"Master, it's past midnight."
As Su Ya's soft, sweet voice reached his ears, Feng Bingwen opened his eyes. Instantly, the entire courtyard was filled with demons and spirits. If there were any mortals here, they would probably be so terrified that they would faint on the spot.
But Feng Bingwen remained calm at this moment. These were all newly born demons and spirits, and most of them did not even have a human form. Only those ancient artifacts with the accumulation of time could manifest a beautiful appearance and demeanor.
But it's all just for show. To put it bluntly, out of the three hundred spirits in the courtyard, not a single one is a real fighter. Any one of the flower spirits on his left or right could sweep the entire place and suppress the Feng family.
Of course, Feng Bingwen didn't expect these spirits, which had gained sentience because of him, to have any heaven-defying combat power. He only hoped that they could exist in the world as humans.
"Um!"
"Please be quiet, no noise allowed."
The courtyard was exceptionally quiet at this moment, with only the sound of the wind rustling through the grass. But then, Bo Yao, the chrysanthemum fairy standing on the other side of Feng Bingwen, stepped forward. Instantly, the courtyard became even quieter, and even the wind seemed to subside.
"Today we will discuss the principles of being a good person."
After the two little ones had shown off enough, Feng Bingwen finally spoke. His words caused a slight commotion in the courtyard, but it quickly quieted down again.
Feng Bingwen could see that the scholar holding the book, the boy holding the incense burner, the graceful lady... all these spirits who had taken human form showed obvious disappointment on their faces.
This is not what they want to hear. What they want to hear is the Tao and Dharma that will enable them to cultivate and manifest a true form, not the principles of how to be a human being, which they already know.
Feng Bingwen saw the dissatisfaction of these spirits, who could be said to have the deepest foundation, but he ignored it and began to talk about how to be a human.
This is dry, unpleasant talk that most people wouldn't listen to; nobody likes listening to others preach, because everyone understands the道理 (principles/reasoning). However, most of the spirits and monsters in front of Feng Bingwen at this moment didn't understand it.
Some of them only possessed the most nascent spirituality, knowing only that coming to Feng Bingwen and listening to him would bring them benefits. So, in their dazed state, they listened to every single word Feng Bingwen said.
However, those spirits who had been tempered by time and possessed broad knowledge at birth were quite impatient with such life principles. If they weren't afraid of offending Feng Bingwen and losing their qualification to listen to his teachings in the future, some of them would probably have left on the spot.
However, these spirits who thought they knew how to behave failed to notice that what Feng Bingwen was talking about was how to be a good person, how to accumulate virtue, and even after talking about doing good, he mentioned that doing evil would surely be punished by heaven.
"What is this immortal talking about? What do you mean by good deeds being rewarded and evil deeds being punished? It's truly laughable."
The scholar, holding his book, listened to Feng Bingwen's discourse on the karmic retribution of good and evil, and couldn't help but inwardly grumble.
“I remember I had a master who was an honest and upright official, but in the end he still ended up being dismissed from office and returning to his hometown in a miserable state. Where did he get any good reward?”
Some spirits were unconvinced. Feng Bingwen sat under the eaves, taking in everything. He knew perfectly well what was going on, but he didn't say anything to offer any advice. His words had already been clear enough.
Even though these spirits in the courtyard gained sentience because of him, only a very small number of them were able to truly embark on the path of cultivation and achieve great success. The vast majority, limited by their origins, would probably find it difficult to achieve anything significant.
But Feng Bingwen didn't care about any of that. He didn't care what achievements these spirits might make in the future. He treated them all the same and explained his Tao and Dharma to them.
It would be excellent if one could listen to everything he said and do as he said. However, some spirits, if they think they are clever and only listen to his teachings but not his principles, will commit evil deeds and violate the way of humanity.
Then, don't say you weren't warned.
Whether ordinary demons and monsters will suffer heavenly tribulation for their evil deeds is unknown, but if they listen to his teachings and become karmic connected with him, and still dare to commit evil deeds, then heavenly tribulation will surely descend upon them, and once it does, it will be the end of their life and death.
Feng Bingwen was confident in this; if there was no divine retribution in this world, he would become the divine retribution.
jingle!
Feng Bingwen spoke for two hours about the ways of being a person, which made some spirits drowsy. As the hour of Mao (5-7 AM) was approaching, he gently waved his sleeve, and the clear sound of a copper bell jingled.
Instantly, the three hundred spirits that Feng Bingwen had gathered in the courtyard dispersed and returned to their original positions, and everything returned to normal, without any sign of abnormality.
A significant number of these elves settled down without leaving Feng Bingwen's courtyard—in terms of sheer numbers, Feng Bingwen's courtyard had the most, followed by the old man's study.
"Alas, how arrogant and foolish!"
