Chapter 350 Temptation Training, Red Clothes
Jiese looked calm on the surface.
However, he felt very awkward deep down.
He possessed the Law of Gaze. Li Nianfan and the others looked normal on the surface but he could feel that they were secretly making fun of him.
‘Whatever. Fine. Thankfully, I don’t care much for my image.’
Jiese explained, “Buddhism requires resistance to desires and temptations. At first, there’ll be a lot of temptations that will test you along the way. Therefore, I gave myself the name.”
Zhou Yunwu nodded with seriousness, “Understandable. Jiese, you’re quite handsome. Although you shaved your head, your handsome face still stands out. Understandably, you gave yourself a silly name to avoid temptations.”
“Amitabha. A handsome flesh only brings me trouble.”
Jiese shut his eyes and chanted Buddhist scriptures. He invited, “I came here today to invite King Zhou to our Religious Ceremony. It’s located at the Wanshan Ridge in the West. It’s now known as the Spiritual Mountain.” He looked at Li Nianfan and also invited him, “Mr. Li, we Buddhists are indebted to you. We hope you could visit us.”
Li Nianfan smiled and said, “I have nothing to do anyway, I’ll go check it out.”
Jiese was overjoyed. He hurriedly said, “We’ll be ready to welcome you then.”
Zhou Yunwu said, “Jiese, Buddhism’s in the far West. Please, forgive me for being unable to show up. However, I’ll be sending a representative to pay our respects.” Jiese tried to convince him, “We’ve invited all sorts of cultivation sects for the ceremony, and a lot of Immortals from the Above Immortal Realm will be there. Even Immortals of the Underworld will be showing up. It’s a rare ceremony and it’ll be such a shame that you can’t show up, King Zhou. If you think the location’s too far, we’ll send someone over to escort you there.”
Zhou Yunwu shook his head and said, “No need for that. I’m too busy managing the Xia Kingdom. I’m afraid I’ll have to miss out on it.”
“Too bad.” Jiese did the Namaste gesture. “If that’s the case, I shall stay here for a few days. Sorry for the disturbance. Maybe you should reconsider, King Zhou.”
Li Nianfan felt a déjà vu when he heard that sentence.
In translation, he meant, ‘If you don’t say yes, I’ll be staying here and I’m not going to leave.’ ‘Who knew the Buddha was the scoundrel type?’
Zhou Yunwu gestured to him to leave. “Please, Jiese.”
Jiese left.
After a short while, a soldier frantically ran in. Something was off. “King, the Buddha went to the Red Brothel.”
Red Brothel?
‘That’s a brothel.’
Li Nianfan sneakily said, “Daji, you should go back with the Fire Phoenix first. I have something to discuss with King Zhou and Junliang.”
Daji nodded obediently. “Okay.”
Daji left. The three guys did not need to say anything, they looked at each other and headed towards the Red Brothel.
At the Red Brothel.
The brothel was full of beautiful and seductive ladies.
Li Nianfan and the others arrived. As expected, Jiese the monk was already surrounded by a bunch of prostitutes.
“What a handsome monk. Why are you just standing by the door? We sisters want to preach your ‘sermon’.” “Our lives are hard. How about we have a heart-to-heart conversation? We won’t charge you.”
“Yeah, we don’t have to talk about expense, let’s just talk about ‘dispense’.”
Jiese was not affected by such vulgar statements. He was surrounded but he did not care. He still chanted Buddhist scriptures.
It had to be said. Jiese was indeed a handsome monk. The ladies for the Red Brothel fancied his shiny bald head.
Classic Jiese. He was not tempted by the prostitutes that offered to service him for free.
Zhou Yunwu gave some orders, and a row of soldiers immediately chimed in to arrest the ladies.
Jiese was saved. He stepped out with colorful lipstick stains on his face.
He looked serious. “Your Highness, you don’t need to do that next time.”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“You don’t understand. I’m undergoing temptation training. I don’t need to be saved.”
Jiese placed his hands together to do the Namaste gesture and said, “My name’s Jiese. The meaning of my name implies trouble in my life. I have to train myself to be free of temptation before trouble arrives.”
He sounded sincere but no one could tell if he was telling the truth.
Jiese warned, “Don’t do that next time.”
Zhou Yunwu replied, “Excuse me, sorry for disturbing you.”
Li Nianfan curiously observed Jiese. ‘Won’t he hurt his body if this goes on?’
For the next few days, Jiese would head towards the Red Brothel. He would not go in. Instead, he just stood by the door. Every time he went, he would be swarmed by ladies.
Those seductive ladies would go and tease that emotionless monk. They would not get bored of it.
Li Nianfan always watched from afar. Not because he was jealous, but because he was surprised by how well he could control himself.
‘Jiese, are you free from temptation once you’re impotent? Truly a Buddha. What a legend!
On the sixth day, Jiese did not show up at the brothel. He opened the temple door and sat on a high tower. He announced to the public that he was going to preach Buddhism. Moreover, he was willing to accept constructive criticism. He was going to convince the public with Buddhism. The Xia Kingdom was once again lively. A lot of people went to visit the temple. The temple was crowded and they were busier than ever.
Cultivators, chancellors, and students were driven by their curiosity. They also visited the temple and were all convinced by Jiese.
Li Nianfan smiled and asked, “Aren’t you going too, Junliang?”.
Meng Junliang replied, “Sir, people like us are stubborn with our ideologies. I won’t be easily swayed by words. I know my place in the realm. There’s no reason to go and debate.”
“But that monk’s converting your people. You’re not going to do anything about it?”
Meng Junliang replied, “He’s staying here like a scoundrel just for King Zhou to accept his invitation to the ceremony at the Spiritual Mountain. If I show up, I’ll only make it worse. I don’t want to go along with his wishes.”
They stood on a high tower and observed everything from above. They did not get bored of observing daily. Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Jiese had not started the debate on that day. He was preaching Buddhism at the tower. A red figure flashed by in the air and landed in the temple. It was a lady in red clothes.
Her eyes were pretty and her teeth were white. She had snow-white skin and flaming red clothes. She looked like a white rose engulfed in flames. She wore golden bells on her wrist, and with a flick of her wrist, chimes could be heard.
The chiming of the bells was not loud. However, it caught the attention of Jiese the monk. He suddenly stopped in his tracks.
That young lady looked at the Buddha with her beautiful eyes. She smirked, “Jiese Monk, I finally found you!”