Chapter 172: Peach Orchard Valley

Fine rain drizzled continuously, the sky overcast, the endless forest damp and soggy.

This is nothing but torture!

Can't see it from above, can't find it from below.

If one breaks through to the Primordial Dan Realm, scanning with intent would be much easier.

Reaching the ninth level of the Qi Sea Realm, one first enters the Fake Pill stage; the Fake Pill endures life and death, then condenses into a Golden Core—how could that be easy…

Hou Zhenfang, Dao Ba, and four others flew up and down through the forest, making a sorry sight.

They had roughly locked onto Heng Xian's escape route, but still hadn't seen him.

"No matter what, we must find him!" Hou Zhenfang said, his voice dark and grim, "I can't forget the faces of those hundreds of fellow disciples when they died—among them was the junior sister I care about most, and the uncle who treated me like his own son!"

Dao Ba licked his lips: "I have it simple—I just want to kill him, claim the reward, and make a fortune!"

Beside, a female disciple of the Overlord Sect said in a low voice: "First, don't talk about anything else—this person is at the sixth level of the Qi Sea Realm, possesses an Ancient Sword Body, and has combat power approaching the ninth level of the Qi Sea Realm; do not underestimate him—upon sight, one strike must kill!"

Kill your mother's big watermelon!

At that moment, a voice came from the thicket over ten meters to the left—it was Heng Xian.

The four were stunned, then shouted angrily: "Heng Xian! Where are you going!"

Four against one, they began a frantic chase again.

They chased for a full hour, the fine rain turned into a moderate downpour, and the sky became extremely overcast.

Hou Zhenfang and his four companions grew even more disheveled, covered in leaves and thorns, yet as they pursued, Heng Xian vanished once more into the forest.

"Where did this bastard run off to again?" Hou Zhenfang cursed angrily.

Dao Ba hesitated for a moment: "Does he have some special forest-escape movement technique?"

"Your movement technique, you mother!" came a somewhat teasing voice from twenty meters ahead—it was Heng Xian.

Bastard! Shameless!

The four gave chase again.

Both sides went back and forth—you advance, I retreat; you stop, I curse. The four ahead still radiated killing intent, but behind they were exhausted, jumpy at every shadow, fearing Heng Xian might pop out to ambush them anywhere.

Just before sunset, the equally disheveled Heng Xian walked out of the forest; Hou Zhenfang's four were exhausted, and so was he—he simply had no strength left for a sneak attack!

Immediately, he sprinted off along the route set by the Heavenly Hexagram.

As dawn approached, after running an unknown few hundred li, he arrived at a place of clear mountains and beautiful waters, beside a small river with a riverbank.

Heng Xian had already suffered some bruises from a hard fight with Hou Zhenfang and his companions in Altar Water City; then he ran to Light Yang Mountain to refine a batch of pills, after which he led Hou Zhenfang's four on a day-long run, leaving him utterly exhausted.

He involuntarily closed his eyes and lay spread-eagled on the riverbank.

Not long after, a sound of giggling and chuckling reached his ears; listening, it sounded like a group of girls.

Heng Xian slightly lifted his head, squinting to take a look.

He saw a group of girls wearing strange, ethnic-minority-style clothing, approaching while carrying wooden basins and garments.

For a moment, the sound of pendants chiming and the gleam of pearls and kingfisher feathers made quite a pretty sight.

Heng Xian was pondering how to leave and find a safe place to swallow a pill and break through his realm,

Then he heard a group of girls exclaim in surprise: "Wow! There's a person over there!"

Heng Xian, as if possessed, closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.

Soon, a blend of floral and bodily fragrance accompanied the girls' chattering voices in his ears.

Still breathing, not dead!

Still a young lad!

He must be someone from outside, right?

He's covered in scrapes, I don't know how he got them—let's carry him back!

What if he's a bad person?

Look at his appearance—he's quite handsome, not like a bad person; as the teacher said, "appearance reflects the heart!"

