Chapter 2834: The Winding Path Leads to Seclusion

Lin Wan'er's words caused Ye Chen to begin, for the first time, seriously considering the question of "whether Meng Changsheng is truly still alive," a question that sounded somewhat absurd at first glance.

Within the Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra, there was no record of allowing a person to live for over a thousand years, so this had long since touched upon his blind spot of knowledge.

In fact, the Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra did not even contain a record of the Everlasting Evergreen Pill.

Even Lin Wan'er herself belonged to Ye Chen's blind spot of knowledge, let alone Meng Changsheng.

On this issue, although there was no direct evidence to prove Meng Changsheng's current life or death, Ye Chen dared not be arrogant in the slightest; the necessary caution could not be skipped, and he could not afford to take it lightly.

Consequently, he said to Lin Wan'er: "I agree very much with the viewpoint Miss Lin just mentioned, but since we have already arrived here, there is no reason to retreat before the battle. Why don't we do as Miss Lin suggested and go together to investigate the truth."

Lin Wan'er knew that it was impossible for Ye Chen to give up easily, and that he was willing to bring her along was already the greatest concession he had made. Therefore, she nodded without hesitation and said: "Good! This servant will go with the Young Master!"

Ye Chen nodded slightly, then sighed softly and said: "If the two of us go together, it is not very realistic to go down from here. Let us turn back and enter the mountains from the opposite direction of the town where Wu Feiyan appeared."

"Good." Lin Wan'er nodded obediently and said: "As long as the Young Master is willing to take this servant, this servant will listen to everything the Young Master arranges."

The two reached a consensus, and Ye Chen no longer delayed. He exited the expressway at the next exit, turned back, passed the location where Wu Feiyan had leaped down, and continued driving for several dozen kilometers before exiting the expressway at the town where Wu Feiyan had left.

The map showed that besides this expressway, there was only one rugged mountain road leading to the outside world from this town. The end of the mountain road began at the foot of a mountain not far away called Mount Qian Dao. Descending the mountain and passing through the town, it connected with the town's main road, and then continued to extend to the expressway's entrance and exit.

If one did not get on the expressway here and continued driving forward, one could reach a national highway that traversed Yunnan and Guangxi.

The location where Wu Feiyan appeared was on the road between the starting point of Mount Qian Dao and the town.

Thus, Ye Chen drove the car to the location where Wu Feiyan appeared, deciding to walk into the mountains from here, generally heading in the direction where Wu Feiyan abandoned her car, to see if he could discover any clues left behind by Wu Feiyan.

After all, Wu Feiyan was in a hurry and in a sorry state when she left. Ye Chen speculated that she should have had no time to deal with the clues she left behind.

After the two got out of the car, Ye Chen brought the equipment for entering the mountains, and together with Lin Wan'er, they headed into the mountains.

After leaving the town road, it was not immediately rugged primeval forest. On both sides of the road, there were almost all terraced fields cultivated by local farmers, so naturally, there were small paths available for people and livestock to walk on, and for motorcycles to drive on.

It just so happened that the direction of this small path coincided with the direction Ye Chen intended to search, so the two walked one after the other along this small path, constantly pushing deeper into the mountains.

The two climbed over a low mountain almost entirely covered by terraced fields and continued to head deeper. At this time, the traces of human activity on both sides were becoming fewer and fewer. Although there were still a few terraced fields occasionally, because they were far from the town, no one had been developing this area for a long time.

When they climbed over the second mountain and began to descend, Ye Chen saw that this rugged small path in the valley ahead changed from a yellowish-brown long strip into a slender Y-shape. Besides this, there was also a winding small river more than a meter wide, flowing all the way to the lower ground along the valley.

The river happened to pass through the intersection of the three straight lines of the Y-shape. Someone had piled up five-step stone piers here. The river flowed slowly through the four gaps between the five-step stone piers. Because these five-step stone piers blocked the speed of the water flow, the water flow formed a buffer zone of about four or five square meters on the left side of the Y-shape. The small stream, which was originally one meter wide, suddenly widened by nearly three meters here.

