Chapter 205: The Monk Who Harbors Compassion

Using this trait, one could create their own "vast demon-god marching army"—obviously impossible.

Because demon-gods walking in the real world are limited; they cannot cause chaos.

One can save a few people, punish evil and promote good, act for heaven, but to stir up trouble? Sorry, that won't work.

Small news is fine, big news cannot be made.

An invisible line lies there; perhaps with time and changing circumstances, it will fluctuate up and down.

Everyone also guesses that the current line is in an upward phase.

But crossing it means "disappearance"—vanishing forever.

And even if someone desperately probes at the edge of disappearance, managing to produce three or five demon-god walkers, the benefit to themselves is negligible.

The personnel for the mission are random, unless one forms a team contract as Kongming mentioned.

Not to mention that such a thing is rare to encounter, even if one had it, finding like-minded strong ones is no easier than cultivating newcomers?

Unless one needs death warriors, planning to cultivate from "small"... frankly, someone with this ability gains more benefits doing anything else than desperately probing at the edge of disappearance.

Those who do similar things are either lucky coincidences or anxious, putting the cart before the horse.

Unless one is both strong and idle.

Hmm... like Tang Luo.

"Hey, what are you thinking?" Kongming said, "You're not planning to cultivate your own team from scratch, are you? Not worth the loss."

"No." Tang Luo shook his head, "Once you've seen the vast sea, no ordinary water suffices—unless you surpass them."

"Huh?" Kongming was puzzled, hearing Tang Luo's tone, as if he had encountered some super divine teammate?

"Nothing." Tang Luo said, "Just my lost youth. We were talking about demon-gods all being single, right?"

"Damn it!"

Kongming finally dropped his refined and easygoing demeanor, swore, then quickly changed the subject, "Since she's your sister, do you still want to continue your 'change the world' plan and ideas?"

"Of course." Tang Luo said, "Why not continue?"

"...... Alright." Kongming confirmed his guess—Tang Luo treats the An family and strangers no differently.

"I'll make a call to ask." Tang Luo said, "Let's see what my long-lost sister thinks."

"If she doesn't agree?"

"Then forget it." Tang Luo said, "I am a monk who has left home—how could I do something like coercing people? There are so many fate-holders in the martial world's myths; sooner or later, an opportunity will arise."

"Indeed." Kongming said.

Dialing An'an's private number from the file, Tang Luo sighed, "These days, there's no privacy at all."

After a few rings, the other end hung up.

Tang Luo called again, and was hung up again—of course, it was temporarily unreachable voicemail.

After calling seven or eight times in a row, all were hung up, and finally the phone was turned off directly.

"Something happened?" Tang Luo pondered, should I go check? Maybe I could earn merit again.

"Don't you think others might still be in class?" Kongming pointed to the time—now is a weekday afternoon.

Elementary school just let out; An'an is a high school student, so being in class is natural.

"Become a demon-god walker and still attend class?" Tang Luo said.

"Doing one's duty counts as relaxation, for many people it's just like that." Kongming said, "Not something worth making a fuss about. Besides, is it attending class or not working? Think about it—beautiful campus life."

"You only feel nostalgic when you're old." Tang Luo said, "Ask today's high school students if they want to keep this beautiful high school life forever—they'll surely spit in your face."

"Memory has a beautifying effect; only the past becomes memory."

Kongming glanced at Tang Luo in surprise: "At this time, Master, you finally look a bit like a monk."

"What does this have to do with being a monk?"

"Nothing." Kongming shook his head, "Not attending school means not answering strange calls is also a possibility. Of course, I don't rule out what you said—something happened."

"You guys always overthink—why not just act?" Tang Luo again flipped through the contacts, found his-mom's number, and dialed out.

Can't find the daughter? Just call the mom—done.

"..."

Kongming knew Tang Luo was indifferent, but didn't expect him to be this indifferent.

After all, he abandoned his own woman, though he gave her a house to ensure normal living without worries about food and clothing.

But you're too casual, damn it.

Kongming couldn't help but prick up his ears—ah, I really want to hear what they'll say, I can't hold back.

With Kongming's hearing, he can hear the faint sound from the other end of the receiver.

Tang Luo didn't deliberately lower the call volume to very low; in fact, in most cases, he chooses speakerphone.

The other end rang a few times and was connected.

"Hey, Mom, I'm looking for An'an—where is she?"

The other end was silent, then came faint breathing, and after a moment, "pap" — it was hung up.

"So direct!" Kongming thought, completely unaware of what circumlocution means, just walking straight up to someone's face.

"Dare to hang up my call!"

Tang Luo instantly became unhappy, and dialed again.

This time, the connection speed was much slower than before.

"Grandson, dare to hang up my call?" After connecting, Tang Luo confronted him aggressively.

"Squeak!"

Sharp braking sounds—Kongming almost drove the car onto the sidewalk, eyes wide, staring at Tang Luo beside him.

No wonder Tang Luo kept claiming he was a monk.

A true monk, treating all equally—Heaven and Earth are not benevolent, regarding all things as straw dogs; this is the highest realm of a monk.

Kongming couldn't help but want to give Tang Luo a thumbs-up.

"If this is a boring prank, I think you've dialed the wrong person." The voice on the other end, however, was a man's.

