Faced with such a surging crowd, He Pingsheng felt his scalp prickle.
Good grief!
I was just selling something I couldn't use. Good grief, and I stirred up so much anger.
"Ahem... well... everyone, there's no need to get worked up!"
"Calm down, calm down!"
He Pingsheng waved his hands and hurriedly said, "Will you hear me out?"
"Amitabha..." someone said. "Go ahead!"
Hundreds of eyes stared at He Pingsheng.
He Pingsheng said, "You've misunderstood. I neither stole this nor obtained it through fraud or deception. When I went to the Boundless Merit Platform for Dao comprehension, the venerable Buddha Emperor personally bestowed it upon me!"
"If I'm lying, may heaven strike me with thunder!"
"Will that do?"
"I've even sworn an oath!"
"Everyone!" the female host also spoke up. "This item belongs to this young friend. How he disposes of it is entirely his choice, and outsiders may not interfere. Those are our commerce association's rules!"
"Amitabha..." An elderly monk offered a Buddhist salute, then said, "A commerce association has its rules, and our Buddhist Path has ours!"
"If it were anything else, we would naturally stay out of it, but the Buddha Emperor's origin is different!"
"This is the Buddha Emperor's origin. If any of us obtained it, we would have to enshrine it reverently. Doesn't hawking it amid such a clamor insult the Buddha Emperor?"
"Our Buddhist Path absolutely cannot tolerate such conduct!"
"Exactly!" Another young monk stood up and said, "Amitabha... my martial uncle is right. If your commerce association tries to stop us, we will rise up in resistance even if it means descending into the Eighteen-Layer Hell!"
The female host was too frightened to speak.
Those Buddhist disciples all turned their eyes back to He Pingsheng.
"Benefactor... since the Buddha Emperor personally bestowed it