The bells rang, and Chen Lin immediately stopped searching the Mahavira Hall and went to the rear door.
After a moment's hesitation, he decided he would have to explore the Back Courtyard sooner or later anyway, so he once again backflipped out!
"Brother Chen, you really were inside!"
He had only just straightened up when he heard Liu Ruolan's delighted voice.
His unusual entrance had also given her a small fright.
Chen Lin was delighted as well. Having seen no sign of her all this time, he had thought some major upheaval had occurred here. If he had not encountered so little danger, he would have used the repelling force that had just emerged to return to reality.
This was the main reason this scenario felt clearly less dangerous than Scarecrow Cottage: once the sense of repulsion appeared, he could leave at any time. At Scarecrow Cottage, failing to complete the task prescribed by its rules within the allotted time meant becoming a scarecrow.
Of course, if his projection died inside, his body in the Reality Realm would become a living corpse.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, have you been in this Back Courtyard the whole time? Why didn't you come to the front courtyard to find me? I waited for you over there for ages."
Chen Lin looked her over and spoke after finding nothing amiss.
Then he surveyed the Back Courtyard.
It was fairly large, with four buildings around it: the Scripture Pavilion, the Treasure Pavilion, the Disciplinary Hall, and the Sutra-Lecturing Hall.
A large bell stood at the front of the courtyard. This was what Liu Ruolan had just struck, and its echoes still lingered.
There was not a single person or other living creature anywhere in the courtyard.
Then Liu Ruolan spoke. "You may not know this, Brother