The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

When Lone Wolf and Monkey saw this scene, Lone Wolf said in embarrassment, “Indeed, when an honest person turns ruthless, they are more ruthless than anyone.”

Monkey nodded in silence.

After this farce continued for some time, Fangzheng eventually gave up after realizing that he could get nothing out of Salted Fish. Severing the thoughts of trying to solve the problem himself, Fangzheng realized that all he could do was embark on the path of completing this seemingly impossible mission.

200,000 merit points and 20 million yuan in incense offerings!

Upon thinking of this number, Fangzheng felt his scalp go numb. He had worked hard for more than a year only to earn 30,000 merit points. He hadn’t received that many incense offerings either. Even if he added the large amounts of donations he recently received, everything only amounted to 250,000 yuan. It felt like a hopeless endeavor with 20 million yuan as the target!

At this moment, Lone Wolf was chasing after Squirrel outside, letting out pearly laughter. As for Salted Fish, he was bragging about his stories to Monkey…

Upon seeing this, Fangzheng felt a fire rise up in him. He got up and cursed inwardly. F**k, I’ll simply give it my all! Isn’t it just 200,000 merit points? Isn’t it just 20 million yuan in incense offerings? I’ll do it!

With that said, Fangzheng took out his cell phone and posted a new message on Weibo: “Everyone take note. From tomorrow on, One Finger Monastery will have lesson tickets for sale! All patrons who wish to listen to This Penniless Monk teach medicine at One Finger Monastery will require tickets to be able to attend.”

Fangzheng was too agitated. After considering what he wanted to say next, his hand trembled, and he sent the message out.

The moment the post was released, Weibo nearly blew up. Instantly, there were many comments.

“Holy sh*t! Did I see wrong? Fangzheng is selling tickets publicly? This… This guy is really a frivolous monk! He’s openly making One Finger Monastery a market place?”

“Damn it. I previously viewed him as a saint from ancient times who opened up lessons for the masses for free. I thought he was an accomplished monk, but from the looks of it, he’s just another monk who has his mind occupied by money… Sigh. He has lost himself to money.”

“This… This is him destroying his image. How much money is he lacking?”

“Although he’s giving classes based on his own abilities and there’s nothing wrong with selling tickets, to send this message out directly as a monk is just too damaging to his image. At the very least, he should have found someone to sell the tickets for him. That would have been better.”

“That’s right. That’s right…”

Immediately, some media reporters took screenshots and began forwarding them.

As Fangzheng had been trending on the news recently, many people were watching his every move. To see something so abnormal after he had occupied the recent trending articles and headlines all of a sudden, many knew that this was major news.

For a publicly acknowledged master who was deemed a living Buddha to suddenly release such a post that changed his image, it was definitely breaking news.

Hence, the news spread faster than Fangzheng could imagine.

Just as he finished editing the latter half of the message and posting it, the news had already spread. Many chat groups were spreading it and discussing the matter.

Instantly, countless people swarmed to Fangzheng’s Weibo in search of answers to know if it was real.

The moment they came, they saw the second message.

“There will be 49 tickets for each lesson. They cannot be purchased with money, but with merit. Many people are coming to Mt. One Finger to seek treatment. Each person treated for free or at a fair price will net one merit point. Lessons will be held every Sunday. Tickets will officially be sold on Saturdays. After the 49 tickets are sold, no more tickets will be left available for purchase. Starting tomorrow, One Finger Monastery will open up its doors, and everyone can come to seek treatment. The conditions for treatment have already been mentioned, so they will not be described again in this post.”

Upon seeing this message, the people who came to figure out what was happening and the reporters who had reposted the news were collectively dumbfounded. There was chaos in the comment section.

The reporters nearly began cursing in jest.

Southern Newspaper’s editor: “Master, did you get someone to plan this for you?”

Northern Newspaper’s editor: “Master, you played a nice move. You made all of us advertise for you for free.”

“At first, it seemed like a destruction of his image, making us forward it like crazy to gather eyeballs. Then he suddenly posted such an advertisement… Freaking hell! He didn’t even have to pay us for any advertisement fees!” Eastern Newspaper’s editor said bitterly.

…

Upon seeing these comments, Fangzheng was stunned. He flipped through the news and instantly laughed. He then chuckled and replied: “This Penniless Monk really didn’t do it on purpose. This was… purely coincidental. Amitabha.”

“If some other master said that, we would definitely believe it. But to hear it from Master Frivolous… LOL, no way I believe it! Hahaha!” Immediately a reporter posted this in jest.

“Yes, no way I believe it! Master, you need to pay us with a piece of news. Otherwise, we refuse to forward this piece of news.” Immediately, others began to turn rowdy.

Following that, a huge group of people clamored, but they were quickly drowned by the general audience.

“Haha, a face slapping! It’s an instant face slapping! They were still calling him greedy for money moments before, but he wasn’t. Instead, he is bringing goodness to the people!”

“Tsk. In ancient times, there were rich families who opened up their warehouses to give grain to the poor. Today, One Finger Monastery Abbot has opened his door to save others!”

“Master Frivolous is awesome!”

“That’s right. Otherwise, the situation would be too warped!”

“Reporters, stop clamoring. I think that such positive news is something I’d rather prefer to read.”

“Agreed +10086!”

“Me too. If Master really became evil, my faith would collapse, and I’d never be a good person again. Also, I wouldn’t read your news ever again! But everything is fine now. My heart feels warm. Ahaha…”

“Positivity! Positivity! This is what I call news!”

“Reporters, can’t we bring more sunshine?”

…

The reporters and editors who originally imagined that this piece of news would sink to oblivion suddenly saw it rising up the spots. The views increased as everyone laughed with joy. At the same time, many began to consider their words. Did people actually read things that weren’t ‘breaking news’ and negative?

Regardless of how they pondered over life, Fangzheng closed the Weibo app in joy when he saw that his advertisement had somehow gotten known by all. He leaned on the window sill and began arranging missions for Red Boy, Salted Fish, and company.

“Tomorrow, your divine powers will be returned to you. Salted Fish, your mission is to use your divine perception to envelop the mountain. Make sure no one cheats with the tickets!” Fangzheng said.

Salted Fish couldn’t appear in public. Even though he could only hide in the water, he couldn’t be allowed to do nothing. He could be used as a scanning and monitoring machine. Besides, although Salted Fish’s strength wasn’t much, it was even easier for him to blanket Mt. One Finger and One Finger Village with his divine perception than for Red Boy.

Hence, Salted Fish lazily nodded. “Alright. No problem.”

Fangzheng continued. “Jingfa, you are in charge of the monastery’s security. Jingkuan, you are in charge of releasing the tickets. After a person is treated, Salted Fish will learn of it. He will notify you, and then you can give them a ticket.”