Chapter 298: Stone Hill Encounter

Ji Yuan could float a great distance with just a light touch on a few rooftops, moving at an extremely fast pace.

Except for his occasional leaps, Yan Fei sprinted across the rooftops. Although his steps were light, his speed was consistently no match for Ji Yuan's, and he couldn't keep up.

Fortunately, the Yuanqi Inn, no matter how far it seemed, was still within the small Nandao County. In no time, Ji Yuan had reached the roof of a house next to the inn, with Yan Fei barely catching up to him shortly after.

There was a clear difference in their landings as well. Ji Yuan landed on the tiles without a sound, while Yan Fei, despite his excellent lightness skill, inevitably made a slight noise.

"Mr. Ji, what happened..."

Without turning, Ji Yuan raised a hand to stop Yan Fei from speaking further. With his spiritual vision, he could discern a faint trace of demonic aura lingering in the inn across the way, and his nose caught the scent of blood.

"There's a faint demonic aura ahead. Hero Yan, your martial arts are exceptional, but you might not fare well against a demon. Do not be reckless."

"Demonic aura?"

Seeing Ji Yuan's seriousness, Yan Fei felt a slight shock and naturally recalled the transformed tiger he had encountered years ago. He knew that even with his current martial prowess, he might not have much chance of victory against that tiger demon; at best, he wouldn't be as disheveled as he was back then.

Hearing Yan Fei's slightly astonished words, Ji Yuan nodded. "The demon has already left. Let's go inside the inn to check."

With that, Ji Yuan leaped off the rooftop first and headed towards the Yuanqi Inn. Yan Fei quickly followed after regaining his composure.

Inside the inn, when Ji Yuan and Yan Fei entered, there was no one at the counter. However, people nearby seemed accustomed to hearing women's screams from the Yuanqi Inn at this hour, so no one had noticed anything unusual in such a short time. Combined with the possible lack of customers, the place was eerily quiet.

"Mr. Ji, be careful! It shouldn't be this quiet in here!"

Yan Fei had already adjusted his grip on his sword; the atmosphere here felt off.

Ji Yuan simply acknowledged with a faint "Hmm" and led the way upstairs. After a brief pause, Yan Fei quickly followed. Before ascending, he glanced at the counter and saw the innkeeper lying on the floor behind it.

The Yuanqi Inn had a layout with a central corridor and rooms on both sides. On the second floor, Ji Yuan purposefully strode quickly towards the right side at the end of the corridor. He gently pushed the door, which wasn't latched, and it opened.

His nose twitched slightly, and his gaze swept the room, settling on a strand of dark brown hair-like material on the floor. He picked it up; it was about the length of his forearm.

'How could an ordinary demon leave hair behind so carelessly?' Ji Yuan frowned in thought. Even Hu Yun didn't shed hair randomly, and Lu Shanjun only shed when his cultivation advanced. The hair in his hand seemed particularly strange; it wasn't just a single strand but a whole lock.

Meanwhile, Yan Fei held his sword hilt in one hand and its sheath in the other, ready to draw at any moment. He used the tip of the sheath to quietly push open all the rooms along the corridor before joining Ji Yuan a moment later.

"Mr. Ji, everyone in the rooms is unconscious. I haven't checked the third floor yet."

"No need to check, it's all the same," Ji Yuan casually replied while looking at the item in his palm. Yan Fei's attention was also drawn to what Ji Yuan was holding.

"Is there something wrong with this hair?"

"To be precise, it's a lock of fur, not human hair." Ji Yuan glanced at Yan Fei, performing a quick divination with his fingers as he spoke. "I'm going to pursue it. Hero Yan, you can report this to the authorities first, or look after the unconscious people in the inn."

"Huh? Pursue? Where to?"

Before Yan Fei could get an answer, Ji Yuan had already opened the room window and leaped out with a push of his foot. When Yan Fei rushed to the window and looked out, searching for a moment, he saw no sign of Ji Yuan on the nearby streets or rooftops. Looking further, he finally caught sight of a tiny figure rapidly disappearing towards the northeast, just as it was about to vanish from his vision.

