Chapter 105: Peach Blossom Spring?
Chapter 105: Peach Blossom Spring?
“Hmm?”
Upon hearing Tang Jinbiao’s question, Li Xun frowned slightly and scrutinized him carefully once more.
“What’s the matter?”
Seeing the serious expression on Li Xun’s face, Tang Jinbiao felt puzzled.
“Hehe, young friend, you’re not a local, are you?”
After a moment, understanding dawned on Li Xun’s face as he spoke with a smile.
Tang Jinbiao’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Hehe, don’t worry, young friend. I mean no harm. Had you been a local, the facial paint on me alone would’ve revealed my identity—even without another word.”
Li Xun smiled, adding an explanation as if fearing Tang Jinbiao wouldn’t grasp it. “We’re natives of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, dwelling here for tens of thousands of years. As a local, even unseen, you surely would’ve heard of us! My apologies—after carrying you back, I took the liberty to cut your long hair. By the way, young friend, despite your youth, your physique is extraordinary. Are you a Body Refiner? Also… did you emerge from that Land of Darkness?”
“Oh!”
Only after Li Xun spoke did Tang Jinbiao realize his hair had been shorn completely, leaving him with a buzz cut.
Naturally, he now understood this place to be the fabled Hundred Thousand Mountains.
“What? This… this is the Hundred Thousand Mountains?”
At the mention of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Tang Jinbiao seemed to recall something, his face turning pale with alarm as he questioned.
“Indeed, this is the Hundred Thousand Mountains. But we’re only at the fringes. Head east from here about five hundred miles, and you’ll reach the Chu Clan’s territory—Chuyun City.”
Li Xun continued explaining.
“This is truly the Hundred Thousand Mountains? Then that patch I crossed yesterday…”
Tang Jinbiao’s heart jolted, his mind reeling. But before he could finish, Li Xun chuckled.
“Hehe, young friend, that wasn’t yesterday. You’ve slept three days and three nights!”
Li Xun said cheerfully.
“What? Uncle, you mean I was unconscious for three days and nights?”
Tang Jinbiao jolted again. He hadn’t expected to sleep three days straight—let alone that his prior spatial leap had spanned three whole years!
“Hehe, what’s that look for, young friend? You truly slept three days and nights. Think I’d deceive you?”
Seeing Tang Jinbiao’s disbelief, Li Xun’s smile deepened, though a trace of puzzlement and melancholy lurked beneath it.
“Alright, young friend. Since you seem recovered, come with me to see the Great Shaman. His word decides if you may stay. If he permits it, you live among us. If not, you must depart.”
Li Xun suggested once satisfied with Tang Jinbiao’s condition.
“Hmm? The Great Shaman?”
For some reason, the term “Great Shaman” made Tang Jinbiao’s heart skip a beat.
This title was all too familiar—unheard in this world, yet in that other realm, it constantly popped up before his eyes.
“Yes, the Great Shaman. He already knows of your arrival.”
Li Xun nodded, then seemed to remember something else. “Oh, and one more thing—did you come from that place?”
“That place?”
Tang Jinbiao frowned slightly, looking puzzled.
“Yes, that place. What you outsiders call the Land of Darkness. I saw you were very close to it that day, so I wondered if you came out from there?”
Li Xun asserted confidently.
“Alright, let’s go then!”
After a moment’s thought, Tang Jinbiao decisively agreed.
Though he didn’t really understand or comprehend the exact situation, he urgently needed to know his current whereabouts and how to contact the outside world. Of course, what concerned him most was the safety of Tang Yilin and Tang Song.
“Mhm.”
Seeing that Tang Jinbiao hadn’t answered whether he came from that place, Li Xun said nothing more. He simply nodded, stood up, and led Tang Jinbiao outside.
Along the way, they encountered almost no one. The village wasn’t large, housing only about twenty families. Since it was daytime, nearly everyone was out working; no one stayed home.
The houses were all uniformly built of wood, small and simple in structure, looking plain and ordinary.
Seeing these dwellings, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t help but recall a phrase in his heart: live off the land near the mountains, live off the water near the rivers! Just as the villagers live off the mountains and forests here.
Tap, tap, tap!
The two walked one after the other, but Tang Jinbiao’s mind was deeply unsettled.
Last time, he had been teleporting together with Tang Yilin and the others, but he hadn’t expected such an accident to occur. That accident had deeply unsettled him.
It was a world of nothingness. Or rather, it was there that he saw the destroyed or abandoned world Huang Biaozi had spoken of. For some reason, upon seeing that world, he had a feeling— he felt that world was the universe he originally knew. Or perhaps, when he saw that world, his mind became chaotic.
Chaotic to what extent?
When he saw that world, he could no longer distinguish clearly: what was real? What was illusory?
After being reborn into this world, for a long time, he thought it was all just a dream. But as time passed, he began to believe this was a real world— that he had truly traversed and arrived in another world, and he gradually started to accept this life.
However, just as he had begun to accept this world and try to adapt to it, that teleportation left him bewildered.
It was a profound bewilderment, a feeling of intense complexity.
It was like seeing your own reflection in a mirror, and the reflection seeing you; or, seeing yourself seeing yourself.
“We’re here!”
Just as Tang Jinbiao was lost in confusion and bewilderment, the two arrived in front of a wooden hut. Li Xun spoke calmly: “Young brother, wait here a moment. I’ll go in and ask the Great Shaman’s opinion. Please wait outside.”
“Hmm, alright!”
Tang Jinbiao snapped back to attention slightly and nodded.
Li Xun glanced at Tang Jinbiao, then turned and bowed three times towards the wooden hut, his face devout, before walking inside.
“The Hundred Thousand Mountains?”
Tang Jinbiao let out a slight sigh of relief, raised his head, and looked into the distance, trying to pinpoint his exact location. It was indeed as Li Xun said: this was the edge of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Indeed, far in the distance, one could see the endless, towering mountain ranges. Some mountains were so immense that only their mid-slopes were visible; their peaks were completely shrouded by clouds and mist.
“Hah, the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the Hundred Thousand Mountains! Does this mean the mountain range existed a hundred thousand years ago? Or that the mountains are a hundred thousand zhang high? Or perhaps that there are hundreds of thousands of peaks? Or could it hold some other meaning?”
Gazing distantly at the overwhelmingly vast Hundred Thousand Mountains that made one feel infinitely small, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t suppress a sigh.
“Cough, I recalled feeling small when I first saw that Azure Dragon Pool. Now, seeing these Hundred Thousand Mountains from afar—so much larger than Azure Dragon Pool—I felt no such awe. Heh, was it truly a case of having seen the sea, making ordinary water unappealing? Or was it that immediate fears and astonishments overshadowed distant ones?”
“Forget it, forget it. Regardless of what I see, or whether this is a blend of reality and illusion, my task now is to traverse these Hundred Thousand Mountains. I must reach Divine Wind Academy to see it. And, my Goddess—heh, heh. As for Ah Hu and the others? Hmph! Bet they’ve slinked off for a foot bath behind my back again!”
After gazing for a while, Tang Jinbiao shook his head helplessly, even starting to miss Tang Yilin and Tang Hu a little.
Thinking of them, Tang Jinbiao covertly glanced inside his Storage Pouch. The things they’d given him were still there. Being ordinary items, though the black desert had been strange, only things imbued with Spiritual Energy had been nullified.
Tang Jinbiao waited—a full quarter hour—before Li Xun finally emerged from the hut. He now carried something resembling a goatskin scroll and a small pouch of provisions.
Seeing Li Xun come out, Tang Jinbiao straightened up slightly, his expression turning serious.
“Heh, little brother, apologies,” Li Xun said with an awkward smile. “The Great Shaman does not wish to see you. Nor does he consent to you staying in the village. Though I’d like you to linger a few days… I’m afraid you must take your leave!”
“Oh!” Tang Jinbiao was sharp. Though uncertain why, he didn’t ask. After all, if an unknown outsider suddenly appeared in his village, he—were he the Great Shaman—wouldn’t have consented either.
“Oh!” Seeing Tang Jinbiao didn’t question it, Li Xun looked momentarily surprised but promptly smiled again. “Heh, no need to worry, little brother. Here’s a map to navigate the Hundred Thousand Mountains, plus some rations for your journey. Keep them on the road.”
Saying this, Li Xun approached and handed over the items.
“Mhm, thank you!” Tang Jinbiao didn’t stand on ceremony. Refusing kindness in an unfamiliar place served no purpose. He took the goatskin scroll and the provisions pouch, storing both directly into his Storage Pouch without a glance. Initially, his father had given him a map, but Tang Yilin had taken it. He sorely needed one now.
“Mhm, then I’ll escort you out, little brother!” Pleased to see Tang Jinbiao accept, Li Xun led him outward.
…
About an hour later, they departed the village, arriving before a modest lake, perhaps a hundred zhang across.
“Little brother, finally, I hope you’ll promise me one thing!” Li Xun stopped abruptly, turning to face Tang Jinbiao, his expression earnest.
“Oh? What thing?” Seeing the sudden sincerity, Tang Jinbiao was slightly taken aback.
“Heh, nothing difficult, truly. Merely… after leaving, speak to no outsider of any detail here. Act as if you never came!” Li Xun continued.
“I…” Seeing the serious look on Li Xun’s face and hearing these words, Tang Jinbiao was stunned, but comprehension dawned quickly. He couldn’t help an internal rant: “What the hell? Did I just stumble into a ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ scenario?”
“Well? Surely this promise poses no hardship? Heh… Ah, forget it. If it burdens you, little brother, regard it as something unsaid!” Seemingly perceiving Tang Jinbiao’s conflicted expression, Li Xun shook his head.
“Mhm, I promise you!” Despite his inner cursing, Tang Jinbiao agreed.
“Heh, then I’ll send you on your way!’ Hearing the acquiescence, Li Xun beamed with a radiant smile. Then he kicked Tang Jinbiao squarely in the rear.
“Ah!” Utterly unprepared, Tang Jinbiao flew forward from the abrupt blow, landing with a resounding splash into the lake.
“Ah—!”
Gurgle, gurgle!
Tang Jinbiao thrashed in the water, trying to scream. But the lake seemed devoid of buoyancy. His body plunged downward rapidly, vanishing beneath the surface within moments, leaving only bubbles rising in clusters.
“Cough. What must come will invariably come…” Watching Tang Jinbiao disappear beneath the water, Li Xun’s face clouded with melancholy. He shook his head, sighed, then plainly dismissed it, turning and ambling back the way he’d come toward his hut …