Chapter 542 When the Peach Blossoms Bloom
The golden boy and the jade girl spoke one sentence each with a strange intonation, giving people a feeling of disharmony.
"If you do not answer after being called three times, it will be considered as giving up the test and one red line will be deducted."
"Students who have completed the assessment are not allowed to communicate with students who did not take the assessment. Otherwise, it will be considered cheating and both parties will be deducted a red bar."
"Next, students whose names are called, please go to the principal's office one by one."
"Spicy cream!"
The student whose name was called hurriedly trotted over, opened the straw curtain with a nervous look on his face and walked in.
Behind this man, nine more people went in, and the whole process continued until there were ten people in the thatched hut.
After a while, Shi Qilin, who entered first, walked out with unsteady steps.
He didn't seem to have any injuries, but judging from his pale face, this test was not an easy one.
But not everyone can come out behind Shi Qilin.
There was a person who stayed in the thatched hut forever.
The order in which names were called was irregular, so Wu Xian could only wait patiently.
The other family members and newcomers were called one by one to take the test, and all of them survived. However, after the test, they were ordered to leave, so Wu Xian was unable to obtain any useful information.
Wu Xian stood in the rain until the afternoon.
It was not until there were only a few people left on the playground that it was finally his turn.
When Wu Xian heard the name, he hurried to the thatched hut, lifted the straw curtain and walked in, just like the others did.
Wow!
Just walked into the thatched house.
Wu Xian's vision was in a trance for a moment. When he came to his senses, he found that he was not in the thatched hut, but standing in a dark room.
The room was very simple, with no windows and only dim candlelight. There was a distinct earthy smell and the air was a little damp.
Wu Xian’s first impression was that this room was underground.
On the table in the middle of the room, there is an unnamed stone statue.
Before entering here, Wu Xian's dynamic vision enhanced by the cat's eye allowed him to see the scene inside the thatched house for a moment.
There was no so-called "principal" in that thatched hut, only a stone statue of an old man in a black robe. The two statues were almost identical except for their clothes.
On the wall behind the stone statue, there is a painting and a couplet.
The painting is a pastoral painting, depicting an ancient village with peach blossoms in full bloom. Men, women, old and young are all contented, and children are laughing and playing with cats and dogs. It is like a paradise.
The content of the couplet is.
'When the false is true, the true is false; when there is no action, there is something and there is nothing.'
then.
Wu Xian turned around.
There are two doors behind him, one with 'True' written on it and the other with 'False' written on it.
There are explanations under the big characters.
True Gate Assessment:
In this assessment, everything you encounter is real. If you die in the assessment, you will die. If you are injured in the assessment, you will be injured. You can even take things you picked up in the assessment out of the examination room. You can get six credits by passing the real assessment.
Fake door assessment:
The content of this assessment is consistent with the real gate assessment, but everything encountered is a false illusion. Three credits are obtained by passing the assessment course, and one credit is deducted for each death. When all credits are deducted, the assessment will be stopped.
Wu Xian finished reading it.
Without hesitation, he walked straight into the real gate.
Although the fake door assessment is safer, it may cause him to miss something important.
The fact that a mistake means death is not too harsh on the family members and it can only be considered normal difficulty.
……
Once upon a time there was a mountain.
There is a temple on the side of the mountain.
There is a land god in the temple.
The peach blossoms were in full bloom that year. A man wearing a jacket that was neither gray nor blue, holding hands with a child with a pigtail hairstyle, came to burn incense to the God of Land.
The child looked up and asked, "Daddy, why do we have to come here to burn incense every year?"
The man smiled and asked, "Have you learned the story of Peach Blossom Spring?" The child nodded and recited it while shaking his head.
"Well, the teacher asked us to recite it. At the end of the Xia Taiyuan period, a man from Wuling made a living by fishing. He walked along the stream and forgot how far he had gone..."
The man smiled and patted the child on the head.
"You recited it very well."
"In fact, our ancestors were residents of Peach Blossom Spring."
"Before the man in the story left, our ancestors specifically told him that what happened here should not be told to outsiders."
“The man promised, but the ancestor still felt uneasy. He felt that the man might not be able to keep his promise, so the ancestor went out regularly to check on the situation.”
"Not long after, our ancestors discovered that the man had brought the governor's army to Peach Blossom Spring."
"The ancestor did not dare to show up. After the group of people left, the ancestor discovered that the road back to Taohuayuan had disappeared, and a land temple appeared where the intersection should have been."
"Returning to the Peach Blossom Spring is the long-cherished wish of our ancestors. Therefore, the heirs of our family must come here every time the peach blossoms are in full bloom to see if the entrance has appeared."
“You must remember this story and pass it on to your next generation.”
Done.
The man turned his head, looked at the land temple, and chatted with the stone statue about some trivial matters.
Finally before leaving, he asked with a smile.
"Lord of the Land, can you let us return to our hometown?"
There is only one stone statue in the temple.
But the stone statue cannot speak back.
……
In the following years, the man would bring his children here to burn incense during the peach blossom season, and he would ask this question every year.
"Lord of the Land, can you let us return to our hometown?"
In the seventh year, the man died.
The child, who has grown into a young man, went up the mountain alone to burn incense and talked about the difficulties his family encountered when his father died.
And before leaving, he asked that question on behalf of his father.
The child also grew up little by little, from youth to adulthood, and slowly had his own children. Like his parents, he took his children to burn incense at the land temple.
Many years passed again.
Times have gradually changed. The child back then has become an old man, and his clothes have become modern attire.
A few days before the peach blossoms bloomed, the old man took a bottle of wine and went up the mountain against the strong wind. His face looked haggard and his eyes were bloodshot. He sat in front of the land temple and talked about what had happened in recent years.
"Alas, the world has been bad these years."
"There are wars everywhere. All the troops say they are fighting for us, but they are killing people..."
"I heard that there are rebels in the neighboring county. I'm afraid our village won't be safe for much longer."
"Ten days from now, the peach blossoms will be in full bloom."
"I will bring my family here to pay my last respects to you. After that, we will go to seek refuge. I don't know if I will have the chance to come back in this life, so I came here today to talk to you."
The old man drank half the bottle of wine and poured the rest on the ground.
"Lord of the Land, can you let us return to our homeland?"
The stone statue is still just a stone statue, unable to respond to the expectation in the old man's eyes.
……
Ten days later.
The sun is shining and the peach blossoms are in full bloom.
The whole mountain is pink, and the sweet candy-like fragrance of peach blossoms is intoxicating.
The stone statue of the God of Land disappeared, and a downward hole appeared at the base of the statue.
He agreed to the old man's request and opened the entrance to the Peach Blossom Spring.
But He waited until evening, and no one came up the mountain.
As the night deepens.
The village at the foot of the mountain was on fire, and half the sky was orange-red. The smell of blood seemed to have spread to the mountain...
(End of this chapter)
