Chapter 3: Big Brother, something terrible has happened, the principle of righteousness!

Three days later, Hidden Dragon Temple.

After dealing with his master's affairs and respectfully placing his master's urn on the altar, Yi Chen went to the backyard to begin his daily training.

Qing Yunzi, along with Qing Feng and Ming Yue, two little ones, recited the "Supreme Spiritual Flying Scripture" in the front hall.

This scripture was what their master had required them to do each morning, claiming it would be greatly beneficial for their awakening of 'spiritual nature' if they gained insight.

However, Yi Chen didn't believe in it one bit; the scripture was abstruse and difficult to comprehend. He had recited it for ten years to no avail, only managing to make his lips particularly nimble.

Eventually, when there were any events in need of someone to preside over them in the nearby villages, Bai Yunzi would almost always send Yi Chen, because he did it so professionally that he himself felt inadequate in comparison.

Once Yi Chen raised his voice, he would deliver a flawlessly linked speech, and the hosts would eagerly pay up.

This was professionalism!

Now that the master had passed away and no one was there to oversee him, Yi Chen added a rule to the Hidden Dragon Temple: the Sect Leader didn't have to recite the "Supreme Spiritual Flying Scripture."

Spiritual nature was to him nebulous and elusive. He had recited for ten years and hadn't made an inch of progress, so he'd effectively sentenced it to death.

The Golden Finger he had awakened three days prior was, however, truly and effectively real.

Although he couldn't find more Deep Red Points in a short time, he could still gain Origin Points through physical exercises that stimulated his body.

This was a stable path to becoming stronger.

"Reciting scriptures, what's the use of that? Evil people won't buy that, neither will evil spirits. For me, it's better to increase my physical strength through rigorous training."

Listening to his junior brothers reciting the scriptures in the backyard, Yi Chen couldn't help but inwardly criticize.

He had expressed similar sentiments to Bai Yunzi before, who, irritated, had called him an obstinate stone...

In the backyard, Yi Chen had assembled a makeshift barbell using an iron bar and two huge stone mills.

The stone mills looked even larger than a cartwheel, each weighing over three hundred pounds.

This was after his Minor Pure Yang Skill had broken through to the fifth level three days ago, substantially increasing his physical strength and prompting him to modify the equipment himself.

Bench presses with a straight bar.

Flat bench presses.

Barbell squats.

Deadlifts.

Upright barbell curls.

Rear delt rows.

After this series of exercises, even for someone with physical capabilities far beyond the ordinary like Yi Chen, his muscles were aching.

But pain was precisely the point.

Gaining Origin Points came through enduring pain.

Transforming his grief over his master's death into motivation, Yi Chen always found time to exercise over the past three days, pushing himself further and through sheer determination, he had managed to gather 0.1 of an Origin Point.

"This is my cultivation. Reciting scriptures? Ridiculous!"

"This is my Dao," Yi Chen panted heavily and chugged down the salt water from the bamboo tube in one gulp.

Just as Yi Chen debated whether to do a few more sets, a flurry of anxious voices reached his ears.

"Senior Brother, Eldest Senior Brother, there's trouble! People from the Evil Tiger Gang have come!"

It was Qing Feng and Ming Yue's voices.

"The Evil Tiger Gang? How dare they?"

Yi Chen's eyes narrowed, seemingly grasping the situation, and he dashed toward the front courtyard.

The Evil Tiger Gang was a notorious force in the nearby Green Bull Town, running gambling dens and brothels, and coercing the good into prostitution. When Bai Yunzi was alive, he could not stand their deeds and had seriously 'converted' members of the Evil Tiger Gang a few times to suppress their arrogance.

It seems that they had likely learned of Bai Yunzi's passing and had come to take revenge.

"The Senior Brother is here, the Senior Brother is here!" Qing Feng and Ming Yue came running haphazardly to Qing Yunzi.

At that moment, a dozen or so burly men stood in the front yard, chests bared, and one of them was leading two ferocious dogs, a Tibetan Mastiff and a wolf dog, both growling softly.

Qing Yunzi was confronting the men from the Evil Tiger Gang and upon seeing Qing Feng and Ming Yue, he shielded them behind him and scolded in a low voice:

"Qing Feng, Ming Yue, when outsiders are present, you must refer to positions, not call out Eldest Senior Brother. You should say 'Temple Leader.' Understand?"

Yi Chen: "..."

Yi Chen ignored Qing Yunzi's nagging and stepped in front of the members from the Evil Tiger Gang.

Because he had been exercising, he wasn't wearing his Daoist robe, but rather a tight-fitting vest that showed off his strong chest muscles and muscular, broad arms.

Although Yi Chen's physique was previously well-built, he hadn't been as muscular as he was now, with all these changes occurring within the last three days.

His height also shot up from slightly over 1.8 meters to now just under 1.9 meters, only recently stabilizing.

Stepping forward, even the previously arrogant members of the Evil Tiger Gang had become refined, and even the Tibetan mastiff and the wolf dog, two fierce hounds, couldn't help but tuck their tails in.

