The Shaolin Abbot Born in the 1980s

Chapter 15: Don’t Chop It Crooked

Construction at the Shaolin Temple was in full swing. With Huo Yuanzhen pouring large sums of silver into the project, the enthusiasm of the hundreds of craftsmen burned like fire, and the Shaolin Mountain Trail, groundwork, and surrounding walls were rapidly taking shape. The four monks under his command were each busy with their own tasks. Ever since Hui Zhen and Huiming had arrived, Yikong had become increasingly diligent, taking the initiative to help Huo Yuanzhen oversee the construction work and even volunteering to handle many of the procurement and errand tasks. Hui Zhen and Huiming weren’t fools either; they knew Yikong was trying to compete with them, so they too took the initiative to keep themselves busy with various tasks, leaving Huo Yuanzhen with more free time than he expected. However, this suited Huo Yuanzhen just fine. He had no desire to waste his time supervising the progress of the construction; he had other matters to attend to. Cultivating the “Child’s Art”! This was a thorn in Huo Yuanzhen’s side. He had studied the “Child’s Art” before; unlike the martial arts he’d drawn from the system—which he’d mastered instantly—this required gradual practice. To be honest, Huo Yuanzhen’s natural talent for martial arts was average—a far cry from Yijing, who was utterly obsessed with martial arts, but slightly better than Yikong. With such aptitude, his progress in learning internal cultivation was naturally slow; otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken over a decade just to begin sensing his qi. During this time, aside from lecturing on *Journey to the West*, Huo Yuanzhen devoted virtually all his remaining time to practicing the “Child’s Art.” Twenty days passed. On this day, several thousand more people arrived at the foot of the mountain, all eager to hear *Journey to the West*. Having been narrating for so long, Huo Yuanzhen had now reached the chapter on the Kingdom of Women. This segment is arguably one of the most thrilling parts of *Journey to the West*—it’s the only time in the entire story that Tang Seng’s heart is stirred by the Queen of the Kingdom of Women. With Huo Yuanzhen’s embellishments, this passage had become almost as risqué as a dirty joke, naturally drawing a large crowd of listeners. Even some artisans would stop by temporarily to listen to a segment. Sitting cross-legged on the table and looking out at the bustling crowd within the Shaolin Temple Compound—which was already taking shape—a sea of people stretching as far as the eye could see, Huo Yuanzhen’s heart swelled with joy. Huang Feihong had also come today and was sitting in the front row, gazing at Huo Yuanzhen with a look of utter admiration. Ever since Huang Feihong had seen Huo Yuanzhen smash a rock with his head that day, his admiration for Huo Yuanzhen had known no bounds. Since then, he’d been coming here almost every day, begging Huo Yuanzhen to teach him martial arts. But Huo Yuanzhen had never agreed. The reason was simple: aside from his Iron Head Technique, he knew no other martial arts. Let alone teaching Huang Feihong—he figured that even if he were to spar with Huang Feihong, he’d likely be knocked down with just a few punches and kicks. So Huo Yuanzhen had no choice but to maintain an air of inscrutability and keep Huang Feihong hanging on. It had almost been a month since his first lottery draw—not counting the extra one during the Dragon Boat Festival—and he’d be able to draw again tomorrow. If he managed to win a martial art skill then, it wouldn’t be too late to teach Huang Feihong afterward. Clearing his throat, Huo Yuanzhen said, “Speaking of that Queen of the Daughters, with her light song and graceful dance, her robe half-unfastened, revealing…” Many people in the crowd began drooling, eager to hear just what she had revealed. Just then, a sudden commotion broke out from the back of the crowd. Huo Yuanzhen looked down and saw more than a dozen burly men in green robes walking up from the foot of the mountain. Each of these men was physically robust and armed—some carried steel knives, others wooden clubs, and still others red-plumed spears. However, none of these weapons were particularly high-quality, and the men were dressed in plain clothes. It was obvious at a glance that they were not government officials, nor were they martial artists from the underworld. Huo Yuanzhen had a keen eye; truly skilled martial artists in the underworld would never look like this. If they weren’t martial artists or government officials, there was only one possibility left: street thugs. Sure enough, one of the burly men at the front of the group strut forward with an air of arrogance. He glanced left and right, then kicked a young man standing beside him—who had brought a chair from home—sending him tumbling to the ground. “Get out of the way! Let this old man sit down for a bit!” The young man took the kick but didn’t dare say a word. “Damn it, this mountain path is really rough!” The burly man—his thick, dark belly hair visible—wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, then turned to look at Huo Yuanzhen, who was sitting on the table telling stories. “Hey, monk, listen up. This is Dengfeng County territory. Our Boss Niu said that anyone doing business and making money in Dengfeng County has to pay a fee. You’ve been telling stories here for a while now,and you’ve probably made a few hundred taels of silver. Since you’re a monk, we’ve cut you some slack so far. We hoped you’d go pay up on your own, but you’re being stubborn and won’t cooperate—you’ve forced us to make a special trip. Now there’s no room for negotiation. You’ll have to pay an extra fee to cover our trouble.” Upon hearing the name “Master Niu,” many of the villagers standing nearby looked frightened. Huo Yuanzhen could no longer remain seated at the table; he jumped down and beckoned to Huang Feihong. Huang Feihong ran over, and Huo Yuanzhen asked, “Feihong, who is this ‘Master Niu’ he’s talking about? What do these people do?” Huang Feihong glanced back at the men with a look of contempt in his eyes, then said to Huo Yuanzhen, ““Abbot, this so-called ‘Old Master Niu’ is nothing more than an instructor at a martial arts school. His real name is Niu Er; he’s also from Dengfeng County and