BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 3 Kong Dalong’s Tribulation

At dawn, a rooster’s crowing roused a groggy young man from sleep.

Ten years had passed since Che Qianzi first met Gao Liang. He was now an adult. Although he was technically a young Taoist priest, he kept his hair cropped short. Combined with his loose Taoist robe, he looked more like a monk than a Taoist.

Che Qianzi was of above-average height. A scar ran across his once-handsome face, cutting over the socket of his left eye. Had it been a little deeper, that eye would have been ruined. The scar gave the young man a dangerous appearance, making him look like someone not to be trifled with.

Still half-asleep and cranky, Che Qianzi climbed out of bed and muttered, “Damn plague-ridden chicken! Yelling before sunrise… Just wait… tonight I’m stewing you with mushrooms…”

Grumbling all the while, he swayed as he pulled on his Taoist robe.

Originally, he had intended to head for the latrine, but when he stepped outside his room, he noticed that the door to his master Kong Dalong’s quarters was standing open.

“The old geezer’s awake? Must be the sun rising in the west…”

Muttering to himself, he wandered toward the old Taoist’s room. When he reached the doorway, he called inside:

“Hey, old man. Old Li from the convenience store says you need to settle your tab. Even a blind man knows the two of you have been thick as thieves for years. Stop fleecing her family. It’s only a little over four hundred yuan…”

Halfway through his sentence, Che Qianzi sensed something was wrong.

He immediately stepped into the room.

Only then did he discover that it was a complete mess.

The cabinets and chests were all open. Kong Dalong’s civilian clothes were gone. Along with those clothes, every valuable item and all of his identification documents had disappeared as well.

“Damn it… the old bastard ran away again. How much did he lose this time…?”

Standing amidst the wreckage, Che Qianzi felt a wave of frustration.

This was not the first time Kong Dalong had vanished. The old Taoist had a gambling addiction. Whenever he lost money, he would disappear for a while. Yet after ten days or half a month, he would always return with a large sum of money and pay off all his gambling debts.

Whenever asked where the money came from, the old man would simply grin and say that he had won it back.

Che Qianzi never believed that nonsense.

After questioning him several times without getting a straight answer, he had eventually given up.

But this time seemed different.

The old man had even taken his identification papers, something that had never happened before.

Just as Che Qianzi was about to call some of Kong Dalong’s gambling buddies to find out how much the old man owed, he suddenly spotted an envelope lying on the cluttered table.

Written across it were the words:

To My Beloved Disciple, Che Qianzi.

“The old geezer wants me to clean up his mess again…”

Without even opening it, Che Qianzi could guess what was inside.

Most likely another letter telling him to take care of the temple while the old man went off to beg for money to repay his debts.

Still, he needed to know exactly how much his master owed and where he was hiding.

Just as Che Qianzi was about to open the envelope, a commotion erupted outside the temple gate.

“Kong! Get your ass out here! You promised to pay yesterday! I waited all damn night!”

“Stop playing dead, you bastard! Get out here! Even if you die today, you’re paying us first!”

“Kong the Taoist, you son of a bitch! Get out here and pay up! If you don’t, this turtle shell of a temple is changing owners today!”

Seven or eight cars were parked outside the temple.

More than twenty fierce-looking thugs climbed out.

The three men leading the group were shirtless, displaying dragon and phoenix tattoos across their upper bodies.

Cursing loudly, the crowd marched toward the temple entrance.

One thug stepped forward, intending to kick open the gate.

But before he could, the temple doors swung open from the inside.

Che Qianzi, with his crew cut, appeared in the doorway.

Before the thug could react, a shovel suddenly appeared in the Taoist’s hands.

Without hesitation, he swung it flat against the man’s face.

Bang!

The thug never even had a chance to scream.

He collapsed backward, unconscious, as stiff as a board.

Seeing their companion knocked out, the other thugs exploded in anger.

Shouting curses, they pulled out machetes, iron bars, and various weapons before rushing toward Che Qianzi.

