"Additionally, in the Black Mountain lies a temple known as Huiming Temple," Ethan Shu began.
"If you're willing, you could join Squire Li in funding its restoration and bringing incense back to it."
The innkeeper's face paled.
"Black Mountain… that place…"
Understanding his hesitation, Ethan Shu reassured him with a smile, "The spirits and fiends of Black Mountain have already been purified by this humble monk. Black Mountain is now, in fact, 'cleaner' than your own Qingyu Town."
The innkeeper nodded quickly. "Offering incense at a temple is certainly the right thing to do. I'll make sure to work with Squire Li to fund the temple restoration and to atone for my karmic burdens."
Ethan Shu put his hands together and chanted, "Amitabha. Donating to a temple and offering incense will not completely clear your karmic burdens."
The innkeeper looked puzzled. "Offering incense and worship doesn't help cleanse my karma and accumulate merit?"
This went against the "common knowledge" he and the assistant held.
"To truly cleanse your karma and accumulate merit, you must perform more good deeds and maintain kind thoughts," Ethan Shu explained, his gaze thoughtful.
"This humble monk asked you to offer incense at Huiming Temple because the elder monk enshrined there was my master."
"It is a way of settling our karma."
Pausing for a moment, his voice grew thick with emotion.
"I'm not asking for personal gain; I only wish to repay my master's kindness."
"My master, Chan Master Huiming, guarded the ruined temple in Black Mountain for decades, preventing the Black Mountain Demon from wreaking havoc on the world."
"If not for him, Qingyu Town would have ceased to exist long ago."
"Now that he has passed, I only ask that the people of Qingyu Town remember him and keep incense burning in his memory."
The innkeeper and assistant were shaken and, bowing, declared, "Saint Monk and Chan Master Huiming are truly righteous!"
Ethan Shu sighed inwardly. His master had guarded Black Mountain without expecting thanks, and Ethan Shu understood that. Yet he could not bear the thought of his master's decades of dedication being forgotten, leaving him unacknowledged as if he had never existed.
This was his "cause" and his deepest intention.
To uphold one's true intentions was to be Buddha.
Ethan Shu's every word and action followed karmic principles; nothing was done haphazardly.
"In the Lady Beneath the Moon and Banana Leaves painting, I added feet to the figure so she would remain grounded and less likely to transform into a spirit."
"Additionally, the Vajra Bodhi prayer beads on the banana leaf will serve to calm and purify."
"When you look at this painting, memories may arise, but it will no longer give birth to a spirit."
The innkeeper sighed with relief, bowing once again. "Amitabha, such wisdom!"
Ethan Shu then retrieved the Tiger Descending the Mountain painting and redrew the tiger, adding a sleeping Arhat leaning against a rock and imbued the painting with a surge of Buddha power.
"As an additional gesture, I have created a Tiger-Subduing Arhat painting," he explained.
"The Arhat can guard your wealth while asleep and subdue demons upon awakening!"
"Hanging it in your inn will dispel any lingering negative energy that the painting spirit may have attracted."
The innkeeper gratefully received the painting, bowing repeatedly in thanks.
After these matters were settled, Ethan Shu went downstairs for his vegetarian meal. Observing him eating meat and drinking wine, the innkeeper thought, "What a unique monk—truly different from what I imagined."
The assistant, wiping his hands on his cloth, whispered to the innkeeper, "More than different—he's practically unorthodox."
"How so?" asked the innkeeper.
The assistant replied, "Not only does he eat meat and drink wine, but what monk can paint a beauty like that?"
"He must have beauty in his heart to paint it so vividly."
The innkeeper, enlightened, laughed. "True loyalty and sincerity—that is true humanity. He truly lives up to the title 'Saint Monk'!"
When Ethan Shu had finished his meal, he wiped his mouth and stood up, clutching his purple-gold monk staff, ready to leave.
The innkeeper hurried over to see him off, asking, "Saint Monk, where are you headed next?"
Ethan Shu replied simply, "To seek alms."
This time, "seeking alms" didn't mean asking for a hundred taels of gold like he had from Squire Li. There were deeper karmic reasons behind his request to Squire Li.
"The demonic energy in Qingyu Town grows stronger," he noted, frowning slightly as he looked up at the gloomy sky. As he had told the innkeeper, Black Mountain was perhaps "cleaner" than Qingyu Town itself. With such dense demonic energy, strange occurrences were bound to follow.
Using his Brahmic Eye, Ethan Shu found households thick with demonic energy and helped them resolve their supernatural issues. For most commoners, he asked for nothing more than a copper coin or a simple vegetarian meal. Word spread in Qingyu Town that a saintly monk had come down from Black Mountain. It was said that he and his master had subdued the demons and purified Black Mountain.
That night, beastly growls echoed from Squire Li's mansion. Inside a small room, a young man was bound to a chair. His eyes were blood-red, his mouth stuffed with cloth, and veins bulged from his temples in a terrifying grimace. Despite the rope binding him, he struggled with such force that the sturdy chair nearly fell apart.
Watching the youth with worry and distress, Squire Li turned to his servant Ah Fu, who suggested, "Master, perhaps we should invite yesterday's Saint Monk to see if he can help with the young master's condition."
A young, visibly pregnant woman nearby shook her head. "A 'Saint Monk'? He's nothing but a fame-seeker! We should trust Daoist Master Kuxuan instead!"
The bound youth thrashed, twisting his head, his hands and feet bloodied from the rope, which made a sickening "squelch" with each movement.
Squire Li, desperate to help his son, immediately told Ah Fu, "Prepare silver and hurry to the inn. Bring the Saint Monk here at once!"
The woman's face turned cold. "If you anger Daoist Master Kuxuan by doing this, don't say I didn't warn you!"
"Dear wife," Squire Li exclaimed, "why are you concerned about that right now?" "With Daoist Master Kuxuan absent, how can I bear to see my son suffer like this?" "Ah Fu, go quickly!"
"Yes, Master!"
Ah Fu mounted his horse and raced to the inn to fetch Ethan Shu. Halfway there, he spotted a figure in white robes, carrying a purple-gold monk staff and traveling under the starry night sky—Ethan Shu himself.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。