"Black Tiger, what are you doing here at Hidden Dragon Temple? Have you forgotten the teachings master imparted to you before?" Yi Chen frowned and said in a deep voice to the leader, a broad-faced and flat-nosed hulk.

Seeing his underlings shrinking back, Black Tiger could barely contain himself. He stepped forward to stand face to face with Yi Chen, and black Inner Qi began to emerge on his arms and legs.

"Yi Chengzi, as soon as I heard that Daoist Bai Yun had died, I stopped visiting brothels and rushed over from out of town to pay my respects."

"I'm well aware of your cultivation in inner strength. Do you think you can intimidate me, your tiger boss, just because you've trained some dead muscles?"

"Ten taels of silver, how about you sell this broken daoist temple to our Evil Tiger Gang? I want to open a brothel on this feng shui treasure land, find a bunch of women to pretend to be nuns—I'm sure it will make a killing."

On hearing Black Tiger's words, the gang members behind him couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.

The memories of being humiliated and suppressed by Bai Yunzi in the past resurfaced, and Black Tiger's domineering speech was like eating icy poles on a sweltering summer day for them, greatly boosting the morale of the Evil Tiger Gang members. Even the dogs began to howl and dig the ground anew.

With Bai Yunzi dead, and the fledglings not to be feared!

What was there to be afraid of.

One of the hulking men with a mustache laughed the most exaggeratedly, cackling nonstop, all of them feeling ashamed for their earlier cowardice and now looking fiercely at the four people inside the daoist temple.

Before coming here, their boss, Black Tiger, had calculated with them—if they were not cooperative, they would kill the two slightly bigger stinky Taoists and sell the two delicate young daoist boys to the Beggar Sect in the county, who could be mutilated for begging money.

Such adorable children were best at arousing compassion in the hearts of kind people in the city, and would surely fetch a good price.

Just then, an unexpected change occurred.

Thump!

A muffled sound.

The gang member, who had been laughing loudly a moment ago, abruptly stopped as if someone had choked their necks.

The head of Black Tiger, who had been spouting wild boasts, had suddenly disappeared. With a smack from Yi Chen, his head had plunged directly into his chest cavity, clearly never to speak again in this lifetime.

Not only the Evil Tiger Gang members were stunned by this move, even Qing Yunzi behind him was shaken.

Qing Yunzi finally understood why his master had repeatedly exhorted his eldest senior brother to win people over with virtue and to practice the way of kindness and righteousness before his death.

Not holding back, his eldest senior brother really had a dark hand and a heavy heart....

"Nobody move, whoever does, I'll kill them!"

Yi Chen, smiling, threw the still bleeding corpse of Black Tiger to the ground, facing the dozen or so muscular men of the Evil Tiger Gang, revealing two rows of big white teeth that shone with white light in the sunlight.

The calm tone scared the gang members of the Evil Tiger Gang, who instantly turned into quivering kitty cats, huddling together.

However, Yi Chen had not a shred of pity for them in his heart at this moment.

If he had not activated Golden Finger and made significant progress in his cultivation, he feared that the fate of him and his brothers would not be much better.

He had once advised the master to eradicate evil completely, but the master had spared Black Tiger upon his pleas for mercy, leading to the consequences they faced today.

Kindness, righteousness, kindness, righteousness.

Daoist Bai Yunzi always hoped he would be a person who practiced the way of kindness and righteousness, even naming him Yi Chengzi after these virtues.

However, Yi Chen had always had a different interpretation of the words kindness and righteousness compared to Bai Yunzi.

Towards the evil people of the world, one should not exercise the way of kindness and righteousness.

Those sons of bitches, they only fear power and do not cherish virtue. If kindess and righteousness are extended to them, then who will extend kindness and righteousness to those they have persecuted?

When they were being violated by members of the Evil Tiger Gang, where was kindness and righteousness?

This kind of kindness and righteousness infringes upon the rights and interests of the victims, it's unfair, and Yi Chen does not approve of it.

Daoist Bai Yunzi's kindness and righteousness represented a vast love, but Yi Chen did not possess such a high level of awakening and sentiment.

In his understanding of the way of righteousness, Yi Chen had his own enlightenment.

Propounders of antiquity created characters.

The character for righteousness, with one stroke on top, another on the bottom, and a dot in the middle.

Clearly, the ancient sages were hinting to him that the best way to deal with evil people is to smash their heads into their chest cavities. Their heads would become the dot in the character for righteousness, and thus righteousness would be achieved.

Glancing at the headless corpse of Black Tiger, Yi Chen felt a great moment of enlightenment.

"The good receive rewards, the evil suffer punishment."

"This is righteousness, the true profundity!"

"The sages said it, and they are never wrong!"

"Master, I've realized it!"

"I will definitely win people over with virtue and carry out the way of kindness and righteousness!"

In front of Hidden Dragon Temple, today the sky was clear, the breeze gentle and pleasant.

A robust Daoist looked at his palm and couldn't help showing a knowing smile. The sunlight cast a golden edge on his tall figure, and behind him, a shadow resembling the character for righteousness quietly formed.