Upon hearing this, Shi Kai turned to the old monk and said,
"Thank you for your concern. Then I'll do as you say, Master."
With that, he took his leave, retraced his steps, and returned to rest.
He would make his decision once the sun rose.
---
The next morning, the blazing sunlight streamed in through the window, waking Shi Kai from his slumber.
He slowly opened his eyes. A chorus of chirping birds filled his ears. It all felt like a dream.
Suddenly, the temple door opened and a young monk stepped inside. Seeing Shi Kai awake, he smiled and said,
"Little benefactor, you're awake. Master asked me to bring you some food."
With that, he quietly retreated.
Shi Kai stared blankly at the scene before him, finally realizing—it wasn't a dream.
He looked at the steamed buns the monk had brought, grabbed one, and began devouring it ravenously.
He was starving. It had been days since he'd had a proper meal.
After wandering for over a month, never had he experienced a day like this.
The heavens were truly unfair.
Why?
Why did that damned killer have to slaughter my entire family?
Shi Kai asked the heavens this question a thousand times in his heart.
Tears began to fall from his eyes.
He swore he would find the murderer, skin him alive, and tear him limb from limb.
Wiping his tears, he continued to eat.
---
After he was full, Shi Kai, dressed in his ragged clothes, made his way to the temple's main hall.
The old monk was still sitting there, just as he had the day before, as if he hadn't moved at all through the night.
Shi Kai began to admire the master. Whether he had moved or not, being able to sit still like that for so long required immense discipline.
The elderly monk in plain robes heard footsteps and immediately knew it was Shi Kai.
In a calm voice, he said,
"You're awake, benefactor. Do you intend to descend the mountain?"
Shi Kai replied politely,
"Master, thank you for the breakfast. I'll head down now."
"Very well. I shall walk you down," the old monk said, rising to his feet.
As he turned to face Shi Kai, he was struck by a thought:
> This child's eyes… there's something unusual about them. Such a heavy aura of hatred. He's clearly not just some ordinary orphan.
The monk studied Shi Kai for a moment, then closed his eyes and nodded slightly.
At the same time, Shi Kai was also observing the old master closely.
> This old monk, with a face full of wrinkles and a frail frame, looks as if a gust of wind could blow him over.
The monk then asked,
"Little benefactor, may I ask you a question?"
Shi Kai nodded.
"Why are you wandering the world as a beggar?"
The moment he heard this question, Shi Kai was overwhelmed with the memory of his murdered family and the betrayal by Li Minjun, who had covered it all up.
He could no longer hold back—he burst into tears.
The old monk stood there, stunned.
> So I was right. There is more to this story… much more.
In the end, under the old monk's gentle comfort, Shi Kai finally poured out everything—his past, his pain, and the truth.
The old monk nodded slowly and said,
"Every cause bears its fruit. I can see that your heart is filled with murderous energy. Would you be willing to become my disciple and let me guide you?"
In truth, the monk meant well.
He hoped to keep Shi Kai at the temple, to help calm his spirit and gradually rid him of the hatred burning within.
After all, monks are monks.
Aside from leading others to enlightenment, there isn't much else they can—or choose—to do.
No matter how many sutras they recite, they're still just monks.
If human nature could truly be reformed, the world wouldn't be as full of evil and ugliness as it is.
---
But Shi Kai, upon hearing this, immediately recalled all those martial arts films and dramas where monks possessed incredible powers.
He misunderstood the monk's offer—thinking it meant he would be taught some secret martial arts and be able to take revenge.
Driven by hatred, Shi Kai nodded eagerly without hesitation.
He never stopped to consider that real monks these days had no such "supernatural" skills as seen on television.
Especially not those from a humble mountain temple like this.
In fact, modern monks rarely utter phrases like "Amitābha" or "Well done" as frequently as their fictional counterparts.
Many don't even use traditional Dharma names anymore.
Times have changed, and faith in those traditions has become rare.
> A hopeless dream from the disciple,
A heart of compassion from the master.
---
Seeing Shi Kai agree, the old monk immediately summoned all the monks of the temple to gather in the main hall.
Shi Kai looked around—counting himself and the master, the temple had only thirteen people in total.
But he didn't think much of it.
The other monks were all quite young.
The eldest among them was just in his thirties.
