The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism
chapter-1004

After watching all these memories, Fangzheng finally had a deep understanding of the three brothers. At the same time, he fell into deep thought. How should the three brothers be assessed?

To call them good people? They had bullied and scammed countless others. From this point of view, they should be considered bad people, evil-doers, sinners.

But to call them completely terrible people? That wasn't the case either. The relationship between the three brothers and the filial piety they showed their father far exceeded the bonds countless ordinary people had. From that perspective, they could even be considered good people!

Fangzheng massaged his brows. For the first time, he didn't know how to determine if a person was good or bad.

"System, over at your side, would such people be considered good or bad?" Fangzheng finally chose to ask the System.

The System said after a moment of silence, "Heaven and Earth do not act from the impulse of any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. There is no such thing as absolute right or wrong, good or bad in this world. Even survival and elimination are meaningless. From this angle, what they have done cannot be considered right or wrong.

"In the eyes of the creatures in nature, survival of the fittest is the only thing that matters. Surviving is of utmost importance. From this angle, what they did was right. They were unscrupulous in order to survive.

"But the reason why humans are considered intelligent as compared to all creatures is that they come equipped with the ability to think. They are smarter, as well as being capable of having morals. What are morals? Good morals at the small scale benefit the family, while good morals at the large scale benefit the world. When the two are at odds, the small shall submit to the large. But to have the large bend to the small cannot be considered wrong either.

"However, to bring harm to the world to establish oneself, regardless of the reason, is ultimately more wrong than right when viewed from a human moral perspective.

"These three brothers have done both right and wrong. I'll leave it to you to judge them."

Despite saying so much, it was like the system hadn't said a thing. However, Fangzheng noticed the point that the brothers had done both right and wrong. And since he was given the authority to pass judgment…

Fangzheng pressed his palms together and silently chanted. "Amitabha. In that case, the sea of bitterness knows no bounds, so let This Penniless Monk send you on a journey."

Fangzheng cast A Golden Millet Dream again. The next moment, a scene appeared in Second Brother Song Xianshu's mind. It was the scene of before Song Yuan was apprehended. Fangzheng didn't change the scene, but he amplified Song Yuan's voice, especially his last four words: "Be a good person!"

To others, these four words might not mean much, but when the four words hit Second Brother, he felt as though a hammer had struck his very soul! Every repeat of the words felt like a heavy blow.

Faced with Song Yuan's gaze which was filled with anticipation, he recalled what he had done over the years. He felt more and more guilty, but no matter how he dodged the matter, Song Yuan's eyes were right in front of him as his voice kept resounding.

After repeating them three times, a Buddhist proclamation sounded. "Amitabha. Patron, if you no longer have any questions, head on down the mountain."

Upon hearing that, Second Brother raised his head abruptly and realized that the scene before his eyes had vanished. In front of him were still the same oil lamp, Buddha, young monk, and wooden fish!

Song Xianshu frowned when he saw this. He stared at Fangzheng in a daze, but Fangzheng didn't look up and continued striking his wooden fish again and again.

As he listened to the knocking sounds, Song Xianshu suddenly got up and nodded slightly at Fangzheng before turning to leave. Only when he left the monastery did he realize something. He had entered the temple hall to seek answers, but apparently, he hadn't received any!

The moment he thought of that, Song Xianshu subconsciously recalled the three scenes that had repeated in his mind. His guilt ate at him when he recalled Song Yuan's extremely expectant gaze and words.

Shaking his head, Song Xianshu went down the mountain.

"Master, you're letting him go just like that?" Red Boy looked at Song Xianshu's back and asked, confused.

Fangzheng returned with a question. "What else should I do?"

"Uh, it's so late. I'm afraid something will happen to him if he heads down the mountain just like that," Red Boy said.

Squirrel came over and asked curiously, "What can happen?"

Red Boy said with grave sincerity, "Not to him, but to others."

Squirrel was left even more puzzled as he looked at Fangzheng blankly. Fangzheng rubbed his tiny head and said, "Come, I'll slowly explain to you."

Squirrel hurriedly followed when he heard that.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain, Song Xianhe and Song Xiancheng, who had been resettled at Wang Yougui's home, didn't sleep.

The two were clearly excited that Song Yuan would awaken the next day. Song Xiancheng even specially bought some alcohol as they watched over their father and chatted over drinks.

However, once they talked about their second brother, Song Xianshu, and how he was dead, the two instantly fell silent. The joy they had vanished as Song Xiancheng burst into tears. He downed a large mouthful of beer as he said in a sobbing tone, "Brother, I miss Second Brother."

Song Xianhe's eyes were red as well. He patted Song Xiancheng on the shoulder and said, "We agreed not to talk about this in front of father. When he wakes up, we'll just say that Second Brother went overseas. Why are you still talking about this?"

Song Xiancheng cried. "I always thought about how much hard work we put in over the years and how Dad will finally be waking up so that we can be reunited, but Second Brother… I f**king can't stop myself from crying."

With that said, Song Xiancheng leaned onto Song Xianhe's shoulder and wailed.

Song Xianhe resisted the urge to cry as he patted him on the back and said in a somewhat peeved manner, "You embarrassing fellow. Dad will wake up tomorrow. If you want to cry, cry as much as you want today. But tomorrow, you better hold it in! If you want to cry, go as far away as you can to do so!"

Song Xiancheng nodded forcefully when he heard that. He then widened his mouth and wailed. As he did, he looked up and saw something slumped over the window!

It was dark outside, and the room was brightly lit. It was pitch black outside, so they couldn't see a thing.

When Song Xiancheng looked carefully, the thing outside looked like a human face! On a second look, Song Xiancheng instantly exclaimed. "Second Brother?"

"Enough, stop shouting. Just cry." Song Xianhe patted Song Xiancheng on the shoulder.

Song Xiancheng hurriedly pushed Song Xianhe and pointed outside the window. "Brother, look! Isn't that Second Brother's face? Second Brother is back! His soul is back! He really missed us and has returned as a ghost!"

Upon hearing this, Song Xianhe was just about to scold him for speaking nonsense, but he still took a look out of reflex. However, there was nothing outside as it was pitch black.

Song Xianhe glared at Song Xiancheng and said, "There's no one there. You must have drunk too much."

Song Xiancheng shook his head and looked again. Indeed, it was pitch black outside. There was no one there.