'No way... That fast?' He looked at the situation inside the inn behind him. "Report to the authorities? What good are the officials in this wretched place!"

Before his words had even finished, Yan Fei had already darted out the window, taking a dozen steps on the roof of the opposite building before leaping into the air, pursuing the northeast direction. Unfortunately, no matter how elegant his movements were, Ji Yuan's figure had completely vanished from his sight in such a short time. He could only pursue in the general direction.

Outside Nandao County, to the northeast, Ji Yuan leaped over the city wall and quickly moved using the Dragon's Roam technique. After leaving the city, the demonic aura remained faint, but he could sense that it was recent. He didn't just chase blindly; instead, he abruptly accelerated when at a suitable distance. He employed a simple wind manipulation technique combined with the essence of the Dragon's Roam, moving swiftly as if carried by a gust of wind.

"Whoosh... whoosh..."

A faint whistling wind carried a few dry, fallen leaves, but because Ji Yuan's body was pure and free of dust, not much dirt was stirred up. He seemed like a clear breeze carrying a shadow without substance, quickly moving further ahead.

In front of a rocky outcrop northeast of Nandao County, a clear breeze swept by, and Ji Yuan stood still. Gazing southwest, he could finally discern a "smoke-like" demonic aura approaching, yet he saw no human figure. After widening his spiritual vision slightly, he could finally see the source of the "smoke": a blurry figure, like ripples in water, appearing to be one person carrying another while running.

'An illusion?' Maintaining a human form, using an illusion for swift travel, and emitting little demonic aura suggested a demon with considerable cultivation. He had initially thought it was just a minor fiend, but now it seemed tricky without resorting to his ultimate move.

After some thought, Ji Yuan calmly sat down on a rock, feigning relaxation with his eyes slightly closed, but in reality, he was observing the slightest movements. In such a desolate wilderness, a refined gentleman in a white robe sitting alone on a rocky outcrop looked abnormal. But this was only to ordinary people; the approaching demon wouldn't care about someone who appeared to be a mortal, especially since it couldn't see him.

Only when the blurry, rippling figure drew closer and was about to reach the rocky outcrop did Ji Yuan open his eyes, looking at the demon to his front-left, his gaze tracking its movement. This strange sight was naturally noticed by the demon. As it carried the person forward, it couldn't help but look at the stranger. When their gazes met, and its sight encountered those pale eyes, the demon instantly realized that the other person could see it.

At such a close distance, with his spiritual vision fully open, Ji Yuan could clearly see the manifestation of the demon's aura: it was a long-horned, curved-horned ox.

"An ox demon is quite rare."

That single, faint remark made the demon, about to rush past the rocky outcrop, stop dead in its tracks. The other person had not only seen through its illusion spell but also seen its true form? It clearly wanted to keep running, but stopping was an instinctive reaction. Once it stopped, it also wanted to understand the situation.

Ji Yuan's expression was calm. Without moving his body, he simply tilted his head, observing the man who, in appearance, was neither grand nor burly, but rather resembled a farmer.

"Who exactly are you, sir? Are you specifically waiting for me here?" the man asked Ji Yuan in a solemn voice.

Ji Yuan didn't speak immediately. After looking him up and down, he responded with a question that wasn't a direct answer. "Your minor illusion to deceive the eye is passable, but there are almost no gods or spirits in this place. What are you hiding from? Are you just an ordinary person? And who is the woman you're carrying?"

The ox demon, naturally, kept its thoughts to itself—'Aren't there still people like you?!'—instead saying coldly, "You seem to be a cultivator, then? What, do you want to subdue demons and vanquish devils?"

Though it spoke, the ox demon secretly became vigilant. This person had inexplicably appeared at the rocky outcrop, and critically, even now, it couldn't discern any special traces on him; he appeared entirely like a mortal, which was clearly impossible.

Ji Yuan still did not answer the ox demon's question, instead asking his own question again, this time holding a lock of fur in his hand. "This isn't ox fur, is it? Why was it at the Yuanqi Inn? I am quite curious and simply seek an explanation!"

When Ji Yuan produced that lock of fur, the ox demon's pupils constricted slightly, and he even instinctively glanced left and right. "You! You just went to that inn in the city?"