Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 448 Nine-fold Mountain

"There are footprints here!"

A member of the Zhong family found some footprints on the riverbank, which, like the previous footprints, had not been there long.

The person who infiltrated the secret realm had obviously crossed the river at the broken bridge.

After observing the situation, Zhong Ying deduced that the other party must also be a cultivator of the fourth realm, otherwise they would not have left such obvious traces when crossing the river.

He quickly led the way, trying to find the other person's location by following the footprints.

Since that person was able to get here smoothly, he must be an extremely skilled practitioner of formations.

Following the trail left by the other party might save a lot of trouble, allowing us to reach the depths of the secret realm and explore places that have never been explored before.

Zhong Ying noticed that the person seemed to think that this secret realm was deserted, so he stopped expending his magic power to conceal his presence and left many traces along the way, allowing them to follow him smoothly.

Lu Zheng and Qing Wan deduced from these remaining traces that the person could not possibly be anyone other than Pang Yun.

However, they did not tell the Zhong family about this matter. It made no difference whether they told them or not, because they did not know Pang Yun's background or methods. They had only met him once.

If they said it, the Zhong family would think that they knew Pang Yun and might be in cahoots.

It's better to avoid trouble. As for encountering Pang Yun later, we should just wait and see.

The two followed the Zhong family members at a leisurely pace, walking along the mountain path.

A path marked by the passage of time, likely built by people in the past in this hidden realm.

Not long after they started walking, Zhong Ying suddenly stopped.

He turned to look at the trees beside him and couldn't help but say, "We've been here before, haven't we?"

They followed the footprints and arrived at an area they had never been to before.

Zhong Ying suddenly realized that they seemed to be going in circles on the path.

I've been here before, but I don't know why I'm passing by again.

Lu Zheng and Qing Wan looked around and felt that they did indeed feel a sense of déjà vu.

Zhong Ying thought for a moment, then continued to lead the way, carefully observing the surroundings and deliberately leaving some marks.

A moment later, everyone saw the familiar scene again, but the marks left behind were gone.

Zhong Ying's eyes flickered, and she couldn't help but say in a deep voice, "It seems we've entered an illusion."

As they spoke, Zhong Ying took out an array plate and attempted to break the array formation here.

The array plate rippled with spiritual light, and an invisible power spread outwards.

After a short while, the array returned to calm.

"Something's wrong..."

Zhong Ying's expression changed. "The magic artifact shows that this place is not an illusion, and the formation here has not been broken."

Zhong Ying didn't think there was no illusion array here; it was just that her magic weapon wasn't of a high enough grade to detect the anomaly.

This magical artifact used to break the formation was the best he had brought, but it was having no effect whatsoever.

In that case, they will probably have to rely on other means to get out of here.

Zhong Ying couldn't help but glance at Lu Zheng, her eyes seemingly asking a question.

At this point, he can't be the only one trying to come up with a solution.

Lu Zheng noticed Zhong Ying's gaze, his eyes gleamed, and he slightly raised his head to scan his surroundings before looking up at the sky.

After observing for a while, Lu Zheng found nothing unusual, and he also did not feel that he was affected by the formation.

Lu Zheng pondered for a moment, then said, "Patriarch Zhong, let's continue. Follow the scent left behind by that person."

Hearing Lu Zheng say that, Zhong Ying raised an eyebrow. They were just going around in circles in the mountains, following that person's aura, weren't they just going around in circles?
But at this point, Zhong Ying didn't have a good solution either; she couldn't very well send people to split up and search for him in the mountains.

The situation in this secret area is still unclear, and splitting up would be disadvantageous for everyone.

Zhong Ying pondered for a moment, nodded, and continued to lead the way.

The Zhong family members followed behind, continuing to observe the surroundings and trying to break the illusion of the place.

Then, the group repeatedly passed through the same place in the mountains.

Qingwan, standing beside Lu Zheng, was equally bewildered by the scene.

"Is this some kind of ghost wall?"

Qingwan not only didn't realize the seriousness of the matter, but also seemed quite excited, as if she had encountered something interesting.

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be, there are no ghosts here."

Apart from the Zhong family members, the atmosphere in the mountains was quite ordinary, nothing special, and even his righteous energy didn't react at all.

"What's going on here? I'm completely confused," Qingwan couldn't help but say. "Is it some kind of high-level formation?"

"I don't know, I haven't learned any formations," Lu Zheng shook his head.

Upon hearing this, the Zhong family members in front turned around and looked at Lu Zheng with surprise and uncertainty in their eyes.

Zhong Qing couldn't help but whisper, "Senior, you haven't learned any formations?"

This is not the time for modesty or jokes; everyone is lost in the mountains and can't find their way out.

Lu Zheng smiled slightly and said, "I haven't really studied it much. I can use the array plate you made, but I'm not very good at setting up arrays."

