Chapter 149: Chapter 149: In the Mountains
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
In the distant sky, energy surged tumultuously. Ji Chen flew swiftly, and behind him, those powerful members of the Ancient Race launched fierce attacks, but none could catch up to his pace.
With the Grand Array broken, he had to escape as quickly as possible. If he fell into the hands of those Ancient Race experts, his fate would certainly be grim.
In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.
Ji Chen was still flying rapidly. He had long since left Yao City and flew out of the Nether Realm, entering the Forbidden Domain.
For these seven days, those Ancient Race experts had been relentlessly pursuing him, chasing him for tens of thousands of miles.
This left Ji Chen no room to relax. Although he had lost those Ancient Race experts far behind three days ago, to be safe, Ji Chen wanted to travel further to ensure they couldn’t catch up.
Another two days passed, and finally, Ji Chen descended in a large mountain area. Confirming that he had shaken off those Ancient Race experts, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking at the boundless mountains ahead, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself, "It seems I need to hide away for a while, at least until things settle down."
As for the Lingyun Sect, Ji Chen wasn’t worried. Before leaving, he had reinforced the Mountain Protection Array multiple times. Now, the array’s protection was such that even if a Saint descended, they might not easily break it.
With this array in place, the Lingyun Sect should be fine. Besides, there’s Nangong Ao’s deterrent; even if the Ancient Race couldn’t find him, they wouldn’t dare rashly trouble the Lingyun Sect.
As he walked alone in the forest, Ji Chen originally planned to find a relatively safe place to hide for some days until things quieted down before emerging again. But after not walking for long, he noticed signs of human activity in the deep mountains.
"Hmm? There’s a village?"
After advancing a little further, a village appeared before him.
Upon releasing his Divine Thought, he instantly covered the area ahead and learned that there were nearly a hundred people in the village, all of whom were ordinary mountain villagers without cultivation.
Knowing this, Ji Chen breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Without hesitation, he walked toward the village entrance.
Some young children were playing in front of the village at this moment.
As they noticed Ji Chen approaching, the children instantly became more cautious, their eyes looking toward him.
Clearly, this village was almost isolated from the outside world. The mountain villagers lived by hunting all year round, and because of the remote location, outsiders rarely approached here over the years.
Now with Ji Chen’s appearance, it’s natural that these children became timid.
"Uncle, who are you?"
A bold boy asked. He looked about eight or nine years old and was the oldest among the children.
"Goudan, come back quickly. My mom said not to talk to strangers, or we might get kidnapped and sold."
The other children had already retreated to the village entrance, shouting from afar.
"Oh."
The boy called Goudan replied, took another look at Ji Chen, seemed to want to say something, but in the end, didn’t open his mouth, and instead turned and ran toward the village.
Looking at the timid faces of these children, Ji Chen intended to turn around and leave, not wanting to disturb the village’s peace.
"Uncle, here you go."
But suddenly, just as he turned, a voice came from behind him.
Ji Chen was taken aback and turned to see a little girl mustering her courage, approaching him with a paper crane.
This little girl was very young, appearing to be about three years old, the youngest of the children.
She looked at Ji Chen with her big innocent eyes, and her rosy little face appeared very cute.
Ji Chen couldn’t help but crouch down, raised his hand to pat her little head, and asked with a smile, "What’s your name?"
"I’m Yanyan."
The little girl replied, seeing that Ji Chen hadn’t taken her paper crane. She continued, "This is for Uncle, so Uncle won’t kidnap us to sell, right?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Chen couldn’t help but laugh, pinched her cute little cheeks, "Uncle is not a bad person."
"Really?" She asked skeptically.
Just then, some commotion came from the village entrance.
It was an adult who had been called over.
This was a young man, presumably around thirty, but due to living in the deep mountains for long, he appeared quite aged, like someone in middle age.
"Dad."
Goudan walked over and, together with the man, approached Ji Chen.
The man’s eyes scanned Ji Chen up and down. Though he seemed somewhat cautious, there was no hostility. He asked, "Where are you from? Did you get lost in the mountains?"
At this moment, Ji Chen looked somewhat disheveled.
After experiencing a great battle in Yao City and being chased for thousands of miles by Ancient Race experts, he appeared like a refugee fleeing chaos. It’s no wonder the other party thought he was lost in the mountains.
"Sort of."
Ji Chen nodded and said to him, "I passed through here, didn’t intend to disturb, and will leave soon."
"Wait."
The man called out to Ji Chen, pausing briefly before saying, "Seeing your current state, I’m afraid you’ve had a tough time in the mountains these days, right? If you don’t mind, you can rest at my home for a while. Once you’ve recovered, I’ll escort you out of the mountains."
Though the youth had little contact with the outside world, he exhibited the simplicity of a mountain villager.
He knew these mountains could easily cause people to lose their way. If Ji Chen were to leave alone, it might not take long before he starved in the mountains or became prey for wild beasts.
"This..."
Ji Chen hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded, "Very well, thank you."
He truly wanted to find a place to stay for a while; this isolated mountain village was a good choice.
Additionally, after the great battle in Yao City, Ji Chen faintly sensed that his breakthrough was imminent, and he needed to settle down quickly.
"Yanyan, it seems your mother is looking everywhere for you. Hurry back and don’t keep her waiting."
The young man led Ji Chen into the village, not forgetting to speak to the little girl, who was about three years old.
"Oh."
The little girl nodded obediently, looked at Ji Chen again, and handed the paper crane out once more.
Ji Chen smiled, finding this little girl very endearing. Without hesitation, he took the paper crane.
"Goodbye, Uncle."
Seeing Ji Chen accepting her gift, she immediately beamed with joy and ran back into the village without looking back.