They bowed in unison and called out,
"Master."
The old monk spoke gently,
"Today, I announce that I will accept this young benefactor, Shi Kai, as my disciple. From now on, you are all brothers—treat each other with love and respect."
The disciples responded,
"Yes, Master."
The monk nodded and continued,
"Bring me the razor."
The monk in his thirties stepped forward, handed the razor to the old master, and quietly stepped back.
The old monk carefully shaved Shi Kai's head.
When it was done, he helped the boy up from where he knelt before the Buddha statue and said,
"From now on, call me Master."
Shi Kai looked up at the statue and replied,
"Yes, Master."
But deep down, Shi Kai had no desire to become a monk.
As he looked up at the worn, towering Buddha statue, all he wished for was its blessing—so that he could avenge his family as soon as possible.
---
And so, day after day, Shi Kai began a new life—chanting scriptures and studying Buddhism with his master and fellow disciples.
At Tranquil Heart Temple, everyone tended their own vegetable garden.
After morning chants, Shi Kai and the others would head out to farm. The temple was entirely self-sufficient.
As for the master, he would often leave the temple to beg for alms.
Perhaps he believed that was what a true monk should do.
---
As the weather gradually turned colder, Shi Kai—being the youngest—was assigned the hardest tasks after every chanting session: tending vegetables, cooking meals, washing clothes.
Almost everything was left to him.
But he endured it all without complaint and never told the master.
Time passed, day by day.
Yet aside from teaching him how to calm his mind and recite sutras, the master never taught Shi Kai a single move of martial arts.
Nor had he ever seen any of his fellow disciples practicing any such skills either.
Instead, he'd only learned how to grow vegetables, spread fertilizer, and cook meals.
This kind of life began to wear on Shi Kai.
His deep hatred was not eased by the daily chanting—in fact, it only grew stronger.
And yet, he clearly understood the master's kindness.
He didn't want to hurt him by leaving suddenly.
---
It was now December, and the mountain air was bitter cold.
Shi Kai trembled as he sat before the Buddha, chanting in the freezing hall.
Suddenly, a loud shout came from outside the temple:
"Something's wrong! Something's wrong! Master's in trouble!"
As soon as the disciples heard the commotion, they rushed over, crowding around the senior brother and shouting all at once,
"What happened? What do you mean Master's in trouble?!"
Shi Kai also walked over, just in time to hear the senior brother, who had just run up from the foot of the mountain, gasping for breath as he said,
"This morning, I went down the mountain with Master to beg for alms. He was accidentally hit by a car… and died."
Silence fell.
Shi Kai stood there as if struck by lightning. His entire body went numb.
Suddenly, the senior brother burst out laughing and said,
"Haha! That stubborn old bastard is finally dead! We're free now—we can eat meat and drink wine! That old geezer forced us to be monks for so many years. He should've died a long time ago!"
The other disciples echoed his joy with excitement:
"Yeah! It's even better that he got hit and died! That unlucky driver will probably have to pay us a big sum. Then we'll have meat, booze—and women! Hahaha!"
The more they spoke, the more worked up they became.
Shi Kai watched the scene in disbelief.
To be honest, he truly felt sadness over the master's death.
But why… why didn't they feel even a shred of guilt?
Unable to hold it in any longer, Shi Kai stepped forward and shouted angrily,
"Master is dead! And none of you feel the slightest bit of sorrow?!"
"Sorrow? Kid, what do you know?" the senior brother sneered.
"You really thought we'd be sad? We've been waiting for him to die for years. You're the only idiot here who actually wants to be a monk."
"Yeah, kid, cut the fake tears," the second brother chimed in.
"Isn't it better this way? No more chanting that bullshit, no more getting up early, and no more farming either."
Shi Kai couldn't believe his ears.
If they hated being monks so much, why did they become monks in the first place?
"You still don't get it?" the senior brother said coldly, his tone laced with mockery.
"Don't play dumb. We're just like you—orphans. Master picked us up when we were little and raised us.
But that old bastard made us chant scriptures and do all that crap every day.
We didn't learn any real skills. All we learned was how to beg.
At least here we had food and a place to sleep. Out there, we'd be homeless.
You think we stayed because we wanted to? No way.