"Hmm..."

Tang Luo immediately fell into thought, and after a second said, "So just now, it was you, this grandson, who hung up my phone?"

"You dialed wrong." The man said, then hung up again.

This time Tang Luo called back, getting the notification that the phone was powered off—likely he'd been blacklisted.

Kongming silently said nothing, wondering if anything would happen.

Who is the man on the other end of the phone? Kongming thought of Tang Luo's "stepfather"—of course, that term isn't quite accurate.

To be precise, it's Tang Luo's mother An Xirong's remarriage partner, An'an's father.

"Old Kong, we've changed destinations." Tang Luo said, "Let's go directly to find An'an. How annoying—clearly we have such a convenient tool as a phone, yet we insist on face-to-face communication."

"Okay, where?" Kongming asked, somewhat surprised—was Tang Luo really this magnanimous?

"You didn't investigate me, did you?"

"Who would deliberately remember where your long-lost younger sister's home and school are?" Kongming said.

Tang Luo glanced at Kongming in surprise, then shook his head disdainfully: "Hah, I thought so-called sages were all unforgettable after seeing something once—turns out they're not even that."

"Who said sages are unforgettable after seeing something once! And what's there to be proud of, you brute!" Kongming roared inwardly.

Tang Luo's current behavior is like that of a poor student constantly probing the passing line (not in university), mocking a top student: "I never thought you couldn't get a perfect score—I thought top students always scored full marks, hahaha."

Fully illustrating what it means to be ignorant and fearless—ten thousand steps of a deserter laughing at a general who nearly sealed the Wolf's Rest.

Yet, it's just infuriating!

This kind of baseless mockery, in a certain sense, actually makes people angrier, especially when one is quite reasonable and well-supported.

A scholar meeting a soldier is roughly similar to this situation.

Thus, Tang Luo has grasped the essence of shouting matches—it's not about having reason and evidence to defeat the opponent, but about making the opponent angry.

This is the result of years of training; many demons are very cunning, and unless you make them angry, you won't know when they'll come out to fight fairly.

This is a very profound tactic.

But Tang Luo certainly wasn't deliberately provoking Kongming—he just said offhandedly: "Here, this is the address."

"Just along the way." Kongming casually glanced and said.

Sages can remember things at a glance, but there's no need to.

"Convenient—after we're done, we go straight home, no detour." Tang Luo said.

"Go home after we're done?" Kongming felt something was off—weren't we going to find An'an?

Tang Luo nodded: "After we finish talking with An'an, of course we go beat up that grandson—Master Xuanzang wouldn't be someone who suffers loss, would he?"

"..." After a moment of silence, Kongming felt he should still remind him: "Don't make a big deal out of things."

It must be said, the weight of people differs.

The same applies to those who walk among gods and demons—killing A and killing B produce different effects.

That invisible line, its position also differs.

Speaking harshly, Tang Luo's initial encounter with the "Ouija Board Killer" incident—if it had occurred in some remote area, that Sun Ang killing a few more people might still not have vanished.

The An family's business has developed to this point, very wealthy, qualifying as a colossus.

As one of the managers, Tang Luo intends to give Wen Hanfei a beating—his status and position have also risen with the tide.

Such a person, if Gods and Demons Walkers used special power to kill him, even if restrictions have loosened somewhat, they would vanish instantly the second after killing.

But if Gods and Demons Walkers acted as "ordinary people" in doing this, various roundabout strategies might also possibly avoid vanishing.

There is no clear boundary where not using skills means no vanishing, and using skills means vanishing.

Know that there are also passive skills, and Gods and Demons Walkers are constantly growing—not just gaining skills.

Moreover, some Gods and Demons Walkers themselves "hold high positions"—they certainly can't be expected to bind their own hands and feet and do nothing at all.

Still, everyone knows there is such a line.

But where exactly this line lies, no one can say clearly. Moreover, it still fluctuates up and down depending on the situation.

So some powerful Gods and Demons Walkers simply live in seclusion—not because each of them likes such a quiet life.

But because it's more stable.

"No problem, we'll keep a low profile." Tang Luo said, "Find a time when no one's around, put on a sack and give a beating—after all, the poor monk is a monk compassionate at heart."

"Then it's settled."

In Kongming's mind, this is indeed relatively low-key behavior—compared to Tang Luo's past conduct.

"Wait!" Soon he spotted a blind spot: "Why are we?"

"You're not coming to help me?" Tang Luo said, "We're from the same organization!"

"I only take you to your sister's place." Kongming said.

"I never thought you were from the liquor factory!" Tang Luo said, "You little traitor, a double-dealer."

"Pah, you still think you're Ginji?" Kongming refused to yield, "At most I'm just slacking off."

In the mission, there are many seemingly plausible worlds—he will certainly try to understand various kinds of fantasy works as much as possible.

"At least prepare a sack for me." Tang Luo said.

"There's one in the trunk—take it when needed, plus a rope." Kongming asked.

Tang Luo's gaze toward Kongming suddenly turned strange: "Old Kong, you—"

"Better safe than sorry." Kongming said.

As Gods and Demons Walkers, having a sack and rope in the trunk is completely reasonable and proper.