Chapter 479: Temple (1)

ain that the previous ones were indeed prepared by逍遙. There was no more doubt. This third dish was a medicinal cuisine, one that逍遙had previously mentioned he would prepare.The taste of this medicinal...Chapter 479: Temple 1

"Yanhu Temple! It seems to be an ancient temple. Just this plaque alone is enough to indicate its history." This was the first time Xianyao visited here, naturally, he would want to explore and observe everything carefully.

The Yanhu Temple's land area was also quite large, even bigger than that village they had just been at, however, half of it was uninhabited areas, already in ruins but still maintaining some necessary repairs.

During the time when Yanhu Temple was bustling with incense and offerings, there would often be a lot of people visiting, but over these hundreds of years, Yanhu Temple had not seen such prosperity again. Although it wasn't bad now, compared to its peak period, it was much worse.

Of course, this didn’t mean anything, there were still monks and worshippers here!

Xianyao didn't care if anyone else was inside or not; he had interest in the entire temple and nobody stopped him. Nobody cared where he went, even though it was an uninhabited area, it wasn't a restricted zone.

"Eh, here..."

Xianyao discovered something in one of the halls. This hall had not seen any worshippers come for a long time, only with monks continuing to light incense inside. Inside was a Buddha statue, but it wasn't this statue that caught Xianyao's attention, rather there seemed to be some secrets within this hall.

"Layman, why are you alone here This place has been deserted for quite some time. If you wish to pay respects, please light an incense stick." At this moment, a monk appeared and said to Xianyao, also preventing him from continuing his investigation of what he had found.

"Mm, I'll light one if I come here." Xianyao took the incense offered by the monk, lit it, paid his respects, inserted the incense into an incense burner and then left.

If others didn't wish for outsiders to know their secrets, there was no need for him to investigate. Everyone had their own secrets, and temples were no exception.

Xianyao explored around some more, but at this point he felt like he was being watched wherever he went. There seemed to be someone watching over him without appearing, always in the shadows. If his senses weren't so sharp, he wouldn’t have realized he was under observation.

At present, Xianyao acted as if he didn't know and continued exploring without stopping for it. He kept looking around; wherever there wasn't a lock, he looked inside, even climbing up the temple's tall tower to overlook Yanhu Temple entirely.

Xianyao’s natural behavior made the person observing him feel that they weren’t discovered. In fact, they didn’t think Xianyao could discover them either; after all, Xianyao was just a small figure at the rank of King and there was a huge gap between them. He could kill Xianyao with one finger, being found out would be almost impossible.

Xianyao also knew that this person observing him wasn't simple; Yanhu Temple didn’t look like an ordinary temple either. However, he didn’t pay too much attention to it—Yanhu Temple having its own background after so many years of inheritance and experiencing prosperity was quite normal.

Finally, Xianyao once again went to the area where the incense burning continued. At this time, the person observing disappeared; over there, he didn’t need to worry about being watched anymore.

Xianyao avoided visiting that area at first because all those young masters and misses were praying to the gods and buddhas before him, and it was uncertain when his turn would come. So, he chose a different time.

Now indeed there were fewer people; almost nobody could be seen. Xianyao smoothly toured around without any obstruction, no need to push through crowds of people.

"Le Xiaoyao, I finally found you." Lu Baocai appeared in front of Xianyao again.

"What is it" Xianyao was a bit confused. Why do you keep looking for me We aren't close at all.

"Of course, to have lunch with you! Since we couldn’t eat together during noon, we’ll definitely make up for it tonight!" Lu Baocai said seriously, seemingly determined that what she promised must be fulfilled.

"You still remember this There's no big deal about it." Xianyao was somewhat surprised; he didn't expect that Lu Baocai would actually care about this matter.

"No way! I insist on having lunch with you. I’ll follow you around now, whether or not you join others is fine as long as we’re together," Lu Baocai said resolutely.

"I’ll have lunch with everyone else anyway; it’s just that I missed the noon meal. Since we're here, we’d definitely eat vegetarian food. I won’t miss out on this." Xianyao said smilingly.

"Yeah, the vegetarian dishes here are quite good. We’ve already asked them to prepare around ten tables for us; everything should be fine," Lu Baocai replied.

"Before we eat, let me wander a bit first. You can go play with your friends, it seems like they don’t like being together with me much." Xianyao glanced at the young misses who were somewhat distant and smiled; he could tell their attitude towards him without any difficulty. He was just a servant, reading people's minds and situations was his forte—he would pretend to be unaware sometimes.