Just as he was about to be surrounded and beaten, a raspy voice ruined by years of smoking and drinking rang out from behind them:

“All of you, stop right there! What the hell did I tell you before we left? We came here openly and honestly to collect a debt! Murderers pay with their lives, debtors pay their debts—that’s only natural. Nobody lays a hand on him!”

As he spoke, a dark-skinned bald man emerged from the crowd.

The moment he appeared, the thugs stepped aside to make way for him.

After hearing his words, none of them dared act recklessly.

Che Qianzi glanced sideways at the bald man and sat down on the temple threshold.

Ignoring everyone present, he silently began sharpening the edge of his shovel against the stone steps.

The bald man clearly recognized him.

It was obvious he was somewhat wary of this young man.

When he reached the gate, he forced a smile and said:

“Little Master, today’s business isn’t aimed at you. You know what your master is like—a gambling addict through and through…”

As he spoke, he pulled out a stack of IOUs and placed them before Che Qianzi.

Each one was written in Kong Dalong’s handwriting.

The bald man flipped through them one by one.

“Since the New Year, he’s been borrowing money from me nonstop. I won’t even bother counting the debts of three or five thousand yuan. There are fifteen debts over ten thousand. The largest is two hundred thousand. The smallest is forty-eight thousand. Altogether, it comes to one million eight hundred and eighty thousand yuan.”

“Considering the favor you and your master once did me, I haven’t even charged interest on these loans.”

Then he turned and shouted:

“Fourth Brother! Third Brother! Come over here and let the little master see how much Kong owes you too.”

Hearing that the old man owed nearly two million yuan to this one lender alone, Che Qianzi was stunned.

How had the old bastard managed to lose that much money?

In the past, even his worst losses had only been around one hundred thousand yuan.

Two million?

Even if they sold Kong Dalong himself, it wouldn’t be enough to repay it.

At that moment, two more shirtless men stepped forward.

Each produced seven or eight IOUs.

All bore Kong Dalong’s handwriting.

One claimed he was owed 890,000 yuan.

The other was owed exactly 500,000 yuan.

Seeing that Che Qianzi remained silent, the bald man sighed bitterly.

“By rights, I owe you a favor. If not for you two years ago, when my daughter got possessed by that fox spirit, she’d have been ruined.”

“But I’ve got a whole family to feed. My men need money too. They’ve got wives and children. Kong Dalong has really gone too far this time…”

As he spoke, he produced a land ownership certificate and a mortgage agreement.

Che Qianzi glanced at them.

The documents belonged to the temple.

The old bastard had secretly mortgaged the temple grounds behind his back.

Seeing Che Qianzi’s expression darken, the bald man sighed again.

“He borrowed too much from us. According to the rules, we shouldn’t have lent him another cent.”

“In the end, he put up the temple land as collateral. He promised to repay us two months ago, but he kept delaying until now…”

No wonder the old man had seemed distracted lately.

So this was the reason.

Che Qianzi finally understood.

At that moment, he silently swore to himself:

When he found Kong Dalong, he would make sure the old man trembled every time he even thought about gambling.

Ignoring everyone around him, Che Qianzi opened the envelope right in front of them.

He pulled out the letter and began reading.

It said:

To my disciple Che Qianzi:

Your master has received a dream revelation from the Primordial Exalted One. I am preparing to travel to Zhongnan Mountain and undergo the heavenly tribulation to attain immortality.

I hereby pass the temple and its lineage to you. I hope you will carry forward our tradition and make it flourish.

Even if I fail my tribulation and am blown into a thousand pieces, I shall die without regrets.

If worldly troubles such as money should burden you, go to the address listed on the enclosed business card and seek out a man named Gao Liang. He will answer your questions.

The letter ended with Kong Dalong’s signature.

After finishing it, Che Qianzi ground his teeth so hard they made cracking sounds.

“The old bastard still has the nerve to talk about becoming an immortal? A gambling addict like you? If heavenly lightning strikes, it’ll turn you into a pair of dice…”

Cursing inwardly, he suppressed his anger and shook a yellowed business card out of the envelope.

The man named Gao Liang on that card was none other than the fat man he had met ten years ago while accompanying his master on a demon-hunting expedition.