Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 171

Chapter 171: The Acacia Sect

“Someone, open the back door,” the woman clapped her hands.

The two strong thugs from before stepped forward, pushed open the door to the back courtyard, and led the way toward the rear.

“You two, please follow me,” the woman smiled.

Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi stood up and followed her into the back courtyard.

At this moment, the situation in the back courtyard was fully exposed to them. Unlike the scene of colorful displays they had imagined, the back courtyard looked very ordinary—a pond, a few stands of flowers and trees. It had no fundamental difference from Rong Xie’s residence in Lanyuan.

The thugs opened doors along the way, and the woman led Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi straight forward. It was clear that the woman was giving them a high level of hospitality; they were walking through main halls and front gates rather than side paths.

They continued until they reached the innermost part of the courtyard, a place that looked like a bedroom. The woman still unhesitatingly stepped over the threshold.

Rong Xie looked inside hesitantly. The pink curtains and the painting of the Child-Giving Guanyin all suggested that this was a woman’s bedchamber. Charging in like this felt improper no matter how one looked at it.

Rong Xie stopped.

“Manager Rong, please come in,” the woman smiled, noticing his hesitation.

“We are going to the main altar. Is there a path here that leads to it?” Rong Xie asked.

“Of course,” the woman laughed even harder. “This is the only way to the main altar.”

Rong Xie felt a wave of embarrassment, hoping her words didn’t have other implications. He wasn’t a stubborn old fogey, but he truly wasn’t good at grasping others’ hidden meanings.

“Maybe there’s a secret door or passage,” Shen Bingsi guessed.

“Pfft. Sword Saint Shen truly deserves his reputation for working with the Sky Mirror Palace; you are indeed experienced in these matters,” the woman laughed. She walked into the room and waved at them. “Come on. It’s a grand road—what are you afraid of? Is a woman going to eat the two of you?”

“…” Rong Xie felt the atmosphere was becoming even stranger. No, he should say the atmosphere was becoming more normal—wasn’t this exactly the vibe of the Acacia Sect?

To see Elder Red, Rong Xie gritted his teeth and followed her in, secretly gripping several talismans. Shen Bingsi also touched the Shengxie Sword at his waist. The two were very guarded as they entered the woman’s chamber.

The woman walked straight forward, as if there really were a “grand road” in this room. Unfortunately, after only a few steps, they reached the back wall. She then turned to the right and suddenly disappeared.

Rong Xie was startled and hurried to catch up. Standing under the back wall where the woman had just been, he heard the sound of voices.

A mix of voices, footsteps, and the tinkling of wind chimes under the eaves—it was as if a famous tourist attraction was hidden behind this bedchamber.

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“What is that place?” Shen Bingsi looked through a window screen on the back wall.

Rong Xie looked as well and indeed saw a small entrance not far away. Tourists in various outfits were coming and going in an endless stream. Two monks in gray-blue robes stood under the corridor.

Rong Xie was stunned. Behind this bedchamber was a door leading to a temple? And it looked like… a very popular temple with flourishing incense?

“Come on. Didn’t you two want to go to the main altar? The main altar is right ahead,” the woman’s laughter came again. Rong Xie followed the sound and saw a small path along the back wall. At the end of the path stood a cabinet. Earlier, the cabinet doors were closed, and they thought it was a dead end. Now the doors were halfway open, revealing an open road outside. The woman was poking her head out to look at them.

Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi followed and arrived behind the bedchamber.

“This is… the main altar?”

The scene behind the bedchamber was the same as what they had seen through the window screen.

“Yes, the main altar of the Honey Buddha. There are three hundred and thirty-three Honey Buddha Temples in the world. The large ones can accommodate three hundred believers listening to scriptures, and the small ones are just tiny shrines by the road. They all consider this place their sect headquarters,” the woman introduced with a smile. “Please follow me.”

Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi looked at each other in confusion. The place they were looking for was definitely not a Buddhist temple.

A Buddhist temple and the Acacia Sect sounded like two extremes that could never coexist. But… if the Acacia Sect didn’t want to be found, hiding inside a temple was indeed a clever method.

