Ji Yuan had no intention of informing anyone specifically. Firstly, he had already revealed his intention to have a big trip when chatting with Wei Wuwei and others, but the time was not set; secondly, his uncertain whereabouts had more advantages than disadvantages. Besides, it seemed a bit hypocritical to tell people in several places that he was planning to go on a long trip.
But a trip home is necessary.
On the afternoon of the second day of the first lunar month, Ji Yuan had already arrived home and was writing at the desk in his room.
Although I didn't intend to get to know him, I still left a note in Ju'an Pavilion.
After finishing writing, Ji Yuan put down the pen, picked up the paper and shook it, and the ink dried up at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Yes, that's good!"
The book contains a decree with dozens of words. If a relevant person really comes to find him, the decree will be activated. Seeing the letter, it should not be easy to find where the person is, but generally speaking, he is heading north, so it is better to have an idea.
After Ji Yuan took a look at it, he ultimately did not leave any vivid impression on it. He simply placed the decree on the table and weighed it down with a paperweight.
After doing all this, Ji Yuan took a few old copper locks in the house, walked out of the door, and then locked the main house with a "click".
“Rustle… rustle… rustle…”
The leaves and branches of the jujube tree in the yard moved without wind. Ji Yuan looked at the tree and smiled.
"You can't move. It's extremely difficult for plant spirits to escape from their original forms. Please keep an eye on the house."
After saying this, Ji Yuan walked out of the yard again and locked the gate. Then he deliberately took an umbrella and carried his bag and walked out along the alley of Tianniufang.
Although Ji Yuan's presence in Ning'an County has not been high in recent years, in the hearts of many people who know him, Mr. Ji's status is still not low. So if it is not too urgent, Ji Yuan will basically make this trip every time he goes on a long journey, so that the villagers who meet him along the way will know that Mr. Ji is going on a long journey.
When some neighbors in Tianniufang met Ji Yuan, they would greet him. When they saw Ji Yuan carrying an umbrella and a bag, they would ask him more. Naturally, they would get the reply that he was going on a long journey.
After leaving Tianniufang, the Sunji noodle stall on the opposite street was still open. The Sun family members were hardworking and they never really took a full day off even on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
However, when Ji Yuan went over, Sun Shusheng was packing up the things on the stall and arranging the tables and chairs and hanging them in front of the cart. It seemed that he was going to close the stall.
Sun Shusheng is the youngest son of Old Man Sun. Old Man Sun handed over the noodle stall to him when he could no longer work. Although he is not as familiar with Ji Yuan as his father, he still knows him. When he saw Ji Yuan coming, he greeted him warmly.
"Mr. Ji, Happy New Year. Are you here to eat noodles?"
The Sun family all knew that Mr. Ji lived alone and most of the time they didn’t cook at home, so they chose to eat noodles at the noodle stall.
Although there have been fewer of them in recent years, what Old Man Sun left behind is that if Mr. Ji had not come, Sun’s noodle stall would always have a portion of offal and braised noodles left.
"Happy New Year! You're about to close your stall early, and you still have noodles?"
After Ji Yuan bowed and congratulated him, he asked casually.
Sun Shusheng put down the small table he was about to move, wiped his hands with the cloth on his shoulder, and smiled innocently.
"Yes! There is still a portion of mutton offal and noodles, and the charcoal stove is still on. If Mr. Ji wants to eat, I will make it for you now!"
It seemed that Sun Shusheng had just seen the umbrella that Ji Yuan was holding and the bag on his back, so he asked a question.
"Sir, are you going on a long journey again?"
"Yes, we may have to walk a little further this time, so I won't eat the noodles. Please say hello to Old Sun for me."
"Okay, I'll definitely bring it to you. Take your time."
"Um."
After Ji Yuan responded, he walked towards the city gate. This time he did not use any flying technique, but walked all the way to the outside of the city. His steps were as fast as shrinking the earth. Although his speed was fast, he did not fly on clouds. He planned to go directly north along the ground, pass through Qizhou on the top of Jizhou, and then go out of the border of Dazhen.
This walk lasted for a long time.
About three months later, Ji Yuan, wearing a gray shirt, was walking alone in a wilderness on a forest path.
Since leaving Qizhou and leaving the border of Dazhen more than a month ago, Ji Yuan's speed has become relatively slow.
Dazhen borders two countries mainly to the north. One is Tingliang Kingdom which occupies half of Tingqiu Mountain, and the country it is in now should be called Zuyue Kingdom. Many places border Dazhen directly, and there are occasional frictions between the two countries.
But Ji Yuan discovered that after passing some important towns on the border, a long section behind the Zu Yue Kingdom seemed very desolate. Since leaving the last town, he hadn't seen any human habitation for quite a while.
Ji Yuan walked along the wilderness forest path. Although the road was almost covered with weeds in many places, judging from its width, it should be a main road. However, there were too few people walking on it.
