The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng smiled as he pressed his palms together. He returned with a question in a genial way. “This Penniless Monk has heard of Mt. Wudang, as well as of the Wudang Sect, but what the heck is the Great Wudang Sect? This Penniless Monk has heard of Perfected Zhang Sanfeng, but who the heck is Perfected Inaction?”

“Monk, are you scolding us?” A disciple of Perfected Inaction stepped forward in anger to censure him.

Fangzheng pressed his palms together and looked at the disciple in a calm and serious manner. “Yes, This Penniless Monk is scolding someone. What about it?”

The disciple was instantly flabbergasted from the retort, thinking, “This monk is far too shameless. He’s not even going to put on a show? Try to hide it at the very least!”

Perfected Inaction raised his head slightly and said, “Fangzheng, you aren’t explaining the matter of you having a child, but you started targeting This Penniless Priest. Your means of diverting attention aren’t much to speak of.”

Fangzheng shook his head and said, “Oh? Patron, you wish to talk about matters regarding This Penniless Monk? What right do you have? Are you This Penniless Monk’s master, or are you from the State Administration for Religious Affairs?”

Perfected Inaction reacted very quickly as he said, “All that is unjust in this world comes under the purview of all people. If no one else cares about it, This Penniless Priest will!”

Fangzheng smiled. “Patron, stop saying This Penniless Priest. You make it sound like you are a Daoist priest.”

“How audacious! My master is the sect master of the Great Wudang Sect. If he’s not a Daoist priest, what else can he be?” a disciple berated.

Fangzheng shot him a glance and smiled. “All of you are quite interesting. You rely on Weibo to establish yourself, but you don’t check Weibo when you’re out yourselves. Have a look at Weibo before telling This Penniless Monk that you are a Daoist priest again.”

Perfected Inaction was taken aback. Look at Weibo?

With Fangzheng saying that, someone immediately took out his cell phone to check. Upon doing so, he was instantly shocked. “Master, something bad has happened!”

Perfected Inaction hurriedly checked and saw that he had been @-ed on Weibo. The person who had @-ed him was none other than Mt. Wudang’s Wudang Sect. The statement was very simple: “After Fangzheng’s matter came to light, the Wudang Sect has received constant attention. We have also noticed a particular individual known as Perfected Inaction Infinity. We checked through our records, and we didn’t discover any Perfected Inaction Infinity or Perfected Inaction under our Ancestral Master’s line. Our Ancestral Master’s disciples have also never set up a sect known as the Great Wudang Sect. We do not care about you stepping forward to censure Fangzheng, but there is no doubt that you are misleading the public by using our Wudang Sect’s name! We have already reported the matter to the relevant authorities. Prepare to be called in for questioning.”

Upon seeing this, Perfected Inaction’s face turned livid. When he read the comments, he realized that the atmosphere in the comment section had changed.

“Holy sh*t! This is a robber acting as a cop! This Perfected Inaction Infinity keeps claiming that Fangzheng is a fake monk, but at the end of the day, he’s a fake Daoist priest!”

“F**k. This guy sure is bold. You can write off his passing off as a Wudang Sect disciple, but he actually dares to cause such a stir. Great, look what happened to you now.”

…

Upon seeing this, Perfected Inaction’s face turned extremely gloomy. A disciple beside him asked, “Boss… Ahem, Master, what do we do next?”

Perfected Inaction shot a glance at Fangzheng, thinking that Fangzheng and company wouldn’t see or hear it. Hence, he suppressed his voice and said, “Don’t panic. Divert their attention. Immediately post news of Fangzheng cohabiting with a woman and him having a child. Let them end up cursing Fangzheng, and we will naturally get out of this mess…”

The disciple immediately nodded as he hurriedly took two pictures and went aside to fabricate a story.

