The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng said, “Here is three million. Feel free to take it. Remember that if you take a million, I will take away the equivalent amount of your life, health, and wisdom.”

Ma Kui never expected the monk in front of him to be so rich. He actually took out the money to buy those things from him! Ma Kui immediately laughed and thought to himself, “I’ve really encountered a fool! Money is material, but are health, life, and wisdom material? He could take away the money, but how will the monk take away those immaterial objects?”

Therefore, Ma Kui did not stand on ceremony as he took a stack of cash from Fangzheng. He looked at it and studied it to make sure the bills were real. Indeed, they were all Chinese yuan. They were absolutely genuine! He felt great holding the cash in his hands. Each stack was ten thousand yuan. Ma Kui was overjoyed and started taking the money for himself.

However, as he took the stacks of money, he was shocked to realize that many wrinkles had appeared on his hand. His originally taut skin had also turned loose!

“What’s going on?” Ma Kui quickly checked his hands. Both of them had turned old!

Ma Kui looked like he had seen a ghost as he exclaimed, “Master, what’s- What’s going on?”

Fangzheng gave a Buddhist proclamation before saying, “Patron, This Penniless Monk has already told you that he will use a million to buy your years, a million to buy your health, and a million to buy your wisdom. This first million is to buy your years! You just took 300,000. 10,000 for a year. You are now sixty-two years old. Do you still want more?”

“I refuse to believe it! Who in this world can take the life force of others? You are lying to me!” Ma Kui could not fathom it. The scene in front of him was utterly terrifying! It was so unbelievable that he thought he was having a nightmare!

Fangzheng flipped his hand, and a mirror appeared. He handed it to Ma Kui and said, “I’m not lying to you. The mirror cannot lie either. Take a look for yourself.”

Ma Kui took the mirror and was immediately dumbfounded. His reflection in the mirror was covered in wrinkles. Signs of age were everywhere! Ma Kui made a few facial expressions, and all of them matched up in the mirror.

Ma Kui experimented by taking another 10,000 yuan stack. Indeed, his face instantly aged slightly!

Ma Kui was so shocked that he threw the money back and yelled, “I don’t want it! I don’t want it! I don’t want any of it. I’ll give you the money back! Return me my lifespan!

He ended up realizing that he could not move the money nor throw it back!

Fangzheng said, “Patron, don’t you yearn for money? Weren’t you willing to exchange it with your youth? Didn’t you think that having money makes you happy? Why aren’t you exchanging for it?”

“You monstrous monk… No, you devil, return me my lifespan! Return it! Money may be good, but how can it be as important as my lifespan!? Money can be earned if one has none! But what use is money without life?” Ma Kui yelled.

Fangzheng chuckled and said, “Patron, it seems like you do not plan on exchanging for more, right?”

Ma Kui immediately nodded and said, “No more, no more!”

Fangzheng held his palms together and said, “Amitabha, then, no more exchanging!”

Ma Kui saw the money fly into the box in front of Fangzheng before the lid closed. The box vanished after Fangzheng threw it behind him.

A cold gust of wind blew over, leaving Ma Kui chattering in the cold. Only then did he realize that he had not stood up. He had been sitting on the ground the entire time. His buttocks were freezing. Clearly, he had been sitting down for a while.

When Ma Kui looked at the young monk in front of him again, his expression turned complicated.

Fangzheng smiled slightly and asked, “Patron, have you thought it through?”

Ma Kui sighed and got up. He bowed and said, “Indeed, one cannot judge a book by its cover. Master, well played! I now know my faults. I will not do it in the future again. Master, thank you for your guidance!”

Fangzheng smiled slightly.

Ma Kui bade farewell and left, leaving a new stack of incense money in the temple hall.

Lone Wolf ran in and brought it to Fangzheng.

Fangzheng chuckled and said, “It looks like there’s ten grand. He sure is rich.”

Having said that, Fangzheng got up. Squirrel ‘drove’ once again by leading Fangzheng back into the back quarters. The human, wolf, and squirrel once again cooperated to cook rice.

Ma Kui descended the mountain and boarded a domestic luxury sedan car.

“How’s the young monk?” a middle-aged man in the car asked.

Ma Kui said, “A godly person! Unfortunately, he’s blind.”

“Is he that impressive?” the middle-aged man asked.

“Yes, I, Ma Kui, have lived for so long, but I have never seen such an impressive master! Big brother, I always thought that I loved money. I now know that money is useless! Big brother, after we return, it’s best that you hire someone else to drive your car. I want to go home. I miss my wife and child,” Ma Kui said with a sigh.

“Since you have thought things through, it also signifies that he is indeed capable. As for a chauffeur, can’t I drive a car myself? I got you to be my chauffeur because you were idling about all day. I wanted to help sister-in-law look after you to prevent you from womanizing,” the man said.

Ma Kui grinned as he stepped down on the accelerator and left.

As for Fangzheng’s side…

“Cough, cough!”

Squeak!

Woo!

Fangzheng was left coughing from the thick smoke. The squirrel on his head had turned into a rat. It was completely black in color…

Lone Wolf was covered in smog. He buried his head into the snow pile and constantly shook it. Clearly, something had stung his eyes.

“System, this is the precursor of me starving to death!” Fangzheng exclaimed inwardly. This time, the timber Lone Wolf found was overly moist. Fangzheng had managed to light a fire, but it resulted in billowing thick smoke. The man, wolf, and squirrel collectively gave up.

“Your experts say that three days is not enough to starve a person to death. Just treat is as losing weight,” the System said.

Fangzheng rolled his eyes and wanted to curse! Wasn’t this too much a lie? One wouldn’t starve to death in three days? Which expert said that? Come on out, I guarantee you I won’t kill you!

At that moment, Fangzheng’s phone rang.

“Eh? Someone is actually calling me? What a miracle.” Fangzheng took out his cell phone in wonder. Since he could not see a thing, he accepted the call.

The call connected!

“Dear customer, hello. This is Black Mountain City’s exclusive retailer for Porsche. I’m your car representative, Xiaorong. Our store just imported a batch of Porsche 911s. It has an MSRP of 2.45 million yuan. If you place your order today, you just need 2.4 million to drive away your very own beloved Porsche.”

“Ahem, sorry, how did you know of my number?” The moment Fangzheng heard that it was a car sales representative, he was slightly dumbfounded. As a monk, he was on the mountain all day. Was he going to drive a car up and down the mountain? Was that a joke? Furthermore, he was very puzzled. Very few people knew his cell phone number. Even Fang Yunjing and company did not know. They only communicated with him on WeChat.

“Uh… Recommendation from an old client,” the other party hesitated for a moment before answering.

Fangzheng rolled his eyes. This child was severely lacking in acting skill. Recommendation from an old client? The people he knew were so poor that they had to pay by installments for a bicycle. So to buy a Porsche? Fangzheng knew that it was the result of him having half a million bucks. As for how that information had leaked, he could not be bothered to pursue the matter. Hence, Fangzheng took a deep breath and said in all seriousness with an angry tone, “Are you looking down on This Penniless Monk? Does This Penniless Monk look like someone who is lacking that 50,000? I don’t have to explain why I’m blacklisting you. Bye!”

After Fangzheng said that, he hung up. What a joke! What he was lacking was that 2.4 million!

As for the sales representative, she was dumbfounded. She looked at the information she had and back at the telephone. She mumbled to herself as if she had seen a ghost, “Are… Are monks these days so rich?”