is Chen Ding’s brother-in-law. His martial arts skills are mediocre—he even taught me a few moves back in the day. The guy’s a complete scoundrel; there isn’t a soul in Dengfeng County who doesn’t hate him. These guys here are all disciples from his school—they’re nothing but thugs and hooligans who do nothing but cause trouble and have committed plenty of misdeeds.” “I see. Among these people, how many are you confident you can handle?” Huo Yuanzen knew that Huang Feihong was skilled in martial arts; in fact, Huang Feihong had even put on a special demonstration for him when he came to ask Huo Yuanzhen to take him as a disciple. Compared to the flashy but ineffective moves of his past life, Huang Feihong’s skills were undoubtedly solid. Huo Yuanzhen knew he was no match for him, which was why he asked the question. Huang Feihong didn’t know that Huo Yuanzhen couldn’t fight; he thought Huo Yuanzhen was testing him. He bit his lip and said resolutely, “If Niu Er showed up, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But I’m not afraid of these guys—in a one-on-one fight, none of them could beat me. However, there are so many of them now. At most, I could handle three… maybe five.” Hearing Huang Feihong’s words, Huo Yuanzhen shook his head slightly. He could tell that Huang Feihong might not even win against three, and he would certainly lose against five. Originally, today’s incident could have been settled with a payment, but Huo Yuanzhen would never pay under any circumstances. Setting aside just how stingy Huo Yuanzhen was, if he paid protection money to these thugs today, how could he ever recruit disciples under the pretext of martial arts training in the future? After counting them carefully, there were twelve thugs in total. Huang Feihong could handle three of them; Yijing’s martial arts skills were slightly better than Huang Feihong’s, so he could probably handle five; and then there were the three—Yikong, Kong Hui Zhen, and Huiming. All three had some skills, though not particularly advanced. Each could handle one opponent without a problem, but taking on two would be a stretch. No matter how he calculated it, there was still one left unaccounted for—and chances were good that it would end up falling on his shoulders. But today, no matter what, he couldn’t let the other side get the upper hand. Huo Yuanzhen steeled his resolve, turned, and gave a nod; the monks and Huang Feihong all lined up behind him. Turning to the burly man across from him, Huo Yuanzhen bowed his head in reverence: “Amitabha Buddha. Esteemed layperson, alcohol, lust, greed, and arrogance are the seeds of trouble. This Humble Monk offers you this advice: practice all acts of kindness,and refrain from all evil. The causes sown today will surely bear fruit in the future. The deeds you commit today may well lead you to suffer the torments of hell and the cycle of rebirth in the days to come. The sea of suffering is boundless, but turning back leads to salvation. Do as This Humble Monk advises: lay down your weapons, attain enlightenment at this very moment, quickly cast aside your weapons, repent before the Buddha, and then hasten down the mountain—lest retribution befall you…” “Enough!” The burly man roared angrily, leaping to his feet as his trembling finger pointed at Huo Yuanzhen: “You bald-headed monk, stop your rambling! Give me a straight answer—are you going to hand over the money or not?” “What if we pay? What if we don’t?” “If you pay, we’ll leave. If you don’t, heh heh, we’ll tear this ramshackle temple down today!” The burly man brandished a steel knife—the only one among their group. Huo Yuanzhen laughed as well: “You good-for-nothing scoundrel, how dare you threaten this abbot? You’ve truly chosen the path to hell when the road to heaven lay open before you. Brothers, attack!” Yikong whispered from the side, “Abbot, we’re monks—we’re supposed to practice compassion. Using knives and swords might be…” “What’s there to be afraid of! By the time we get afraid, they’ll have already torn down the place! Charge!” Yijing and Huang Feihong had long been unable to contain themselves—especially Huang Feihong, who’d taken a dislike to these men from the start. But since they were outnumbered and outgunned, they’d held back until now. With a few monks to back them up, Huang Feihong was the first to charge forward. Yijing was no different. As the top martial artist at Shaolin, he naturally possessed a certain pride—he wouldn’t tolerate being threatened by a few thugs. Upon hearing Huo Yuanzhen’s command, he charged forward as well. The thugs hadn’t expected the monks to actually dare to fight back. They scrambled to meet them head-on, only to have Huang Feihong and Yijing take down two of them in a single exchange. Seeing that the fight had begun, Yikong and his two companions steeled themselves and joined in. However, they knew their own limits; each chose one opponent and didn’t dare to overreach. The bystanders, seeing the fight break out, panicked and scrambled to the sides, clearing a large open space in the center. The combatants battled fiercely, and in the end, only Huo Yuanzhen and a burly man from the opposing side remained. No matter how much he had planned, he never expected this outcome. The burly man glanced around, then looked at Huo Yuanzhen. He recognized Huang Feihong—he was no match for him. Those monks were all skilled fighters as well, and wouldn’t be easy to deal with. Moreover, it seemed Huo Yuanzhen was the leader. Determined to “capture the king to subdue the bandits,” the burly man brandished his steel blade and charged at the talkative monk. “Damn it, the best fighter of them all has actually picked on me.” Huo Yuanzhen groaned inwardly, but he didn’t dare move a muscle. He knew his own limitations: if he got into a running battle with them, his meager skills would be no match for theirs. He might as well rely on his “Iron Head Technique” and take a gamble here. After all, if the opponent didn’t move, the man with the sword would almost certainly aim his first strike at his head—after all, a blow to the head was the deadliest. If he struck anywhere else, Huo Yuanzhen would be finished, so he could only keep muttering to himself, “Come on, come on, cut off my head! Look, what a big bald head—it’s so obvious. You better not miss, you little bastard!”