Chapter 141 Don't touch me. What's wrong with touching you? You look so good...
Whenever they are short of money, they can have people from the cultivation world send them money. Who knows, they might even be able to marry a few beautiful female cultivators from the cultivation world. Wouldn't they be living the life of gods then?
The burly man's mind had already wandered several times. Looking at the unsuspecting figure ahead, he suddenly smiled sinisterly and said, "I know the way down the mountain. Come on, I'll take you down."
Li Chen listened to his words and immediately showed gratitude, repeatedly cupping his hands and saying, "Thank you very much, brother. You are truly kind-hearted."
The burly man smiled and waved his hand, "It's nothing, just a small favor. Come on, follow me, I'll take you down the mountain."
He watched Li Chenjin gradually walk towards him, and the smile on his lips grew wider and wider, to the point of being somewhat ferocious.
When Li Chenjin walked up to him, he pretended to turn around, but then suddenly turned back, pointed behind her, and said, "Were those herbs on the ground dropped by you?"
Upon hearing this, Li Chenjin, as he had expected, subconsciously turned around to look.
Just as Li Chen turned around, he seized the opportunity to strike her with a swift chop to the back of her neck, instantly knocking her unconscious.
The people behind him immediately burst into laughter, each one talking at once, already imagining how they would squander money in the future.
"Boss is amazing! We captured that ancestor's partner, so won't the entire cultivation world listen to us from now on?!"
"Hahaha! We're rich! We're rich!! I heard that those people in the cultivation world sleep on beds made of gold! Does that mean we can sleep on beds made of gold too? Hahahaha!!"
They were dreaming of a better future, but none of them noticed that the unconscious man being carried on their leader's shoulder had a faint smile slowly curving up at the corner of his lips.
………………
After Li Chen was brought into the village, they probably thought that someone as weak as her didn't need to be guarded against.
Therefore, they only tied her hands, leaving her legs and feet untied, and then patted her face to wake her up.
Li Chen pretended to have just woken up. When he saw the person in front of him, his eyes widened instantly, his pupils shrank, and his face showed fear. He subconsciously wanted to run away, but the strong man grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Run? Where can you run to?" the burly man sneered. "Even if you can get out of this gate, you won't be able to get down the mountain!"
Li Chen gasped, looking like he was in great pain. "Why are you tying me up? I already said that I am from the Zen cultivation world. If you don't release me, people from the cultivation world will come looking for me."
Hearing her words, the burly man showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, he seemed impatient, patted her face, and sneered, "I've captured someone from the Zen cultivation world, and I'm just hoping someone from the cultivation world will come looking for me!"
"I know you're the Daoist partner of that person in charge of the cultivation world. Isn't the cultivation world very wealthy? If your Daoist partner truly cares about you, he shouldn't be stingy with his gold and silver, right?"
Li Chen said coldly, "So that's what you're planning. I see you're carrying weapons, so you must not be ordinary people, but rather bandits from this area, right?"
The burly man chuckled evilly and said, "Your eyesight is quite good. We are indeed the mountain kings of this area. What? You want us to let you go?"
Li Chen said: "The ten unwholesome deeds are the cause of hell, the middle cause of animals, and the worst cause of hungry ghosts. Among them, the sin of killing can cause sentient beings to fall into hell, animal, or hungry ghost realms; if they are born as humans, they will receive two kinds of retribution: one is a short lifespan, and the other is many illnesses (1)."
"The sin of theft also causes sentient beings to fall into the three evil realms; if they are born as humans, they will receive two kinds of retribution: first, poverty, and second, they will not be able to freely share wealth (2)."
"The sin of sexual misconduct also causes sentient beings to fall into the three evil realms; if they are born as humans, they will receive two kinds of retribution: first, their wives will be unfaithful, and second, they will not be able to have their own relatives (3)."
After listening to her words and exchanging bewildered glances, one of the men frowned and shouted, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Li Chenjin smiled slightly, “I just want to tell you all that evil deeds bring evil results, and good deeds bring good results; doing evil brings evil, like planting bitter seeds. Evil brings its own punishment, and good brings its own blessings. Practicing good brings good, just like planting sweet seeds. It benefits both oneself and others, and is beneficial without cost (4).”
"As the old saying goes, 'Lay down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot.' It is your good fortune to meet me today. Therefore, why not lay down the 'butcher's knife' of greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt, turn back to the righteous path, sincerely repent, cultivate good deeds, cease evil deeds, and embark on the path to Buddhahood? If you remain deluded..."
