at Fangzheng and sneered. “Monk, you must be mentally ill. You hid this rope in your clothes, so even if your clothes didn’t have to cover you as well, how much space could there be inside of them? How much rope could be contained in there?”

Fangzheng smiled. “Patron, why don’t you pull to find out the answer?”

He Haijiang said, “If the rope isn’t long enough, I won’t go down. I’ve really never met a rescue staff member like you before. You actually aren’t doing the rescuing but getting me to do it…”

He Haijiang complained as he tugged at the rope. He believed that it was definitely not very long and he would finish pulling all of it with a few tugs. However, when he finally started pulling, he was astonished to discover that the rope was extremely long. No matter how much he pulled, to the point of there being nearly twenty meters of rope behind him, he still couldn’t get to its end!

“How… How is this possible?” He Haijiang exclaimed inwardly. Meanwhile, he accelerated his pulling but was alarmed to realize that the rope seemed infinite. There was no way of pulling it out!

“Patron, it’s already a hundred meters long. Patron Cheng is less than twenty meters below. This amount of rope should be enough, right?” Fangzheng asked with a smile.

Upon hearing Fangzheng, He Haijiang snapped back from his alarm. He looked incredulously at Fangzheng and subconsciously asked, “Are you… man or ghost?”

Fangzheng smiled. “Amitabha. This Penniless Monk is only a monk who’s helping the rescue team. Patron, you have the rope now. Quickly save her.”

He Haijiang’s legs buckled when he heard that he needed to go down to rescue Cheng Mujie. With an idea coming to him, he said, “Rope alone isn’t enough. I need a safety harness.”

The moment he said that, Fangzheng fished out two metallic harnesses the thickness of two thumbs. He said with a laugh, “Patron, take these then.”

The color in He Haijiang’s face instantly drained. This monk was too strange. Despite supposedly coming empty-handed, he was able to first produce a hundred-meter long rope and now, he had taken out safety harnesses. Was this monk a human or a ghost?

Seeing He Haijiang remain motionless, he walked to the cliffside and looked down at Cheng Mujie. He smiled. “Patron, the tree is about to snap. If you don’t go down, Patron Cheng might really die.”

“I…” He Haijiang still attempted to come up with an excuse.

Upon seeing this scene, a glint flashed in Fangzheng’s eyes as he suddenly shouted. “Are you still trying to come up with excuses!? Your lover is on the brink of death. Yet, a child like you is still trying to find excuses to evade his task? As a man, what use are you if you are so afraid of death!?”

He Haijiang jumped in fright when Fangzheng suddenly shouted. He hurriedly exclaimed. “I’m not!”

“No? Then, go down!” As Fangzheng berated him, he pulled He Haijiang to the cliffside. His feet went limp as he cried out loud, shouting. “Let me go! Let me go! I’m about to fall! Help! Rescue team, a monk is murdering me!”

Cheng Mujie saw this scene clearly. In fact, she didn’t know how it was happening, but she could hear what the monk said to He Haijiang above extremely clearly, like it was being said right by her ears. When she then saw He Haijiang acting that way, her heart turned cold. The last bit of fantasy she had for He Haijiang shattered as she said in a self-deprecating manner, “This is the person I chose to spend the rest of my life with? This is the person who claimed to protect me for the rest of my life? This is the person who was supposedly going to argue with his parents for my sake? I was really blind…”