“Better not,” Xu Xinyuan said. “Meeting him is dangerous.”

“Well, the man has come all the way here, and I’d be doing him a disservice by not seeing him,” Guo Zhenghe said with a smile. “How about I just meet him from afar?”

“What do you mean to say?”

“We’ll talk about this later.” Guo Zhenghe smiled and waved.

The day was sunny, and the sky was bright.

A visitor appeared in the northern village. The man looked to be in his 40s and had a golden complexion. He wore rather old clothes as he walked on the village road.

A ringing chime was heard from behind him as he moved to the side.

A man in his 20s riding a bicycle stopped near the man. He eyed him for a bit.

“You are not from here,” the young man said.

“Indeed.”

“Where are you from?”

“The south.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Just looking around,” the middle-aged replied with a smile.

“Oh, looking around, good.” The young man smiled and rode away on his bicycle.

This is interesting. The middle-aged man stared at the back of that young man.

The young man riding the bicycle was teeming with lifeforce, and his qi was reserved. The older man found it rather intriguing that a tiny village like this had someone of such caliber in their midst. Furthermore, he was quite young.

“I met a weird guy in the village,” Jia Zizai told his wife after getting home on his bicycle.

“What do you mean weird guy?” she asked.

“I can’t quite place it,” Jia Zizai said. “He just felt weird to me. He said he was from the south. When I asked why was he here, he said that he was just looking around.”

“Well, this is not your village and not some sort of forbidden ground,” Hu Mei said with a chuckle. “Are you saying that we don’t allow outsiders in here now?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jia Zizai replied. “Anyway, he just felt weird to me. I’ll look into it later.”

The middle-aged man changed direction while he was on the road. He headed to the western mountain along the mountain path.

Huh? He stopped after he passed through a dead spot. He squatted to check the cemented dirt.

Why are there curse bugs in here? He was rather shocked.

It was something extremely rare in the north. The climate and overall environment in the north were vastly different from the south, making it unsuitable for rearing such poisonous bugs.

It’s a damn shame. He sighed and rose. If the place had been near his village, he would have dug it up to see what kind of bug was down there. He knew that the cement was not able to kill those bugs down there.

He left the place behind and found another dead spot not long after he had started walking.

There’re more? He bent over to take a better look.

There probably is a passage linking these two spots down there. He rose and checked his surroundings.

This is strange. This doesn’t look like a place capable of producing such bugs!

He went up to the peak of the western mountain. From his vantage point, he was able to look down at the village below. He scanned the place a bit and locked his gaze on the building with the black roof and white walls located at the southernmost end of the village.

That is probably the place they talked about. Nice compound, I’d say. He did not rush down. Instead, he continued scanning his surroundings. His shock was indescribable when he saw the patch of greenery on the southern mountain.

How could this be!? How could there be a place like this out here?

He quickly regained his composure before beginning to walk with great strides to that place.

He halted his steps when he got closer to the southern mountain.

“There is such thick Qi around this place!” He exclaimed in astonishment as he eyed the lush, vibrant southern mountain.

This place is but a collection of hills, so how could there be such a thick nimbus gathered there?

He did not rush to check the place out because rocks were getting in his way.

This is a messy rock formation.

When he saw it, he recalled the period of the three kingdoms thousands of years ago. There had been a similar formation used by Zhuge Liang to trap Lu Xun and his tens of thousands strong army from Eastern Wu back, which almost ended up killing all of them.

The Qimen Dunjia, eh? I never thought I’d see something like this over here. Things are really getting interesting in these parts. Just who the hell is the person setting up all of this?

He did not choose to barge in by force. Instead, he circled the place.

While Wang Yao had placed many obstacles outside of the southern mountain, the defenses were hardly seamless. One was able to make it further inside as long as they were careful enough. As such, he made it further inside and seemed to have caught sight of a herbal field.

An herbal medicinal field?

After he saw what was inside, his eyes immediately glistened.

He intended to move inside further, but he suddenly saw wobbling trees and felt his head becoming heavy.

Poison?

He instantly realized that something was off with the place. He retreated several steps and held his breath in. He ingested some pills that he had brought with him. The discomfort he had experienced only slightly dissipated somewhat. He was unable to entirely get rid of it.

Definitely some poison. I wonder what kind of herb is capable of unleashing such a potent poisonous gas.

“Is someone in there?” he shouted at the place and found no response from any person.

Woof!

Just when he was about to navigate through the puzzling formation again, a huge dog suddenly appeared right before him.

“This is an ancient reversion!” He was thoroughly shocked when he saw what that dog looked like.

There were too many things that shocked him on just two mountains in some tiny village that day. He had never been so excited and happy the past dozen years.

“I have to see what is in there.”

A dog with ancient characteristics was of no threat to him.

The man and dog fought in the mountains for a bit. The tables turned against the dog.

Wang Yao was still in the clinic beneath the mountain.

Huh?

He heard loud barks from the mountain. The barks sounded frustrated.

Something is happening up there!

“Hold on for a minute,” Wang Yao said to the patient he was treating.

He went outside the clinic.

“Liuchuan, come and take care of the clinic,” he shouted at the west. His voice was clearly heard tens of feet away. It traveled all the way to the ears of Zhong Liuchuan, who was reading a book at home.

When he heard that, Zhong Liuchuan immediately left his home.

“Will do, Master,” he shouted in the direction of the clinic.

Wang Yao leaped tens of feet away after hearing the response from his student. He arrived at the foot of the southern mountain in no time. He quickly headed up it.

The dog was slumped outside the herbal field, panting and bleeding.

The illusory formation was torn apart through sheer force. There was someone else standing in there.

“Hold on for a bit, San Xian.”

He took a Prolongation Pill and stuffed it into the dog’s mouth. He knew the dog was going to be fine.

In a single step, he went into the field.

After hearing footsteps from behind, the man who had barged into the herbal field pointed at a low plant and asked, “What is this?”

“Ziyu.”

“Ziyu, eh? What are its effects?”

“It clears the meridian pathways.”

“Hmm. Magic herbs, I take it?”

“Yes.”

“Miao Xihe?” Wang Yao stood where he was and stared at the man with a golden complexion before him. He was easily able to guess the man’s identity.

“Indeed. You must be Wang Yao.”

“I am. I wonder what brought you all the way here, Chief Miao?” Wang Yao was doing his best to suppress the anger he felt deep down.

That was the first time in a very long time that someone barged onto the southern mountain. Worse still, the intruder managed to enter the herbal field and injured the dog guarding the place.

“I’ve heard of you for quite a while,” Miao Xihe said, feeling rather impressed. “Now that I get to see you for myself today, you’re indeed something else altogether. This mountain of yours holds more surprises than what have expected to find.”

“I should have come here earlier.”

“It’s not all that late that you’re here now,” Wang Yao said with a smirk.

“A true ascended being teemed with life force.” Miao Xihe suddenly blurted that line at Wang Yao.

“You flatter me, Chief Miao,” Wang Yao replied with a laugh.