So you'd better behave from now on. If you're lucky, maybe when we eat meat, we'll toss you some bones."
"Hahaha!" The others burst into raucous laughter, shaking Shi Kai to his core.
To them, he was just a dog.
Fighting back tears, Shi Kai turned and ran.
Their laughter grew louder behind him.
---
Shi Kai sat numbly in his room, replaying the events of the past half year over and over in his mind.
And countless times, he asked himself—
Is this really the world we live in?
If this is the world, then I'd rather never have come into it.
If this is the world, then I'll turn my back on it completely.
Just thinking of the grotesque faces of his so-called brothers made him sick.
They were scum.
Back when they had nothing, Master had taken them in and fed them.
But those lazy, ungrateful bastards betrayed him.
Not only did they not shed a single tear for his death—they celebrated it.
They weren't even human.
They were worse than beasts.
This… this is humanity? This is the ugly face of the world?
---
Rage filled Shi Kai's heart. He stood up abruptly, determined to leave.
He had to get out of here—away from this cursed place.
Anywhere would be better, as long as it wasn't here.
Just as he was about to step over the threshold of the Buddha Hall, a cold voice echoed behind him:
"Where do you think you're going, Shi Kai?"
Shi Kai turned around. The senior brother stood at the entrance, flanked by the others, all of them walking toward him.
"I'm leaving," Shi Kai said emotionlessly.
"Hmph. Leaving?" the senior brother sneered.
"You think this place is your home—you come and go as you please?"
He deliberately stretched out his words, then glanced sideways at the others with a fake smile.
Grinning wickedly, he continued,
"If you leave, who's gonna wash our clothes? Cook our food? Tend the garden?
We're not doing any of that anymore.
From now on, that's all your job.
We're gonna start living the good life."
The others burst into laughter again.
Shi Kai looked at them coldly and said,
"Keep dreaming."
With that, he stepped over the threshold and walked out.
"Dream on! Brothers—teach him a lesson!"
The senior brother roared, furious that Shi Kai had humiliated him in front of everyone. He led the charge and grabbed Shi Kai, launching a brutal beating.
At first, Shi Kai tried to fight back.
But one man's fists were no match for four pairs of hands.
He was quickly overwhelmed, beaten to the ground, and could only curl up, shielding his head as he tried to endure the onslaught.
When they had finally vented enough, the brothers dragged his battered, unconscious body to the firewood shed.
They locked the door behind them and went back to celebrating their "newfound freedom."
---
It was unclear how much time passed before the sharp pain jolted Shi Kai awake.
He opened his eyes with great difficulty—only to see complete darkness around him.
He no longer cared where he was.
The intense pain coursing through every nerve had numbed his entire body.
It was a deep, raw agony that left him barely able to breathe as he lay on the ground.
His body was burning with pain.
Cold wind slipped in through the cracks in the wooden door, adding a biting chill to his hunger and exhaustion.
Eventually, after regaining a bit of strength, Shi Kai pushed himself toward the door, crawling inch by inch.
He groped along the wall and finally managed to stand up.
Even these few small movements left him drenched in sweat.
There was only one thought in his mind:
I have to escape.
After resting for a short while, his strength gradually returned, though the pain in his wounded body was unbearable.
The blood from his injuries had dried, but the ache was everywhere.
In the darkness of the shed, Shi Kai felt around and managed to find a metal shovel.
A flicker of hope ignited in his despair.
Gripping the shovel tightly, he pressed his ear to the door and listened carefully.
Outside, it was completely silent.
He figured those animals were probably already asleep.
Shi Kai no longer saw them as "senior brothers."
They were beasts—he wanted nothing more than to kill them all.
Summoning his courage, Shi Kai carefully broke one of the wooden bars on the small window with the shovel.
Then, squeezing through, he escaped into the night.
---
Outside, it was pitch dark.
No sounds, no movement.
Shi Kai relaxed a little. They were fast asleep.
After knocking him unconscious and locking him in the firewood shed, those bastards had assumed he wouldn't wake up anytime soon.
The door was locked—they thought escape was impossible.
But what they didn't expect was that Shi Kai would regain consciousness early…
And in the darkness, find a shovel.
All their calculations had one fatal flaw.
---
Enduring the pain that wracked his body, Shi Kai tiptoed to the entrance of the Buddha Hall.
