The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Squirrel was dumbfounded when he heard that. He looked up at Fangzheng and asked, “Master, do fish not have eyelids?”

Fangzheng smiled bitterly as he stroked Squirrel’s head. “Fish naturally do not have eyelids.”

“Uh, then where did they go?” Squirrel continued asking.

Fangzheng was left exasperated. Once this curious one started with his questions, there was no end to them. Therefore he bullsh*tted. “Probably ate them himself.”

Squirrel grinned and then looked at Salted Fish apprehensively. “You sure are fierce!”

Salted Fish rolled his eyes at Fangzheng. “You’re even better at spouting nonsense than me. Are you a monk or not?”

“Are you a carp or not?” Fangzheng asked as well.

Salted Fish looked up and said pridefully, “Obviously! I’m a carp from the Heavenly Dragon Pond at the foot of Mount Numinous! Back then, I nearly made the jump through the dragon gate, and I almost turned into a divine dragon!”

“But you ended up as a salted fish?” Fangzheng asked.

Salted Fish was instantly left at a loss for words. After holding himself back all day, he finally explained. “I was like that when my mother gave birth to me. Is it my fault? Besides, if I were to really transform into a dragon, would you still call me a salted fish?”

“Hmm, that’s a reasonable point. If you were to transform into a dragon, you would indeed be a salted dragon,” Fangzheng nodded and said.

Salted Fish instantly widened his eyes in anger.

Fangzheng ignored the fellow, but he was screaming in his heart. “System, come out here! This is the carp you gave me? Do the carp you have all look like this?”

Unfortunately, the System didn’t respond to Fangzheng’s screams.

Fangzheng finally understood that Mount Numinous must have held this salted fish in contempt, so with nowhere to place it, they’d thrown it at him!

Looking at the salted fish staring at him with its dead-looking eyes, Fangzheng sighed, shook his head, and turned to leave.

“Master, are you just leaving like that? What do we do with the salted fish?” Red Boy asked.

Salted Fish yelled, “Carp, not salted fish! If you call me that again, I’ll show you the power of a fish god!”

“Pui! Fish god? Why don’t you say fish thunder? A fish demon like you would only be used to stoke the flames back at my mountain! Say another word, and I’ll stew you. Forget it, I’ll just chop and mince you up before giving the resulting paste to the villagers to nourish their bodies,” yelled Red Boy.

“Heh, little guy, congratulations, you successfully pissed me off! In Mount Numinous, I might be a mere fish, but here, humph… I’m a god! Today, I’ll let you know the power of god!” Salted Fish yelled.

Red Boy was instantly amused when he heard that. He cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck. With a smile, he asked, “Master, he wants to fight me. What’s your take?”

“If you kill it, use it for a stew. If not, add it to pickle the vegetables!” Fangzheng was already sitting beneath the bodhi tree, taking out a new Buddhist scripture from the Sutra Cabinet in a composed manner.

The moment Salted Fish heard that, he was delighted. “A kid like you wants to fight me? Let’s go! Let’s fight outside. I don’t want the temple hall to be covered in blood!”

After Salted Fish said that, he stood up, squirming his fish tail. His fins were pretty long, and throwing them back, he held his fins to the back of his body and began walking. Ignoring how his ass was twisting, his back was bent. There were two whiskers drooping down… The bottom half of his body when he walked looked very feminine! However, the upper half looked like an old pedant’s. It was as though some ancestor was coming out in full force.

Squirrel, Lone Wolf, and Monkey were puzzled. They knew that Red Boy came from a different world. Salted Fish also seemed to come from another world. In that case, who was the stronger one between the two?

“I think Fourth Junior Brother is stronger,” mumbled Lone Wolf.

“Why do you say so?” Squirrel asked.

Lone Wolf looked up and said, “Because he’s a man who can beat me!”

Squirrel rolled his eyes at him and asked Monkey, “Third Junior Brother, what’s your take?”

Monkey chuckled. “There will be dried fish to eat tonight.”

Squirrel asked, “Why do you say so? Doesn’t that fish look pretty powerful? Look at how he walks. Other fish definitely can’t do that.”

“Obviously. Other fish would die once they’re out of the water. This guy not only doesn’t get dehydrated when he’s out of the water, he’s still able to splatter so much saliva when speaking. It’s like he’s a human-shaped… No, a fish-shaped moisturizer! In Master’s words, he’s a demon. Our world doesn’t have demons, so other fish naturally can’t compete with him. However, he’s ultimately only a fish! Our Fourth Junior Brother is a demon king! Thus, I believe that Fourth Junior Brother is stronger,” Lone Wolf said.

Squirrel smacked his lips and found it reasonable.

The three animals followed behind, mumbling in discussion. Salted Fish, who was walking ahead, tried to turn his ears sideways to eavesdrop, but Red Boy waved his hand and formed a seal, screening the voices from him. It was to prevent Salted Fish from admitting defeat midway. Others might not know of the means available to immortals or demons, but Red Boy knew very well. A mere carp, even one which had soaked in Mount Numinous’s Heavenly Dragon Pond, would only have a few means at its disposal. How could he be his match?

When the few of them went out, none of them discovered that the monk who was putting on an act sitting down before was gone. There was only a scripture book under the bodhi tree. Instead, a shiny head appeared above the yard wall.

Outside the yard wall by the Heavenly Dragon Pond, they found an empty plot of land.

Red Boy and Salted Fish faced each other as the latter said, “Step back more. I’m afraid I’ll cause so much damage that all of you end up bleeding!”

Squirrel looked at Monkey and Lone Wolf before the three took a few steps back.

Salted Fish continued. “Not enough. Further.”

The few animals took a few more steps back.

Salted Fish nodded in satisfaction before speaking in his supercilious tone, “Turn around. Otherwise, the subsequent scenes might be too gruesome. I’m afraid you can’t handle it.”

The three animals subconsciously looked at Red Boy who nodded slightly. The three animals turned around.

The next moment, they heard Salted Fish behind them yell, “Little punk, take—”

Before his sentence was fished, there were a series of colliding sounds, like a drum being struck repeatedly! At the same time, moist things splattered onto the three animals! It was a mystery if it was blood or anything else. The three animals thought, “Is this a battle between demons? Indeed, they are more ruthless when they attack! This blood…”

As they were thinking this, a crystalline object flew in front of Squirrel and struck Lone Wolf in the head. Squirrel grabbed it and saw that it was a soft, translucent flake. It had a rich fishy and salty smell when he took a sniff, making him nearly throw up from nausea.

“Senior Brother, what’s this?” Squirrel had never seen such a thing before as he handed it to Lone Wolf.

Lone Wolf squinted his eyes and said, “This thing looks like an ice flake. To have such an ice flake drop in this weather sure is rare.”

Just as he said that, they saw more ‘ice flakes’ flying from behind them!

Monkey touched one and gave it a sniff. “This isn’t an ice flake. It’s more like a scale!”

“Where would these scales come from?” Squirrel asked.

Monkey subconsciously turned to look as Squirrel and Lone Wolf also came to a realization. All of them turned around, and they were instantly stunned!