Chapter 542: When Peach Blossoms Bloom

The golden boy and jade girl spoke one sentence each, their tones strange, giving people a sense of disharmony.

"Those who do not respond after being called three times will be considered as having abandoned the exam and will have one red stripe deducted."

"Students who have completed the assessment are not allowed to communicate with students who have not participated in the assessment, otherwise it will be considered cheating, and both parties will have one red stripe deducted."

"Next, please call the names of the students, and enter the principal's office in turn."

"Shi Qilin!"

The student whose name was called hurried over, walked into the room with a nervous face, and lifted the straw curtain.

Behind this person, nine more people entered, until ten people were in the thatched cottage before it stopped.

After a period of time, the first person to enter, Shi Qilin, walked out with floating steps.

He didn't seem to have any injuries on his body, but judging from his pale face, this small exam couldn't be considered easy.

Behind Shi Qilin, not everyone could come out.

One person remained in the thatched cottage forever.

The order of calling names was indefinite, so Wu Xian could only wait patiently.

Other Lotus Juanren and newcomers were called one after another to participate in the assessment, and all survived, but after the exam, they were ordered to leave, so Wu Xian couldn't obtain any useful information.

Wu Xian stood in the rain like this until the afternoon.

Until there were not many people left on the playground, it was finally his turn.

After hearing his name, Wu Xian hurried to the thatched cottage, learned from others, lifted the straw curtain, and walked in.

*Whoosh! * Just as he walked into the thatched cottage.

Wu Xian's vision blurred, and when he woke up, he found that he was not in the thatched cottage, but standing in a dark room.

This room was very simple, without windows, only dim candlelight, and a distinct smell of earth, and the air was a bit humid.

Wu Xian's first feeling was that this room was underground.

On the table in the middle of the room, a nameless stone statue was worshipped.

Before entering here, due to the dynamic vision enhanced by the cat eyes, Wu Xian saw the scene in the thatched cottage for a moment.

In that thatched cottage, there was no so-called "principal," only a stone statue of an old man wearing a black robe. The two stone statues were almost identical except for their clothes.

On the wall behind the stone statue hung a painting and a pair of couplets.

The painting was a pastoral painting, depicting an ancient village, where peach blossoms were in full bloom, men and women, young and old, were content, and children and cats and dogs were playing, just like a paradise.

The content of the couplet was.

"When the false is true, the true is false; when the nothing is something, the something is nothing."

Then.

Wu Xian turned around.

Behind him were two doors, one with "True" written on it, and the other with "False" written on it.

Under the big characters, there were explanations.

True Door Assessment:

Everything encountered in this assessment is true. Death in the assessment means death, and injury in the assessment means injury. You can even bring things picked up in the assessment out of the exam room. Passing the True Door assessment can earn six credits.

False Door Assessment:

The content of this assessment is the same as the True Door assessment, but everything encountered is an illusory phantom. Passing the assessment can earn three credits. Each death deducts one credit, and the assessment stops when the credits are deducted.

Wu Xian finished reading.

Without hesitation, he walked directly into the True Door.

Although the False Door assessment was safer, it might also make him miss some important things.

Death upon failure was not harsh for the Lotus Juanren; it could only be considered normal difficulty.

Once upon a time, there was a mountain.

By the mountain, there was a temple.

In the temple, there was an Earth God.

This year, peach blossoms were in full bloom. A man wearing a gray-blue jacket was leading a child with a topknot hairstyle to offer incense to the Earth God.

The child looked up and asked: "Father, why do we come to offer incense every year?"

The man smiled and asked: "Have you studied the story of Peach Blossom Spring?" The child nodded and recited while shaking his head.

"Hmm, the teacher made us recite it: At the end of the Xia Taiyuan period, a man from Wuling made a living by fishing, followed the stream, forgot the distance of the road..."

The man smiled and patted the child's head. 【54

"You recited it very well."

"Actually, our ancestors were residents of the Peach Blossom Spring."

"When that person was about to leave in the story, our ancestor specifically urged him that the affairs of this place should not be spoken of to outsiders."

"That person promised readily, but our ancestor still felt uneasy; he felt that this person might not keep his word, so our ancestor would go out periodically to check on the situation."

"As it turned out, not long after, our ancestor discovered that the man had actually brought the Prefect's army to the Peach Blossom Spring."

"Our ancestor dared not show himself. After that group of people left, our ancestor discovered that the path back to the Peach Blossom Spring had disappeared, and where the entrance should have been, a Earth Temple had appeared."

"Returning to the Peach Blossom Spring is our ancestor's long-cherished wish, so every time the peach blossoms bloom, the heir of our family must come here to see if the entrance has appeared."

"You must remember this story and pass it on to the next generation."

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After speaking.

The man turned his head, looked at the Earth Temple, and chatted with the stone statue about some trivial family matters.

Finally, as he was about to leave, he asked with a smile.

"Earth Deity, can you let us return to our homeland?"

There was only a stone statue in the temple.

And a stone statue cannot answer.

For the next few years, the man would bring his child here to offer incense during the season when peach blossoms bloomed, and every year he would ask this same question.

"Earth Deity, can you let us return to our homeland?"

In the seventh year, the man died.

The child, who had grown into a young man, went up the mountain alone to offer incense, recounting the difficulties the family faced when his father died.

And before leaving, he asked that question on his father's behalf.

This child also grew up little by little, from a youth to an adult, slowly having children of his own, and like his father's generation, he brought his children to offer incense at the Earth Temple.

Many more years passed.

The times gradually changed; the child from back then had become an old man, and his clothes had become modern attire.

A few days before the peach blossoms bloomed, the old man, carrying a bottle of wine and braving the strong wind, went up the mountain, his face haggard, his eyes filled with red bloodshot veins, sitting in front of the Earth Temple and talking about the things that had happened in recent years.

"Sigh, the world has not been good these years."

"There is fighting everywhere, and all sides claim to be fighting for us, but they are all killing people..."

"I heard there are rebels in the neighboring county too; I'm afraid our village won't be peaceful for much longer."

"Ten days from now is the day the peach blossoms bloom."

"I will bring my family here together to pay my respects to you one last time, and after that, we will go to seek refuge. I don't know if I will have the chance to return in this lifetime, so today I specifically came to keep you company and talk."

The old man drank half a bottle of wine and poured the rest on the ground.

"Earth Deity, can you let us return to our homeland?"

The stone statue remained just a stone statue, unable to respond to the anticipation in the old man's eyes.

Ten days later.

The sun was bright, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom.

The mountains and plains were all pink, and the scent of peach blossoms, like sweet candy, was intoxicating.

The Earth Deity's stone statue had disappeared, and at the base of the statue, a downward-leading hole had appeared.

He had granted the old man's request and opened the entrance to the Peach Blossom Spring.

But he waited until nightfall, and no one came up the mountain.

As the night grew dark.

The village at the foot of the mountain caught fire, burning half the sky a deep orange, and the smell of blood seemed to reach the mountain...

(End of this chapter)