Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 111

Chapter 111: At Odds

Lu Yingqi knew that Shen Bingsi and Rong Xie had a deep personal friendship. The last time he was in seclusion, Shen Bingsi had forcibly knocked on his door to drag him out just for Rong Xie’s sake.

Later, he heard another version from Little Zhi, saying that Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi had separated—you take your high road, I’ll cross my log bridge.

Now, these two were standing in front of him. Although they looked a bit awkward, they didn’t look like they had fallen out at all.

“You two…” Lu Yingqi started to ask, but Rong Xie began to explain.

Rong Xie said Shen Bingsi came to find him. They were neighbors in Zhuli Lane. Shen Bingsi had gone out on business and didn’t see him upon return, so he asked Wang Mu and chased after him.

Shen Bingsi stood by with a grumpy face. When Rong Xie tugged his sleeve, he said disdainfully, “Why explain to him! I didn’t come to find him.”

“This is the Lu estate. Guests should suit the host’s convenience, not to mention we are both staying here tonight,” Rong Xie reminded him.

Shen Bingsi glanced at Lu Yingqi. Seeing no resistance, he finally cupped his hands: “Then sorry for the intrusion.”

“Senior Brother Lu, Shen Bingsi coming here was also an accident. Why not let him make do here for the night? It just so happens you two can exchange cultivation insights,” Rong Xie said.

Rong Xie’s thought was: since these two would combine swords to fight the Heavenly Demons in the future, letting them shake hands and make peace now to build a relationship would only be beneficial, not harmful.

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Since these two future saviors were finally together, forget the past. Starting today, under Rong Xie’s matchmaking, their friendship could only progress, not regress.

This was one of Rong Xie’s purposes in keeping Shen Bingsi.

However, things did not develop according to Rong Xie’s expectations.

Shen Bingsi refused to look at anyone directly, as if there were something wrong with his eyes.

Lu Yingqi kept a cold face—a face that was already cold as frost now looked like it was frozen under layers of ice.

“Rong’er, you don’t know. Our factions are different. Although both are Heartless Path, they are worlds apart. The gap is as big as the difference between cutting off love and cutting off appetite,” Shen Bingsi said.

“Sword Saint Shen is correct. It is better we do not exchange insights, lest Sword Saint Shen’s Dao Heart wavers,” Lu Yingqi said coolly.

“My Dao Heart waver? I think your Dao Heart is the one wavering!” Shen Bingsi found it ridiculous.

Lu Yingqi glanced at him, walked to the sitting couch, sat down, and assumed a meditative posture.

“What are you looking at me for? Not convinced? Want to go outside and compete right now? What’s that sword of yours called? Xuantian One Sword? Mine is called Three Sects One Sword.” Shen Bingsi opened his hand, golden light dazzling and ready to burst forth.

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Seeing his matchmaking plan fail, Rong Xie had to set it aside for now. He held Shen Bingsi down, pushed him to the side, and sat down on the other side of the sitting couch himself.

The sitting couch in the study had a small table in the middle, seating two people on either side. Lu Yingqi took one side, and Rong Xie took the other, leaving Shen Bingsi with nowhere to sit.

Of course, it wasn’t that there was literally nowhere to sit—the study had plenty of chairs—but he didn’t want to sit on those hard chairs; he just wanted to squeeze in with Rong Xie.

Shen Bingsi looked annoyedly at Lu Yingqi occupying one side of the couch. Thinking for a moment, he walked to Rong Xie’s side and squeezed in to sit next to him.

Arm against arm, leg against leg. Shen Bingsi felt the cool aura radiating from his best friend, and his heart lifted; the annoyance of sharing a room with Lu Yingqi lessened significantly.

Rong Xie shifted his body slightly. Although sitting next to a furnace like Shen Bingsi in winter was quite warm, there was a third person here after all.

Since matching Shen Bingsi and Lu Yingqi had failed, it was time to get to the main topic.

Rong Xie said seriously, “I wonder when Senior Brother Lu plans to act?”

