The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Typically, for search and rescue personnel to use helicopters, it meant that human strength was inadequate. This usually meant that something serious was happening!

With this in mind, Fangzheng hurriedly gave Wang Yougui a phone call. The moment the phone connected, Fangzheng heard a din. There was a strong howl of the wind, so it was likely that Wang Yougui was out in the wilderness. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such strong winds with the buildings in the village.

“Abbot Fangzheng? What’s the matter?” Wang Yougui yelled at the top of his lungs. He was subconsciously raising his voice in a noisy environment.

Fangzheng pulled away his ear and hurriedly replied, “Patron, did something happen down the mountain? This Penniless Monk saw a rescue helicopter fly towards Mt. Tongtian.”

“Ah? A helicopter is coming? Great! We’ve been waiting for it for so long!” Wang Yougui shouted before explaining. “Something did happen! Something really happened! Do you remember that batch of people I mentioned previously? Those f**king idiots! They aren’t your typical tourists, but a bunch of backpackers! Most of them were fine, but there were a few that just had to be different. They didn’t abide by the rules and didn’t inform us. Without any equipment or guide, they secretly went into the mountains!”

“They went up the mountain?” Fangzheng looked outside the monastery, but there was no one.

Wang Yougui explained. “They didn’t go up Mt. One Finger. I’d gotten people to man the path up Mt. One Finger to prevent people from going, so those idiotic sons of b*tches rushed into the Mt. Tongtian range instead! They didn’t even take the normal route, but a trail that was abandoned by hunters in the past! That mountain path is difficult to traverse and extremely tiring. Even dogs can’t climb up it. However, taking that path allows one to quickly reach deep into the Mt. Tongtian range and leads straight to the Tianzhu Peak! I suspect that those bastards were aiming for Tianzhu Peak. Other people have gone there before, but they all chose days when the weather was good and made sufficient preparations. They weren’t like these bunch of rookies, going on a whim.

“Sigh, tell me what the heck is going through those people’s minds!?”

Fangzheng had also heard of the hunter’s trail, but he wasn’t familiar with it either. After all, children were not permitted on that trail. Hence Fangzheng asked, “Is that trail dangerous?”

Wang Yougui said, “It’s not just dangerous, but very dangerous! That area was never developed, and the trees are dense. It was better in the past, since hunters would occasionally enter then. That at least made it possible to make out the trail well, but it’s long been abandoned, so it’s unlikely one can even make it out. There’s heavy snow and strong winds at the moment. Even the dogs have their noses frozen and can’t do a good job… Sigh, I formed a rescue team, but we can’t find them at all. We can only count on the country’s rescue team. F**k, the snow is getting heavier. I can’t even open my eyes…”

Fangzheng got the general gist of the matter. A bunch of people had secretly entered the mountains and were now impossible to communicate with.

Fangzheng asked, “How did you know that they secretly entered the mountain instead of leaving?”

Wang Yougui said, “Mengmeng saw them enter the mountains. They even gave her a sweet, but she didn’t dare eat it and gave it to her father. Besides, those people who know them are all backpackers. They know each other from a Tieba forum. Their original goal was to come to Mt. One Finger to see its scenery before finding a chance to adventure in Mt. Tongtian. They even thought of circling around it to head for the other main peaks of the Changbai Mountains. F**k, how can you consider those sons of b*tches backpackers? I’ve seen real backpackers. They do things according to the rules, taking care of the paperwork and doing their homework before going on any adventure. They don’t take their lives as a joke. But these bastards didn’t do a thing and just sneaked into the mountain! It’s also because they were spotted by Mt. One Finger that we were able to discover it early. If we hadn’t found out, those bastards would probably have died inside without us even knowing! What a waste of human lives! Sigh, to be honest, I don’t even know how many of them entered the mountains. The number Mengmeng said was completely different from the number I remember! F**k man!”

From the looks of his ceaseless cursing, Wang Yougui was truly incensed.

Fangzheng said, “Patron, calm down. The helicopter is here. They should be able to find them quickly.”

“Yeah. We can only pin our hopes on the country’s rescue team. We can only provide help on the ground.” After Wang Yougui finished saying that, he exchanged a few more words with Fangzheng before having to hang up due to a development on the ground.

Fangzheng looked at the setting sun. It was very different in the mountains as compared to the outside. Once night fell, it wasn’t only a simple case of having the temperature drop a degree or two. Especially after the first snow, when the heat underground had yet to completely disperse. At night, the heat would actually first rise a bit, melting the snow on the surface. But once it then froze again to become ice, without the sun providing any heat, the temperature would fall drastically!

When Fangzheng was young, he often heard of people freezing to death on the mountains or in their cars during long-distance travels. With the proliferation of cell phones, such incidents had been reduced. But now, going deep into the mountains probably only added to the danger.

Without being able to wait any further, Fangzheng immediately summoned Red Boy and rushed into the mountain to search for the backpackers.

Although Fangzheng didn’t have a helicopter, he had Red Boy! Moreover, this time Lone Wolf, who usually didn’t like going down the mountain, insisted on following. Even Squirrel and Monkey yearned to go as well.

Fangzheng thought about it. Since it didn’t really matter to Red Boy how many people he brought along with him, he decided that all of them could set off together.

With a wave of Red Boy’s hand, the group departed.

Turning back time to half past one in the afternoon, in front of a stone pile deep in the Mt. Tongtian hunter trail.

“Xunzi, are you sure of this trail? Why do I feel like this trail has never been taken by anyone before?” A woman tightened the scarf around her neck, preventing the cold wind from seeping into her body through her collar.

Walking right in front was a man in an orange down jacket. He carried a huge backpack and held a mountain stick. In his other hand was a map. He said, “There’s nothing wrong. This is the trail written on the map. Yaqin, I did a detailed write up before coming. This map was bought from an old man. We have encountered all the things labeled on the map up to this point, so it shouldn’t be wrong. Besides, it’s an adventure. It’s exciting and thrilling when there’s something unknown! That’s where the fun is!”

“Yaqin, I heard from others that true beautiful sceneries are hidden in unreachable places. Think about it; if it was easy to visit, wouldn’t it become a tourist attraction? And at tourist attractions, humans definitely leave their mark, sullying nature’s harmony and beauty. Our trip here is precisely for that reason. So what’s a little hardship to us? Just bear with it, and it’ll be okay,” a dark-green clothed man with curly hair and wind-resistant sunglasses patted Wei Yaqin and said. His nickname was Glasses because his hobby was to collect all sorts of glasses.

“Alright, I can’t beat you at this. Let’s hope the scenery won’t disappoint me.” Wei Yaqin looked at Xunzi and Glasses in exasperation.

Among this temporarily-formed backpacking team, Wei Yaqin only knew that Xunzi and Glasses had more mountain trekking experience than her. However, she wasn’t sure exactly how experienced they were. Furthermore, apart from her, another woman, and a bald man, they were all young adults. All of them were clearly very excited when they entered the mountains. In the beginning, Wei Yaqin was also very excited, and she took photos of everything she saw as a memento. But for some reason, her excitement slowly turned into unease as they proceeded.