met free Chapter 655 Self-Confession (Part 2)
Chapter 655 Self-Confession (Part 2)
Chapter 655 Self-Confession (Part 2)
Once Chunxin uttered those words, it was tantamount to him confessing his guilt, even though, as the story unfolds, he never understood what crime he was confessing to until his death…
As the saying goes, "Lust is the worst of all evils." Even the outlaws don't consider flower thieves human. How could you, the self-proclaimed righteous martial artists, let him off so easily?
Moreover, you, Chunxin, are a vegetarian and Buddhist, wouldn't that offend you even more?
"Amitabha..." Sure enough, less than two seconds after Chunxin spoke, Master Jizhen, who had completely given up on him, spoke again, "Chunxin, Chunxin, you can know a person's face but not their heart... I never expected that you, who are always humble and upright in front of others, could do such a thing behind their backs..." The old monk's voice trembled with anger, so he paused here and continued, "Now even I feel that I have failed in my teaching and am ashamed... Where do you get the nerve to ask me to forgive your sins?"
Upon hearing this, Chunxin not only broke out in a cold sweat, but also wondered to himself, "This isn't right... Is it such a big crime to steal martial arts from another school? Even if Shaolin and Wudang have a good relationship, it doesn't have to be said as if I'm already guilty of a capital offense, does it?"
Doubt leads to reflection.
Thinking leads to misunderstandings.
“Oh… I understand. This bald monk is angry not because I covet Wudang’s secret techniques, but because the wording I used in those letters exposed my true nature. Plus, there are so many fellow martial artists around… especially the Wudang people are watching, so he has to put on a good show.”
Upon realizing this, Chunxin immediately came up with another excuse, arguing, "Master! You can't believe everything you read in those letters... I only speak to people in a certain way, to trick that guy surnamed Sun into revealing my secret techniques, that's why I spoke so rudely..."
Upon hearing this, Master Jizhen was stunned for a moment, and then uttered a sound of "Hmm?"
Immediately following, Sect Leader Yao, Master Ma, and all the martial arts figures present began to speak...
"Huh? A letter?"
"What letter?"
"He's talking about a secret martial art?"
...and similar questions.
The reactions of these people, in turn, made Chunxin suspicious as well.
In that instant, a sentence that had been almost drowned out by the sound of a slap flashed back into Chunxin's mind like lightning—"You lecherous monk! Have you had enough sleep?!"
Because he was still dazed when he was "slapped awake," Chunxin ignored Master Ma's curse.
But then, as he thought about it again, it dawned on him... "Could they be interrogating me for something else?"
Of course, he only realized this now, and it was too late.
You could even say he'd be better off not realizing it at all.
The people interrogating him didn't expect that the conversation would yield such an unexpected result.
Moreover, the unexpectedly revealed information contained the keyword "ultimate skill," which triggered a certain underlying logic among the martial arts practitioners present.
As the saying goes, "The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for gain."
If you bring up other issues today, such as spitting anywhere in the Wudang Sect, peeping at Master Yao taking a bath, or not washing your hands after defecating... I think most people wouldn't want to dig deeper.
But if you mention any secret techniques or treasures, everyone will immediately perk up and do everything they can to make you explain things clearly and thoroughly.
If this mentality were to be described, it would be something like this: "If there is any benefit to be gained in this matter, then everyone who sees it should have a share, meaning I must have a share; even if there is no benefit, or if it originally belonged to someone else and I cannot obtain it, I still need to know... so that there are no others who are not entitled to it like me who may have gained an even greater advantage than me."
Seeing this, some people might complain: it seems like Jiang Shouzheng has disappeared from the world, but in fact, Jiang Shouzheng is everywhere.
Of course, that's a bit of an exaggeration. It's more accurate to say that everyone has weaknesses, and we shouldn't portray people as extreme just because everyone has some greed in their hearts.
"What did you say?" After a brief commotion, Sect Leader Yao, who had already come to his senses, quickly stepped forward and asked Chunxin.
As he asked the question, he winked at Master Ma beside him, as if to say, "I'll ask the question next."
Master Ma may act impulsively, but he's not stupid. He knew that the questions to come might involve Wudang's secrets, and if he were to ask them, he might cause trouble. So, he smoothly stepped back and quietly let his senior brother stand in front of him.
“I…I mean…” Chunxin stammered, not daring to speak easily anymore, and his mind began another round of thinking.
Seeing that Chunxin did not answer, Sect Leader Yao's mind raced. In less than five seconds, he suddenly thought of something, so he immediately turned to Master Ma and said, "Junior Brother, quickly take a few disciples and search his room."
Yes, Chunxin's room has not been searched yet, and the letters he exchanged with "Deep Sea" are still in their original places.
This is not surprising, because given the situation in Chunxin's room earlier, anyone would have thought that he had been caught red-handed, so there was nothing to search.
After a brief discussion, the group decided to send the female warriors into the room to check on the "person in bed."
When the female warriors entered the room and saw that Ling Louzhu was still breathing, they closed the door, dressed Ling Louzhu in her bed, and carried her out first.
Once there were no more women in the house, several Wudang disciples went inside to carry Chunxin (Shaolin disciples did not participate to avoid suspicion).
