104 Coming and Going in a Hurry

The rock cabbage picked yesterday was replanted by Chen Jue inside an old ceramic pot he found in the ancestral house. He dug up some soil and buried it again. Since it wasn’t a precious medicinal herb, it could serve as a potted plant. Whether it would survive was uncertain, but if it did, it could be left for Brother Biao’s family to enjoy.

With a heavily loaded backpack, Chen Jue briskly climbed to the small hilltop of Wazhai, gazing at the fiery red sunrise rising in the east. He took a deep breath of the crisp, refreshing highland morning air, then took out his phone and opened the compass app. Choosing a direction about 25 degrees off from yesterday’s, he set off straight ahead once more.

Having recently learned the “Flower-Dodging Butterfly” technique, Chen Jue deliberately slowed his pace this time, practicing the agile dodging and weaving moves as he passed through dense forests.

After a morning of trekking over mountains and ridges, he finally reached a U-shaped river about ten meters wide. He paused to rest by the riverbank and planned to have a quick bite to replenish his energy.

In just one morning, he had already advanced the “Flower-Dodging Butterfly” skill to Level 2. Like the “Wall-Running” skill he also studied, it upgraded rapidly.

Settling on a clean stretch of riverbed covered with smooth pebbles, Chen Jue pulled out his phone to check the offline map. The river was a tributary of the Dulong River.

In Gongshan County, there were two famous rivers: the Nujiang and the Dulong. The surrounding area was almost uninhabited, and his phone showed no signal, out of service range.

He took out some compressed biscuits and an energy drink, eating slowly while admiring the crystal-clear, azure water of the river. Gazing at the distant snow-capped peaks and verdant mountains, he felt a profound sense of peace and clarity.

Wen City had a similar wide river called Tang River, regarded as the “Mother River” by locals, nurturing generations. However, the Tang River was severely polluted now.

Years ago, to boost the local economy, shoe factories, leather tanneries, and chemical plants along the river illegally discharged waste, turning the once clear water for washing rice and cooking into a stinking mess. After decades of remediation, recent years had seen some progress, with the river gradually regaining its green hue and some of its former clarity.

Yet compared to this Dulong tributary before him, the difference was stark. The water here was snowmelt from the mountains, meeting at least secondary water quality standards, clean enough to drink directly.

After eating a biscuit and drinking an energy drink, Chen Jue lay comfortably on a pile of dry pebbles in the shallow riverbed. The autumn sun wasn’t too hot, warming his body gently, while a mountain breeze brushed past, making the moment supremely comfortable.

Suddenly, his eyes caught a large bird circling overhead.

“An eagle?” he muttered. Back in Chen Village’s mountains, similar raptors also nested; he often saw them soaring in his childhood, though sightings had become rare in recent years.

More precisely, the bird was a black kite, a nationally protected second-class wild species. In Gongshan, they bred and nested here. It was a medium-sized raptor, about 60 centimeters long with a wingspan over a meter. Its wings bore a large white patch underneath, and it preferred solitary high-altitude flight.

But after watching for a moment, Chen Jue sensed something was off about the kite’s flight.

It circled lower and lower, then with a sharp cry, dived toward the opposite riverbank.

Curious, Chen Jue sat up from his reclining position.

Following the kite’s descent, about twenty meters across the clear, blue river, he saw a young girl wearing a colorful vertically striped robe, carrying a woven basket on her back, bent over drinking water.

The kite swooped down to a very low height, then flapped its wings twice to slow down and gently landed on the girl’s shoulder with delicate motions.

The scene before Chen Jue—clear blue water, the girl drinking at the edge, a vast wilderness of deep mountains and dense forests behind her, and the silent kite perched on her shoulder—struck him as a rare vision of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

He was momentarily stunned. Seeing a stranger in such a remote place, and sensing an indescribable, peculiar charm emanating from the girl’s presence, he furrowed his brows, about to call out and greet her.

The basket-carrying girl suddenly stood up, glanced toward Chen Jue, then reached out to tease the kite on her shoulder, sending it soaring back into the sky. She smiled faintly at Chen Jue before turning swiftly to vanish into the dense forest behind.

