The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng knew that the old man had not been struck down by the pain of losing his son. Although he was in pain, he was still the old man who was like an iron pillar holding up his family!

At that moment, Uncle Iron stopped and saw Fangzheng. He sighed and said, “Sit down, child.”

“I’m sorry.”

Uncle Iron shook his head and said, “Why should you apologize? This isn’t your fault. On the contrary, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have known about what happened to Xi. Tomorrow, we will get someone to bring Xi back. After running around outside for so many years, it’s time for him to return home and rest.”

“Uncle Iron, do you need my help?”

Uncle Iron suddenly laughed and said, “Do you know what Lahu means?”

Fangzheng shook his head.

Uncle Iron said, “The ‘La’ refers to tigers and ‘Hu’ refers to roasting food over a fire and eating. Put together, we are people who use fire to roast tigers. In Yunnan, we are also known as the tiger-hunting race. Our people are natural warriors. Warriors are fearless of death, and warriors can stand up against any situation!”

With that said, Uncle Iron said, “I’m undoubtedly sad that Xi has left, but this is life. Life is tough, but we still have to live on. I still have Niu to take care of, so I can’t collapse.”

Fangzheng looked at Uncle Iron in surprise. He never expected this old man to be so strong. However, being strong was one thing, to survive in this backwater place, it was not enough to just be a brave warrior.

Hence, Fangzheng asked, “How do you plan on spending the rest of your days? Will you continue blacksmithing?”

Uncle Iron shook his head and said, “I was thinking about this problem the moment you walked out of our house. It’s obvious that I can’t continue blacksmithing. The reason why Xi went to the city to do such a dangerous job is—to put it bluntly—because we are poor! Our village is too poor, so we can’t support ourselves. Therefore, we have to leave this place to make a living.

“And the root cause of our poverty is our lack of roads! I will spend the rest of my life opening up a road! I can’t let Xi’s tragedy happen again. I believe that as long as there will be a road, with the countless treasures and hard-working people we have on this mountain, our Lahu people will no longer suffer the fate of poverty and the separation of couples, with our sons having to die elsewhere!”

Fangzheng’s eyes lit up when he heard that. Opening up a road? This was indeed a good solution to solve the problems before them. Furthermore, it was a good solution that would last forever and perpetually benefit them!

However, it wasn’t that simple to clear a path through the mountain. Along the way, Fangzheng had personally experienced the difficulties of coming there. There weren’t many rocks, but weeds, shrubs, and all sorts of plants sealed off all routes. Without them, the path wouldn’t be too difficult to walk.

However…

A glint flashed in Fangzheng’s eyes.

Uncle Iron was exhausted after he finished speaking. He slowly got up and said, “Alright, let’s not talk anymore. We’re going to pick up Xi tomorrow. Kid, no matter what, thank you.”

Fangzheng shook his head and said, “You’re welcome. On the contrary, I learned a lot from you. I hope that you will like my gift.”

Uncle Iron imagined that Fangzheng was referring to the money. He shook his head and said, “Money is a good thing. However, the children’s future and lives are more important. I plan on donating the money to build a road. Every segment built is progress. As long as my children and grandchildren remain, I don’t believe we can’t clear a path through this mountain.”

“Have you never thought of moving out?” Fangzheng suddenly asked.

Uncle Iron shook his head and said, “This is our home. It’s my hometown. Where should I move to? Wouldn’t it be more painful to leave my hometown?”

With that said, Uncle Iron slowly walked away.

Fangzheng slowly pressed his palms together and silently said, “Amitabha.”

Fangzheng turned and left. He did not return to Ji Han’s house and instead came to the side of the village. This was where he had entered the village. After leaving the village, there was a road that led to the mountain. However, there was only a small segment which could be called a proper road. The rest of the way was covered with thorny vines that made it extremely difficult to traverse.

Fangzheng came in front of these weeds and pressed his palms together, circulating his divine power—Nature!

At that instant, Fangzheng began reciting the sutra in his mind. At the same time, his psyche spread out and attached to all the nearby plants.

At the same time, Fangzheng was pleasantly surprised to discover that the spell Nature was a lot easier to cast here than on Mt. One Finger! Somehow, he felt that while his psychic power was being spread and expended, he could also absorb some of the power from the surrounding plants to replenish himself!

In fact, as long as he grasped a good distance to expand and reduce his speed, Fangzheng could even use the divine power without any expenditure.

Fangzheng tested it out for a while before he managed to grasp the perfect distance of the divine power. With him as the center, with a radius of five meters, it was just right!

Ten meters wide? That’s enough! Fangzheng chuckled as he spread out his hands. His psyche was attached to the plants, but he did not feel the same thing he felt from the spirit ginseng in One Finger Monastery. These plants did not seem to have any thoughts. Or perhaps, their thoughts were too mild, and he could not sense them at all.

As for Fangzheng’s thoughts, he easily controlled the bodies of the plants and gave them the power of nature.

The next moment, with a thought from Fangzheng, all the plants around him began moving.

The sharp grass was pulled out from the ground and moved to the side.

The trees’ branches suddenly turned soft as he raised them high and connected them like an arch.

The short bushes retracted their thorny vines and were flung to the side, weaving together with the other shrubs to form a natural barrier…

When Fangzheng saw this, he smiled in satisfaction. Then, he slowly walked forward, and all the plants parted. A path of nature was slowly forming.

Occasionally, he would encounter some huge rocks. Fangzheng would move the rocks away or control the plants to throw the rocks aside.

As he walked, Fangzheng learned how potent Nature was. The feeling of being able to control nature as he pleased was intoxicating.

As he became more and more adept at it, he went from slowly controlling the area around him with every step to directly controlling the trees to send him up into the air. The trees used their branches and vines to form a huge wave in the sky, churning beneath his feet as they sent him forward!

At that moment, Fangzheng was like a god of nature that controlled everything.

When he met the cold stream once again, Fangzheng waved his hand. A few large trees stretched out their branches, and the vines wrapped around them, transforming into an arched bridge. Following that, thick tree roots stretched out from the ground. The roots were like a stone arch, holding up the bridge above them. The green vines wrapped around them, and there were some flowers that dotted the bridge. The result was a natural bridge, and the beauty of the place made Fangzheng reluctant to leave.

As he passed by the rubble, Fangzheng discovered that the rubble had gone deep underground, making it extremely troublesome. After some thought, he used the plants to wrap up a lot of sand to fill up the gaps between the rocks and flatten them. This made it much easier for people to walk.