The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Before this, Salted Fish, who had been given free reign by Fangzheng, came to the edge of the mountain cliff. He had his fins held behind his back as he looked into the distance. He chuckled. “I’m finally free. I can finally join in on the fun. Hahaha, here I come!”

With that said, Salted Fish jumped into the air and plummeted straight down like a sword. The instant before he landed, he inhaled and blew at the area beneath him. As though he received a rebounding force, it stopped him in midair, and he flipped before landing.

“A perfect landing!” Salted Fish grinned.

At that moment, there was a voice beside him. “Are you a demon?”

All of Salted Fish’s scales trembled when he heard that. There was someone behind him? He had actually been seen by someone! This… didn’t seem to fulfill Fangzheng’s requirements! He was going to get into trouble.

Salted Fish didn’t even turn his head as his eyes darted around. “You’re overthinking things. I’m a child draped in fish skin. Gotta go, bye!”

With that said, Salted Fish ran off. As he ran, he heard a cry behind him. “Wow! A fish is running! He’s running! I took a photograph! Grandpa! Grandpa, I saw a fish run!”

Upon hearing that, Salted Fish came to a halt. He turned around and saw a little girl dressed in red, flowery clothes. She looked like a roly-poly ball as she waved her smartwatch. She was running towards the village on the snow.

Salted Fish instantly recognized the girl. She was a common guest at One Finger Monastery and was known by everyone there as the little princess—Mengmeng!

Upon seeing this lass, Salted Fish immediately felt a headache coming.

If it were anyone else, he could hoodwink or intimidate them as a solution; however, he really didn’t dare do anything to Mengmeng. If he tried, he would probably get beaten by Fangzheng into stockfish.

With this in mind, Salted Fish chased after Mengmeng and shouted. “Girl, don’t shout. I’m a demon. Aren’t you afraid?”

Mengmeng immediately stopped and turned to curiously look at Salted Fish.

Salted Fish stood in front of Mengmeng and looked self-important due to his age. He replicated every domineering and immortal-like feeling he could think of, only to… sadly realize that he wasn’t f**king taller than Mengmeng! He still had to look up to her.

Mengmeng looked down slightly at the invincible demon. Then, out of curiosity, she came over and stretched out her tiny hand. She pulled at his whiskers and laughed happily. “Wow! It’s really a demon! Hahaha!”

Salted Fish was stunned by the happy Mengmeng, thinking, “Do the demons in this world have no standing at all? Why can’t a demon even scare a child? This is an insult to demons!”

“Little fish demon, how old are you? How did you turn sentient? Where are your parents? By the way, what do you like to eat?” Mengmeng didn’t show any fear. As she tugged at Salted Fish’s whiskers, she began inundating him with questions.

Salted Fish felt his head swell when he heard those questions. “Shut up! Girl, listen up. I’m a demon. A demon! Do you know what a demon is? It’s the kind of monster that can go anywhere like the wind and eat humans whole! Aren’t you afraid of me?”

Salted Fish’s plan was simple. He had to prevent Mengmeng from spreading the news no matter what. Since he couldn’t use his divine powers, he decided to intimidate her.

Salted Fish tried hard to show what he imagined to be his fiercest side, but how could a fish look fierce? Thankfully, Mengmeng did feel a little scared when Salted Fish yelled at her.

Upon seeing this, Salted Fish finally found the dignity a demon ought to have. He said, “Girl, didn’t you ask about what I eat? I eat…”

Before Salted Fish could say the word, he saw a shiny, translucent lollipop appear in front of him. Then, he heard Mengmeng ask adorably, “Do you eat lollipops?”

Salted Fish was stunned at that instant. Then, he felt extremely incensed and aggrieved. “Girl, listen up! I’m a demon! A powerful demon. I eat humans! You actually asked me if I eat lollipops? I…”

Salted Fish glared at Mengmeng fiercely as though he was about to eat her up.

But when he raised his head, he saw the lollipop in front of his eyes and heard Mengmeng’s adorable voice. “Do you want it or not?”

Salted Fish bared his teeth and said, “This is an insult!”

The next moment, Salted Fish and a girl in red were sitting on the snow, eating lollipops as they looked up the mountain.

“I have to say that this lollipop is rather delicious. It’s no wonder children like eating them…” Salted Fish said in all seriousness.

Mengmeng said, “If you like it, I’ll bring you more in the future.”

“Let’s do it! But don’t forget what I told you. This is a secret between the two of us. You cannot tell others. Also, we will always meet here in the future,” Salted Fish said.

“Okay! Okay!” Mengmeng shouted immediately. At that moment, Mengmeng suddenly pointed into the distance and asked adorably, “There’s so much smoke over there. Is someone barbecuing?”

When Salted Fish looked over, his expression immediately changed as he jumped up and cried. “Crap! I’m doomed. I was occupied with eating and having fun and forgot about the important matters!”

Salted Fish had scanned One Finger Village with his divine perception, but after Fangzheng freed him, this fellow only kept watch on Xu Pu and the freckled man before jumping down the cliff. After he was discovered by Mengmeng, he jumped in fright and subconsciously dispelled his divine perception. After all that hooha, he forgot about the matter…

Now when he saw the thick billowing smoke, he knew that something had happened! Salted Fish hurriedly ran in that direction.

At the same time, Fangzheng was sitting in the backyard. He had his Wisdom Eye and Dharma Eye activated as he looked at Second Brother, Xizi, Lin Wenlong, and Wu Yue’e.

Every karmic connection was revealed before his eyes as he finally confirmed all his speculations. At the same time, he was stunned by this complicated situation.

Fangzheng shook his head and came under the bodhi tree. From afar, he saw the Ten Thousand Buddha plaque in the temple hall and mumbled. “Good and evil…”

At this point, Squirrel shouted. “Master, there’s thick smoke!”

Fangzheng turned his head and saw thick smoke billowing up like a smoke column. Even a fool could tell that something had gone wrong with such thick smoke! Fangzheng hurriedly cried out. “Jingxin, where’s Salted Fish? What’s he doing?”

Jingxin hurriedly activated his divine perception to search for Salted Fish. After hearing what Salted Fish had to say, Fangzheng had the urge to boil him. However, it was already too late. He hurriedly got Red Boy to bring him down the mountain to fight the fire.

At the foot of the mountain, a huge stack of timber behind a house had been ignited. As the northeastern wind blew, the fire sparks flew randomly and ignited the other timber stacks. This was still alright, but worst of all, one family had all their timber stacked up beside their house. With the stack catching on fire, the timber stack fell and started burning the house!