She glanced at the crowd and continued, "If you remain stubborn and continue to act this way, you might end up in hell."
After listening to her long string of words, the people looked at each other in bewilderment, their faces filled with confusion.
After a long while, someone finally realized what was happening and said, "Boss, is she indirectly cursing us to go to hell?"
Reminded by this, the burly men realized what Li Chenjin had said and burst into laughter, as if Li Chenjin had told them a very funny joke.
While they were laughing, Li Chenjin appeared neither angry nor annoyed. He remained standing still, quietly watching them with a gentle smile on his face, as if he wanted to influence them.
After laughing for a while, another person pointed at her and said, "Boss, see? I told you people from the cultivation world must be fun to play with, right? All they can say is this kind of thing. They can't even curse. All they can do is chant scriptures, hahaha!"
"This is hilarious! Her swearing is worse than my three-year-old son's, hahaha!!"
After laughing for a while, one of them suddenly said, "Boss, what do you think? Since no one from the cultivation world has come and we haven't sent out the letter, why don't we... take advantage of her being here alone and have some fun?"
"Yeah, boss. I've heard that people in the cultivation world absorb some kind of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, which sounds incredibly mystical and different from ordinary people. But looking at her now, she just seems to be a bit prettier than average. Could the difference be in her body?"
"I can't see anything different about her. Is it because she's wearing clothes that it's hard to tell? Or is it that her body is even worse than a brothel girl's..."
Amidst the filth and profanity, Li Chenjin maintained a faint smile and a calm gaze, as if none of this concerned her, or that they were talking about her. "I advise you all," she said, "it's alright if you don't listen to me, but it's best not to touch me."
A man approached her with a smirk, looking her up and down, and said, "I knew you'd say that. So what if I touch you? You dressed so nicely to come up the mountain just to find someone to touch you, didn't you?"
"Exactly! You've put on all that makeup, making yourself look so pretty. They say... women dress up for those they want to please. Aren't you just dressing up to seduce men? What are you pretending to be so virtuous for?"
"You've already been captured by us. Even if we don't touch you, once you're down the mountain, who will believe you're clean? But I've heard that the cultivation world doesn't care about those things, isn't that perfect?"
"Don't you cultivators not care about these things? Then your Daoist partner certainly doesn't mind either. Since you don't mind, why don't you play with us? You make us comfortable, and we make you comfortable too. Everyone is comfortable. Isn't that a win-win situation?"
"What if I disagree?" Li Chen asked.
The burly men exchanged glances and then burst into laughter, as if they had heard the funniest joke.
The person closest to Li Chenjin laughed so hard he almost fell over, saying, "You're already in our hands, what does it matter whether you agree or not?"
"That's right, it seems these people in the cultivation world are really ignorant. They've already fallen into someone else's hands, and they still want to reason with them, hahahahaha..."
"Boss, I think we shouldn't waste our breath on her. Let's just have some fun first! We have so many brothers in our village. If we keep arguing with her, how long will it be before the rest of us get our turn?"
"That's right, boss! The brothers can't wait any longer! Hurry up! Otherwise, when it gets dark and it's pitch black, we won't be able to see anything, and that won't be fun..."
The burly man at the head of the group, amidst the commotion, abandoned his intention to tease Li Chenjin. He rubbed his hands together, smiled, and moved closer to Li Chenjin, grinning to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Don't be afraid. If you cooperate with me and my brothers, we'll be gentle with you and take good care of you."
"Why are you so good-looking? If you were even a little uglier, my brothers and I would have gone off to play around with other girls..."
Li Chen lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on the hand reaching for her waist. His face showed no anger or fear; he simply sighed slowly and said, "As the saying goes, Heaven cherishes life..."
"Gentlemen, I did give you a chance. But you refused to turn back and only wanted to go to hell, so I have no choice but to grant your wish."
As she finished speaking, the rope around her wrist suddenly snapped, and before anyone could react, she grabbed the burly man's wrist.
"Snap!"
With just a slight exertion of force, she heard a cracking sound of bones breaking and a piercing scream.
Those around were terrified by this sudden turn of events, as if they had never expected that the person who had previously seemed so weak would suddenly make such a move.
The author's note: (1) From the 35th volume of the Avatamsaka Sutra.
(2) From the 35th volume of the Avatamsaka Sutra
(3) From the thirty-fifth volume of the Avatamsaka Sutra.
(4) From the Dhammapada, Chapter on Evil Deeds
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