Chapter 652 - 410: Taiyi Pavilion

段融 followed Yao Che, venturing deep into the dense forest.

Yao Che walked with his head down, silent. Although they had just met, Duan Rong could tell that Yao Che was a man of few words, so he walked silently as well, not trying to start a conversation.

As the two of them walked, after passing through a grove of lush beech trees, their path suddenly opened up.

Here, it was obviously a clearing carved out in the depths of the forest.

The area was quite large, enclosed by a wooden fence. Inside were some wooden huts of various sizes, scattered haphazardly like mushrooms sprouting in a wetland.

Among the wooden huts, there were also a few scattered tents, interspersed among them like rare white mushrooms amid a bunch of black ones.

In silence, Yao Che led Duan Rong into the clearing.

As they passed by one of the wooden huts, they saw a burly man at the door with a full beard, bare-chested, wiping his neck with a towel.

Watching the two pass by, he glanced at Duan Rong and asked, "Yao Che, what’s this kid here for?"

Yao Che only kept his eyes on the path, not even glancing at the burly man, and replied, "He’s out of the Tower Forest."

"Is that so?" The burly man wiped his face with the towel and tossed it into a wooden basin. He then watched Duan Rong’s retreating back with a sudden hint of doubt in his eyes, murmuring to himself, "That kid looks... kind of unfamiliar?"

Yao Che led Duan Rong to a rather large tent.

The two stood at the entrance of the tent.

Yao Che looked at him and said, "You rest here for a few days first. I’ll report your information to the Internal History Department today. There’s a complex ritual for the Inner Sect Disciple to exit the Tower Forest and enter the mountain gate. Usually, it’s held every two months. You’re lucky; you only have to wait a few days. The three inside have been waiting for over a month."

Yao Che finished speaking, suddenly lifted the tent flap, and the two of them bent down and entered.

As soon as he entered the tent, Duan Rong frowned as a strong and unpleasant odor assaulted his nose.

Inside the tent were four bamboo beds; three were occupied, with an empty one piled high with clutter.

It was still early morning, and the three inside were sound asleep.

Yao Che, with a cold demeanor, swept all the clutter off the bamboo bed onto the ground, then took a beast skin blanket and a pillow from the cabinet at the tent entrance, tossing them onto the empty bed, saying, "That’s it. Make do here. If you need anything, find me at the fifth wooden hut to the east."

With that, Yao Che lifted the tent flap and left.

Having stayed inside for this while, Duan Rong’s nose got accustomed to the smell, and it no longer seemed so harsh. Having stayed up all night, he wrapped himself in the blanket and lay down on the bamboo bed.

The other three were awakened by the commotion.

On the bamboo bed opposite Duan Rong, a relatively fair-skinned young man propped himself up with his elbow, causing the blanket to slip off his bare upper body. While rubbing dirt from his body, he looked at Duan Rong and asked, "Brother, I heard Tutor Yao say, you’re also just out of the Tower Forest?"

Duan Rong glanced at him and replied with a smile, "Yes! Brothers, you are too, right?"

"Yes, all of us!" The person diagonally opposite Duan Rong suddenly answered.

"Brother, why do you seem so unfamiliar!" The young man rubbing dirt asked, puzzled, after disposing of a greasy dirt clump.

He had been in the Tower Forest for three years and knew almost everyone there. Given that this person had just left the Tower Forest, why did he seem to have never seen him before?

Duan Rong laughed, "Of course. Brother, we’ve just met for the first time!"

"For the first time?!" The young man was slightly taken aback, then with a change in his eye, he asked, "Then, brother, how many years have you spent in the Tower Forest?"

Duan Rong hesitated for a moment and still answered, "Well... I entered the Tower Forest last night."

"What!?"

This time, all three sat up on their bamboo beds, and one of them, in the haste of rising, let the blanket slip off the bed, revealing a curvaceous body.

"Brother, you said you entered the Tower Forest last night and left this morning!?"

Duan Rong replied, "Yes, I fought a family of baboons during morning assembly and then got out."

The other three exchanged looks of bewilderment.

The young man rubbing dirt, wrapped in a blanket, gazed at Duan Rong with an odd expression, "Brother, you’re not joking, are you?!"

What Duan Rong said was hard for him to believe, completely beyond his understanding.

"He’s not joking," another guy, slim enough that his ribs were faintly visible, suddenly said, "Otherwise, considering we’ve been in the Tower Forest for years, why have none of us seen him before?"

The dirt-rubbing young man, upon hearing this, lowered his head in thought, then lifted it again, looking at Duan Rong with an astonished gaze.

The kind of gaze was akin to seeing a ghost in broad daylight.

Although the three were greatly shocked, they accepted the fact that Duan Rong left the Tower Forest in one night. After all, Tutor Yao personally brought him into the tent, saying only that this man was exceptionally gifted.

Having been disturbed and awakened, they swiftly engaged in casual conversation.

Duan Rong initially wanted to grab some sleep, but seeing them chat, he joined in. Having spent only one night in the Tower Forest, he was still unfamiliar with much, so the casual talk was a chance to gather information.

Duan Rong stayed in the tent for several days.