Chapter 113: A Hug Between Men

  ps：

  PS: Thank you to the dazed girl for her reward support. Previously, I fell off a motorcycle and injured my knee. Although it's not serious, walking is still quite painful. Yesterday, my family went out to visit relatives, no one sent me to town, so I couldn't update. Today there are two updates again. I thought about making up for the word count, but the electricity at home was too terrible, always flashing like neon lights, and it would suddenly go out without warning. The battery in my laptop almost never had a chance to be fully charged, and it stopped working for half a day. It's very frustrating, everything is different from what I planned before going back home!

  This is a relatively prosperous town near Donghua Ridge, but the area of Donghua Ridge is very large. Before arriving at Donghua Ridge and searching for it in the mountains, Zuo Xiaoyao and the three others had not found their destination, so they set their sights on the three men and one woman, which led to this 'accidental' encounter.

  The woman named Bai Qin, though dissatisfied in her heart, did not dare to go against Jin HuaHui's intentions. After a slight courtesy, she left first, leaving Jin HuaHui and the three others walking towards the outskirts of the town, trying to extract information from them without revealing his true intentions.

  To probe whether Lao Hongtian and Zuo Xiaoyao had any connection, they pretended to be sincere and said that since their master took in several of his fellow apprentices, he had never seen him have friends or relatives visit, which made the two fellow apprentices suspicious and rude earlier. After all, many people wanted to get close to him out of admiration, even just to see him once, enough to make those who really had ulterior motives feel ashamed when their true faces were exposed after making up excuses to approach their master.

  Zuo Xiao Yao and the other two had originally only been searching for Luo Hong Tian, and didn't want to go through too much trouble, so they decided to get Luo Hong Tian's hiding place directly from these two people.

  Four people walked quickly enough. In less than half a time, they had already arrived at Donghua Ridge and were brought by Jin HuaHui to the lakeside of a large lake in the valley. After scanning with spiritual awareness, neither did they feel any fluctuations in spiritual energy nor did they find any place where humans could live. Left Xiaoyao and the other two were somewhat puzzled, and after secretly discussing it through voice transmission, they finally decided to continue following Jin HuaHui without making a sound. Anyway, with his early-stage Nascent Soul cultivation and ordinary martial skills, he was no match for the three of them.

  As Jin HuaHui walked to the left side of a stone wall and pressed one of the fist-sized protrusions, the originally flat and smooth stone wall suddenly moved automatically to both sides, opening a nearly five-meter-wide door, without revealing any spiritual power. Apparently, these were set up by those master craftsmen from the mortal world.

  The three people by the lake didn't directly enter, but with their spiritual awareness, nothing in the stone cave could escape their notice. Zuo Xiao Yao laughed and said, "Brother Luo has really gone to great lengths for this hidden residence, entering and exiting requires a boat ride. Is he living underwater?"

  Qin Xiao shook his head, "It won't work. Seeing this, I recall the Rong family's Huanyue Manor on Liuyi Mountain, which has a great view. However, that manor was built directly over water and could only exist for a long time after the Rong ancestors repeatedly reinforced the array with their cultivation reaching the Golden Dan stage or higher. With Hong Tian's current strength, it's definitely not possible!"

  "The famous Huyin Yingyue Manor, I've also heard of it. It's said that the inside is not just beautiful scenery. The spiritual energy is very abundant, making it a great place for cultivation, and it's also an important stronghold for the Luo family. Ordinary people don't have the qualifications to enter, but Brother Qin is fortunate. From our current position, there doesn't seem to be any unusual fluctuations in spiritual energy around the lake or its surroundings. I suppose there might be other passageways around here, just like that stone cave used specifically for storing boats."

  As they spoke, Jin HuaHui had personally rowed a wooden boat that could accommodate four or five people to the front of the three men. Indeed, when the small boat crossed the lake with a diameter of thousands of meters and arrived at a stone wall in the depths that looked no different from the surrounding area, when Jin HuaHui inserted his hand into one of the unremarkable holes, the inside seemed to move like a hollow stone, and the stone wall facing the small boat opened accordingly, enough for five boats of the same size as the one they were currently riding in to enter side by side.

