Chapter 285 - 192: Taohua Village
’I never thought there’d be a whole new world hidden so deep in these mountains, beyond the border.’
Under the moonlight, Fang Yue reclined on the branch of a large tree, listening to the distant roars of some unknown wild beast.
More than ten days had passed since he regained consciousness.
He was also starting to get a basic understanding of his current location.
This was a village called Taohua Village. The two people who saved him claimed to be a senior brother and junior sister pair.
The senior brother looked to be in his seventies or eighties, but as a Martial Artist, his body was still quite robust.
The junior sister, however, looked to be about eighteen or nineteen, but her eyes always held a certain eagerness when she looked at him.
Taohua Village itself had only thirty-odd households. On the surface, it seemed no different from any other village in the Great Wei Dynasty.
But Fang Yue could sense a power within these villagers, a power similar to what he had once felt from the elders of the Mo Mountain Tribe.
Their strong bodies housed a formidable power.
If that power were unleashed, it would likely rival that of an ordinary Marrow Transformer Martial Artist.
And there were seventy to eighty such people in this village; one could say that more than half the village was made up of Martial Artists!
That was a terrifying thought.
It truly felt like a village where everyone was a Martial Artist.
Then again, it made sense. After all, the moment you stepped outside the village, you were in the territory of Fierce Beasts. If ordinary people lived here, they would have been wiped out long ago.
’It seems the people here are mountain people, just like the Mo Mountain Tribe, only they live deeper in the mountains,’ Fang Yue thought.
~~~~~~~
「The next day, early in the morning.」
Fang Yue went to the backyard and found the old man sorting medicinal herbs.
"You want to leave this place?" the old man asked without even lifting his head.
"Yes," Fang Yue said with a nod.
Although this place seemed comfortable—a small, quiet, and peaceful mountain village, far from the strife of the secular world—it wasn’t his home. His parents and family were still in Yujing City.
Without him, they surely wouldn’t be able to go on living there.
Moreover, he needed to get back as soon as possible, because Luo Wei and that Scholar’s Attendant were not yet dead. If those two returned to Yujing City, they would certainly bring harm to his family.
"You want to leave? You can. But it’s difficult, difficult, difficult!" Lin Chan shook his head, continuing to sort his medicinal herbs.
"Hm? As long as it isn’t for too long, I should be able to withstand that poisonous mist," Fang Yue said.
The poisonous mist in that valley was the most toxic he had ever encountered. But with his physical constitution, his cultivation level, and the poison-warding Scepter Fragment, he was sure walking through it again would be no problem.
’Then why would he say such a thing?’
"That may be so, but the exit is now sealed. It will not open again for another three years," Lin Chan said with a faint smile.
What!
Fang Yue froze. ’He’s saying the valley is sealed now?’
’How can a valley be sealed?’
’Or rather, who would seal it?’
The more Fang Yue heard, the more puzzled he became.
"Heh, go and see for yourself. You’ll understand then." The old man offered no explanation; some things are far clearer when seen with one’s own eyes.
Hearing Lin Chan’s words, Fang Yue didn’t dwell on the matter. "In that case, I’ll be on my way," he said.
He turned to leave.
But he was stopped. "Wait."
Fang Yue turned back, looking at him with a puzzled expression, wondering what else he wanted.
"While you’re over there, gather some Bitter Lotus for me," Lin Chan said calmly, holding one out.
"Bitter Lotus?" Fang Yue was taken aback.
He committed the image of the pale purple plant in Lin Chan’s hand to memory, then walked out the door.
~~~~~~
He raced onward.
Fang Yue finally reached the edge of the mountain range before dark, then found a large boulder and stopped.
’How is it gone? The valley should be right here... Why is there nothing?’
Standing on the large boulder, Fang Yue gazed at the boundless mountains and wilderness ahead, only to find that the valley he had walked through to get here had vanished without a trace.
’Could I have remembered it wrong?’
Fang Yue was bewildered.
’But when he thought about it, how was that possible?’
The valley stretched for dozens of miles, its cliffs towering into the clouds like behemoths. How could something like that just disappear?
He was certain his memory wasn’t wrong. The valley was right in front of him.
But now, it had just vanished before his very eyes.
And it hadn’t left a single trace.
’Could I be in the wrong place?’
Unconvinced, Fang Yue immediately began to search the surrounding area again, following his memory.
However, the mountain range was immense, surrounded by rugged cliffs and precipices. Fang Yue searched the vicinity for a long time, but eventually ended up right back where he started.
He was certain this was the place.
’So, this is what Lin Chan meant when he said the valley was sealed, and that to leave through it, I’d have to wait another three years?!!!’ Fang Yue’s gaze gradually grew dark.
He was unwilling to stay here for three years. Three years was too long.
So long, in fact, that he couldn’t guarantee his family would be able to continue living in peace.
Yujing City was not an easy place to live. There was the cost of living to consider, and on top of that, if he were considered ’dead’, would the Observatory even continue to protect his family?
Whether they would be driven out of their market district—all of this was unknown.
Therefore, he had to get out as soon as possible.
He couldn’t stay here long.
~~~~~~~