The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Salted Fish turned his head in panic. Should I turn and run? It’s too late! Fly into the sky? I don’t have my Dharmic powers! Jump down the mountain? How painful would that be!?

As random thoughts ran through Salted Fish’s mind, he could already see a foot shooting out of the bend. With an idea coming to him, he widened his eyes and threw the broom to the side before lying on the ground motionless!

“Holy sh*t. There’s finally no more snow.” A man dressed in a thick down jacket drew his head into his scarf as he huffed and puffed out hot air. Seeing the snow in front of him swept away, the man nearly teared up.

People who had never climbed mountains probably did not know how tiring it was. Those who had never walked through knee-deep snow probably didn’t know how miserable it was to walk in snow. And when those two difficulties overlapped, the feeling was horrendous. It felt as difficult as ascending the heavens!

Cao Ye had rushed to Mt. One Finger early in the morning without even entering the village. He had rushed straight up, but only when he started walking did he realize how tiring it was to the point he wanted to die. The path was just too difficult to traverse.

Now, to see a path without any snow, Cao Ye heaved a long sigh of relief. He stomped his feet and without the restraints of the snow, the lightness and comfort he felt was indescribable.

“Eh, that’s not right. From the looks of the ground, it seems swept. But who swept it then? Why did they only sweep midway? What kind of person was it, to loaf off so early in the morning?” Cao Ye mumbled and continued for two more steps. When he saw the broom, he mumbled. “There’s a broom, but where’s the person?”

Just as he finished his sentence, Cao Ye saw a fish lying on the ground ahead. He went over to look carefully and exclaimed. “There’s a fish on the mountain? And a salted fish at that? Does the abbot on the mountain also eat meat? But this salted fish is a little big. I wonder what breed it is.”

As he spoke, Cao Ye kicked Salted Fish. It was hard.

Cao Ye said, “Tsk, this thing is frozen solid. How sad.”

With that said, Cao Ye picked up Salted Fish and held it over his shoulder, mumbling. “It’s such a waste to leave it here. I’ll take it up to the Master and if it’s really his, it can be considered as me doing him a favor. If it’s not his or he does not want it, but it has a clear origin, I’ll take it home to eat. Tsk, others pick up money, but I pick up fish. Heh heh. I should take a selfie.”

As he spoke, Cao Ye took out his cell phone in preparation to take a selfie.

Upon hearing the word ‘selfie,’ Salted Fish, who was playing dead, turned curious. He thought, “If I were to peep from behind, he likely wouldn’t notice, right?”

Therefore, Salted Fish secretly raised his head, his body distorting, seemingly violating the laws of physics. He propped up the upper half of his body while keeping the lower half of his body motionless and happened to appear by Cao Ye’s head. He looked curiously at the rectangular trinket in Cao Ye’s hand.

Cao Ye wasn’t thinking much either. After raising his phone and making a pose, he smiled and snapped the picture. But he was dumbfounded the next moment! He saw a fish face behind his head! Although he couldn’t understand the fish’s expression, the look in its eyes clearly expressed curiosity!

It frightened Cao Ye so much that he threw Salted Fish on the ground, and he even threw his cell phone as well. When he turned his head around, he saw Salted Fish lying on the ground, straight. He kicked it lightly, but it was completely hard. Clearly, it was frozen solid. Cao Ye gulped his saliva and picked up his cell phone in horror. When he saw the picture on his phone, cold sweat immediately broke out on his face!

Looking at the cliff, he thought, “Could I have encountered a demon? And the monk who was sweeping over here was eaten by the fish or thrown down the cliff?”

With this in mind, Cao Ye felt creeped out. He pressed his palms together and mumbled. “Grandpa Fish, we don’t share any grudges. If you have any grievances, don’t blame me for them. I’ll give you…”

With that said, Cao Ye raised his foot and kicked. “… a f**king kick!”

The next moment, Salted Fish was sent flying before he plummeted down the cliff.

Cao Ye looked over the railings and saw Salted Fish fall deep into the cliff in the blink of an eye, his outcome unknown. Cao Ye breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his head. He then opened his strides and ran up the mountain, thinking, “There’s a monastery on the mountain. No matter how powerful the demon is, it won’t dare wreak havoc in a monastery.”

Little did he know that the reason why demons didn’t wreak havoc in the monastery wasn’t because they didn’t dare to, but because they weren’t able to!

“I… I played dead and still got kicked down? Punk, don’t let me catch you, or I’ll rip off your skin!” At the bottom of the mountain, Salted Fish crawled out of a snow pile and sat there, cursing angrily. He yearned to rush up to beat the punk to death, but unfortunately, he now lacked Dharmic powers. He was unable to fly, so all he could do was scream at the foot of the mountain.

“What the hell? All I did was take a curious look, and it’s not like I saw anything I shouldn’t see! Why was I thrown down the mountain? What kind of person is he? Where are his manners!” With that said, Salted Fish tried to compose himself, trying hard not to enrage himself to death. He said to himself, “Maintain your mind. You can’t curse, you can’t curse. I’m from Mount Numinous and am cultured. I’ve listened to Buddha chant scriptures. I can’t curse… F**k! I can’t take it. You motherf**ker! What did I do to you? You even kicked me down the mountain? My back f**king hurts! Don’t you know how to respect the elderly!? Huh!? Don’t you!?”

Despite Salted Fish’s complaints down the mountain, nothing but silence answered him. He knew that his shouts were useless and in vain. At that moment, he heard footsteps and turning his body, he saw a huge Chinese Rural Dog, running over while wagging its tail. It took a whiff at him as though it had found something delicious.

Salted Fish was instantly infuriated. He jumped and used his tail to smack the dog’s mouth. The dog had probably never seen such a fierce salted fish, so it scampered away in pain. Salted Fish chased after it, yelling. “Even a dog is here to bully an Ancestor like me? Take this snowball!”

With him almost entering the village in pursuit, Salted Fish turned around with a grunt and headed up the mountain. He was not done sweeping the snow on the mountain path, and as long as he didn’t finish, there would be no food for him. In order to eat, Salted Fish temporarily put aside his thoughts of revenge on Cao Ye. Sweeping away the snow was more important.

Cao Ye jogged all the way up One Finger Monastery, and when he arrived, he saw from the distance that One Finger Monastery was completely snow-white. The reflecting Heavenly Dragon Pond made the entire scene resemble an immortal paradise. His flustered heart as a result of Salted Fish calmed down significantly. Cao Ye slowly walked onto the Bridge of Helplessness and entered One Finger Monastery.

The moment he entered, he saw something with black hair all over it sweeping the snow. His heart skipped a beat, and he thought, “It’s not that demon, right?”

But on a careful look, he immediately heaved a sigh of relief. It was just a monk. Monkeys were good at mimicking, so it was understandable that it could sweep snow.

After entering the monastery, Cao Ye first offered some incense and paid his respects to Buddha. He placed two hundred yuan as incense money before walking out. He called out softly, “Is there someone here?”

“Amitabha. Patron, is there something?” Fangzheng walked out when he heard the voice.

When Cao Ye saw that it was a person, he immediately relaxed. He had never been to One Finger Monastery, but he had done his homework before coming. He knew that One Finger Monastery’s abbot was a young monk, and a very famous one at that. Therefore he didn’t dare slight him as he respectfully asked, “Are you Abbot Fangzheng?”