When he walked to a certain place, Ji Yuan suddenly stopped, turned his head to look at a place on the side of the road where weeds were particularly lush, thought for a moment and took two steps closer.
Ji Yuan reached out and swept away the grass, revealing two white bones with some pieces of cloth stuck to them behind him.
"Fortunately, I don't need too much food and water, otherwise, ordinary people would have a hard time making it if they didn't bring enough supplies along this road."
No matter whether the souls were taken away by the underworld or they became wandering ghosts, there was no soul left on the two skeletons. It was unclear how they died. Ji Yuan could only sigh and leave.
Another half day passed before something that might be a building complex finally appeared in Ji Yuan's blurry vision. He couldn't help but speed up a bit, but the closer he got, the more Ji Yuan frowned.
In front of me is a village that is not small, but I can't see many people around. I thought it was because of the distance, but when I got closer, I couldn't smell much activity even with my nose.
'It seems to be deserted.'
Ji Yuan entered the village and looked around. Many houses looked dilapidated, weeds grew everywhere in front of and behind the village, and there was no sound of chickens or dogs in the village, let alone people.
After walking into the village for a while without seeing anyone, Ji Yuan did not go any further, but turned back to a large house without a yard at the entrance of the village.
There is a well in front of the house. Ji Yuan has seen that there is well water in it. The well rope and wooden barrel are also there. The house is also intact and can shelter from wind and rain.
"Gurgle...Gurgle...Gurgle..."
As the crank handle was turned, Ji Yuan fetched up a bucket of well water. He took it out and smelled it. The well water was very clear, and there was no unclean smell.
Ji Yuan reached out and scooped up some well water, and drank it down with a "gulp", feeling it was cool and refreshing and quenching his thirst.
"Huh... this place..."
Exhaling, Ji Yuan looked towards a low and dilapidated temple about a few dozen meters away from the village. That was the village's land temple, and there was no divine light left. He also had no intention of trying to summon the land by using the God Binding Technique.
In the desolate place, it seemed that the sky darkened particularly quickly. Ji Yuan had only rested for a short while when the surroundings had already become gray.
Ji Yuan stole some firewood from a dilapidated house nearby and planned to rest here tonight. At least he had a roof over his head. Tomorrow was the Waking of Insects and judging from the weather, it would most likely rain at night.
Many easily portable furniture at the front and back of this mansion were gone, even the pots on the kitchen stove were gone. There were traces of a burning fire in the living room, presumably left by other passers-by.
There was a big hole in the roof of the kitchen, so Ji Yuan simply piled up firewood in the hall of the house and lit it. Although the window paper on the door here was penetrated, it could at least be closed.
Ji Yuan found a remaining stool and sat down by the fire. He used a stick to insert a piece of dry biscuit, stuck one end in the hole of the stool leg and held the other end next to the fire to bake.
While waiting for the pancakes to heat up and soften, Ji Yuan took out a book to relieve his boredom. It was the book "The Biography of the Heretics" which he had not read for a long time. Although he had already read every article in it, he had been practicing during his rest time during this period. Today, he would read this book again to relax.
"Boom..."
Spring thunder sounded, Ji Yuan looked up at the door while holding the book, and lightning twisted and streaked across the night sky.
"I think it's the first thunder of the year?"
"Boom..."
The thunder outside seemed to be echoing Ji Yuan’s muttering.
However, Ji Yuan's attention was immediately attracted by other things. In addition to the thunder and wind, he vaguely heard the sound of footsteps and horse hooves, accompanied by some approaching Chinese conversations.
Ji Yuan suddenly found it a little funny. It seemed like several times that he had slept overnight in a desolate place. It was a rainy night and he always met some people. But this was not bad, as at least there were some people around.
"Um?"
Just as he was thinking this, Ji Yuan suddenly smelled something strange. He looked at the pancakes in front of the fire and found that they were indeed not burnt.
Outside the abandoned village, seven or eight people leading two horses were slowly approaching, and all of their faces were filled with fatigue.
There were two horses, one carrying a person and the other with a lot of things on its back. On the front horse was a little girl of eight or nine years old. Before they reached the entrance to the village, the little girl started crying.
"Second Master, Second Master, there are people in the village, there are people in the village, I saw a fire, there are people in the village!"
The others were cheered up upon hearing this, and looking over they could indeed vaguely see the fire. It was not completely dark yet, and there were some dilapidated houses in the way, so they had not seen it clearly just now. But now that they could see it, they couldn't help but quicken their pace.
"Finally it's not a deserted village anymore!" "It's good to have people here. Let's exchange some thin food."
“It would be better if there was wine!” “Hehehe… ”
"Stop talking nonsense and go."
However, when everyone entered the village and saw many dilapidated houses, their expectations gradually decreased, but they still moved towards the direction of the fire.
When we walked to a relatively intact mansion, we saw a fire in the hall and a man sitting on a bench, looking outside.