The two followed the woman through the small door. The two thugs were standing outside, and once everyone was through, they closed the door. Rong Xie looked back and saw a sign on the door: “Monks’ Quarters—No Admittance.”

“…”

The glittering golden pagoda was right ahead. One could tell at a glance that the incense was very prosperous here; otherwise, they couldn’t have built such a dazzling golden roof.

Endless streams of tourists came out of the side doors of the main hall where the pagoda was located. They strolled by a wide pond where white peacocks were leisurely preening their feathers.

Liujin City was in the south, and the climate was hot and humid. Even in early spring, it felt like summer in Shengjing. It wasn’t strange to have white peacocks.

“I suggested to Guardian Siju long ago that he should fence off this pond so the tourists wouldn’t wander up and knock on the doors randomly. Everyone envies my branch office for its good location, but they don’t know how much trouble it is,” the woman sighed.

As she spoke, a hurried-looking tourist ran over. Seeing Rong Xie and the others standing by the small door, he rushed up as if he had found a savior. “Is there a latrine? Is there a latrine inside?”

“No,” the woman said expressionlessly.

“Is there really none? Then where is the latrine?” the person asked unwillingly.

“Keep walking straight. Beside the second hall where they sell luck-turning stones,” the woman said.

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“Many thanks! Many thanks!” The person ran off with an awkward gait.

“…”

The atmosphere eased up after that.

The woman led the two around the pagoda toward the back garden. After passing through a grove of unusually tall bamboo, they reached a garden filled with blooming flowers. Various colorful small houses were scattered throughout, and laughter and music could be heard from time to time.

Rong Xie stared at the garden in amazement, unable to believe that the main altar of the Acacia Sect was set up so openly in a prime location in Liujin City without even a roof for cover.

When he saw the temple, he had pre-emptively imagined the situation of the Acacia Sect main altar—an underground palace that was solemn and gloomy on the surface but a place of pleasure inside, or perhaps a scripture library that was actually a den of decadence… He hadn’t expected it to be open-air behind the courtyard.

“Welcome to the Acacia Sect Main Altar,” the woman smiled. Sensing Rong Xie’s surprise, she explained, “Fifty years ago, the Sect Leader moved the Acacia Sect from Shengjing to Liujin City and swore to let everyone live under the sun, among the flowers, and live the happiest lives openly—how does that saying go? Flowers should grow under the sun so they can bloom brilliantly.”

“Of course, we also used necessary disguises. Not everyone can walk in here as smoothly as you two.” A man dressed entirely in black stepped out of the bamboo grove. It was unknown how high his cultivation was; Rong Xie hadn’t even sensed his presence.

“Guardian Siju!” The woman’s eyes lit up, and she immediately walked toward the black-clad man to bow. “The people have been brought.”

“Good.” Guardian Siju nodded and made a gesture. The woman stepped forward, took his hand, kissed his palm, and then rubbed it against her face before reluctantly retreating.

Rong Xie was shocked by this strange way of greeting between a subordinate and a superior.

“I am Guardian Siju. I am responsible for creating the gardens and designing the buildings,” Guardian Siju said coldly. “I admire the layout of the Frozen Snow Villa; I heard you two also participated in the design.”

Rong Xie hadn’t expected the design of the Frozen Snow Villa to be praised in the Acacia Sect—the feeling was very complicated. But the black-clad man suddenly seemed tall and wise in his eyes, and even his cold attitude became a symbol of solemnity.

“We don’t understand those things; we only mentioned some of our needs to the craftsman from the Workshop,” Rong Xie said.

For the next while, Guardian Siju and Rong Xie chatted pleasantly. Shen Bingsi repeatedly tried to interject, wanting to say a few words, but he truly didn’t understand the subject.

Fortunately, before Shen Bingsi could spit blood from frustration, they finally arrived at their destination.

A raised bamboo tower with a large, royal-blue peacock perched on its roof. Seeing the guests arrive, the peacock flew down heavily, blocking their path.

