The Monk and the Youth

"But... what is this?"

Chen Luo extended a finger, his mind stirring slightly. A wisp of mist-like, shimmering multicolored gas seeped from his fingertip, coiling around his finger like a smoke serpent.

By the time he had written nearly fifty thousand characters, Chen Luo noticed a soybean-sized patch of multicolored mist inside his body. Upon closer inspection, he realized that every single character he wrote for The Smiling, Proud Wanderer produced a trace of negligible mist within him. Now, with roughly a third of the book complete, that soybean-sized mist had condensed to the size of a finger.

"Is this Qi?" Chen Luo wondered. As far as he knew, "Qi" was the foundation of cultivation in this world, obtained through reciting scriptures. Thus, under heaven, there were only three types of Qi.

The cyan Qi was the Righteous Qi of the Confucian sect.

The purple Qi was the Innate Origin Qi of the Daoist sect.

The golden Qi was the True Meaning of Reincarnation of the Buddhist sect.

Beyond these three types of Qi, there was also something called "Half-Qi," which referred to the dynastic fortune, distinguished by the Five Virtues of Dynasties. For example, the Great Xuan Dynasty belonged to the Gold Virtue, corresponding to the color white.

Other than these, there was no other "Qi" in the world.

"Young Master, Young Master..." Xiao Huan suddenly burst into the study, startling Chen Luo so much that the multicolored mist on his hand quickly burrowed back into his body.

"What's wrong?"

"Outside... outside there's a person, dead at our doorstep." Xiao Huan pointed toward the door with one hand, the other pressed to her chest as she gasped for breath.

"Let's go see..." Chen Luo stood up and walked out. When Chen Xuan and Chen Ping had left in the morning, they had taken all the household staff outside the city. The servants hadn't been recalled yet, so only Chen Luo and Xiao Huan were in the mansion. This kind of matter fell to him to handle.

"Miss's makeup powder ran out, so I wanted to buy some new stuff. But when I opened the door, there he was, lying at our doorstep. Scared me to death." At the entrance, Xiao Huan pointed at a stone lion. Sure enough, Chen Luo saw a person slumped against it, head drooping, looking lifeless. A fair number of onlookers had gathered nearby.

Chen Luo slowly approached the person. Xiao Huan grabbed his sleeve from behind and whispered, "Young Master, let's report this to the officials. You've just woken up—what if his ghost comes back to haunt you?"

A warmth spread through Chen Luo's heart. This little maid seemed carefree, but she actually worried about him. Truly, a servant took after their master. He was about to give Xiao Huan a bright smile of thanks when he heard her add, "It's fine if you get haunted, but I'm the only one in the mansion, and I'm scared..."

So she was still the same Xiao Huan he knew!

Ignoring Xiao Huan, Chen Luo walked over to the person. To be honest, with Zhong Kui protecting him, he wasn't afraid of any petty ghosts now.

Chen Luo studied the person carefully. His face was dirty, and he looked about seventeen or eighteen, around Chen Luo's own age. A boy. He clutched a broken sword, and his tattered upper garment revealed a body covered in scars.

"A poor soul..."

Chen Luo reached out to check his breath. Sure enough, he couldn't feel any breathing. He also felt for a pulse but found none.

"Dead as can be..." Chen Luo sighed and stood up, about to call Xiao Huan to hire a passerby to report to the officials, when suddenly a strange sound came from the corpse on the ground—

"Growl..."

Chen Luo froze for a moment, then quickly crouched down and said softly, "The finest ingredients often need only the simplest cooking methods."

"The skin of Soup Dumplings is so thin it's almost translucent. Take a bite, and the savory broth flows into your mouth. Bite into the meatball soaked in juice—neither greasy nor tough, smooth on the tongue..."

"Growl..."

"Liangshan Suckling Pig is roasted with the skin on. The tender, thick skin is the essence of the meat. The best heat is when it turns golden brown. Large chunks of lean meat, paired with a dipping sauce made from chili, soybeans, and ground sesame—don't even get me started on how fragrant it is..."

"Slurp..." Xiao Huan, standing nearby, sucked in her saliva. She had no idea what Soup Dumplings or Liangshan Suckling Pig were, but the words combined with her Young Master's strange tone made her drool involuntarily.

At almost the same moment, the "dead as can be" corpse suddenly raised a hand, grabbing Chen Luo's sleeve, and said weakly, "Give me two more segments..."

"Xiao Huan, go get a bowl of congee!" Chen Luo ordered. Xiao Huan paused, then dashed into the mansion. Moments later, she came out holding a bowl and handed it to Chen Luo: "Young Master, it's a bit cold!"

