This was the first time Shi Chan had encountered a patron requesting protection. As a monastic holding compassion at heart, protecting people was only right and proper.
He had agreed, but he did not know what preparations to make or what threats to guard against.
Shi Chan felt that his two senior brothers, having traveled the martial world for years, ought to be far more experienced than someone like him who spent the entire year slaughtering pigs, which was why he had come to ask.
Lu Yang looked down at the assassin.
He had originally planned to inquire across the hall to see if there really was a young woman named Kong Que, just in case the assassin was lying.
Now, there was no need to ask around.
Meng Jingzhou glanced at Lu Yang to his left, who had played the hero rescuing a beauty, and then at Shi Chan to his right, who had a beauty asking for his protection.
How was it that when it came to him, all he got was a marauder cultivator?
*Hey, marauder cultivator, what were you doing hiding in my room anyway? Go rob someone! If you don't rob someone, how am I supposed to get my turn to rescue a beauty?*
The marauder cultivator hadn't entered the wrong room; he had merely assumed that no new guests would arrive so late at night, so he had hidden in an unoccupied room, waiting for Fu Ling to fall asleep so he could steal that three-hundred-year-old lightning tribulation lingzhi.
Who could have guessed that three people would check in at such an hour?
One could only say that, just like Meng Jingzhou, he simply suffered from terrible luck.
Shi Chan suddenly noticed Fu Ling and felt utterly bewildered. "Patron Kong Que, why are you here?"
"Master, you have the wrong person. My name is Fu Ling."
"Senior Brother Shi Chan, what's going on?"
"Patron Fu Ling looks identical to Patron Kong Que."
Lu Yang was quite surprised. "Miss, do you have a sister?"
"No..." Fu Ling was about to deny it when a hazy memory suddenly welled up in her mind. "Wait, yes! I have a twin sister, but she went missing when I was very little."
Lu Yang sorted through the events in his head, felt he had gotten the gist of it, and said to Shi Chan, "Go bring Miss Kong Que over. Tell her the assassin has been caught."
Shi Chan was surprised. Could it be that the man lying on the floor was the assassin?
Then again, dressed completely in black, he certainly didn't look like an upstanding person.
Miss Kong Que, who had been hiding in Shi Chan's room holding the Buddhist prayer beads he had left with her, was overjoyed upon learning that the assassin had been captured.
She had initially even considered simply sharing a room with Master Shi Chan for the night.
As expected of an eminent master—he had caught the culprit so quickly.
"Kong Que thanks the master!"
Shi Chan chanted Amitabha. "Patron need not thank me. The credit belongs entirely to my two senior brothers; this humble monk did not lift a finger in the matter."
Kong Que assumed he was merely being modest and offered Shi Chan a storage ring. "Here are some spirit stones. Please accept them, Master."
Shi Chan shook his head gently. "Monastics hold compassion at heart. Saving lives is this humble monk's duty. How could I accept money?"
"This is not for you, Master, but an incense offering for the Buddha."
Shi Chan continued to refuse. "This humble monk is the Buddha."
"Huh?"
Kong Que was left completely baffled. Shi Chan offered no further explanation and brought Miss Kong Que to Fu Ling's room, just as Lu Yang had asked.
The moment the two young women laid eyes on each other, they were struck dumb with shock.
The air seemed to freeze.
Fu Ling was the first to break the silence. Her lips trembled as tears welled up and streamed down her face uncontrollably. "Older Sister?"
"Y-You're my younger sister?"
"Older Sister!"
"Younger Sister!"
The two young women embraced and wept bitterly. Separated at the age of two, they had reunited after eighteen years—a truly touching scene.
"Older Sister, where did you go back then? Why are you called Kong Que now?"
Kong Que wiped her tears, sniffling as she spoke. "After I got lost, Master found me. Master took me all around the area, but couldn't find any of you, so he brought me back to the Daoist temple and raised me.
"I was too young to remember my name back then, so Master gave me the name Kong Que."
