Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

Night.

Mount Daguangming, the rear mountain.

Qinglan Buddha Hall.

A sudden gust of wind swept up the yellow leaves from the treetops, casting a dark silhouette on the pale yellow paper of the windows before vanishing abruptly. The light above the windows continued to shine brightly with a profound yellow glow..

Thump, thump, thump.

In the solemn Qinglan Buddha Hall, the crisp sound of a wooden fish was struck rhythmically.

A handsome monk sat cross-legged beneath a giant Buddha statue, solemnly rotating prayer beads in his hand and reciting Buddhist scriptures.

"The Bodhisattva surpasses holy wisdom, all senses are universally the same."

"In emptiness, he contemplates ease, possessing great divine skills without obstruction."

"Entering Zen with a proper acceptance, samadhi wanders from west to east."

"Journeying throughout the ten directions, only seeking the traces of the Buddha."

"…."

The murmuring chant echoed within the Buddha Hall, yet the chest of the monk sitting beneath the giant Buddha statue began to ripple with waves of emotion.

The everlasting lamp cradled in the giant Buddha's palm cast light upon the monk's face, revealing none other than Shen Hui, who had once formed an acquaintance with Yi Chen.

The chanting within the Buddha Hall suddenly quickened, and it was not until about half an hour later that Shen Hui's face gradually softened.

With the aid of the Buddhist Heart Sutra and his innate wisdom, he once again suppressed the mind demon within his heart.

Unaware of the passage of time, it was now midnight. Shen Hui opened his tightly shut eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

At this moment, he flipped his hand and took out the reply letter written to him by Yi Chen. The content of the letter was straightforward, inscribed with the bold and resolute character 'Cut'. As looking at the character was like looking at the man, a force of unyielding will penetrated through the paper.

"Fellow Taoist Yi Chengzi, you sent a message through your junior brother to the poor monk, saying that although Buddha has no fixed form, there is an essential form. You asked whether I am still Shen Hui or someone else."

"In truth, you have underestimated the poor monk, and the poor monk overestimated himself," Shen Hui sighed deeply as he gazed at the 'Cut' character on the white paper.

He was the Buddha's Disciple of Mount Daguangming, with innate wisdom, unparalleled in eloquence, and a master of Buddhist teachings. Even the experienced elders of the sect often lost debates with him.

Thus, Xuan Ku, the head of Mount Daguangming, personally bestowed upon him the Dharma name, Shen Hui.

Growing up in the temple, loved by his teachers and respected by his fellow brothers, after only ten years of cultivation, Shen Hui was promoted by the senior teachers against all objections to become the Buddha's Disciple of Mount Daguangming. What an extraordinary kindness, what an honor.

Upon his return to the Buddhist Temple after debating with Daoist disciples and traveling the world, he received the transmission of knowledge from many ancestors of Mount Daguangming. A myriad of memories merged into him as endless Buddha Energy entered his body. After consuming countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures and with the support of his seniors, he leaped from being a True Person Realm cultivator to a powerful cultivator in the Third Realm of Breakthrough Limit.

In these past three years, he had debated daily with the ancestral monks of Mount Daguangming in his mind and emerged victorious every time.

This was him—Buddha Son Shen Hui!

Today, it had been a long time since he heard the voices of the ancestors in his mind. After absorbing and transforming the Buddha Energy of many predecessors, his cultivation had even reached the pinnacle of the Third Realm of Breakthrough Limit, a veritable ascent to the heavens.

"But to break through the mountain is easy, Yi Taoist, to break through the heart is hard."

"Taoist Priest, you asked the poor monk to raise his sword and cut through the entangled thoughts. But those entangled thoughts are also part of the poor monk; how do you ask me to cut, and how to cut."

"Is the Shen Hui who slashes at himself still the same Shen Hui?"

With this thought, Shen Hui's face suddenly became indifferent, and his heart once again evoked the visage of a woman.

This woman was not a stunning beauty of the mortal world but could at most be described as a rustic charmer.

When Shen Hui first saw her, she was wearing a flowery jacket with a blue floral cloth headscarf, loving to eat pancakes with green onions.

Her name was Chun Ya, the daughter of a tenant farmer under the jurisdiction of the Great Weide Heavenly Dragon Temple.

She and Shen Hui first met when he was pursuing an evil spirit. At first sight, carrying two buckets, she bounced along the fields, like a plum flower deer breaking into the mortal world to greet the spring.

Then, predictably, she became possessed by the ghost.

The specifics are not important.

The important thing was that Shen Hui loitered in that village for many days and found that he had fallen in love with this girl called Chun Ya, who loved eating pancakes with green onions, dared to catch and roast frogs in the wild, munching on frog heads with each bite, exclaiming 'damn it's hot'.

No amount of words can describe the wonder of love better than a cat's meow in spring (Miao Zi nods.jpg).

In short, Shen Hui felt he had fallen in love with her.

But he was a Buddha's Disciple of Mount Daguangming, and Chun Ya was but a tenant farmer's daughter.

When the allotted three months passed, no matter how many excuses Shen Hui tried to find, looking to do something for the people of the village, he couldn't prolong his stay.

During these three months, he could feel Chun Ya's love for him.

For instance, he perceived the cruel rule of the Great Weide Heavenly Dragon Temple over the tenant farmers, lacking both virtue and decency.

"The poor monk wants to redeem this village and also the woman before him."

"Yi Taoist, do you understand?"

As Shen Hui's fingers stopped rotating the prayer beads, he seemed to sink into deep recollection, a touch of pain flashing across his face.

Taking advantage of the night, he left without saying goodbye, hoping to return to Mount Daguangming to ask his master to intervene, to intimidate the Great Weide Heavenly Dragon Temple and allow him to leave monkhood and take that girl called Chun Ya as his wife.

Of course, before returning to Mount Daguangming, he had taken the precaution of conducting a secret investigation in the tenant farmer villages under Mount Daguangming's jurisdiction.

The truth of the investigation brought both relief and sadness.

If it could be said that the tenant farmers under the rule of the Great Weide Heavenly Dragon Temple lived lives worse than pigs or dogs, then the ones under Mount Daguangming were merely pigs or dogs.

"Taoist Priest, monks should toughen their mind and body, starve their flesh, and labor with the common folk—not stay on high mountains, enjoying incense offerings. The poor monk merely wants to propose that cultivators work alongside the people. Tell me, what is my fault."