Chapter 373: The Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring

The Three Sages were stunned upon hearing this.

This was no choice between two options; it was clearly only one!

At that moment, various thoughts regarding the history of the human race crossed their minds: "Give me liberty, or give me death," "Since ancient times, who has ever escaped death?"... The heroic and unyielding deeds of the human sages surfaced in their hearts.

Then, they spoke.

"You underestimate us too much."

"The three of us are actually willing to serve by your side, Exalted One."

The Three Sages wore smiles, speaking with fawning flattery.

Li Heng raised an eyebrow upon hearing this; interesting.

"Since that is the case, I shall spare your lives. Originally, I felt that tools without consciousness were the best tools."

The chilling words echoed in the ears of the Three Sages, drilling into their hearts and reverberating within their minds. Cold sweat broke out on their foreheads, and they felt a sense of relief that they had not hesitated just now.

Otherwise, they might truly have had their consciousness wiped away.

"Speak the information you know. Once this matter is concluded, it is not impossible for you to have a chance to head to the current era."

Li Heng said nonchalantly.

The Three Sages nodded like chickens pecking at rice, one after another spilling everything they knew. After understanding the whole situation, Li Heng was lost in thought, a plan vaguely emerging in his mind.

According to the Three Sages, as the Spirit of Human History, they were born at the beginning of the Heavenly Change and protected the human race for over a year, keeping them from being invaded by Pollution, leaving behind many traces among the humans.

That was how they earned the title of the Three Sages.

But good times did not last.

One year after the Heavenly Change, two monsters named Fear and Evil appeared; they sensed their existence and sought to hunt them down. Their strength was insufficient to deal with the monsters Fear and Evil, so they could only leave the human race and flee everywhere across Heaven and Earth.

However, because they were the Spirit of Human History, they were extremely unique and could travel through the cracks of time and the gaps of history. Thus, they had not been successfully captured by those two monsters until now.

But the strange thing was.

Because of their departure, the traces and imprints they left among the human race grew weaker and weaker, slowly disappearing; in the end, not even many people remembered them.

Precisely because of this, the foundation of their existence was also diminished.

They turned into the faint, flickering phantom forms they were today.

If not for the fact that they still manifested from time to time, and had even set up statues in some shelters a while ago to strengthen their imprint among the human race, they would likely have perished completely.

"You say you set up statues in the shelters?"

Li Heng asked.

The elderly sage nodded.

"That is correct, Exalted One."

The address of "Exalted One" came very naturally.

"While the statues can protect the shelters, they also strengthened our imprint among the human race to prevent the humans from forgetting us. It worked a while ago, but for some reason, we can no longer sense the existence of the statues during this period, and the imprints left among the human race have been erased once again," the middle-aged sage explained.

Strengthened, indeed, only for a moment.

"But your statues are still there."

"The people inside the shelter even remember you."

Li Heng said calmly.

His gaze crossed the Void and cast itself toward the shelter designated 'Yi-1', known as 'Taohuayuan', where the statues of the Three Sages stood. At this moment, the 'Future Savior' Xiao Hao had also arrived there.

Inside Taohuayuan, the land was flat and vast, the houses were orderly, and there were fertile fields, beautiful ponds, and mulberry and bamboo groves. Paths crisscrossed, and the sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard...

Xiao Hao looked at what was before him in a daze.

"It is worthy of being the Yi-1 shelter; no wonder it is called Taohuayuan. To be able to carve out a Pure Land of Serenity in this filthy, chaotic, and distorted World..."

He muttered to himself, somewhat shocked.

Although this could not compare to the current era, he knew that it was already very difficult to carve out such a shelter, small world, or Cave Heaven in this era of despair.

One had to know that the shelter he had stayed in before was truly just a series of dilapidated small wooden huts, and it was located on top of Grave Mountain; at night, one could see small grave mounds through the windows while sleeping.

Those grave mounds were the manifestation of the polluted rules of the outside world.

There was no help for it; even a shelter could not completely isolate the polluted and distorted rules of Heaven and Earth, and it would still be affected.

Xiao Hao had always thought this was common knowledge.

But now it seemed this common knowledge was about to be broken?

He did not see any signs of Pollution in this Taohuayuan!

He was puzzled; were they both 'Yi' grade, yet the difference was so great?

"Welcome, three fellow Daoists and all fellow clansmen, to settle in Taohuayuan." Before the person was seen, the voice was heard first, emanating from a tiled house.

Immediately following,

The master of this Taohuayuan, an old man dressed like a fisherman, walked out of that tiled house; observing his aura, he was also a Heavenly Human. He came before the people from Xiao Hao's shelter and chatted very familiarly with Xiao Lietian and the other two elderly Heavenly Humans.

"What, such a thing actually happened..."

"Sigh, the situation is getting worse and worse. I didn't expect your shelter to be discovered as well; shelters are truly becoming fewer and fewer..."

"Rest assured, it is fine; you can just stay in Taohuayuan! I can guarantee that this place will absolutely not be discovered by those monsters..."

Xiao Hao listened to the conversation from the side without speaking. This was a meeting belonging to Heavenly Human powerhouses; he had no qualification to interrupt. However, when he heard the fisherman's lament, he felt a strange, awkward feeling of confusion rise in his heart.

He muttered to himself.

"Why does it feel like the news in this Taohuayuan is very blocked?"

He did not think too much about it, carefully looking around, and discovered that in the very center of this Taohuayuan, there stood three statues: a youth, a middle-aged man, and an old man.

Could these be the so-called Saint Statues?

Xiao Hao guessed in his heart.

Before he was reborn, he did not know, nor did he bother to think about, the so-called Sages. But after returning from rebirth, knowing that his rebirth was because of those Three Sages, his mind began to stir.

Father said the Saint Statue possesses incredible divine power, capable of protecting the human race, preventing Pollution from external rules, and even preventing those monsters from discovering the refuge; it is the hope of the human race.

But is it really that magical?

These three statues look completely unremarkable no matter how one looks at them.

He pondered in his heart, feeling somewhat puzzled.

At this moment, as he kept looking, he suddenly froze.

Because before him, a virtual light screen appeared.

Characters emerged within the light screen.

"Main Quest 1:

Investigate the truth of Taohuayuan, as well as the Three Sages statues."

"Quest Reward: Heavenly Human Realm cultivation."

"Quest Penalty: I don't even need to punish you..."

After seeing the specific quest clearly, especially after seeing the quest penalty, Xiao Hao felt his heart go cold. What does "truth of Taohuayuan" mean? At least explain it clearly to me!

At this time, Li Heng gazed toward this place, his eyes deep and dim.

Taohuayuan, is it?

Paths intersecting, chickens and dogs heard...

What a tidy Taohuayuan indeed.

If he remembers correctly.

The term "paths" (qianmo) also carries the meaning of small roads leading to graves...