The small path split into two at the foot of the mountain. The one on the right headed towards the deeper part, while the one on the left led to the top of another mountain on the front left. However, that mountain was much shorter than the one Ye Chen and Lin Wan'er were currently climbing over. And on the top of that mountain, there was a small patch of brownish-red low buildings, and it was unknown what their purpose was.

The Ten Thousand Mountains were originally located in the southwest. Even though it was already the Mid-Autumn season, it was still warm and humid, so the plants here grew exceptionally lush. The hillsides, mountain tops, and valleys were all lush and green, appearing exceptionally pure under the sunlight, completely without any modern labels.

Lin Wan'er followed closely by Ye Chen's side. Looking at the scenery before her, she couldn't help but praise: "The ancients often said that the winding path leads to seclusion. Unexpectedly, the Ten Thousand Mountains, which made people change color at the mention of them back then, have such beautiful and quiet scenery along the way. If one could live here for a period of time, it would definitely be very comfortable and carefree!"

Ye Chen smiled and said: "When the time comes in the future that there is no need to worry about the Anti-Qing Society, I will buy you a few mountains here. You can choose one mountain to build a house, and use the rest to plant tea trees."

Lin Wan'er shook her head and said: "The climate here is not suitable for Pu'er tea trees, but it is suitable for planting some green tea."

As she spoke, Lin Wan'er couldn't help but mutter: "Young Master, although this servant likes tea, this servant has no intention of being a hard-working tea farmer for the rest of this servant's life. There are so many tea trees on Erlang Mountain, and this servant does not yet know how to plant them in the future. You want to buy land for this servant here to plant tea again. Does this servant have to deal with tea all day long in the future?"

Ye Chen smiled and said: "I did not mean that. I just saw that you really like it here, so I had the heart to buy it and give it to you."

Lin Wan'er smiled shyly and said softly: "If the Young Master has this heart, this servant is satisfied."

At this time, the two were standing on the hillside and could see that on the left side of the Y-shaped mountain road, a bald woman wearing a gray robe was also walking down from the mountain. She looked to be in her early twenties, and her facial features were very delicate. Although she had shaved her head, she was still beautiful and pleasing.

The woman was holding a wooden basin in both hands, and there seemed to be some clothes in the basin, as well as a flat wooden stick.

Because that mountain was much shorter than the mountain where Ye Chen and Lin Wan'er were, the girl arrived at the Y-shaped intersection earlier than them.

The girl stopped at the intersection, leaned against the road on the left side of the Y-shape, squatted down by the roadside, then took out a long robe from the wooden basin, wetted and rubbed it in the water, and then beat it hard with the wooden stick.

The wooden stick beat the wet clothes, and the crisp sound of beating echoed gently in the valley.

Lin Wan'er heard it in her ears and saw it in her eyes, and couldn't help but say to Ye Chen: "In the past, this servant also washed clothes like this. Unexpectedly, after so many years, there are still people using this method."

Ye Chen looked at the girl from afar and muttered: "She seems to be a nun. In that case, the red-walled building on the mountain on the left should be a nunnery."

Lin Wan'er nodded slightly and sighed: "Becoming a nun here is even harder than most people who become monks or nuns."

The two continued to walk down along the mountain road. After the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, they had already arrived at the Y-shaped small intersection.

At this time, the nun was still squatting on the side washing clothes. Because Ye Chen and Lin Wan'er had agreed to pretend to be a couple in front of outsiders, he stopped in front of the stone pier, stretched out a hand to Lin Wan'er, and said: "I will hold your hand and take you over."

Lin Wan'er nodded repeatedly shyly, and then handed her small hand to Ye Chen's hand.

Ye Chen held her and stepped over the stone pier, just about to continue on his way to the right side of the Y-shaped intersection, when the young nun who was squatting on the ground washing clothes suddenly stood up, put her hands together, bowed slightly towards Lin Wan'er, and said: "Amitabha, this benefactor, our abbess has been waiting for you for a long time, and would like to invite you to move to the nunnery for a meeting." ===== CHAPTER 2835 =====