“What…” Rong Xie said hesitantly.

Guardian Siju said, “Don’t be afraid. It just wants to show off.”

Before his voice had even faded, the peacock shook its magnificent large tail, swaying its body to let its tail feathers fan out one by one. It looked like a giant fan, and every tail feather had an exquisite pattern that looked like a large eye.

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Rong Xie stared at the peacock in wonder. He knew such exquisite birds existed—many mistook them for phoenixes—but he had never seen one with his own eyes (except for the white one earlier), let alone seen it fan its tail.

While Rong Xie was immersed in the beauty of the peacock’s tail, a hearty laugh came from the bamboo tower. One could tell it was an elderly man.

“To have friends come from afar, is it not a joy!” the old man chanted. His voice was high-pitched and clear, sounding like the style of the White Water Hermit. “How is it? Does my Acacia Sect still meet your standards?”

They were finally about to see Elder Red. Rong Xie couldn’t help but feel nervous.

They had gone through many hardships to find the way to see Elder Red. If even Elder Red couldn’t solve Shen Bingsi’s Dao heart problem, then…

Rong Xie didn’t dare to think more. He collected his thoughts and bowed toward the bamboo tower with Shen Bingsi. “Disciple Rong Xie (Shen Bingsi) greets Elder Red.”

“Hahahahaha! Good!” An invisible spiritual force lifted Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi. Elder Red still didn’t show himself, but he shook the distant guests with his massive spiritual pressure. “Have you two decided to abandon the Lingjing Sect and join my Acacia Sect? Marvelous, marvelous!”

“Uh, this…” The two were slightly embarrassed. “Disciple” was just a humble way of addressing oneself; Elder Red surely wouldn’t take it seriously, would he?

“Elder Red has misunderstood. We are… we have come to ask Elder Red about a matter,” Rong Xie said.

“Oh? What matter?”

“This friend of mine, Shen Bingsi, was originally practicing the Ruthless Path,” Rong Xie began. Although Elder Red likely already knew their background, for the sake of respect, he still laid the groundwork. “But his Dao heart was shaken, and he began to suffer the backlash of the Heavenly Dao. We heard that there is only one senior expert in the world who successfully switched from the Ruthless Path to another path—you, Elder Red. Therefore, we traveled a thousand miles to pay our respects to you and ask for your assistance.”

Elder Red fell silent. The bamboo tower was quiet, with only the distant sound of cheerful singing and dancing.

Rong Xie grew nervous, his heart leaping into his throat. He didn’t know if Elder Red would intentionally make things difficult for them. After all, they hadn’t brought any reward for Elder Red. Thinking about it, they were essentially trying to gain something for nothing.

“If a reward is needed, Bingsi and I have some savings. We—”

“No, no, those words are incorrect,” Elder Red suddenly spoke, interrupting Rong Xie’s addition. “There is more than one person in the world who switched from the Ruthless Path to another path; there are many! Those who gave up halfway, those who couldn’t resist temptation and broke their vows, or those whose cultivation was destroyed and were expelled from their sects—didn’t they also successfully switch to other paths?”

“This… one could say that, but there are still differences. Bingsi’s Dao heart is solid, and his progress was extremely fast; he has already reached the Nascent Soul stage. With such rapid cultivation speed, he is like a carriage galloping on a highway. If his Dao heart is even slightly shaken, he could crash and die. He is not the same as those cultivators who lacked strength and gave up halfway,” Rong Xie explained.

“Hmm, I see,” Elder Red said thoughtfully. “Then what’s the hurry? Just slow down and become one of those cultivators who lacks strength and gives up halfway. Wouldn’t that work?”

Rong Xie was stunned. He felt Elder Red’s words were full of deep meaning, but as for how to actually do it, he was completely lost.

He was about to ask further when he heard Elder Red yawn and say lazily, “When asking someone for help, one must provide a reward. I don’t care for gold, silver, or treasures. I only enjoy finding fun. How about this: each of you tell a joke. If you can make me laugh, I will tell you the method to switch paths. How does that sound?”