This wasn't just Lu Zheng being modest. Although he had some understanding of formations before, he simply didn't have the time or energy to study them properly, and could only barely get started.

Zhong Ying's expression was uncertain. So, Lu Zheng's earlier instruction to keep going was also because he couldn't find a way out? How were they going to get out of this mountain then?
Zhong Ying looked at the dense forest in the mountains. They could no longer fly and could only travel on foot. If the entire mountain was under the formation, it would be even more difficult to leave without following the path.

Seeing that everyone's expressions had turned grim, Lu Zheng couldn't help but say, "There's always a way out. Patriarch Zhong, just lead the way."

Seeing that Lu Zheng's expression was normal, Zhong Ying couldn't figure out what Lu Zheng was thinking.

"Have you discovered something?" Zhong Jia couldn't help but ask. "Please speak frankly."

As the head of the family, he certainly has the ability to read people's expressions.

Lu Zheng's current behavior suggests he has discovered something; otherwise, why would he be so calm?

Hearing Zhong Ying's question, Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Intuition."

Lu Zheng did have a guess, but he couldn't find any evidence, so he couldn't confirm his speculation or explain it.

As for his intuition, Lu Zheng did feel that there was nothing wrong with continuing down this path.

Repeating the same route multiple times is a way to learn from experience; you'll always discover something along the way.

Intuition... The others looked strange upon hearing Lu Zheng's words.

For those who practice spirituality, intuition can be very useful at times, but that's only sometimes.

Their intuition told them they were in a bad situation; they'd already gone through so many detours in the mountains…

Seeing Lu Zheng's confident and resolute words, Zhong Ying was speechless for a moment.

A hint of unease flashed in his eyes, but he continued to lead the way.

Zhong Ying remained quite calm, after all, they had encountered many dangers when they came to this secret realm before.

We're just wandering around in the mountains right now; it's not yet time to reach a dead end.

Anyway, they had plenty of time, but what was strange was that they didn't see the person who had arrived earlier than them. Could it be that the person had already left this place? Zhong Ying walked along, lost in thought.

Then, the group continued to meander through the mountains.

"I'm back again. I've passed by here so many times..."

Qingwan spotted a familiar-looking tree ahead and couldn't help but mutter to herself.

Compared to the others, Lu Zheng showed no worries whatsoever, his expression as if he were enjoying a leisurely stroll in the mountains.

Lu Zheng did some calculations, looked at the stars in the sky, and said, "It should be soon."

"What?" Zhong Ying turned around abruptly.

Lu Zhengdao said, "I feel like we're almost out."

Everyone was puzzled upon hearing this. Could someone have such an accurate intuition?

The group walked for a while longer in the mountains.

Lu Zheng's eyes lit up as he looked at a grove of trees and said, "We can go out now."

Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to stare at Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng walked towards the woods with his hands behind his back, and Qing Wan and the others followed closely behind.

Then, the group walked through the woods and found another mountain path in front of them.

"Huh? There's actually a path here? How come we didn't notice it before?"

Zhong Qing's beautiful eyes sparkled with curiosity.

They had noticed the grove of trees earlier, but they hadn't found anything unusual. They didn't know how Lu Zheng had figured it out.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "There's no road like this on the mountains we've traveled before."

Zhong Ying's expression shifted, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Those mountains before? You mean we didn't go around in the mountains, there was no illusion at all, and there were several identical mountains?"

Lu Zheng nodded. "Patriarch Zhong is right."

Upon hearing this, everyone else looked on incredulously.

"How can this be!"

One of the Zhong family members couldn't help but say, "Several mountains that are exactly the same, even the roads and the vegetation are identical?"

Along their journey, they found no difference between the mountains; they were all exactly the same.

If that's the case, it would also explain why the traces they left behind along the way never seem to exist.

Because they didn't take the same path at all, they just took completely similar paths.

They had previously thought that the marks left behind had been erased by the formation, which was why they couldn't find them.

Zhong Ying looked surprised and was very curious. "How did you figure that out?"

He still found it hard to believe. How could there be so many completely identical green hills? Could humans have created them?

Lu Zheng looked up at the sky and said, "I noticed that the stars in the sky have very subtle differences in position whenever we pass through a place that is repeated."

“I’ve observed that those stars don’t move, so there’s only one possibility: we’re not on the same path.”

"So, I suspect that there might be several identical mountain peaks that misled us into thinking we had entered an illusion."

Zhong Ying said with a strange expression, "Then why don't you think it's the changes brought about by the high-level illusion array that are misleading you?"

Lu Zheng explained, "Speaking of which, this is indeed a high-level illusion array, a very special one. I have heard of it in a certain book; it is called Ninefold Mountain."

(End of this chapter)