To avoid alerting them, he decided to climb over the wall instead of opening the door.
He quietly lifted the small shrine inside the hall and carried it outside, placing it beside the wall.
Then he climbed up and over.
He fell heavily on the other side, a fresh wave of pain shooting through his body—so intense that he nearly fainted again.
But he gritted his teeth and endured it.
The sheer will to survive kept him on his feet.
---
Ahead lay a pitch-black forest.
With no sense of direction, Shi Kai ran blindly—ignoring the pain, driven only by instinct.
He didn't know how long he ran, but eventually he made it out of the forest.
He kept running along a narrow country road, afraid that those monsters would come after him.
He didn't know where the energy came from, but somehow, under the cover of darkness, he ran all the way to the roadside—he could already see the highway in the distance.
Still uneasy, he kept going, following along the road.
By now, the sky was beginning to lighten with the first signs of dawn.
Shi Kai didn't dare stop to rest.
In the dim light ahead, he spotted a large cargo truck parked on the side of the road.
An idea came to him—he would hide in the truck to rest and figure out his next move.
His pace quickened.
He had no time to think—he quietly climbed into the back of the truck.
Inside were boxes of packaged food and supplies.
Perfect—he was starving.
He carefully opened a box, took out some food, and began eating cautiously.
Just then, the driver—who had been relieving himself in the roadside bushes—returned to the truck, humming a tune and buckling his pants.
Shi Kai heard the sound and immediately ducked behind the cargo.
The driver climbed into the cab, shut the door, and noticed nothing.
He started the engine.
Hidden in the back, Shi Kai dared not move.
The truck rumbled to life—and he could feel it begin to move.
Only then did he start to relax.
Exhaustion overwhelmed him.
A deep, irresistible sleep took over.
After running so far, how could he not be tired?
At dawn, when the "monks" of Jingxin Zen Temple discovered that Shi Kai had escaped, they immediately took a shortcut down the mountain to chase after him.
But it was already too late.
By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, Shi Kai had long since been carried dozens of kilometers away by the truck.
There was no way they could catch up now.
Meanwhile, Shi Kai had already drifted into a deep sleep, while those foolish "monks" were still cursing and searching aimlessly below the mountain.
---
It was unclear how long he had been asleep when a violent jolt suddenly shook Shi Kai awake.
Startled, he instinctively sat up and looked around.
The truck was still moving.
Shi Kai carefully crawled to the back, lifted the tarp covering the cargo hold, and peeked out.
Daylight had already broken.
The truck was now climbing a steep mountain road, full of sharp turns.
Every curve sent the vehicle bumping and swaying.
The higher it climbed, the more twisted the path became.
It felt like they were driving right into the mountains.
Shi Kai had no idea where he was anymore.
He thought to himself:
Why are there roads like this in such a deep mountain range?
And so many sharp turns—where the hell am I?
The constant jostling of the truck tugged at every injury on his body.
The wounds from the brutal beating were now aching like a thousand needles piercing his skin.
He clenched his teeth, suppressing the groans that threatened to escape.
---
What Shi Kai didn't know was that he had already entered Shennongjia—a remote mountainous region.
This truck was one of the supply vehicles that periodically made deliveries there.
Shennongjia is a well-known tourist destination, and the inns and lodges scattered throughout the mountains often need to restock supplies from the towns below.
Located in the western part of Hubei Province, Shennongjia borders Jingzhou and Hunan to the east and south, connects to Chongqing in the west, and touches the Wudang Mountains to the north.
Its name is said to come from the ancient legend of Shennong, the Divine Farmer, who once built wooden frames (架) in the area to gather herbs and taste hundreds of plants.
Its highest peak, Shennong Ding, reaches a height of over 3,100 meters, earning it the title "the rooftop of Central China."
Shennongjia's unique geographical conditions and location have made it a haven for countless species of flora and fauna.
Even during the Quaternary Ice Age, many organisms survived here that perished elsewhere.
The region is characterized by a subtropical monsoon climate, with significant vertical climate zoning due to elevation changes.
As one ascends the mountains, the climate shifts from warm temperate to middle temperate, and even to cold temperate zones.
The extreme temperatures in Shennongjia range from a low of -21°C to a high of 38.5°C.