Her sudden appearance and rapid departure left a vivid impression on Chen Jue.

During their brief eye contact, he noticed a string of seven-colored gemstones around her neck. Though he hadn’t clearly seen her face, the mountain breeze lifted her bangs, revealing a pale cyan pattern on her forehead, resembling clouds or flames.

Moreover, her nimble movement into the forest was unusually swift and graceful, unlike ordinary people.

“Monkey form technique?” he mused.

“No, that’s not right.”

“Maybe mixed with horse form?”

“No, no! More like a deer... but there’s no deer form in Xingyi boxing... it’s not a martial arts technique either... so strange!” Chen Jue had been intensively studying martial arts and various boxing styles from countless documents and documentaries. He could usually identify the style at a glance.

But her light, quick steps, moving through branches, weeds, and stones as if they were nothing, rivaled even his two refined lightness skills.

He assumed it was a special form of lightness skill, yet after pondering, it didn’t match any known martial arts.

He was puzzled.

Sitting silently and thinking for a long while without clarity, he finally stood and planned to cross the river and catch up to ask her.

Encountering such a unique and intriguing person in this environment ignited his curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Although he hadn’t seen her face clearly, the aura she radiated convinced him she was a refined and extraordinary young woman.

Chen Jue wasn’t driven by attraction, simply wanting to talk and see if he could make a friend and learn what martial art or body technique she practiced.

But after searching far along the riverbank, he found no way to cross.

Carrying his backpack filled with a phone and some daily necessities, he didn’t want to get his belongings wet, so he reluctantly set aside the idea of pursuing her for now.

The encounter with the basket-carrying girl had stirred him so much that he lost interest in exploring the deeper forest.

Retracing his steps while practicing the “Flower-Dodging Butterfly” skill, he returned to Wazhai.

By the time he reached Wazhai, the skill had advanced to Level 2 (366/500), and he estimated he could break through within half a day.

After a day of travel, his agility had increased by 0.02, while his free attribute accumulated 0.05—slightly less than the previous day.

It was completely dark by the time he reached the earthen-walled house. He vaulted onto the courtyard wall, retrieved the key, opened the door, and set down his belongings. Then he headed down the mountain to the town for dinner.

He returned to the same rustic restaurant, bustling with tourists arriving in tour buses. The owner was busy but greeted Chen Jue warmly, seating him at a small table in the main hall.

As Chen Jue ordered dishes from the menu, his mind kept drifting back to the basket-carrying girl he had met earlier. He chatted briefly with the owner, asking about the brightly colored striped garment.

“Colorful stripes, like a skirt?” the owner asked.

“Does she wear a string of beads around her neck, and have facial tattoos?” The owner jotted down notes as Chen Jue nodded.

“That’s a woman from the Dulong ethnic group! Quite rare around here. Mostly, we have Lisu and Dai people nearby,” the owner said with a smile, then took Chen Jue’s order into the kitchen.

What the owner didn’t realize was that “around here” meant just several villages within a ten-kilometer radius. Chen Jue was a rare figure who could trek hundreds of kilometers day and night on foot through deep mountain forests.

“Dulong?” Chen Jue muttered, then searched online. He found it was indeed a rare ethnic minority, numbering only a few thousand, located in the Gongshan area.

Both men and women wore their hair loose, and young women traditionally had facial tattoos. The images online matched exactly the girl’s dress he had seen during the day.

Moreover, the Dulong people believed that all things possessed spirits and worshipped nature. Many maintained ancient, primitive religious customs.

Recalling the girl’s intimate teasing of the black kite and the unique aura of harmony with nature she exuded, Chen Jue felt the online information was genuine.

Taming a raptor like a black kite was extremely difficult. Only a handful of ethnic minorities in China had the skill of falconry.

Without exceptional talent, special techniques, patient dedication like an animal trainer, and a unique ability to communicate with animals, it was hard to tame such wild birds.

Chen Jue pondered this quietly, the image of that extraordinary girl lingering vividly in his mind.