Jietan, Jiese

Longshu Temple was not large.

Nor were there many monks.

The monk leading the way was called Jietan.

According to his introduction, the entire temple had only around twenty people, all living in the side courtyard, two to a room.

Jietan's roommate was a young novice monk.

His Dharma name was Jiese.

But judging by Jietan's disposition and personality, he could not have been less suited to the Dharma name Jietan.

Shen Yi wondered whether this Jiese truly had a heart free of worldly desires.

Before long, Shen Yi met the man himself.

Jietan brought Shen Yi to the monks' quarters.

The lamps inside were still lit.

A young monk inside was reading late into the night.

"Junior Brother, a benefactor has come to stay at the temple. I'm on night watch tonight, so let him sleep in my bed."

Jietan introduced him.

The young monk had regular features, though his expression was lively and unrestrained. Seeing Shen Yi arrive, he happily said:

"Amitabha."

"Please make yourself at home, Benefactor."

Jietan gave Shen Yi a slight nod.

"Benefactor, rest here for now."

"I'll continue my night watch."

Shen Yi nodded. After seeing Jietan off, he returned and glanced at Jiese, who was still reading, then could not help smiling.

"Little Master, you are truly diligent."

"Studying by lamplight so late at night—you must be deeply versed in Buddhist teachings."

Jiese immediately gave two soft coughs.

Unhurriedly, he put away his book.

"Benefactor, it is getting late. We should rest as well."

Shen Yi's sharp eyes caught sight of a small booklet tucked behind the cover of the sutra. Heh, there really was something fishy going on.

Shen Yi answered in acknowledgment.

He removed his outer robe and hung it by the door.

Then he lay down on Jietan's bed, sleeping fully clothed.

Before long, steady breathing could be heard.

Seeing Shen Yi fall asleep so quickly, Jiese relaxed a little and hid his book beneath his pillow.

He climbed into bed and lay down.

Deep into the middle of the night.

A faint rustling reached Shen Yi's ears. His mind immediately stirred awake, and he slightly opened his eyes.

By the moonlight beside the window.

Shen Yi saw Jiese furtively dress himself in his monk's robes, then tiptoe to the door. Like a thief, he cautiously slipped outside.

Then he closed the door behind him.

Something interesting was happening.

Shen Yi's thoughts stirred. With a flip, he sprang from the bed without making the slightest sound.

He did not rush to follow.

Instead, he first lifted Jiese's pillow and took out the small booklet hidden among the sutras to inspect it.

Hoh.

Inside the booklet were vivid drawings of naked men and women, posed in all manner of blood-stirring positions.

Erotic paintings!

Shen Yi clicked his tongue twice.

Jiese, Jiese—yet he lusted after beauty and flesh.

Shen Yi found it truly amusing. He put the erotic paintings back where Jiese had hidden them, then silently slipped out of the monks' quarters.

In that brief span of time.

Jiese had not gone far, and his silhouette could vaguely be seen.

He was headed toward the main hall.

Shen Yi followed from a distance behind.

Jiese had never practiced martial arts; there was no chance he could discover Shen Yi.

Shen Yi watched as Jiese did not enter the main hall.

Instead, he took a wide detour around it, circled behind the hall, then hunched down and wormed into a patch of low shrubs.

Shen Yi watched him lie prone on the ground, bobbing his head.

He seemed extremely excited.

Curious, Shen Yi activated Grass Treading Flight, his lightness skill. Light as a feather, he leaped onto the main hall's roof beam.

Like a civet cat.

He silently reached the ridge directly above Jiese.

Shen Yi lay flat against the roof tiles, like a soundless ghost, and looked down.

The scene was truly strange.

A monk crouched at the base of a wall, while atop the roof ridge above his head, a human-shaped shadow watched him.

From Shen Yi's angle.

He could not actually see what Jiese was looking at. He could only vaguely make out a brick at the foot of the wall that had been pried up.

A dim light seeped through.

The rest.

Was completely blocked by Jiese's gleaming bald head.

Shen Yi concentrated his inner power in his ears.

In the silent night, every faint sound entered them.

Suddenly, Shen Yi heard a barely audible lascivious laugh, along with an exceedingly faint woman's voice.

Having lived two lives, Shen Yi was naturally no stranger to such sounds.

Niu Ben had even often dragged him to brothels to watch, so he was exceedingly familiar with all kinds of women's cries of pleasure.

Yet for such sounds to come from a solemn ancient temple was truly unbelievable.

No wonder Jiese had crawled out of bed in the middle of the night.

Hiding here, he watched with such relish.

The figures in a book were dead, after all. How could they compare to the thrill and restless desire stirred by a live erotic performance?

But Shen Yi had no intention of treating it as entertainment.

When something was abnormal, there had to be a demon at work.

Lewd affairs in an ancient temple surely concealed some unspeakable filth.

Shen Yi lightly leaped down from the roof beam, making only the faintest sound.

Yet it still startled the utterly absorbed Jiese.

He looked up and saw only a black shadow swallow his vision. With a dull thud.

Shen Yi stomped one foot onto Jiese's face.

The tremendous force violently jolted his brains inside his skull.

Jiese's eyes immediately rolled back.

He fainted on the spot.

"Jiese, Jiese."

"Today, I'll help you forcibly abstain from lust for a while."

Shen Yi grabbed Jiese by the collar and tossed him aside.

Then he took the spot where Jiese had been.

At the corner of the wall, a loose brick had been pried up by Jiese and set aside. A dim yellow light shone out through the hole.

Shen Yi lay on the ground in the same posture.

And peered inside.

There was an underground chamber within.

At its center stood an enormous bed.

It was spread with thick, soft bedding, upon which lay an unconscious woman.

The woman seemed delirious, yet the sounds Shen Yi had heard earlier had come from her.

There were three other figures in the room, all bald and naked.

Shen Yi inwardly exclaimed:

"Heh, they really knew how to play."

This underground chamber was roughly two stories high.

Shen Yi's viewpoint happened to be diagonally above them.

The three figures had their backs to him, but the woman's body was fully visible to his eyes.

On the ground nearby.

Yellow monk's robes and dark-red kasayas lay scattered about.

It seemed Longshu Temple had a strict hierarchy as well.

A little novice like Jiese could only squat in a corner and feast his eyes.

Accompanied by a chant of "Amitabha," one monk panted lightly.

"I need to rest for a while."

"The two pilgrims below who are praying for children."

"I'll leave it to you to impart the Buddhist teachings to them."

The other two immediately nodded with smiles on their faces.

"Senior Brother, rest assured."

Only then did Shen Yi, crouching at the opening, realize what was happening. Pilgrims came to Longshu Temple seeking children, and the monks manifested the Buddha's true divine power—this story felt familiar.

But in the stories Shen Yi had heard.

The pilgrims and monks had all been tacitly willing.

Yet this female pilgrim had lost her senses. She only writhed coyly on the bed, letting out soft whimpers.

By tomorrow, once she woke up.

She likely would not even know what had happened tonight, believing instead that a Bodhisattva had truly shown divine power and an Arhat had entered her dreams.

If both sides were willing.

Shen Yi would have been happy enough to watch the live performance.

But if they were forcing a sale and running a scam, Shen Yi would have to step in.

At that moment.

The small door beside the secret chamber opened.

Two men in monk's robes carried in another unconscious woman and carefully laid her flat on the bed.

Then they dressed the female pilgrim who had originally been on the bed, carried her out.

The entire process was smooth and practiced, requiring not a single instruction, as though the two had done it hundreds, even thousands, of times.