Lu Yang thought to himself, *I knew a professional assassin shouldn't have targeted the wrong person; sure enough, there was a reason behind it.*
Fu Ling's room was suddenly packed: Lu Yang's group of three, Fu Ling, Kong Que, the assassin, and the marauder cultivator Meng Jingzhou had dragged over.
Seven people gathered under one roof.
Lu Yang quietly scanned the room: two newly reunited sisters, an assassin with terrible eyesight, and a marauder cultivator bent on theft. At the start, all he had wanted was a place to stay for the night.
*I just walked into the wrong room. How did things spiral into all this in the blink of an eye?*
Now that they knew the whole story from start to finish, Lu Yang felt too embarrassed to insist on Fu Ling dragging the assassin to the yamen herself.
Two sisters, freshly reunited, chatting and laughing on their way to the yamen while one dragged an assassin and the other dragged a marauder cultivator—no matter how he pictured it, that scene just looked absurd.
"Let's go. We'll deliver them to the yamen," Lu Yang sighed, deciding to see the good deed through to the end.
Besides, he couldn't escape it anyway; even if he didn't go to the yamen, the constables would come looking for him to take his statement as a witness.
The seven of them noisily filed downstairs, leaving the innkeeper staring in stunned disbelief.
He didn't recall having this many people upstairs.
Lu Yang explained the full sequence of events, giving the innkeeper a cold sweat.
Fortunately, the three young heroes were there; otherwise, a murder would have occurred in his inn. The fallout after that didn't bear thinking about—who would ever dare stay at his inn again?
The innkeeper showered them with thanks, waived all room and board fees for Lu Yang's trio, and promised they could stay as long as they pleased.
Because the sisters had nearly suffered misfortune at his inn, the innkeeper, out of apology, also waived their charges and extended the same promise to them.
The five left the inn hauling the other two. Before long, they ran into patrolling constables. Upon hearing what had happened, the constables hastily escorted all seven back to the yamen to take down every detail.
What followed unfolded just as Lu Yang had anticipated: the assassin and the marauder cultivator were handed over to the yamen, while the three of them gave statements as witnesses. When everything wrapped up, each was awarded a brocade banner praising their courage for a righteous cause, along with a reward of spirit stones.
This time, Shi Chan did not decline.
By the time they finished dealing with all this, the three men were exhausted in body and mind, finally able to return to the inn to rest. Only the two sisters, having just reunited, were still brimming with endless energy.
After a night's rest, Lu Yang stretched. Comfortable from head to toe, he felt thoroughly refreshed.
"Old Meng, time to get up!"
Lu Yang knocked thoughtfully on the door to wake Meng Jingzhou.
Meng Jingzhou opened the door with a sour scowl, glaring sullenly at Lu Yang.
Lu Yang ignored Meng Jingzhou's look.
Shi Chan stepped out of his room glowing with vitality, completely different from how he had looked when retiring for the night. Evidently, he too had rested well. "Good morning, Senior Brother Lu Yang."
"Where are you off to today? Heading out to perform Buddhist rituals?"
"Indeed."
Lu Yang teased, "I thought you were going to take the spirit stones the yamen rewarded you last night and head straight to a brothel to temper your state of mind."
"Senior Brother jokes. One should not accept rewards without merit. This humble monk did nothing yesterday, earning a fine reputation for righteous deeds purely by riding on the coattails of you two senior brothers. The spirit stones bestowed by the imperial court could not easily be refused, so they shall be treated as an offering donated by the court to my sect; how could they be spent on this humble monk's personal desires?"
"How about I give you some spirit stones?" Meng Jingzhou chuckled.
Shi Chan shook his head in refusal. "If this humble monk visits a brothel using spirit stones given by Senior Brother Meng, it would not be this humble monk visiting the brothel, but rather Senior Brother Meng visiting the brothel. It would completely fail to achieve any tempering effect.
"Back when my master still had his voice, he often taught this humble monk to earn his own keep. The spirit stones for this humble monk to visit a brothel must be earned by my own capabilities."
Chapter 656