Lu Yingqi glanced at Shen Bingsi and did not answer Rong Xie’s question.

“Senior Brother Lu need not worry. Shen Bingsi is one of us. He has investigated eighty, if not a hundred cases, and has never made a mistake. His lips are very sealed; don’t let his appearance fool you, he doesn’t even tell me about Mirror Palace missions,” Rong Xie strongly vouched for Shen Bingsi.

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“This is my family matter, not a Mirror Palace case,” Lu Yingqi said. “There are no demons or monsters here.”

Rong Xie knew what Lu Yingqi was worried about. This was also why he hadn’t openly brought the Treasure Hunting Team in.

“Do not wash dirty linen in public.” This applied even to Heartless Path cultivators. Cultivation consumed immense wealth and energy. An outstanding cultivator was usually supported by a large family. Someone of Lu Yingqi’s level appeared once in a century; undoubtedly, he had received the Lu family’s full support since birth. Even if Lu Yingqi cut off love, he couldn’t help outsiders investigate his family when it was under suspicion.

It was one thing for Rong Xie to know, but Shen Bingsi was a Heartless Path cultivator of the Lingjing Sect, directly competing with Lu Yingqi. Lu Yingqi couldn’t possibly open his arms to let him investigate.

Rong Xie thought hard but couldn’t come up with a particularly good idea to persuade Lu Yingqi.

He could only step back and say, “If there were demons or monsters, could Shen Bingsi participate then?”

Lu Yingqi said coolly, “Fellow Daoist Rong worries too much. Wouldn’t I know if there were demons or monsters in my own home?”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Shen Bingsi interjected. “The world has been peaceful for hundreds of years. Never mind you, even the Sect Leaders and Elders with their seniority wouldn’t dare claim they can fully identify demons. Especially things that are between demon and monster—they can hide their aura almost completely. Ordinary cultivators can’t distinguish them at all. No matter how high your realm is, it’s useless.”

Rong Xie knew Shen Bingsi specialized in slaying demons and definitely had more experience in this area than he did. “How so?” Then he said to Lu Yingqi, “Senior Brother Lu, let him explain. It doesn’t hurt.”

Lu Yingqi gave him a cold look but didn’t stop him.

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“Hmph, I’ve been catching demons for so many years; naturally, I have my methods. See this? This is the Shengxie Sword.” Shen Bingsi opened his palm, a ball of golden light jumping within. “As long as I place it near a demon, it will vibrate, and I’ll know there are demons around.”

Rong Xie had heard Shen Bingsi mention this, but when Shen Bingsi introduced it to him, he hadn’t spoken so absolutely. He had said that for some things close to demonic nature, even the Shengxie Sword couldn’t find them. The world was vast and full of wonders; perhaps only the Sky Mirror, representing the Heavenly Dao, could observe everything.

“Oh?” Lu Yingqi looked at the golden light. “Did it vibrate then?”

“…Not right now.” Shen Bingsi put away the golden light resentfully. “However, demons are cunning. They might use some method to hide themselves. I need to comb through your garden meticulously to give you a definitive answer.”

“You think I’ll let you comb through my garden?”

“If you have done nothing wrong, you shouldn’t fear a ghost knocking at the door in the middle of the night. If you have no ghosts in your heart, you should be begging me to search it. After all, not everyone can hire me to do a search.”

“Oh?” Lu Yingqi lifted his eyelids. “Then our Lu family truly cannot afford a great deity like you. Please suit yourself.”

“You think I wanted to come? If Rong Xie weren’t here, I wouldn’t bother coming to this dungeon-like place—actually, your Lu family and the Heartless Path Palace have quite similar layouts.”

Seeing the conversation hitting a dead end again, Rong Xie hurriedly stepped in to break their eye contact.

“How about this?” Rong Xie proposed a compromise. “Shen Bingsi won’t interfere in the Lu family’s affairs. I will still investigate. But if I encounter danger, Shen Bingsi comes to help me. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

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Shen Bingsi immediately nodded beside him.

Lu Yingqi was puzzled. “I can also help you. My cultivation is higher than his.”