  The small boat sailed into the tunnel with glowstones at its top, and Jin Huahui couldn't help but secretly observe the expressions of Zuo Xiaoyao and the other two. However, the result was destined to disappoint him. He saw that the three of them not only didn't show any surprise like ordinary people would when suddenly entering this astonishing mountain tunnel, but also remained expressionless even when they saw the glowstones at the top of the tunnel, each one of which could be sold for a sky-high price in the outside world, as if everything was very normal and ordinary.

  Disappointment returned with disappointment, but it also made Jin HuaHui more convinced that the other party was likely to be his master's old friend after all. After all, in his heart, only his almost omnipotent master could blast through this tunnel under the mountain, and could use these priceless gems as ordinary lighting tools without changing his face. He had no reaction when he first saw the Night Glow Stones, as if everything was supposed to be that way, and it should only be an existence similar to his master's.

  Thinking of this, Jin HuaHui's face suddenly turned solemn, and he felt a sense of reverence for the three people from the bottom of his heart. His words also became more sincere and respectful: "...all were dug out by our family master with earth-shaking power...I remember when our family master..."

  "Qin brother! It's really you guys!"

  As the voice full of surprise and incredulity sounded, Zuo Xiao Yao and the other two immediately showed joy on their faces, while Jin Hua Hui, who was genuinely relieved in his heart, let out a sigh of relief. However, what happened next made him extremely envious. The three people who were originally sitting on the boat stood up and quickly got off the boat, walking forward as if they were on flat ground, making him wonder if the water under the boat had suddenly turned into solid ground.

  At the same time, Hongtian also arrived in front of the three people. Looking at the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar faces of the three people, he was so excited that he couldn't help himself. He stepped forward and gave them a big hug, then let go after a pause. With excitement and joy in his eyes, Qin Xiao patted Hongtian's shoulder heavily and said "You've worked hard!"

  Everything is self-evident!

  The tunnel was clearly not a convenient place for conversation, and despite having a thousand words to say, the four people who had been reunited after a long time did not linger. They quickly disappeared into the tunnel behind San Piao Tianyan, leaving Jin HuaHui stunned and ignored, still reeling from the scene earlier with his master embracing a man intimately. The four of them vanished as swiftly as shooting stars, leaving everyone in utter disbelief.

  Escaping from the tunnel that still has a long distance to the exit, I suddenly feel refreshed and open-minded. At the end of the tunnel is a lake larger than the one in the mountain valley, with several pavilions scattered around it. The surrounding air is filled with spiritual energy, and the lotus flowers are blooming brightly, with white mist floating above them, looking refreshing and pleasant.

  In the bay, several boats stopped at a small dock, and the spiritual consciousness swept away, taking in the scenery of the mountainside courtyard pavilions built on the back of the stone, and took in the entire view of this mountain valley. Zuo Xiaoyao laughed and sighed, "As expected, this place is indeed a unique paradise, Brother Luo is really good at enjoying himself, turning a desolate mountain valley into a human fairyland, it's truly a masterpiece of divine craftsmanship!"

  Ruo Hongtian quickly turned his gaze to the left, looking at Xiao Yao with a hint of a smile on his lips. "I've made you all laugh," he said with a chuckle. "I thought I was destined to spend the rest of my life in solitude in this realm, so I deliberately chose this place and built it with care as a refuge for myself. I never expected that I would have the chance to reunite with all of you in this lifetime. It's truly...my heart is not as strong as I thought, I'm ashamed!"

  He said it was a fact, and the crowd fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond. The atmosphere on the scene suddenly became solemn. After a moment of contemplation, Zhuge Jinyu patted his shoulder and said, "Brother Luo, don't be too humble. Coming to this realm is not what we wanted. The heavenly way has its own rules, and our cultivation can't get close to it. It's not something that human power can change. We're in similar situations and have similar feelings, so we understand each other. Let's go, take us on a tour of this mortal paradise first! I'm sure Xiaoyao is eager to see the beautiful scenery of the lake!"

  It seems like I've been used as a crutch!