"No need, I’m afraid you’ll disappear again later on. Although they don’t like you much, they won't hate you either. Honestly speaking, you should make more effort; this is a matchmaking gathering for you to find your partner. Your current performance... sigh..." Lu Baocai seemed somewhat pitiful as she spoke, regarding Xianyao almost as one of her own people since both belonged to the Lu family.

"My performance has always been normal," Xianyao said casually.

"You call this normal Wearing such clothes..." Lu Baocai retorted unhappily.

"Isn't this a spring outing And now it's climbing the mountain; these are suitable clothes." Xianyao remained unperturbed, leaving Lu Baocai feeling powerless.

"This isn’t just a regular spring outing. You know, even Buddha needs gold adornments!" Lu Baocai continued to speak about the environment around them.

"But do you know that the bodhisattva in front of you said to let go of appearances Even if he changes his form, he can still save all beings," Xianyao said nonchalantly.

"The Buddha says 'follow local customs,'” Lu Baocha said.

Although the original phrase might have come from Daoism, the anecdote is rooted in Buddhism. Often, it's hard to distinguish between Buddhist and Taoist teachings, but people don't particularly care about this distinction as long as they understand the meaning.

"... Do you know what the original story behind 'follow local customs' is" Xianyao asked Luo Baochai.

"I don’t know. What is it" Luo Baochai shook her head and asked.

"If you knew, and could actually follow local customs, I would say I admire your courage," Xianyao said.

"What is it Tell me!"

“In a place called Naked Country, where people don't wear clothes and go around naked. A brother and his younger brother went there for business, the younger brother decided to follow local customs by removing his clothes and communicating with them, while the elder brother thought this was against etiquette and refused to change.

Then, the younger brother won the locals' affection and they bought his goods, but the elder brother's refusal to take off his clothes and criticize the locals led him to be hated by them, even losing some of his merchandise. In the end, after the younger brother interceded, he was spared greater disaster, while the elder brother left in disgrace.

When Xianyao reached this part of the story, he suddenly asked, "Do you want to be the older brother or the younger one"

"Of course I want to be the younger brother... Oh wait, are you tricking me!" Luo Baochai replied naturally at first but then realized something was amiss. If she were the younger brother, that would mean being naked, and this she couldn't accept.

“Then do you still want to follow local customs” Xianyao asked with a smile.

"This... I..." Luo Baochai could not answer; it was difficult for her no matter how she looked at it.

"Following local customs is good, but within acceptable limits. It doesn't mean everything can be accepted. The story isn't really about following the locals, there's more to it," Xianyao said with a smile.

“What’s the rest of the story” Luo Baochai asked curiously while the other young ladies also began listening intently as they moved closer to Xianyao.

"The elder brother, resentful towards his younger brother, became an enemy. But the younger one continued to help him and taught others about patience," Xianyao said.

“So it’s like that, you seem to know a lot,” Luo Baochai commented.

"Of course, I know plenty, Buddhism is very profound too," Xianyao replied with a smile.

"Just praise me once and now you're boasting again. That's one of your problems!" Luo Baochai said irritably.

Xianyao shook his head and smiled. "If I don’t have the capability, it’s boasting; if I do, then I’m just stating facts."

"Alright, then let me test you on Buddhist knowledge…" Luo Baochai began to pose questions, finding them on the spot about various aspects of Buddhism or Buddha's sayings.

They were all stunned as they discovered that Xianyao knew everything. No matter what questions they asked, he could answer them and even cite their origins from specific books or stories.

Was he a former monk How else would he know so much about Buddhism

If this wasn’t boasting on his part, then was there anything he had boasted about before that wasn't true This seemed unlikely. Perhaps it just happened to be something within his area of expertise.

As Xianyao spoke about Buddhism, they suddenly felt as if he were a high monk proficient in Buddhist teachings. They even felt a sense of enlightenment and their hearts seemed elevated.

This seems almost unbelievable!

They began to see Xianyao more favorably, no longer with the same disdain as before. And during his explanation of Buddhism, they started engaging by asking questions rather than remaining silent.

The more questions they asked, the more impressed they were by his profound knowledge of Buddhism. This kid could be a temple abbot here and even hold a Dharma assembly!

Of course, this would only happen if others knew about his depth in Buddhist studies—something unlikely to occur.

(To Be Continued) certain level of respect, especially when the other person was being quite polite themselves."You're welcome!" The official smiled. He wasn't unfamiliar with being thanked like this, but he particula...