Feigning unconsciousness, Heng Xian couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "My looks…"

Just as he was thinking that, several pairs of small hands grabbed his feet, and then… his lower half was dragged along the ground, being pulled forward over the mortar and pebbles.

Heng Xian: "???"

"Won't dragging him like this cause a problem?" a pleasant voice asked.

"He's unconscious and can't feel pain!" another voice said.

Then even more hands grabbed his legs, and… someone even took hold of his… private area at the base of his thighs.

Heng Xian suddenly felt an urge to explode upward and flee.

That pleasant voice exclaimed, "Ah! Xiao Mei, don't grab there!"

The grip loosened, and a simpleton voice said: "Why? It was handy to grab hold."

The pleasant voice explained: "The teacher said, men and women should not be intimate—women must not touch men above or below, and men must not touch women below; otherwise… they might have a child!"

The simpleton voice cried out in horror: "I've ruined his child—good heavens!"

"Who taught you to mess around like that…"

Nearby, a chorus of laughter rang out.

Heng Xian: "..."

The pleasant voice sighed: "Just once—it doesn't necessarily mean pregnancy."

"Good, good!"

A group of girls carelessly dragged Heng Xian along as they continued on their way.

Heng Xian's urge to burst forth faded again; since the Heavenly Hexagram indicated this area was safe, he decided to stay awhile before deciding what to do next.

After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he seemed to have reached a certain village, the surroundings very noisy; then he was dragged into a certain room.

Finally, a pair of big hands lifted him onto a hard plank bed.

Afterward, the noise gradually faded.

Until the door was also closed, Heng Xian opened his eyes; this was a simple but very clean wooden room, the style of the tables, chairs, and stools was quite strange, yet very exquisite.

He got up and left the bed, looking out through the crack in the door; all he saw was a mountain village, with bamboo and wooden houses hidden among mountain flowers and bamboo groves, endless in sight.

Ahead was a main street, where many men, women, old and young wore strange clothing and held delicate wooden umbrellas.

From the surroundings, this should be a Shi Wai Tao Yuan deep in the mountains.

Heng Xian opened the 'Mysterious Yellow Heavenly Hexagram': 'Is there any danger or taboo here?'

The hexagram showed: 【This place has rich spiritual energy, a remote environment, no danger within half a month, but there is an ancient site.

Within this ancient site there is an Ultra-Spiritual Sword Technique Fragment, which can be called a Fate Opportunity.】

No danger is good.

Heng Xian really couldn't attend to much, lay back on the bed, secretly cultivated his technique, and entered deep meditation.

……

After who knows how long, in a daze, someone fed him a spoonful of something, leaving his mouth all sticky.

Heng Xian opened his eyes; before him was a round face, long eyelashes, and red cherry lips.

Their eyes met; the girl in front exclaimed 'ah' and stepped back four or five steps, the bowl of porridge in her hand nearly falling to the ground, her chest heaving: 'You, you woke up?'

It was that 'pleasant voice'.

Heng Xian slowly sat up: 'Where is this? Who are you?'

The girl relaxed a lot, put down the porridge bowl, wiped her hands on her apron: 'This, this place is Peach Orchard Valley, I am A Su; you fainted on the riverbank before the valley, and we brought you back here.'

Originally we were going to send you to Xiao Mei's home, but Xiao Mei's family has too few houses; my father is an Elder, our family has an extra house, so we brought you here.

Heng Xian nodded: 'Then thank you!'

A Su felt a little embarrassed: 'It's fine, don't thank me… um… who are you? Where are you from?'

Heng Xian spoke solemnly: 'My name is Murong De; I am a farmer who, while hunting in the mountains, encountered a monster, accidentally fell into the river, and was washed over here.'

A Su laughed: 'Then you can recuperate in the valley for a while; leave when your body is healed.'

Heng Xian nodded: 'Okay!'

Just then, a sound of wooden clappers came from outside.

A Su cried 'aiya' and ran out: 'Sir, it's time for class!'

'Class??' Heng Xian stared for a moment.

(End of chapter)