30 While Wealth Is Covetable, We Should Take It In Its Natural Course

The old abbot had been spending his later years in a leisurely manner. His daily activities included browsing videos on his phone and reading scriptures. He had abandoned all earthly affairs and led a very simple life. 

However, things were very different for Baishi Shu. The old abbot had once told him that after he graduated from school and took the tonsure, he would pass the baton to him and appoint him as the new abbot of Reimei Temple. 

In other words, Baishi Shu would become the abbot of Reimei Temple and preside over the crappy little temple in just a few more years. In preparation for this, he had been managing the temple and acting as the interim abbot while still a novitiate. 

It might be a stressful job, but he found pleasure in it. 

Forcing himself out of his head, he took out his phone and opened up the video website. Apparently, like the old abbot, he subscribed to Asada Senna's channel too. He just had to flip through his subscription feed, soon finding the video. 

The title of the video remained the same save for the two words-"episode two"-that she tossed in at the end of the line. It occurred to him that she was planning to make it a series. 

Well, he did not have any objection if Asada Senna made a series of ghost busting videos. After all, her video had garnered more than a million views in just one afternoon. Based on that trend, he could see that this series would be very successful. 

His speculation was not entirely unfounded. This world was full of ghosts and paranormal events and tons of spiritually related videos and talk shows about ghost sightings, everything floating around on the net. It was Asada Senna, however, who was the first one to utilize her eye-catching identity as a shrine priestess to capture a real exorcism process with a camera, make it into a video series, and put it on the web. 

In this age of information, the first person to do something often got the biggest slice of the pie. Once her videos caught fire, the earnings she got from her videos would be far greater than the hundreds of thousands of yen she paid Baishi Shu.

Baishi Shu was envious of her success, but he bore no malice towards her. After all, he knew he was not cut out for this. Besides, there were so many people with deep pockets in this world, did that mean that he was envious of each of them? He did not have the time or the capacity of mind for that, both too precious for to be wasting it on something that useless. He was satisfied as long as he could earn some money and some fame through her.

With that thought in mind, he tapped on his phone and began watching the video. Compared to last time, he noticed that Asada Senna's editing skills had really improved. Not only did she add in more effects, she had also thrown in the background of the evil spirit.

Even though he was there during the exorcism, he was fully absorbed by the magical effects in the video. 

Obviously, all the viewers shared the same thoughts as Baishi Shu. A barrage of real-time comments from viewers flew across the screen, some praising them, while others made fun of them. There was also a group of people who pitied Pi-chan and begged them not to hurt it. What surprised him the most was the video had attracted a small cluster of clergymen from both Shintoism and Buddhism, who were arguing whether or not their actions were correct and which of them were stronger.

Be that as it may, towards the end of the video, there were only two comments flitting across the screen. 

"Way to go Monk! Destroy the evil spirit!"

"One Palm Monk!"

The ending was basically the same as the last time.

Asada Senna had gone through all her charms, so she could only run for her life and scream for help. As countless lively comments blasted across the screen, Baishi Shu appeared with his arm outstretched. 

"Rest in peace, Pi-chan."

With those words, the video stopped and the screen turned grey. Background music began and an arrow appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen. 

"To be continued!"

Baishi Shu knew this was Asada Senna's signature style of ending her video. After finishing the video, he scrolled through the comments section. He was satisfied when he saw that amongst other comments, like discussions about the video and short stories written by some literary giants, most of the comments were asking about his identity.

They were all very intrigued by the One Palm Monk that appeared at the end of the video for the second time. There was a lot of speculation about his identity and many of them were asking which temple he came from. 

Baishi Shu had been wondering how he would get publicity for Reimei Temple. Even though he had a million ways to make the temple a larger place, he was still clueless as to how to make it more popular. 

Right now, that problem was solved. All he had to do was draw attention to himself through the internet. After that, the next thing he should do is consult the old abbot and disclose both the history behind Reimei Temple and the heap of original scriptures that had been passed down since ancient times in the repository to the public.

By doing this, he was certain that he would be able to arouse some curiosity amongst the public. With that momentum, people would begin swarming Reimei Temple to find out its past and learn the reason it had ended up in its current state. 

Slurp.

He slurped back the spit that pooled in his mouth at the wonderful scene running through his mind, of visitors swamping Reimei Temple. Once they had enough fame and visitors, even if their temple was small, they would be able to earn a whole lot of pennies!

"Baishi-san, Baishi-san, are you there?" 

Just as those fancy thoughts played in his mind, Asada Senna's message popped up, causing him to snap himself out of his reverie. He turned to his phone and replied, "Yes, anything?"

"Have you watched the video? Since this afternoon, our video has already amassed 1.37 million views! Can you believe it?!" 

Even though they were very far apart, he could sense the happiness in her words. As such, he replied, "Yep. I watched it after I came back from the school. Congratulations, Miko Asada."

Apparently, Asada Senna was in a good mood. The smile on her face widened as her fingers deftly danced across the screen of her phone. 

"Well, I wouldn't have succeeded without your help. So, to express my deepest appreciation, I will give you another 500 thousand yen for assisting me in shooting the video!" 

'He should be very happy, right?' Asada Senna thought.

Just as Baishi Shu expected, the income Asada Senna received from her video was far greater than the one she got from the assignment. She earned a lot and she felt bad if she gave Baishi Shu just 250 thousand yen as his remuneration. After all, he was a holy monk and he had aided her a great deal. His spiritual power, according to her assumption, should be on par with Grandmother Asada, who was a seikai Shinto priestess.

How much did Grandmother Asada's services cost? According to her memory, the last time a higher-up from a company paid the shrine, it was a total of 50 million yen. That is to say, the price for Baishi Shu's services should be at least 50 million yen. Hence, even if she paid him an extra 500 thousand yen, she would still feel as if she had taken advantage of him. 

In the next second, however, her eyes bulged in surprise, looking at Baishi Shu's reply. 

"There is no need for that. A deal is a deal. You just need to pay me 250 thousand yen." 

'Hmm? Who are you? Have you been taken over by a ghost or I am possibly talking to the old abbot? This is certainly not Baishi Shu! He loves money too much, there isn't a single chance that he would let such a good opportunity slip through his grasp?'

Well, she was indeed talking to Baishi Shu. 

Buddha had said, "While wealth is covetable, as a follower of Buddhism, we should take it in its natural course."

Baishi Shu was principled. Since he had already struck the deal with Asada Senna, he would take exactly the amount they had both agreed upon. Not a single penny more and not a single penny less. He couldn't ask for more just because the video had gone viral. A greedy face was very unsightly and he didn't want it to mar her impression of him in her heart. 

"However, I will gladly accept your offer if Miko Asada plans to increase my pay the next time you want to shoot a video with me," he said tactfully. 

He wouldn't ask for more this time, but he could still ask for a pay raise for the future! 

"Alright!" Asada Senna let out a sigh.

He was still the Baishi-san she knew.