An Chen was launched out by the giant slingshot again. Compared to the first time, An Chen seemed much more at ease this time. In the air, he was already able to maintain his posture well, effortlessly.
If he wasn't worried about not being 'captured' by the Formation at the foot of the mountain to help him land, An Chen even felt that he could practice Qingyun Step in this situation.
But his Spiritual Qi was still too weak; even though he was very proficient in Qingyun Step, he still couldn't maintain a lower speed when landing.
Last time, if there hadn't been a river, he would have been half-crippled from the fall.
“Oh, that’s a bit rare.”
Seeing An Chen being captured by the Formation and slowly lowered to the ground, the Little Old Man watching the Formation fanned himself and chuckled.
“Every year, when new Disciples take this giant slingshot for the first time, they refuse to take it again for several months after one trip. Someone like you, who comes back after just a few days, is truly rare!”
An Chen smiled.
“Senior is joking. I just don’t have money.”
“Hey!” The Little Old Man patted his stomach and said, “If you don’t have money, you have to earn it! Didn’t you go down the mountain to earn Spirit Stones?”
An Chen smiled but didn't speak.
This Little Old Man probably thought he was a Disciple going down the mountain to complete a mission.
“Senior, this is the second time we’ve met, and I still don’t know your name.”
“My surname is Luo. You can just call me Steward Luo.”
Steward Luo put down his fan and took a sip of tea from his large mug.
His tea wasn't some Heavenly Spirit Tea; it was just ordinary tea leaves.
“Steward Luo, see you next time.”
An Chen bowed in farewell, but this time, he didn't enter the city. Instead, he walked towards a direction outside the city.
The tongshen jade talisman could also transmit geographical positioning, and Zhang Wei had already sent him the location of his 'home'.
This location was quite a distance from Qingfeng City, a full ten-plus kilometers. For someone with poor leg strength, it might take a whole day to walk.
However, this distance was not long for An Chen.
Activating Qingyun Step, his speed could reach several times that of running, and with the flat terrain nearby, even with forests, he could run much faster than he could in the back mountains.
The ten-plus kilometer distance took him less than half an hour.
Along the way, An Chen passed several villages, but none of them were his destination. As he was about to reach his destination, he encountered another village. This time, he slowed his pace and gazed from afar.
Then, he turned and walked towards the forest outside the village.
Their family were hunters.
At least, that was the identity Zhang Wei had given him.
In every village, there were a few families who hunted. Some hunters lived deep in the forest all year round, going to the village at fixed times to exchange animal furs and meat for food. But there were also hunter families who simply lived in the forest, cultivating a small plot of fertile land and living a self-sufficient life.
Therefore, sometimes, people in the villages wouldn't even know there was such a family in the forest.
This way, even if someone investigated, they wouldn't necessarily have checked on the hunters in the woods.
“Hunters?”
“Seems so.”
This time, not only the Grand Elder followed, but Zhao Qingfeng also came along.
“Did the people you sent down the mountain to investigate check on the hunters in the forest?”
The Grand Elder shook his head.
“Tsk, how could the people you found be so careless!”
The Grand Elder shook his head again.
“What I mean is, I didn’t ask before. I’m asking now.”
The Grand Elder quickly took out his tongshen jade talisman. After a moment, the Grand Elder looked up.
“Indeed not. After all, he’s a Steward in the Spirit Nurturing Stage. Without a complete Primordial Spirit, he can’t project his Divine Sense outwards. Going into the forest to search house by house is too troublesome, and he might not find everyone. How could he be like us, who know everything with one sweep of Divine Sense?”
Zhao Qingfeng nodded helplessly.
“Alright then. By the way, which Steward did you find?”
“The one who was just chatting with that kid.”
The two of them trailed far behind An Chen, relying on their Divine Sense from a super-visual distance to follow An Chen into the forest.
This part of the mountain forest was not like the back mountain; there were no Spiritual Veins nurturing underground, no Spirit Medicine or Spirit Plants on the ground, and certainly no Yao Beasts. There were only some ordinary animals in the forest.
An Chen recalled the location Zhang Wei had given him and the map of this area in his mind, walking calmly and confidently, sometimes straight, sometimes turning, as if he were very familiar with this place.
And the path he took was basically the fastest shortcut, and he could easily bypass some obstacles... even if those obstacles were no longer shortcuts for him, a Cultivator.
The deeper he went into the forest, the slower An Chen's steps became. He walked while observing the scenery around him.
This was not the kind of 'looking around everywhere,' but more like appreciation.
“How nostalgic…”
An Chen sighed softly, then suddenly quickened his pace.
“Mom, I’m home!”
After running only a couple of steps, a small wooden house appeared before his eyes. Not far from the wooden house was a plot of land, not large, but enough to support a family.
Several animal furs hung at the entrance of the wooden house, and the wooden tabletop at the entrance was red, looking as if it had been stained by blood for a long time…
An Chen couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
Although Zhang Wei was a bit annoying, he handled things really well.
While it wasn't absolutely flawless, An Chen felt it was already very good.
A figure appeared at the doorway. This person was thin and scrawny, with a poor complexion and a sickly appearance. Her sallow face made one feel a little heartache just looking at it.
“Mom!”
An Chen recognized his 'mother' at a glance and quickly went forward to support her.
“Aren’t you feeling unwell? Why did you come out of the house?”
An Chen's voice was anxious as he helped her, about to go back inside.
An Chen glanced at the back of his 'mother's' right hand and noticed that the color of her hand was a bit strange.
She must have covered up the Transcendent's mark on the back of her hand.
His 'mother', whom he was supporting, felt a bit stiff. Realizing An Chen was pushing her towards the house, she finally moved her feet, taking small steps into the house.
“I just heard your voice and hoped you would come back, so I came out to see if it was you… I originally thought I was having hallucinations again…”
After speaking so much in one breath, the woman suddenly stopped and gasped for a few breaths, as if she didn't even have the strength to say half a word more.
“Mom… eat this! This is a Medicinal Pill for Cultivator. If you eat it, you’ll get better!”
An Chen took out two bottles of Body Nourishing Pills from his qiankun bag, opened one of them, and poured out a Medicinal Pill.
“No, Mom, this must be very precious… You keep it for yourself!”
An Chen felt a little anxious when he heard that.
“Mom, I have money now in the Qingfeng Sect, and these Medicinal Pills aren’t expensive at all! I have plenty more! Besides, I went to the Qingfeng Sect precisely to get medicine for you!”
Without further ado, An Chen took the Medicinal Pill and put it into the woman's mouth.