The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng soon saw boars charging at him from every direction. His strength was clearly insufficient, and he did not have the time to form a hand seal. A Golden Millet Dream needed him to calm his mind but in his present situation, how was he to do so? Fangzheng shot a glance at Red Boy and snorted, “Jingxin, aren’t you going to do something?”

Red Boy shrugged, “I can’t beat them without my divine powers.”

Fangzheng’s brows pricked up, “Are you trying to be an asshole now? Either you do something or you will be given a combo meal of scriptures!”

Just as Red Boy was about to say something, he suddenly felt the Dharmic powers that had been missing in him for a long time fill up again. At that instant, Red Boy laughed out maniacally as he stomped his foot!

Boom!

The ground quaked as all the boars were shocked into a daze before running off.

“All of you get back here. Prostrate and lift your buttocks up! Whoever dares move shall be stewed!” Red Boy opened his mouth as he spoke, spewing out a flaming string. Instantly, the fire enclosed all the boars. These were boars from the mortal world. They had never encountered demons or a demon king before. Although they found Red Boy extremely terrifying, they were only running simply out of instinct. Now that they could not escape, they looked fearfully at Red Boy. They finally did not dare act belligerent as they lied prostrate on the ground, motionless due to fear. Then, they lifted up their buttocks.

This was also Fangzheng’s first time seeing the means of a demon king. He was astounded by what he saw. This was no demon king but a nuclear bomb of humanity!

Red Boy smirked, “Master, look. Once you return me my Dharmic powers, resolving such problems will be a piece of cake.” Although Red Boy spoke in a relaxed manner, his mind was racing for a way to cleanly finish the darn baldy.

“He’s a mortal and I have recovered all my Dharmic powers. A punch is enough to collapse a mountain. It’s impossible I can’t kill this darn baldy. But the True Samadhi Fire failed to burn this darn baldy to death the last time. Will my punch actually work? Guan Yin Bodhisattva is omnipotent. If this darn baldy were that easily killed, she probably would not have left me to him. No, it’s best I think it over carefully. Yes. At the very least, I need to find the appropriate opportunity to commit the act.” Red Boy was considering if he should attack.

The boars were afraid, but they realized that the most terrifying fellow was actually afraid of the baldy. They immediately understood that the true person in charge was the baldy.

The largest boar among them squealed, “We admit defeat!”

Fangzheng looked at the boars that had their buttocks up and was at a loss over whether to laugh or to cry. He waved his hand and said, “Amitabha. Get up, all of you. You guys really have quite a temper. Without a word, you attack and injure others. All these years, you have destroyed the villagers’ food and assaulted people. Are you aware of your sins?”

“Yes, yes!” Boars did not know anything about face. Everything paled in comparison to their survival! As for whether they had committed a sin or not, it did not matter. They left it to Fangzheng to make the claim.

“Since you are aware of your sins, are you willing to be punished by This Penniless Monk?”

“Will we die?” the boar leader could not help but ask.

“Amitabha. No.”

“Then we will accept it,” said the boar leader forthrightly.

Fangzheng was rendered a little speechless when he heard that. The boar was truly… pragmatic. “Since you accept the punishment, how about punishing you with the order never to descend the mountain again?”

“Ah?” The boar leader immediately rejected the notion, “There’s so much to eat outside. It’s much more comfortable there than in the mountains.”

“Oh?” Fangzheng did not say a word. Red Boy glared, causing the boar leader to shrink its neck back in fright.

Lone Wolf came in front of the boar leader and stuck out its tongue to lick its lips. He chuckled, “Old guy, I’ll get the wolf pack to hunt if you dare do anything unacceptable. Ai ai ai, to be honest, you guys sure are fat.”

The boar leader was not afraid of ordinary wolves, but he had long noticed this wolf. It was extremely ferocious and appeared to be a hybrid between a bear and wolf. It appeared to have limitless strength and was as fast as the wind. Its fangs were extremely sharp, and it had managed to injure quite a number of boars during the short brawl they had. Furthermore, it had bitten at their asses every time… He was truly afraid that the wolf would return to gather a pack of similar wolves. When the time came, they would not be the ones causing harm to the people, but they would be the ones succumbing to harm.

With that thought in mind, the boar leader said, “About that…”

“The mountain has so much to offer and there’s a continuous stretch of mountain further behind. What are you afraid of?” asked Fangzheng.

“You can’t blame us. Those hairless monkeys have been constantly chopping the trees, leaving us little space to live in. If we don’t go down the mountain, where do we go?” grumbled the boar leader.

Fangzheng was taken aback. Upon careful thought, that was indeed the case. The boars were not to be fully blamed. Humans had been cutting and intruding into the animals’ homes, destroying the ecological balance. This resulted in the situation where boars turned rampant and caused harm to humans. To be precise, the situation humans were in could be understood as a form of karma.

But the villagers had not been cutting down trees for the past two years. The nation had made it clear that the felling of trees was banned. Furthermore, there were reforestation efforts. Many of the fields near the Mt. Tongtian range had trees grown. It could be considered as compensation.

With that in mind, Fangzheng sighed, “Amitabha, you do not need to worry about this. They will soon return the forest to you.”

“Really?” asked the boar leader.

“Of course.”

“Then… We will agree to it. We just won’t go down the mountain. Actually, there’s a lot to eat on the mountain but the food, is sparsely spread out. To be satiated, we have to run everywhere for food. It’s not like the foot of the mountain where food is stored in piles. It’s really delightful eating that…” The boar leader had been quite calculating. It had attacked the humans because humans were easily bullied. Apart from shouting and creating a din, they did not deal them any harm. Occasionally, a few unlucky boars were killed but to such a huge herd of boars, the losses were negligible.

The boar leader did not care if one or two boars died. He was more concerned if the herd could continue reproducing. There were levels of deaths that he was completely prepared to accept. Therefore, as long as the entire herd was not annihilated, it did not matter to them if they had to stay on the mountain.

Having finished negotiations with the boars, Fangzheng said, “Jingxin, extinguish your flames.”

Red Boy opened his tiny mouth and sucked, pulling in all the fire into his mouth before swallowing it. Red Boy wiped his mouth, “Master, are you sure you don’t want to stew one of them?”

Fangzheng rolled his eyes at Red Boy, “What’s up with your nonsense? Can you fly now?”

“Yes, why?” asked Red Boy.

“There are several villages in the vicinity of Mt. Tongtian that are troubled by the boars. Since we have taken action, let’s resolve this once and for all. Fly me there.”

Red Boy was surprised before he smiled. He carried Fangzheng into the sky and instantly vanished into the darkness.