Chapter 520 (1/2)

Big Beardy’s lectures had finally come to an end. The crowd of old ladies and housewives began a serious discussion session. A woman raised a small booklet and asked, “Master, I came late when you talked about the cycle of life yesterday, could you—”

Big Beardy saw Hao Ren standing behind the crowd. He quickly waved his hand. “Let me explain it tomorrow. When it comes, let it come; when it goes, let it go. Listen to whatever you’ve managed to hear—Hi, Mr. Landlord, you’re here!”

Every six out of ten old ladies and housewives in the crowd knew Hao Ren. In the small town of the Southern Suburbs, everyone knew everyone as they had been living in the same town for decades. So, it was normal that people came up to him to say hello. Hao Ren could only smile back at them. Mrs. Zhao, who had acquainted herself with Hao Ren stepped forward and grabbed Hao Ren’s hand. “Hao, you haven’t shown up for quite a while. Where have you been?”

The old lady liked to talk about such trifles.

Hao Ren smiled at her and said, “I’ve gone to work… My work requires me to travel often.”

“Well, it’s good for you to have found a good job,” said the old lady, nodding appreciatively. However, she soon became more serious. “But you’re always not at home all day… Don’t forget, you’ve rented out your house. Can you handle it?”

Hao Ren gave a hurried reply and quickly pulled himself away to get to Big Beardy. “How did you come about giving talks here?”

“I’ve actually never thought about it before,” Big Beardy said with his hand spread out. “I’ve been keeping your reminder at heart all this while, to not get noticed as best as I can. But a few days ago on the street, I met an old lady who had gastroenteritis. I started to treat her, and shared with her about life cultivation…”

“Oh, then word spread and you suddenly became a health practitioner in the Southern Suburbs.” Hao Ren smacked his head with the palm of his hand. “Those who crave fame never get it, while the one who shunned it became an instant celebrity after helping an old lady on the street.”

Big Beardy shrugged. He did not know what “fame” meant. Seeing his response, Hao Ren rolled his eyes at him. “Please think of a way to stop giving talks. No ordinary person can live like an ascetic, you know?”

Big Beardy smiled. “I know. In fact I’ve wanted to stop: truth be told, dealing with these people is much more difficult than studying the ancient scrolls. There are 20 to 30 housewives inviting me to give talks in their homes. I was really annoyed. I had to spend a good part of my energy just to decline them. But I felt that stopping the classes suddenly would be too irresponsible, so I’ve dragged the matter until today.”

Hao Ren looked at this new friend of women with a weird expression before he rushed back home, dragging Big Beardy along. “Let’s get the hell out of here before somebody reports you as a cult leader to the authorities.”

Only when the two of them arrived at front of the house, Hao Ren slowed down and said quietly, “We’ve found a stable passage leading to the Plane of Dreams. Becky had already gone back. Are you planning to go back with the other three masters?”

Big Beardy paused in his step but he caught up quickly. “A stable passage? It was discovered when you went to deal with evil spirit?”

Hao Ren nodded. Big Beardy thought for a while and shook his head slightly. “We do have plans to go home, but not in the near future. We have each found ourselves something to do in this world. We should peregrinate to learn as much as possible about this strange world. This will be of great help to our practice, and understanding of the goddess’ creation.”

It gave Hao Ren a headache when he heard what Big Beardy said. But he knew most believers were like this, so he could only try hard to get used to it. Curious of the situation of the other three ascetics, Hao Ren asked, “What are the other three masters doing now?”

Big Beardy squinted slightly, seemingly performing some kind telepathy. A moment later, he opened his eyes and replied, “One is currently in Africa, conquering the lions and the wild elephants, and are busily mediating the disputes between two local tribes these two days… He’s now the new chief of one of the tribes. One is in Antarctica; she is doing ice chiselling in search of the original land, and she has group of seals under her command. The last person is now in India where she seems to have found many like-minded people whom she can spread the gospel of the goddess to.”

Hao Ren: “…..”

It took a long time for Hao Ren to come to his sense that the three peregrinating ascetics were tougher than he had imagined. He looked at Big Beardy with horrified expression on his face. “What are you doing this for?”

Big Beardy replied flatly. “Peregrinating the world.”