Indeed, as the news of Fangzheng’s cohabitation and daughter spread, a group of people on Weibo appeared again. These people didn’t care if Perfected Inaction was a Daoist priest. All they cared about was Fangzheng. Hence, the two sides left comment sections all around in chaos. Fewer people began cursing Perfected Inaction as a result.

After handling Weibo, Perfected Inaction looked at Fangzheng in a composed manner and asked, “Fangzheng, cultivating the Dao is equivalent to cultivating the heart. This Penniless Priest can cultivate in the Dao anywhere he likes. There’s no need for the acknowledgment of others. Or do you think that tiny book can prove that someone is or isn’t a Daoist priest? Even in Daoist temples, This Penniless Priest has seen many whose hearts weren’t in the right place.”

Fangzheng said, “This Penniless Monk has a Daoist friend as well. He lives deep in the mountains, treating the mountainous forests as his partners. He discusses the Dao with the sun and moon, calls his ginseng his neighbors, and he has the mountains and rivers to paint his scenery. Look at you. You have so many disciples, feasting every day on the most delectable dishes and wearing the most costly clothes, swaggering through the streets for attention… So in which Dao is it that you cultivate?”

“This Penniless Priest cultivates in the Dao of Society, and mainly captures demons like you who try to deceive others! It’s pointless continuing. Your marriage and child are already a violation of the precepts. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?” Perfected Inaction clearly didn’t wish to continue discussing his matters with Fangzheng. He directly launched an attack.

“Daoist, you sure are shameless. Look at our family’s Household Register. Fang Ke’s father’s name is Fang Xin. He passed away six years ago. Everyone in this district knows that!” At some point, Zhang Huixin had already returned home and gotten her Household Register out.

Upon seeing this, Perfected Inaction was stumped. From his point of view, how could there be such a clean monk or priest? He believed that no monk or priest could withstand an investigation. Therefore, when he discovered Fangzheng’s situation, he never doubted the veracity of the matter. As he fabricated stories to sully Fangzheng to gain popularity, he tried hard to find evidence. He even traveled hundreds of miles to Andong in search of evidence. He caused such a huge scene and when he heard that Fangzheng’s daughter’s name was Fang Ke, he was even more certain of his guess due to the surname they shared.

Furthermore, Fangzheng’s background had long been dug up. His real name was Fang Zheng, while his Dharma name was Fangzheng. Hence, Fang was really his surname.

With this in mind, he only had one thought. It was best if the child was Fangzheng’s. If it wasn’t, he would think of means to make it his! After all, the child had already called Fangzheng daddy. He believed that he could use his gift of gab to make it seem that way even if it wasn’t. But now, Zhang Huixin had taken out her Household Register in front of everyone and during the livestream. This made things difficult… The situation was now a test of his ability to further sully Fangzheng’s reputation.

At this moment, Sun Xiao stepped forward and said eccentrically, “He passed away six years ago? This child is only five to six years old right? You got pregnant the moment your husband passed away? Are you sure it’s your husband’s?”

The moment that was said, Zhang Huixin’s eyes turned red, and she threw a slap!

Sun Xiao was long prepared to dodge backwards, but something seemed to obstruct his way behind him, making it impossible for him to dodge. He got slapped in the face, and instantly, his left cheek stung. He furiously looked back and cursed. “Who stopped me?”

A white wolf was looking up at him. Its gaze made him jump up with a scream. He hurriedly hid behind Perfected Inaction and pointed at Fangzheng and Zhang Huixin. “Great, you are resorting to violence when you can’t win a war of words. Now, you are going to use a dog to silence me?”

Zhang Huixin yelled in anger, “Shut up! You bloody a**hole! If you dare spout your bullsh*t again and say anything bad about my husband, I’ll kill you today!”

When Sun Xiao saw Zhang Huixin’s eyes red with killing intent, he instantly cowered in fear. Hiding behind Perfected Inaction, he yelled, “Why… Why do you have such a strong reaction? I’m just raising a possibility. If you have what it takes, provide some evidence!”