Of course, there was no need to close the door when dressing Chunxin... Anyway, he had already been seen naked, and no one wanted to respect the dignity of this "lewd monk," so the person who dressed him did it perfunctorily, which is why he was only wearing underwear and a cassock now.
Then everyone left the courtyard and brought Master Ling and Chunxin back to the Zhenwu Hall.
After hearing Chunxin's "self-disclosure," Sect Leader Yao thought for a moment and belatedly realized that he should have his junior brother quickly lead people back to that courtyard to look for the "letter" that Chunxin mentioned.
But in reality, those letters that communicated between the "Buddha Shrine" and the "Deep Sea" are now considered worthless by Chunxin himself. As we mentioned earlier (Chapter 82 of this volume), after thinking for most of the day, Chunxin realized that those letters were most likely meant to trick him. He also guessed that the mental cultivation techniques given in the letters were fake. However, if these letters were made public, they would still expose his attempt to steal martial arts from other schools and his despicable nature behind the scenes.
That's why, until just now, he still thought, "Although my matter isn't small, I shouldn't die as long as I admit my mistake"—to put it bluntly, this is just a case of one scoundrel being tricked into revealing his true colors by an even bigger scoundrel.
But now, all that remains in Chunxin's heart is boundless regret and fear.
His regret was that after he woke up, he assumed that everyone was interrogating him about the letter, which led him to inadvertently confess a crime that no one knew about.
What he feared was that he now realized the matter that everyone was going to interrogate him about was far more serious than he had thought.
Now, dear readers, you might as well consider this: from Chunxin's perspective, combined with keywords like "lewd monk," what would he think of?
With Ling Louzhu not even present, would Chunxin's thoughts jump to the series of actions Sun, Jiang, and Ling took after he fell into a coma?
It's not that it's impossible, it's just very difficult.
Some might say, isn't the fact that his clothes are gone a clue?
That's not true at all...
Because we are listening to the story, we know that Chunxin was first completely stripped naked by two different groups of people who had different information about each other, and then dressed.
Chunxin himself had no idea about any of this. If he thought about it in the usual way, he would only think that: while I was unconscious, they stripped me down to only my underwear and searched me. After searching me, they were afraid that it would be unsightly, so they just casually put a cassock on me outside.
So when Chunxin heard the keyword "lust," even after being a monk for decades, he could only think of one thing...
“Sigh…” He sighed and continued, “Things have come to this point, it seems I can’t hide it anymore. That’s right… I am Cheng Yongkun, who was known in the martial arts world as the ‘Great Luo Thunder Hand’ back then.”
Clearly, this guy felt that everyone was talking about his affair with the wife of the leader of the Xuanwu Banner of the Five Spirits Sect, because that was the last time he was associated with the word "lewdness," and it was also the starting point for his later joining Yuxiu Manor and going undercover in Shaolin.
Of course, up to this point, he still harbored a glimmer of hope. He believed that his identity was most likely exposed because of his martial arts skills (because he had revealed his true abilities when he fought Jiang Muchan before he fell unconscious), and that his joining Yuxiu Manor and being ordered to infiltrate the sect... should not have been exposed yet. So as long as he lied and said that he had "renovated" and joined Shaolin Temple to escape being hunted down and to start a new life, without mentioning Yuxiu Manor at all, he could cover up the whole thing.
As for that old grudge, it was ultimately a feud between him and the Five Spirits Sect. So many years have passed, it's really unlikely that the righteous path would want to kill him because of that.
It's such a pity...
Regardless of how bewildered the righteous martial arts practitioners around him were by his "self-disclosure" under the guise of misunderstanding.
Even those Yuxiu Manor assassins mixed in with the crowd, after hearing his two sentences... could they still sit still?
Don't forget, everyone. These assassins are the core members of the manor, while Chunxin is just a pawn. The latter doesn't know the former, but the former knows the latter's identity.
It looks like your next sentence is about joining Yuxiu Manor. Can we still watch?
And so, under yet another misunderstanding, all the Yuxiu Manor assassins who were still lurking in the room suddenly rushed out before Chunxin could finish speaking.
They attacked Chunxin with all their might, determined to kill him before he could utter another word.
And the result, naturally, was success.
After all, this is indoors. What Master Yao said during the day was right. With so many of you crowding up the mountain, if you were all in one room, it would definitely turn into a crowded and cramped situation. How can we defend against so many people launching a surprise attack on Chunxin in this environment?
Given the large number of these assassins and their considerable martial arts skills, coupled with the fact that Chunxin was currently bound, it could be said that his final death was similar to that of Park Dae, who was silenced during the day.
Even in death, Chunxin's eyes remained open, for there were still too many things he hadn't figured out.
However, no one cared about any of that, because with Chunxin's fall, another chaotic battle instantly erupted in this crowded environment...
At this moment, the assassins of Yuxiu Manor have all been exposed in order to silence Chunxin. If they want to survive, they only have one choice left: take advantage of the crowd's panic and quickly fight their way out and escape down the mountain.
As the battle broke out in the main hall, one of the people who was still lying in the back hall pretending to be unconscious felt that... the time had come for him to "wake up".