**Chapter 296: A Midnight Rendezvous**
Wang Jingrou’s eyes widened. The hand she had extended stopped in mid-air.
She unconsciously finished her unfinished sentence. “Ordinary people who enter will just wander in circles, taking anywhere from half an hour to most of the day…”
She then snapped back to reality, stomping her foot in annoyance. “Who does he think he is? I kindly warned him, but he just brushed it off!”
Wang Jingrou pouted. Standing at the crossroads, a conflicted expression flashed across her face.
She really wanted to just leave. After all, she and the other person were just chance acquaintances, they hadn’t even had time to ask for names.
But the thought of the young man’s handsome face made her unable to help but stop and wait a little longer.
After a moment, amidst the curious glances of passersby, she gritted her teeth and turned to leave.
Anyway, she would be living at Mount Longhu from now on, so there would be opportunities to meet again.
***
Chen An walked along the road leading to the back mountain.
The road was not wide and was slightly rugged, but it was wide enough for two or three people to walk side by side.
It was a very ordinary path.
However, what was not ordinary was that as soon as Chen An stepped onto it, he could feel that his spatial position had changed.
If an ordinary person came here, even after walking for an hour or two, they would only end up wandering in circles.
This was a very simple, yet very practical formation.
It had no offensive capabilities. Its sole purpose was to make those who entered the formation unknowingly lose their way, and then gradually lose themselves.
When the person finally reacted and learned to calm down and wait for ten minutes in place, the formation would naturally send them out.
Chen An, with just a single glance, understood all the intricate workings of this formation.
It couldn’t stop cultivators with profound cultivation, but it was certainly effective in stopping the new students from outside the mountain who hadn’t officially entered yet.
Chen An frowned slightly.
In his opinion, the method used to set up the formation was a bit too crude.
It was so crude that he felt his eyes were being polluted.
So Chen An casually adjusted it, subtly improving the formation.
Not for any other reason than to make it more pleasing to his eyes.
***
A minute later, Chen An was standing on the small road again.
He looked up. Ahead, many branches diverged, like the fine tendrils extending from a tree trunk.
The ends were shrouded in mist, making it difficult to see clearly. One could only vaguely discern individual courtyards.
Chen An’s footsteps did not stop.
He planned to use the most cumbersome method, walking through each one individually.
Of course, he didn’t need to enter each one to ask. As long as he got close enough, he could sense Luo Cong’an’s aura.
This method was undoubtedly time-consuming and clumsy, but Chen An had no shortage of time at the moment.
Perhaps it was his luck today. After an hour, Chen An stopped at the entrance of a courtyard.
He thought for a moment and politely walked to the door and knocked.
But the door opened before he could, from the inside.
Behind the door, the woman’s exceptionally beautiful and pure face was revealed.
She looked at Chen An, her expression a complex mix that was difficult to decipher. Fortunately, her pupils were normal in color, not that obsessive scarlet.
“Why are you here?”
Luo Cong’an broke the silence first.
Chen An was about to reply when she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.
He frowned but said nothing.
“Let’s come in and talk first.”
As Luo Cong’an said this, an inexplicable sense of strangeness arose in her heart.
It felt as if she was secretly meeting someone…
For some special reason, it was difficult for her to view Chen An and her disciple Lin Jingqiu from the same perspective.
Unlike Luo Cong’an, Chen An was much more open. He surveyed the layout of the courtyard, his expression slightly stunned.
Because, apart from the absence of the large locust tree from his memory, the stone table and bamboo chairs arranged in the courtyard looked so familiar.
Even the general orientation was exactly the same.
Behind him, Luo Cong’an’s inquiry interrupted Chen An’s thoughts.
“What’s wrong? You came so suddenly, what can I help you with?”
Chen An let out a soft sound.
“I wanted to ask how she’s been recently.”
He looked at the woman before him.
Her figure, compared to her youthful appearance from his memories, seemed much more full.
Perhaps “full” wasn’t the right word, as it often carried a vulgar connotation.
But at this moment, Luo Cong’an did not.
Her thick, smooth long hair was tied up at the back of her head. She still wore the same light green Taoist robe, appearing exceptionally simple and elegant.
One could only feel a sense of dignified grace, distant and unapproachable, so how could it be vulgar?
Luo Cong’an’s expression froze. She lowered her eyelids and did not answer directly, instead asking, “You are concerned about her?”
“Or… is the person you *really* want to see her, not me?”
Seeing the bamboo chair, Chen An involuntarily walked towards it.
He lay down skillfully before speaking, “Concern… it’s not really that. I just suddenly thought of it, so I came to see.”
He had always been like this, doing things when he thought of them.
“As for who I want to see…”
Chen An recalled the experience in the cave mansion. The woman’s red-eyed, pathological appearance was still vivid in his mind.
So he honestly replied, “I’d much rather spend time with you. At least I don’t have to worry about being tied up at any moment.”
Luo Cong’an looked up. Her expression was unreadable, but she continued to ask, “She treated you like that, aren’t you afraid? Even I thought she had gone mad, completely enslaved by her emotions…”
Chen An fell silent.
After a long while, he slowly spoke, “I don’t know.”
Luo Cong’an found this amusing.
For some reason, her voice was a little cold.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. Her backlash from the Heavenly Dao is severe. It will be difficult for her to emerge and contend for control of my body again without thirty to fifty years.”
Upon hearing this, Chen An’s expression remained neither happy nor sad.
He calmly stated, “Thirty to fifty years sounds like a long time, but for a cultivator, it’s merely the blink of an eye.”
“You should think of a way to deal with it before then.”
As Chen An spoke, something occurred to him. He changed the subject and asked, “Oh, right, since I’m here, let me ask if any secret realms or similar places have opened up recently?”
As spiritual energy gradually recovered, secret realms around the world would surely begin to activate.
And with Luo Cong’an’s identity and status, she would likely know something about them.
“Secret realms? What are you asking about that for?”
Luo Cong’an sounded confused.
Chen An didn’t hide anything. “I need to refine pills, but given the current environment of Blue Star, to cultivate the spiritual materials I need, I’ll most likely have to find them in those spirit-rich secret realms.”
This made Luo Cong’an even more bewildered.
“You can refine pills? Speaking of which, I still don’t know where your cultivation comes from.”
Chen An knew what she meant.
Because in that memory, he should have been an ordinary school teacher.
(End of Chapter)
