With Elder Lin's prior notice, Meng Fan didn't need to ask to know that this bald man was Wu Tian, the abandoned disciple of Vajra Temple.
"Hello, come in," Meng Fan said to Wu Tian.
Wu Tian was slightly surprised and asked with some confusion, "Do you know me?"
If they didn't know each other, how could he be allowed in without even being asked?
"I'm Elder Lin's disciple. He mentioned you to me yesterday."
"Is Uncle Lin here? I'd like to greet him first," Wu Tian asked Meng Fan.
"Yes, he is."
Meng Fan led Wu Tian to the second floor of the Sword Pavilion.
"Uncle Lin!" Wu Tian clasped his hands together in a Buddhist gesture upon seeing Elder Lin on the second floor.
Despite being expelled from the Buddhist sect, this ingrained habit was hard to change.
"You're here," Elder Lin, sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion, responded in a neutral tone without getting up.
"Uncle Lin, this is a letter from my father for you."
Wu Tian took out a letter from his chest and handed it to Elder Lin.
Elder Lin accepted the letter without opening it and said to Meng Fan, "Disciple, take Wu Tian to tour the Sword Pavilion."
"Yes, Master."
On the first floor of the Sword Pavilion, Meng Fan led Wu Tian around.
"The swords here are quite ordinary, not worthy of the Shu Mountain Sword Pavilion's reputation," Wu Tian commented calmly after a round.
Meng Fan smiled, thinking this guy really had a way of making himself unpopular.
Just arriving at someone else's place and already badmouthing it.
Clearly, his emotional intelligence was rock bottom!
But remembering his master's words about this guy being troubled by demons, nothing seemed surprising anymore.
"The swords on the first floor are the most basic. It's normal if they don't catch your eye. The higher-quality swords are upstairs; the higher you go, the better they get!" Meng Fan explained casually.
Wu Tian nodded and didn't mention going upstairs to see more swords.
Luckily, his emotional intelligence wasn't at rock bottom.
After a moment, Wu Tian looked at Meng Fan and said, "Uncle Lin told my father that there is a disciple in the Shu Mountain Sword Pavilion whose realm is lower than mine but whose strength surpasses mine. Is that you?"
Meng Fan frowned slightly at Wu Tian.
This guy's way of speaking was really annoying!
"Probably," Meng Fan replied nonchalantly.
"Uncle Lin said that if I defeat you, I can take a Law Sword back. So when shall we have a duel?" Wu Tian asked Meng Fan.
This guy spoke without any emotion, and his face was expressionless.
Although he didn't seem to be targeting you, it still gave an uncomfortable feeling.
Originally, Meng Fan didn't intend to bring up this guy's past out of humanitarian considerations.
But now, he felt compelled to.
"There's no rush for a duel. I'm more curious about why you were expelled from Vajra Temple and became an abandoned disciple?"
Being expelled was one thing, but adding the term "abandoned disciple" was unnecessary.
But since the other party was so unpleasant, Meng Fan didn't feel the need to be considerate of his feelings.
Wu Tian, however, didn't avoid the topic and said without any emotion, "Because I broke the precept against killing."
The precept against killing?
The three aversions and five precepts for monks: 1. No killing, 2. No stealing, 3. No sexual misconduct, 4. No lying, 5. No drinking.
Killing!
That's the first one.
Meng Fan frowned and said, "You don't seem to think you did anything wrong."
Wu Tian replied expressionlessly, "Killing those who deserve to be killed, where's the fault in that?"
Actually, Meng Fan agreed with this viewpoint.
"Killing someone who deserves to be killed and being expelled from the sect does seem a bit harsh," Meng Fan couldn't help but say from Wu Tian's perspective.
Wu Tian shook his head and said, "It wasn't one person; it was sixty-four people!"
Sixty-four people?
Meng Fan showed a hint of surprise. A monk killing so many people, no wonder he was expelled from the Buddhist sect.
"Why did you kill so many people?" he asked instinctively.
"While traveling, I saw corrupt officials oppressing the people. I couldn't hold back and killed them," Wu Tian said calmly.
"This… While there are many unjust officials, encountering over sixty of them seems a bit much, doesn't it?" Meng Fan found it hard to believe.
Wu Tian shook his head and said, "I only encountered one corrupt official during my travels."
"Then how did you kill sixty-four people?"
"There was only one corrupt official, but there were sixty-four people in that county yamen."
Meng Fan looked at Wu Tian in shock and asked incredulously, "So, you killed everyone in the county yamen?"
Wu Tian nodded.
"Yes!"
This…
Meng Fan didn't know what to say.
He suddenly felt that Vajra Temple was already being extremely merciful by merely expelling Wu Tian.
An entire county yamen, sixty-four people, all deserving death?
Impossible!
There couldn't be not a single good person among them.
Even if the whole place was corrupt, such an act of extermination was excessive.
If Wu Tian were a disciple of the demon sects, Meng Fan wouldn't be too surprised.
But this guy was a disciple of the Buddhist sect!
No wonder Elder Lin said this kid was troubled by demons. Indeed, just from this point alone, it was clear he was troubled by demons.
Not just troubled, one could even say he had already fallen into the demonic path.
In this situation, would beating him up really help?
Meng Fan couldn't figure out what Elder Lin was planning.
"Have you ever considered that among the sixty-four people in the county yamen, there might have been innocent ones?" he asked Wu Tian.
Usually, Meng Fan wasn't someone who asked too many questions.
But facing Wu Tian, he couldn't help but throw out one question after another.
Perhaps it was because this guy's unconventional behavior piqued Meng Fan's curiosity.
After all, ordinary people wouldn't do such things, let alone a disciple of the Buddhist sect.
The contrast was stark!
"Innocent ones? Better to kill by mistake than to let any go," Wu Tian said coldly.
Meng Fan was speechless at Wu Tian's expression.
How did someone with this mindset join Vajra Temple in the first place?
Were the people at Vajra Temple blind?
Meng Fan felt this person was born for the demonic path and should have joined a demonic sect.
At this moment, Senior Disciple Luo happened to walk by and overheard Wu Tian's words.
He couldn't help but speak, "They say Buddha is compassionate. Don't you think you're being too cruel?"
Wu Tian glanced at Senior Disciple Luo and said coldly, "Buddha has a kind face but also a wrathful one!"
Senior Disciple Luo frowned, wanting to argue with Wu Tian.
Meng Fan pulled Senior Disciple Luo aside and shook his head.
Arguing was pointless.
From the conversation with Wu Tian, he was certain this guy had "gone mad."
Just then, Elder Lin came down from upstairs.
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan