Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 473 Entering the Mountain

"Alright. I'll help you find them. Then you can come with me."

The little deer paused for a moment, then cheered.

"Great! Great!" She jumped up and grabbed Chen Anran's sleeve. "When are we going? Can we go now?"

Chen Anran looked down at the hand gripping her sleeve.

It was dirty, covered in mud and grass clippings, but the fingers were long and slender, with neatly trimmed nails.

He remembered that Feng Xiaolu was the same way, always grabbing his sleeve and shaking it.

"Junior brother, you can have half of this reward!"

"Junior brother, this movie..."

"Junior brother, after this is all over, let's go back to being wandering Taoist priests. You'll still be my 'senior brother' then..."

"..."

Chen Anran snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the deer.

"Let's go now," he said.

The fawn's eyes brightened even more. It loosened its sleeve, turned, and ran eastward. After a couple of steps, it turned back and waved to them, "This way! I'll lead the way!"

She ran a few steps, then suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at the group of pursuers still lying on the ground.

"What will they do?" she asked.

Chen Anran also glanced at the group of people.

The burly man lay on the ground, his body trembling like a leaf, not daring to lift his head.

"Let them lie down," Chen Anran said. "They'll walk on their own when they've had enough."

The little deer blinked, then grinned.

"Okay!" she said, turning around and continuing to run forward.

Her fluffy deer ears trembled as she ran. She would look back every few steps, afraid that Chen Anran and the others wouldn't be able to keep up, but every time she looked back, they were all steadily following behind her.

"etc."

Chen Anran called out to Xiao Lu, his gaze sweeping over the three cars parked on the side of the road.

Master Tianbao was leaning against the car window, his head sticking out long, peering curiously in their direction. Qi Lan leaned against the car, a meaningful smile playing on her lips. Jiang Yan stood beside the car, blinking her small eyes, clutching the camera in her hand, unsure whether she was hesitating to take a picture or had already done so.

Huiming stood by the roadside with his hands clasped together, his lips moving slightly, seemingly chanting some sutra.

Xiao Ling'er had already jumped off the car and was standing by the roadside, tiptoeing to look this way. When she saw Xiao Lu turn around, she waved frantically and shouted something.

The deer also saw the little girl waving frantically.

She paused for a moment, tilted her head, and asked Chen Anran, "Who is that little girl? Why is she waving this way?"

"Her name is Xiaoling'er," Chen Anran said. "She's waiting for you too."

"Wait for me?" Little Deer blinked, looking puzzled. "She doesn't know me."

Chen Anran didn't explain, only saying, "We'll get to know each other from now on."

Little Deer scratched her head, unable to understand why these people were all so strange. But she couldn't think about that now; her mind was filled with her friends in the mountains.

"Then let's hurry!" she urged again, "Head east, over three mountains, and then across two rivers—"

"Take a car," Chen Anran interrupted her.

The little deer was stunned: "By car? By what car?"

Chen Anran pointed to the three metal boxes parked on the side of the road.

The little deer looked in the direction he was pointing and saw the three big, dark iron lumps. Its eyes widened in surprise.

"This...this thing can be sat on? Isn't this some kind of monster made of iron?"

"It's not a monster, it's a car."

Feng Lie leaned closer, a smug look on his face. "The kind that can run without horses, much faster than horses. Didn't you see we got out of a carriage?"

Xiao Lu thought back and realized that she did indeed see these people crawling out of those big iron lumps.

But she was only focused on running and didn't have time to think about it carefully.

"This...this is really safe to sit on?" she asked again, her voice tinged with cautious curiosity. "Won't it bite?"

Feng Lie burst out laughing: "No, no, it doesn't eat people, it only eats oil."

"Oil?" Little Deer was even more confused. "What kind of oil? Rapeseed oil or lard?"

Feng Lie opened his mouth, unsure how to explain.

Chen Anran ignored the conversation between the two and simply waved to Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan understood and jogged over, a smile plastered on his chubby face: "Master Chen, what are your orders?"

"Can the car drive into the mountains?"

Jiang Yan glanced at the distant, rolling mountains and pondered for a moment: "If it's a remote, roadless forest, it'll be tough. But the place Little Deer mentioned requires crossing three mountains and two rivers, which is probably several dozen miles away. It would take a whole day to walk there, but if we could drive to the foot of the mountain and then walk the rest of the way, it would save a lot of trouble."

Chen Anran nodded, then looked at the deer: "How long did it take you to get out of the mountains?"

The little deer thought for a moment, then counted on its fingers: "The morning I ran away, the sun had just risen. I ran and ran until the sun set, then I found a tree hollow and slept. The next day I kept running until the sun set again, then I slept again. The third day I kept running until noon, and then I met that Boss Wang."

After she finished speaking, she blinked and looked at Chen Anran.

"So it's... two and a half days?" Feng Lie calculated from the side.

"More or less," Chen Anran said. "Drive to the foot of the mountain, then walk in. We should be able to get there before dark."

The little deer was completely confused, but grasped one key point—

"Can we get there before dark?"

"Um."

Xiao Lu's eyes lit up. She grabbed Chen Anran's sleeve. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

She grabbed Chen Anran's sleeve and ran towards the car. After running a couple of steps, she remembered something, turned around, and waved to the group of pursuers who were still lying on the ground.

"Hey, Boss Wang, you guys can go back now that you've had your fill! I don't blame you! You can't catch me anyway!"

The burly man lay prone on the ground, not daring to lift his head, his body trembling even more violently.

Little Deer ignored him and continued to drag Chen Anran forward.

She ran to the car, let go of it, and circled the black metal behemoth several times, her eyes wide, muttering repeatedly, "This huge metal behemoth, can it really run? It really won't bite?"

Master Tianbao stuck his head out of the car window, stroked his beard and laughed: "Little imp, don't worry, I've been riding in this thing for three years and it's never bitten anyone."

The little deer looked up at him and blinked: "Old Taoist priest, are you also an immortal?"

"I'm no immortal," Daoist Tianbao waved his hand. "I'm just a wretched old man who mooches off young Chen."

The deer looked at Qi Lan again.

Qi Lan leaned against the car and smiled at her, her black animal ears twitching.

The fawn paused for a moment when it saw the ears, then exclaimed in delight, "You're a demon too?"

"Mm." Qi Lan nodded.

"Wow—" The little deer leaned closer, looking up at her with eyes full of admiration. "Sister, you're so beautiful! Your cultivation level must be very high, right? How long have you lived? Have you ever eaten a person?"

Qi Lan's lips twitched as she was bombarded with a series of questions.