"That's fine!" Chen Luo took the small bowl and brought it to the boy's lips. "Can you hear me? I'll feed you some congee. Swallow it slowly yourself..."

As he said this, Chen Luo was about to spoon the congee into the ragged boy's mouth when a sudden flash of golden light appeared in the boy's mouth, blocking the white congee.

"Namo Amitabha Buddha..." A Buddhist chant sounded behind Chen Luo. "Young benefactor, don't bother. He cannot take in any food!"

Chen Luo frowned slightly and turned to look. A clean-faced monk in a kasaya stood not far away, pressing his palms together in greeting.

"A Buddhist disciple!" Chen Luo's mind stirred. This was his first time seeing the Buddhist sect of this world. It looked somewhat similar to the Buddhist sect in the world he knew.

"Master, why is that?" Chen Luo asked sincerely.

The monk's expression remained unchanged as he said, "I have cast a spell on him. For ten days, he cannot take a single grain of rice or drop of water."

Xiao Huan frowned and stepped forward: "You monk, are you trying to kill him? A normal person would die without food or water for ten days! Aren't you afraid the authorities will arrest you?"

The monk smiled faintly, took a piece of paper from his robe, and said, "This benefactor borrowed one hundred taels of silver from me and made a wager with me. If he can go ten days without a grain of rice or a drop of water, the debt is wiped clean. If he cannot, he must acknowledge me as his master and return with me to the Western Buddhist Domain to become a novice monk."

"If he cannot endure it but refuses to admit defeat, and ultimately starves or dies of thirst, then he pays with his life, and we owe each other nothing."

"Now, there are still two days left until the loan period ends."

Chen Luo was about to speak, but Xiao Huan blurted out, "You monk, stop your lies! This young man's clothes are tattered, and he doesn't even have a decent sword. You say he borrowed a hundred taels from you—where's the silver?"

At Xiao Huan's words, the surrounding onlookers began to murmur, pointing at the monk. But the monk remained unhurried, speaking slowly: "In Qiansong County, there were two brothers. The elder worked as a horse keeper for a wealthy family. The younger brother climbed onto the horse to play, startling it, and fell off. To save his brother, the elder shot three arrows, killing the fine horse. The wealthy family demanded one hundred taels in compensation, or else they would take him to the authorities. Filled with guilt, the younger brother set up a sign by the roadside to sell himself, but priced himself at one hundred taels."

"One hundred taels—for a child like him, you could buy twenty. Naturally, no one would buy him." The monk spoke flatly, without a trace of emotion. "Someone told him that in the gambling dens, selling a person piece by piece was worth more than selling them whole."

"A chopped-off finger, five taels; a self-inflicted stab, ten taels; one ear, fifteen taels; one eye, thirty taels..."

"When I led this young benefactor into that underground gambling den, the younger brother had already lost both ears and one eye. Pitiful indeed... The gamblers were beaten half to death by the young benefactor. But the younger brother grabbed him, saying they hadn't paid him yet!"

"I happened to have one hundred taels on me. I told the young benefactor to become my disciple, and I would give him the silver. He refused. Then I proposed a wager—I would give him the hundred taels. He agreed."

"The young benefactor took the hundred taels of silver from me, along with all his own valuables and clothes, and gave them to the other party."

"For the young benefactor to be so kind-hearted, he is truly fated to be with our Buddhist sect..."

"Screw your 'destiny'!" Chen Luo cursed. "He's about to lose his life! I'll pay back that hundred taels for him—you release the spell now!"

The monk shook his head slightly. "Not proper, not proper. This humble monk doesn't want money, only a disciple!"

Chen Luo's face flushed with anger. "He's about to die!"

"This humble monk knows, but this humble monk doesn't want silver."

"He owes you silver, not his life!" Chen Luo fumed. "I'll pay it back for you—you're not losing out!"

The monk ignored Chen Luo and looked towards the youth. "Little benefactor, if you just call me 'Master' now, this humble monk will release the spell at once."

The youth, whom Chen Luo had awakened, had no strength to turn his head. He only parted his lips slightly—

Ptooey!

Chen Luo suddenly stopped being angry. He stared coldly at the monk and called out, "Xiao Huan!"

Xiao Huan hurried over to Chen Luo's side. Chen Luo whispered a few words in her ear. Xiao Huan was taken aback, shot a puzzled glance at Chen Luo, but still turned and ran off.

Chen Luo paid no further attention to the monk. He walked back to the tattered youth and gently patted him on the shoulder. "Hold on a little longer—I can help you..."

A night of east wind scatters a thousand trees in bloom—collections and recommendations can hold steady! Request collections, request recommendations, request monthly votes~~~~~