Chapter 820: Qingqiu Mountain, Tushan (1/2)

Ah Bao’s pretty eyes immediately creased into crescents from the force of her smile. Without further ado, the little fox stiffened and toppled out of her embrace.

“Now now, no more joking, Ah Bao. Foxes are sentient creatures, so we can’t eat them. No no,” sounded an aged and kindly voice from the distance. An elder with a benevolent expression—the chief of Ning Village—plodded over to them.

“Shan’er, are you feeling better?” Picking up the little fox from the ground, the chief patted her furry little head and placed her back into Ah Bao’s arms.

Ah Bao caressed the fox’s smooth fur with peals of delightful chuckles that tinkled like a silver bell.

“Thank you for your care during this time, grandpa village chief, I feel much better.” Lu Yun jumped down from his boulder of bluestone and stretched mightily. “I’d like to follow the hunters into the forest tomorrow.”

With his current strength, entering the forests of the mountain was to seek death. Horrifying beast roars sounded from the woods from time to time, and given that Lu Yun was less than a mundane mortal at the moment, he’d find nothing but a grisly end if he ventured in.

“We can talk about that later.” The village chief took a seat on the ground and looked closely at Lu Yun. “Shan’er, you don’t seem like a child of the mountains… you seem more like the rich sons of the big villages outside.”

Lu Yun’s heart skipped a beat. In the past six months that he’d recovered in Ning Village, none of the village people had probed for his background. Though this land seemed far removed from the rest of the world, conflicts and strife existed in it all the same. Permitting an outsider to stay with them for half a year was the limit of their tolerance.

“You’re very right, grandpa, I’m not from here… I’m from Nephrite Major,” Lu Yun answered tentatively.

“Nephrite Major?” The village chief and Ah Bao looked at each other, confusion registering in their eyes. “Where’s Nephrite Major?”

Is this actually a secret realm completely isolated from the world?

Everyone in the world of immortals should know about the twenty-four facets. Even residents of undeveloped secret realms or fringe territories would have a vague notion. Unless, this really was an independent secret realm completely cut off from the rest of the world…

Entering a place like this was difficult, and leaving it even harder!

When they’d restored the void realm, Qing Yu had seen many places like this one during her meld with the immortal dao. Inhabitants of such places were primitive, but possessed great strength. They knew nothing about the world of immortals or of the immortal dao.

Had the primordial ruin sent Lu Yun to one such place after its explosion?

If that was the case, there wasn’t much he was worried about. All he had to do was focus on recovery and setting foot on the path of immortality again. Once he recovered the Tome of Life and Death and Xing Chen, he’d be able to return to the world of immortals proper.

“Nephrite Major… is a place very far away. I was gravely injured after a fight with my enemy and fell here.” It was better to tell the truth now than shy away from addressing it. One lie needed countless others to make sense out of it, so it was better to just admit what had really happened.

“Then Shan’er is a great expert of wondrous battle techniques?” The village chief smiled.

“Not really a great expert, I just know some methods.” Lu Yun shook his head.

“You’re being too humble.” The village chief’s smile deepened. “Alright, rest here in Ning Village. If you wish to enter the mountain, just tell Ah Zhuang and have the hunters take you with them.”

He left without further concern about Lu Yun’s background. He’d been the one to save the young man, so he knew how Lu Yun had gained his injuries. If Lu Yun had lied just now, he would’ve been thrown out of the village the next day.

People of the mountain were honest and unsophisticated, but that didn’t mean they liked being lied to.