Asada Senna's videos were better propaganda than Baishi Shū had imagined.
It was Friday. After his class ended, Baishi Shū walked out of the classroom. He checked his phone and saw several messages from the old abbot.
While he was in school, the old abbot had received a total of eight calls from eight different people looking for a "Master Baishi" of Reimei Temple.
All of them were local residents of Tokyo, harassed by evil spirits. They had stumbled upon Asada Senna's videos by chance and were all astounded by Baishi Shū's great spiritual power. Since then, they had been asking around about him. Eventually, they got Reimei Temple's contact number from his previous clients.
'So this is the effect of digital video advertising?' Baishi Shū thought.
Truth be told, Baishi Shū was surprised to see that there were so many paranormal events that remained unhandled. After looking into them, he found that most of them had been happening for a while. Those victims had approached monks or shrine priests from nameless temples and shrines to help them get rid of the wicked creatures. However, their attempts had failed and the evil spirits continued to haunt them. They did not have enough of a budget to hire a famous monk or shrine priest from a well-known temple or a shrine. With no other alternatives left, they turned to Baishi Shū, who not only had vast spiritual power but also charged a low price for his services, hoping that he could help them.
Did those larger shrines and temples have to charge a large sum for their services?
Sadly enough, yes. However, there was a good reason behind this seemingly inhuman action, other than the purpose of reputation and monetary gain.
There were nearly 200,000 shrines and temples located throughout Japan but not all of them were making a profit. Only a handful of them could make it to the top while the majority remained at the bottom, struggling to stay afloat, dependent on a meager income from part-time jobs that the monks or shrine priests took on, as well as the scanty remuneration from occasional religious rites.
In this case, if those larger and more successful shrines and temples lowered their fees and claimed all the jobs for themselves, within a few years, the total number of shrines and temples in Japan would drop to about 80%.
Most of the monks and shrine priests would lose their jobs and the temples and shrines that failed to survive would become dilapidated due to a lack of maintenance. It might take a couple of years to reach that point, but even with the support of the larger shrines and temples, the steep downward trend was clear.
According to an investigation done by Shinshūren, otherwise known as the Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan, the weight of preserving the traditions of Shintoism and Buddhism would fall onto those larger shrines and temples in due course. Meanwhile, those nameless shrines and temples would gradually slip out of popular consciousness and be lost to history.
This was inevitable. It was bound to happen sooner or later in the course of history, so Baishi Shū found no point in lamenting about it. In fact, he felt it was a good thing. After all, rather than having those monks tarnish Buddha's name with their half-baked exorcism skills, it would be better for them to take off their monk robes and switch to a new line of work and continue contributing to society.
'So long as they have the heart, no matter who they are, be it a monk or a businessman, they can always find a retreat for their souls by chanting the Buddhist scripture during their free time. As for the life-risking mission of freeing the world from the clutch of the force of evils, leave it to me!'
After all, as Buddha had once quoted, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Somebody has to do the dirty job, and if nobody is going to take the baton, then I will do it."
"So what is your plan, Shinsei? Are you going to accept them all or will you pick only some?" the old abbot asked.
The number of requests he received was more than he could handle. At the end of the day, he was just an ordinary monk. He was not the monkey king, who could summon hundreds of clones to do his bidding, and it would take him at least one week to settle all eight requests, not including any other requests that might come up during that time.
'Well, well, well, what should I do?'
He caressed his chin and sunk deep into thought. After ruminating for a short while, he replied, "Let's try to settle them all."
Since he was planning to save the world, he wouldn't turn his back on those in need. There had only been eight requests, so he was certain that he would be able to find a way to get all of them done. If worst comes to worst, the only thing he might need to sacrifice was a little bit of his time.
After he made up his mind, Baishi Shū began to draw up a plan. He aimed to complete all the requests in the shortest amount of time possible. He surmised that the demonic creatures these people had encountered were lesser evil spirits that could easily be taken care of. All he had to do right now was check all the possible locations for traces of demonic appearance, starting with the nearest one. After that, he would wait until midnight. When midnight came, he would hop onto his bike, go around Tokyo, and exorcise all the evil spirits one by one.
"Amitabha," the old abbot responded commendably.
...
The next day, four in the morning.
Today was Saturday, but it was always the same for Baishi Shū.
Outside, the sky was still dark and the moon had not yet set. However, both Baishi Shū and the old abbot had woken up already.
After they washed themselves up, Baishi Shū sat on the futon and started the morning service.
The old abbot took a break after finishing two rounds of scripture readings. Pulling out his phone, he was startled by the barrage of push notifications that popped up on his screen.
"Terrific! The nemesis of evil spirits!"
"Night terror! A merciless monk showed up in the middle of the night and did eight times a night?"
"One Palm Monk spotted! Eight evil spirits vanquished overnight. All his clients were happy with his service!"
"Moving from one end of Tokyo to the other, the story of a monk who went on a crazy monster hunt!"
"That man! He's come!"
His curiosity piqued, the old abbot tapped one of the notifications. The first thing that caught his eye was a familiar silhouette and a clean, bald head that shone brightly under the streetlight. He also saw the figures of the eight clients being interviewed by the reporters.
"?" The old abbot opened his mouth, but no words came out. He went to bed very early last night, so he had no idea what time Baishi Shū had come back.
Putting everything aside, he found it extremely hard to believe that Baishi Shū had settled all eight requests overnight. He was the one who processed all the requests before sending them to Baishi Shū, so he knew all the locations. He clearly remembered that the house of one client was situated in Setagaya City, the southwestern corner of Tokyo, while another one was located in Adachi City, the northern part of Tokyo.
It would consume a hell lot of time just to travel from one place to the other, not to mention the time needed to exorcise the evil spirits. However, not only had Baishi Shū settled everything and returned to the temple to rest, he had still managed to get up at 4:00 a.m. the next day and attend the morning service without any delay.
The old abbot was someone who had seen the world. He had been there during the glory days of Reimei Temple. At that time, Reimei Temple had countless eminent monks, and together with Meiji Shrine, they claimed Yoyogi Forest as their territory and were renowned as the epitome of Shintoism and Buddhism in Tokyo.
The old abbot felt relieved, knowing that Baishi Shū was the best successor he had ever seen. He was certain that Baishi Shū was capable of bringing Reimei Temple back to its former glory.
Baishi Shū finished his morning service not long after. Under normal circumstances, he would only chant the "Diamond Sutra" ten times. Although he could still increase his spiritual power if he continued to chant the "Diamond Sutra", he understood that too much water would drown the miller. Perseverance was essential for spiritual power training. Five hours was long enough and he needed to spend the remaining time studying.
When he put down the scripture, the old abbot's voice rang out.
"Shinsei, you are all over the internet again."
"Huh?" Baishi Shū was perplexed. He didn't understand what he had done that caused him to catch fire again.
'I didn't do anything recently, right? I just exorcised eight evil spirits in one night…' he thought to himself.