Chapter 41: Curtain Falls
Just as the ones who best understand men’s preferences are always men themselves, the ones who best understand the soft spots of Buddhist Cultivators are similarly Jiang Ce, who is proficient in the Buddhist Path.
He knew clearly that well-reasoned and evidence-based Buddhist principles had a brainwashing ability on these monks no less than the attraction of health supplements to old men and women.
Especially Buddhist principles that could make them feel greatly beneficial to themselves—that was even more remarkable.
“Is there anyone else for a duel? If not, I’m leaving.”
Jiang Ce smiled and looked at the others.
He wouldn’t take on Sixth Rank and above; the Seventh Rank person wasn’t there, and there were over ten Eighth Rank and Ninth Rank who couldn’t even beat him, and after it was over, a bunch of Buddhist Cultivators temporarily switched sides.
The situation reversed in an instant.
Even Xiao Lin hadn’t expected that this feat of one person challenging an entire branch’s White Talisman holders was really accomplished by Jiang Ce, and he even gained the support of the Buddhist Cultivators afterward.
Although it wasn’t a true fight to the death, it was enough to prove that Jiang Ce’s strength and ability to judge the situation had already reached the pinnacle at this stage.
The frivolous man put away his levity and solemnly watched Jiang Ce; the stern-faced man flicked his sleeve and left, unwilling to stay any longer; as for that self-proclaimed Ling Xun, the Sixth Rank Buddhist Cultivator, he slightly closed his eyes, faintly intimidating the rest of the crowd.
Seeing this, Jiang Ce nodded, planning to salute Xiao Lin on the viewing platform before leaving the martial field.
But unbeknownst to him when, Xiao Lin and Tian Yongle had already vanished without a trace.
Jiang Ce pursed his lips, not too concerned.
From the fact that Xiao Lin hadn’t stopped it from beginning to end, he didn’t think the other would care about such a minor matter.
If the trouble he caused needed Xiao Lin to clean up, he might really be resented or even disliked afterward, but since the situation had been under control from start to finish without causing any bad consequences, it still fell within the scope of intra-sect disputes, which for a big shot like Xiao Lin was no different from child’s play.
And because of the coincidental appearance of Ling Xun, Jiang Ce had a sudden inspiration and pulled off an on-the-spot defection, demonstrating his strength while also achieving part of the effect Xiao Lin wanted right there.
To put it bluntly, it was no different from slapping someone and then giving them a sweet date.
Although I was a bit reckless, I’ve already folded these trickiest Buddhist Cultivators according to your idea—what more do you want?
In short, under the serendipitous alignment of perfect timing, location, and people, the result was good and satisfactory to everyone.
It was just that these unwitting Gatekeepers were inexplicably caught in the middle and thoroughly toyed with.
But it was no big deal; more specifically, anything that had no impact on Jiang Ce could all be considered no big deal.
For the existing result, he was too lazy to change anything just to shift public opinion; anyway, those willing to be on good terms with me later, I’ll be on good terms with them; those unwilling, I won’t bother with them either—we’ll go our separate ways without interfering, you piss me off and I’ll curse you, you disgust me and I’ll beat you, it’s that simple.
But the uproar from the duel didn’t end there.
After all, not all branch Gatekeepers had come to watch the excitement; quite a few hadn’t planned to join in, or didn’t even know about it.
Hearing that a newbie first one-shot the Confucian Path genius Liang Zhi Zhou, then easily crushed ten opponents one against ten, and then made the White Talisman’s leading Buddhist Cultivator Ling Xun willingly concede in Buddhist Dharma, even convincing a group of Buddhist Cultivating Gatekeepers—no one found it unbelievable.
“Isn’t it normal for Seventh Rank to beat Eighth Rank?” “Real or fake, beat ten without even breathing hard?” “What a joke, who is Ling Xun to concede so easily?” “All the Buddhist Cultivators thanked him for his guidance? Those are Buddhist Cultivators that eight oxen couldn’t drag back! You not awake?”
From calm to surprised to incredulous, everyone’s reaction was almost the same.
Even some worldly Blue Talisman holders regretted not going to the scene because they were putting on airs, missing this childish play that was initially seen as kids fighting.
One reason was that the whole process was too exciting as it spread from one to ten to a hundred; the second was that both Xiao Lin and Tian Tou’er had gone.
Even Xiao Lin didn’t put on airs—what was I putting on airs for?
However, besides the excitement, some people saw a hint of something.
“You think what he said is correct, right?” The old monk wearing reading glasses looked at Ling Xun and asked kindly.
He was one of the few Purple Talisman holders here, and also Ling Xun’s Master.
“Master, do you think there’s any issue?” Ling Xun was puzzled.
The old monk shook his head: “Why does laying down the butcher’s knife lead to immediate Buddhahood, and creating karma by sending evil into reincarnation not count as breaking precepts? Because the world judges by actions not heart, but Buddhism judges by heart not actions. You can only say his actions benefited you and were blameless in deed, but his heart is open to question.”
Seeing Ling Xun half-understanding, the old monk patted his head and smiled: “A black-and-white world doesn’t exist; you can’t easily judge a person’s good or evil. Though you shouldn’t have shown him favor, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“I don’t understand.” Ling Xun lowered his head.
“You will understand; this process won’t be too long.”
The old monk’s mind conjured Xiao Lin’s figure, and he smiled helplessly:
“Since you’ve already shown favor, no need to mind it; interact more, it will benefit you.”
“Sincere?”
“Sincere. Xiao Zhi Men dislikes the Buddhist Sect, but not necessarily Buddhist Cultivators. For you, this may be an opportunity.”
Seeing Lu Yun again, Jiang Ce found him glowing with delight.
“Why so happy?”
Jiang Ce couldn’t help but feel curious.
Who knew Lu Yun’s one sentence almost broke Jiang Ce’s defense.
“After you left, I reported it to Tian Tou’er; he told me to ignore it, so I knew there was something to it. I went and opened a betting pool in the group for your two fights—I made nearly thirty thousand!”
He stared at Lu Yun in shock, and the next second he was practically fuming.
“I fought tooth and nail for eleven thousand, and you make thirty thousand off a betting pool? Are you even human?!”
“Hey.” Lu Yun patted Jiang Ce’s shoulder: “I was worried about you at first, but mainly afraid you’d cause trouble. Since Tian Tou’er spoke up, I naturally had nothing to worry about. Plus, after hearing Jie Tan Zhi Men and Master Ye’s evaluation of you yesterday, I was very confident in your strength, otherwise I wouldn’t have backed you so hard.”
“Is that what I was talking about? No, I think I’m black enough, how are you even blacker than me?”
Jiang Ce was exasperated, just about to berate how a proper Gatekeeper could openly gamble, when he saw Lu Yun flash a QR code; the words on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back, and his suspicious gaze darted between Lu Yun’s face and the QR code.
“What do you mean?”
“Add me as a friend; we’ll split the money, then I’ll pull you into the group. Don’t talk randomly in the big group—everyone’s there. There’s a small group that’s freer, all direct subordinates under Xiao Zhi Men, all White Talisman. Though you offended Xiao Zhi Men, he’s not in the group, so as long as you don’t say anything too outrageous, it should be fine.”
Lu Yun seemed to think everything was a matter of course: since it was money earned through his brother’s hard work, naturally split it evenly; since he was the guide, he had to arrange everything properly.
But the sudden warmth moved Jiang Ce deeply.
“Good, good, not bad for a good brother—so why didn’t you bet more?”
“.”
[Luocheng Gatekeeper Subgroup]
[Zhang Ting-White: Lost big, never betting on duels again.]
[Hong Feng-White: Bet against the duel, villa by the sea! Win!]
[Speak-Cautiously (Lou Leshan)-White: Latest news, Jiang Ce suspected to be reincarnation of a Buddhist Sect powerhouse, thus disliked by Xiao Zhi Men.]
[Speak-Cautiously (Lou Leshan)-White has been muted by admin for 23 hours 59 minutes]
[Liang Zhi Che-White: No one remembers losers, except Liang Zhi Zhou.]
[Huang Qiyang-White: Aren’t you afraid your brother will beat you?]
[Liang Zhi Che-White: Whatever, he’s still passed out; I lost all my money, feeling suffocated now—gotta vent or I’ll feel worse.]
Just as the Gatekeepers were chatting enthusiastically, a notification made everyone stop discussing instantly.
[Venerable Du Mu has joined the group chat via Lu Yun-White’s invitation. Come say hi!]