Watching those few most human-like spirits return to his grandfather's study, Feng Bingwen stood up and couldn't help but sigh.
He spent several hours talking about how to be a human being, but was he really talking about how to be a human being? No, he was drawing a red line for all spirits and demons; crossing the line he drew meant facing divine retribution.
Unfortunately, none of the spirits understood his purpose in spending the entire night expounding on these dry and tedious principles, including the two sleepy and foolish spirits beside him.
"Oh, sir, are you saying I'm stupid? I'm not stupid at all."
Feng Bingwen's voice seemed a bit too loud, and the little flower fairy Su Ya, who was almost asleep, suddenly woke up. In her drowsy state, she recognized herself, which made Feng Bingwen tap her head in annoyance, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Sir, you're hurting me."
"If you dare to doze off again, you'll be punished by having to copy the entire Confucian classics!"
"Oh! Master, I was wrong, I will never do it again."
"Hmph, if you know you're wrong, hurry up and correct it, stop complaining!"
As Feng Bingwen muttered to himself, he summoned the Heavenly Book.
For teaching and imparting knowledge, and for good deeds, the amount is 3,960.
As expected, he earned nearly four thousand merits from his sermon that night. This was the highest reward he had ever received since he began preaching, which showed that many of the children had listened to and remembered the dry and boring principles he spoke of.
Name: Feng Bingwen
Good deeds: Seventy-eight thousand three hundred and fifty-nine ( )
Misdeeds: 1352 (1352)
A quick glance revealed that the number of good deeds had reached nearly 80,000, while the number of bad deeds was less than 1,500. The ratio of good deeds to bad deeds had been suppressed to an extremely alarming degree.
Of course, it's not that his bad karma has only increased a little over the past year. There are too many mortals with whom he has karmic ties now. Even if only one or two percent of them commit evil, he will still have to bear a considerable amount of karmic consequences. Over time, that amount will be extremely terrifying.
The reason they are so rare is that Feng Bingwen regularly cleanses up a portion of his bad karma by deliberately causing disasters, so as to prevent quantitative changes from leading to qualitative changes and forming calamities that he cannot resolve.
A significant portion of his immense good deeds came from periodically clearing away the calamities brought down by evil deeds.
Just like good deeds and prayers, what you receive is not something that appears out of thin air, but something that already exists in this world.
The same principle applies to the calamities that manifest from negative karma. Calamities do not arise out of thin air, but require time to develop before they finally affect the person.
There is a lot of room for maneuver here, and the most foolish thing to do is to stand still and wait for bad luck to strike.
But Feng Bingwen was not the kind of person who would sit idly by and wait for death. When he first encountered the calamity, he realized that the disaster was not just a simple misfortune. If he were to dig deeper into the calamity and trace it back to its source, he might be able to obtain a generous reward for good deeds.
Although Feng Bingwen did not experience every calamity that manifested from his evil karma over the past year, he benefited greatly most of the time.
For example, half a year ago, when he was facing a calamity, he pulled a small white snake out of the lake. The snake then slipped a jade talisman into his hand and ran away. As a result, he was surrounded and killed by an unknown demonic force.
The result was predictable: the Demon-Suppressing Sword Tower, which he had nurtured with immortal spiritual energy, flew out and chopped all the demons into mincemeat.
And that was it. That seemingly powerful demonic force never appeared before him again, while Feng Bingwen gained a lot of merit and actually profited.
"A prayer for good deeds: May I see clearly the specific source of evil karma."
As was his habit, Feng Bingwen made a wish to the Heavenly Book. Although bad karma could bring benefits, it was still troublesome after all, and it was better to have less of it.
Wow!
This time, Tian Shu didn't ignore him like before. Under Feng Bingwen's delighted gaze, a golden flame ignited, and within the raging flames, the good deeds he had accumulated over the past year burned rapidly.
In just a quarter of an hour, Feng Bingwen's nearly 80,000 merits were burned down to a fraction, and the ratio of good to evil was directly unbalanced. However, Feng Bingwen didn't care about these things. A mere thousand or so evil deeds were nothing to make a ripple.
He opened the record of the increase in evil deeds, and sure enough, the contents presented on the page had undergone earth-shattering changes. Whenever he stared at the line where evil deeds had increased, a brief image would appear before his eyes.
Feng Bingwen could clearly see the figures and appearances of those who had added to his evil karma. Even as the image was about to end, the camera would rapidly zoom out, revealing the terrain where the perpetrators were located.
The wicked will show their tracks, the good will be rewarded with 78,000 ( ).
"Finally, we can begin the liquidation!"
At this moment, Feng Bingwen could no longer hold back. His face lit up with joy, and he smiled broadly. He had been troubled by this matter for quite some time. Before, only his name was revealed, but not even his specific location, making it really difficult to understand the cause and effect. This was much simpler.
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