Urban Seduction: Housewives Club

Chapter 2185 - 506: The Enlightened Monk 2

Wall-to-wall people.

The second Wang Yue and Cancan arrived, that was the only phrase that came to mind.

The temple fair was absolutely packed. They were still on the outskirts, but it was already shoulder-to-shoulder, chest-to-back, a total sardine can. It was impossible to imagine what the center looked like.

Seeing the sea of people, Cancan hesitated.

She was a tough girl, a real tomboy who threw around words like ”cock” and ”pussy” without blinking, but deep down, she wasnʼt some loose chick. If she were, she wouldnʼt have spent years making herself look ugly just to get by.

Now that sheʼd given her heart to someone, the last thing she wanted was some random guy bumping into her.

But in a crowd like this? Not getting touched was basically a pipe dream. Even though she was dying to see what was going on inside, she was ready to call it quits and head back.

Wang Yue, being the ultimate protective boyfriend, wasnʼt about to let her down. For him, this wasnʼt even a problem. He let out a subtle pulse of Qi, forming an invisible shield around the two of them, then grabbed Cancanʼs hand and dove into the crowd.

Sure enough, with his Qi shield active, nobody could get within three feet of them. Anyone who got too close was nudged away by an invisible force.

Wang Yue kept a tight grip on his power, making sure it was just raw energy without that aphrodisiac side effect his Qi sometimes had; otherwise, Cancan wouldʼve probably started stripping right there in public.

The further in they went, the crazier it got. The street was at least sixty feet wide, but every inch that wasnʼt taken up by a vendor stall was crammed with people.

The stalls were wild—selling everything under the sun—and there were even street performers doing martial arts demos.

Cancan had never seen anything like it; she was wide-eyed and having a blast.

Wang Yue noticed something, though. Most people werenʼt there to shop or watch the shows. They were focused, pushing through the crowd toward the center with a very specific goal in mind.

He asked around and found out they were all heading for the Demon-Buddha Temple.

Word was that during every fair, the templeʼs Grandmaster would show up to meet the faithful and hand out random blessings. Sometimes, heʼd even pick a few lucky ”chosen ones” for a private meeting to grant them even bigger favors.

Wang Yue also got the backstory on the templeʼs name. It all started with a monster problem in the Yellow River.

Just like the Yangtze, the Yellow River had expanded a thousand-fold, turning into a massive inland sea.

Because the current was faster and the waters more dangerous, the monsters there were way more vicious than the ones in the Yangtze. Even pirates couldnʼt survive out there.

These river monsters werenʼt content to stay in the water either. Theyʼd frequently crawl onto land to raid human settlements, which was a nightmare for a city like Kaifeng.

About ten years ago, a massive wave of monsters hit the shore. They were stronger and more numerous than ever before.

Even with the local families and the Martial Arts Alliance throwing everything they had at them, the humans were losing.

Thatʼs when a monk arrived, literally walking across the waves. He used ”Demon-slaying” methods with a ”Buddhaʼs heart,” slaughtering three massive Transcendence-level monsters in one go and saving countless lives.

Afterward, he settled in Kaifeng and built a temple called the Quiet Zen Temple. ”Demon-Buddha Temple” was just the nickname the locals gave it. They called him the ”Wave-Walking Demon-Buddha” because he had the terrifying power of a demon but the compassion of a saint.

Wave-Walking Demon-Buddha? Wang Yue thought. Sounds like a bad stage name.

He wanted to talk shit about the name, but it told him one thing: someone had clearly made it up to tease the guy, and since the monk never bothered to correct them over the last decade, the joke became the official title.

This meant the monk was either on such a high spiritual level that he didnʼt care about petty labels, or he was playing a very long game and was willing to bite his tongue. Either way, Wang Yue didnʼt really care.

Wang Yue wasnʼt interested in the monk, but Cancan was hooked. Apparently, the medicine the monk handed out was the real deal—one pill could make a normal person healthy as a horse. Sheʼd never had the chance to come here before, but now that she was here, she wanted to try and score a pill for her mother.

Wang Yue was happy to help her be a good daughter. They followed the flow of the crowd to the very center of the fair, where the Quiet Zen Temple stood.

The temple itself wasnʼt huge—just a modest-looking little place—but the plaza outside was massive, over half a mile long in every direction. It was packed with people of all ages, all bowing toward the statues inside.

Looking at the spectacle, Wang Yue felt a bit of pity. People always need something to lean on. Strong martial artists rely on their own power, but these ordinary people—who have zero defense against the beast tribes—have nothing but gods and buddhas to turn to.

The more chaotic the world gets, the more people flock to temples. Usually, thatʼs when crooked monks and priests show up to bleed them dry.

But this place was different.

No wishing wells, no donation boxes, no ”greeter monks” shaking people down for incense money. It was just a temple and a plaza. At least it wasnʼt a scam.

Suddenly, someone yelled, ”The Demon-Buddha is out! Heʼs here!”

Wang Yue looked up. A monk was slowly walking out of the small temple.

He looked middle-aged and totally plain. No ”holy glow,” no ”divine presence”—he was just a skinny guy. He didnʼt look anything like the legendary enlightened masters from the stories.

But Wang Yueʼs heart skipped a beat. He could sense it. This ”ordinary” middle-aged monk had a cultivation level higher than anyone heʼd ever met. He felt even stronger than a fully recovered Yu Suxin.

Based on the stories, Wang Yue figured the guy would be a Transcendence-level powerhouse at best. He didnʼt expect to run into a Super-Ascension level titan.

Super-Ascension masters were supposed to be legends stuck in the hidden Martial Holy Lands. They almost never showed their faces in the secular world. If word got out that one was living in a dinky little temple in Kaifeng, nobody would even believe it.

The Demon-Buddha didnʼt say a word. He just gave a light wave of his hand.

In an instant, hundreds of streaks of light shot into the air above the plaza and began to fall toward the crowd. Each streak contained a pill the size of a longan fruit.

There were only a few hundred pills for a crowd of tens of thousands. The odds were about one in a hundred. But the crowd didnʼt riot. They stayed on their knees, waiting to see who the ”chosen ones” would be.

Since the pills were useless to someone like Wang Yue, his ”main character luck” didnʼt kick in. Neither he nor Cancan were among the lucky winners.

But when luck fails, power works. Wang Yue gave a tiny flick of his hand. A pill that was about to land in the hands of a middle-aged guy nearby suddenly veered off course and flew right into Wang Yueʼs palm.

The guy, seeing his prize snatched away, was furious. ”Hey! What the hell? You canʼt just steal someoneʼs blessing!”

The people around them started glaring at Wang Yue too. They clearly hated anyone who broke the rules.

”Sorry, I just wanted to see what the hype was about. Here, take it back,” Wang Yue said. He flicked his wrist, tossing the pill right back into the guyʼs hand. Since he gave it back and apologized, the crowd settled down.

In that split second he held it, Wang Yue had already scanned the ingredients. It was useless for martial artists, but for a civilian, it would definitely boost their health with zero side effects.

”Amitabha. Fellow devotees, please return home,” the Demon-Buddha finally spoke once every pill had found a home. ”Please leave in an orderly fashion. Do not cause a stampede.”