This instantly poked Shen Bingsi’s powder keg. “Your cultivation is higher than mine? How do you know? Just because you’re a few years older and have been in seclusion longer? That doesn’t prove you’re stronger than me! Who is higher—we’ll have to spar to find out!”

“Heh, I have no objection. I can oblige anytime,” Lu Yingqi said coolly.

“You still have to stall Madam Mei,” Rong Xie felt a headache coming on. “If Madam Mei knows our movements, who knows if he’ll threaten Little Zhi?”

Reminded by Rong Xie, Lu Yingqi finally remembered he had a job to do and couldn’t leave.

“…Fine.” Lu Yingqi relented. “I’ll follow your arrangement.”

Rong Xie sighed in relief, finally smoothing things out between these two incompatible people.

“My plan is this: long nights bring many dreams; delay leads to change. Regardless of whether the Old Master recovers tomorrow, we act tomorrow,” Rong Xie said.

Shen Bingsi naturally had no objections.

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Lu Yingqi hesitated slightly, but thinking he didn’t have much leisure time to waste here, he nodded in agreement.

“Tomorrow at noon, during the meal, Senior Brother Lu will go stall Madam Mei first—best to stall the other Lu family members as well. I will go investigate the well, go inside, and probe the truth. As for Shen Bingsi, he stays here,” Rong Xie said.

“Mn… What? Why do I have to stay here?” Shen Bingsi was quite satisfied with the rhythm at first, but hearing he had to stay in Lu Yingqi’s bedroom, he was extremely unwilling.

“To avoid suspicion.” Rong Xie sighed. If Shen Bingsi hadn’t rushed over in the middle of the night, he could have acted with Captain Zhao and the others. Too bad. “Do you still have Sound Transmission Talismans?”

Shen Bingsi fumbled around his body, pulled out the Gold-Light Fish-Patterned Pouch from his chest, dug around for a while, and pulled out two pebble-like jade tokens.

One had the character “Rong” written on it, the other “Bing”.

Without a word, Shen Bingsi held the two jade tokens in front of Rong Xie.

To take them or not depended entirely on Rong Xie.

Although… although he really wanted to force them onto Rong Xie, if Rong Xie wasn’t willing, he would throw them back, and he would be angry.

“…” Rong Xie looked at the tokens. “If you don’t have Sound Transmission Talismans, I do.”

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“I have them, I have them.” Shen Bingsi dropped his hands dejectedly. While reluctantly pulling out paper talismans, he stole glances at Rong Xie’s belt. “Is there no room? Actually, one more doesn’t matter. This jade token has no weight. Or you could take two off…”

Rong Xie ignored him and waited for him to pull out the paper talisman. Taking the talisman, Rong Xie tucked it into his spatial pouch and continued arranging the next steps.

He needed Lu Yingqi to stall the Lu family for at least two hours (one shichen). After two hours, they only needed to monitor Madam Mei.

As for Shen Bingsi, he couldn’t be idle in Lu Yingqi’s room. Madam Mei was suspicious and already doubted Rong Xie. Even during the family banquet, if Madam Mei couldn’t check Rong Xie’s movements personally, he would definitely send someone to watch. Shen Bingsi would transform into Rong Xie’s appearance and stay in Lu Yingqi’s room to deal with the spies.

“Not bad.” Lu Yingqi nodded. “Junior Brother Rong thinks thoroughly. But I wonder if Sword Saint Shen transforming into Junior Brother Rong will reveal any flaws?”

“Impossible. The person I’m most familiar with is Rong Xie. My transformation arts are top-notch. I guarantee even Rong Xie himself wouldn’t recognize the difference if he came,” Shen Bingsi said with great confidence.

Rong Xie felt strange listening to this. What did he mean, “even he himself wouldn’t recognize it”?

“However, that Madam Mei has already seen Rong Xie today. He might have placed some rose or bramble mark on him. I need to check carefully,” Shen Bingsi said. “If there’s nothing else, please excuse yourself, Fellow Daoist Lu.”