The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Eccentric said, “I’ll do what I promised you back then. Master, don’t worry. With me around, there won’t be any poppies produced or any war! But now, I have to make them retreat first!”

“Oh? Patron, you have a solution?” Fangzheng asked in surprise.

Eccentric said, “If I can’t even do such a thing, how can I take on the responsibility of what you requested me to do? They dared to come simply because they believe Butcher Bar is going to rebel and cause an internal conflict. They are just being opportunists. What I need to do now is to let them understand that not only are we not in disarray, we are even more united!”

After saying that, Eccentric went out. Following that was a grand gathering. The sound of guns and cannons resounded throughout the Golden Triangle!

With all the generals working together, the news of establishing a Golden Triangle government quickly spread.

Almost instantly, a document appeared on the table of the governments of the three countries. Everyone looked at each other…

Eventually, the troops of the three countries retreated. They could not bite down on the Golden Triangle—a piece of iron. Even if they were to gnaw at it, they would suffer heavy losses. Furthermore, no one could guarantee that they would end up being the worst party coming out of the situation. If that happened, they would no longer be able to fight the other two countries for the Golden Triangle.

With such an unknown future and the possibility of true loss, the three countries gave up on attacking.

At the same time, the Golden Triangle also began to burn the poppy plantation en masse. The army began to become more professional, and the common people also discovered that the Golden Triangle was changing… It seemed like they were gaining respect…

Fangzheng sat on a mountain, looking down at the Golden Triangle below.

Eccentric sat next to him, gulping down a large jug of alcohol.

Fangzheng said, “Things have already settled. If you wish to leave, This Penniless Monk can help you find a successor.”

Eccentric smiled bitterly and shook his head. “I want to leave, even in my dream. But I can’t leave…”

With that said, Eccentric pointed at the mountains in front of him and said, “Master, look at this mountain. It’s stacked on top of one another, with no end to it. Here, if we don’t plant something like poppy, it’ll be very difficult for the people here to survive. With no one to help them, things will quickly return to the past because of poverty and misery…”

At this point, Eccentric said in a low voice, “I’ve lived here for ten years. Although there are many things that I hate, there are also many things and people that I can’t bear to part with. You can say I deserve it. In the past, I wanted to leave even in my dreams. But now that I can leave, I can’t bear to…”

Fangzheng said, “It would be a good thing if you can benefit a lot of people.”

Fangzheng patted Eccentric on the shoulder. “Do well. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

Eccentric said, “Don’t worry, Master. I will always be myself. Besides, I’m quite afraid of having children…”

Fangzheng: “…”

Fangzheng did not leave after Eccentric left. Instead, he sat on the mountain and asked the System, “System Bro, do you consider this as completing the mission?”

The System said, “Cleaning up the entire Golden Triangle holds boundless merit. As for the mission, the core goal of the mission is to clean up the evil of the Golden Triangle. You have done very well. In fact, if you had led Eccentric’s army and fought the others, your mission might have failed. All the sins of the dead would be piled on you.

“In addition, the Golden Triangle is different from other places. This is a natural no man’s land. No management means chaos. Order needs someone to manage it. If it was simply taking away those generals, it would be even more chaotic than before without the leaders. It would only result in more reckless evil.

“When the time comes, I’ll count some of the sins on you. I’m afraid that the bit of merit you have will not be enough to take that.”

When Fangzheng heard that, he subconsciously shivered.

This was because Fangzheng had truly considered the possibility of charging at them to cut the Gordian knot. He could stuff them all into a sack and carry them back to hand in his mission.

But now that he thought about it, it wasn’t wrong to have divine powers, but to do things without considering the consequences was akin to courting death! Thankfully, Fangzheng had always been one to follow his heart. He was considerate of others and didn’t just think about his own benefits.

“Amitabha.” Fangzheng muttered a Buddhist proclamation guiltily before turning to leave.

When he came, Fangzheng had crawled over through a telephone line. But after coming here for so long, the divine powers of the Divine State changed by the day, so the divine power was no longer in effect. Who knew how much merit it would take to produce the same divine power again.

Therefore, Fangzheng gave up on the idea of trying his luck with Divine State. Instead, he walked towards China on foot.

Thankfully, Fangzheng had Nature. Although there were endless mountains in front of him, they were no different from flat ground to him.

A day later, Fangzheng returned to China. As he breathed in the fresh air in the country, Fangzheng gave a knowing smile… He took out his cell phone to read the recent news.

Fangzheng was astonished to discover that there was a sudden movement to protect the fireflies in the country!

With the commotion in the northeast, the matter didn’t stop because of Fangzheng’s departure. Instead, it became more intense. More people and organizations began to spread knowledge about fireflies to the world.

More and more people understood that no matter how the merchants boasted about it, illegal hunting of wild fireflies severely damaged the ecosystem. They caused the deaths of millions of fireflies in days. The number of fireflies across the country was in rapid decrease, almost to the point of going extinct.

However, there were still dissent.

“Fireflies aren’t protected animals. So what if we catch them? How does it affect you?”

“Are we shuttering just because you like it? That doesn’t make sense.”

“The country hasn’t banned it. What’s wrong with catching some?”

“Scram. I’m a pig-lover. Don’t kill pigs. It’s too cruel. Hehe…”

…

Fangzheng shook his head when he saw this. Were fireflies the same as pigs?

One was eating them for survival, while the other was to use the lives of other living beings as a form of luxury. Facing these people who used a disguised replacement of concepts, Fangzheng felt helpless. Just as they said, the law didn’t permit them from capturing fireflies. So what if they caught some?

And it was precisely because of this that Fangzheng had asked Red Boy to send the fireflies away. At the same time, he was considering how to compensate the owner of the Hall of Dreams. After all, he had invested money. What Fangzheng did was a good thing, but it wasn’t necessarily right or fair for everyone.

With this matter not being under the law’s jurisdiction, they suffered losses because Fangzheng judged whether they did right or wrong. That wasn’t right. Sometimes, doing good and saving lives required the support of funds. It couldn’t just be a rush of passion. He couldn’t do anything he wanted simply by standing on the moral high ground.

Morals were ultimately different from the law…

However, Fangzheng temporarily put the matter aside after White Shirt made a fuss.

Now that he thought about it, he had to make up for it after he returned.