Chapter 31: The Foundational Dojo and the Unfindable Peach Blossom Spring
Seeking the Peach Blossom Spring?
When this matter reached the ears of the county officials and their attendants, most thought it rather absurd, though a few harbored considerable curiosity.
Regardless of their willingness, the county magistrate’s orders had been issued.
Lu Jing selected a dozen or so attendants, and together they requisitioned five boats from Wuling Wharf, along with the boatmen, setting off from Wuling Harbor.
The water route to the Peach Blossom Spring flowed downstream within the main channel of the Wuling River, so their departure was swift.
Zhao Chenyu and Lu Jing stood aboard the largest flagship, while the smaller boats operated nearby. Zhao Chenyu recounted to the others the words of Tao Yuanming, mainly sharing them with the boatmen.
The boatmen, familiar with the waterways, navigated according to Zhao Chenyu’s descriptions.
After half a day’s journey, all five boats left the main channel, entering a winding and intricate mountain waterway.
At this point, the smaller boats accelerated, splitting off in various directions to scout ahead, while the flagship remained stationary.
Enveloped by the deep mountain waters, Zhao Chenyu and his companions listened to the calls of monkeys and birds from the surrounding forests, feeling a serene and ethereal atmosphere, their anticipation of the Peach Blossom Spring growing.
Though initially skeptical of the higher-ups’ orders, as they drew nearer their excitement inevitably grew—who wouldn’t yearn for the beauty of the Peach Blossom Spring?
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At roughly the same time, within the Hidden Immortal Valley’s academy, students sat with pen in hand, repeatedly writing the characters for “learning.”
Zhuang Lin sat quietly behind the teacher’s desk, focusing intently, sensing the subtle changes within the valley.
Since confirming that the Hidden Immortal Valley was set in the Jin dynasty era, Zhuang Lin had been attempting to perceive the complex formation enveloping the entire valley.
Unlike his earlier, confused and forceful attempts, he now sought to understand and refine his use of the valley’s unique grand formation.
After all, besides the Crescent Moon Mountain Valley itself, several nearby peaks also lay within the formation’s ambit—truly a fabled blessed land.
If he could establish this as a foundational cultivation site for the path of immortality, it would be perfect.
Fortunately, the formation’s structure was now more accessible to Zhuang Lin. Having accumulated ample experience, he felt daily progress—each day’s insight clearer than the last.
This was partly due to his growing understanding of formations and also because his cultivation had improved during this time.
Moreover, during his leisure away from teaching, he roamed the valley, observing details and attuning his spiritual nature to resonate with the valley’s natural spirit.
At this moment, Zhuang Lin’s consciousness traced the areas in the valley where natural spiritual energy was most apparent, and wherever he passed, the flow of spiritual energy quickened.
He again recalled the sensation he felt upon first witnessing the Way of Heaven and Earth: brilliant, myriad colors swirling, misty clouds encircling the valley like ethereal veils.
He performed this exercise daily now.
But today was different. As his perception deepened, various nodes within the valley began to emit faint radiance; the valley’s inherent spiritual energy stirred noticeably.
Zhuang Lin felt a subtle shift in his heart but restrained himself from immediately synchronizing with this emerging energy.
This was the first time in a while he clearly perceived the formation stirring at its most minute points, transmitting through the transformations of yin and yang.
Yet he sought control rather than reckless activation.
Sure enough, with his intervention, the valley’s fluctuations quieted, mirroring his calm spirit—no earth-shaking tremors, no celestial phenomena, but the rhythm remained.
A slight smile played on Zhuang Lin’s lips. After so long exploring, he finally found the right approach.
In his perception, it was as if he delicately touched rhythmic patterns, like tuning an invisible instrument suspended between heaven and earth, adapting to it.
Indeed, the formation was not perfect, but not flawed.
The old Taoist who had laid out this formation long ago had exhausted himself in the process, possibly intending to harness the valley’s unique terrain to activate it.
The more he pondered, the more amazed he became.
That old Taoist had physically arranged the formation using the landscape’s natural contours and had calculated it all—or at least closely approximated it—requiring immense effort.
Though the actual full activation was due to Zhuang Lin’s recent attempt, even before that, the formation influenced the flow of spiritual energy simply by existing within the valley’s configuration.
Judging by the timeline, the formation’s subtle mysteries had only accumulated a small measure of heavenly and earthly essence over several years—far less than the valley’s current state in the Jin era.
Zhuang Lin’s thoughts flowed, but his consciousness stretched onward.
Gradually, he and the valley’s rhythm moved from near alignment to perfect harmony.
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At this moment, through this sensation, Zhuang Lin expanded his awareness outward to the edge of the mist, as if he could “see” everything across the vast expanse inside and outside the valley.
Simultaneously, formation information that had eluded him until now naturally surfaced in his mind.
His heart stirred, and the spiritual energy within his perception shifted; a mountain breeze stirred in response...
No wonder he had struggled to maintain control—the scale was larger than expected.
Just as Zhuang Lin rejoiced in mastering the formation, a new revelation struck him.
“Hmm?”
He faintly spotted the few boats from Wuling County and the officials aboard. In an instant, he guessed their purpose.
After all, The Peach Blossom Spring Record had been written...
Though it was not as the record suggested—no Wuling fishermen leading the search, and Tao Yuanming himself was absent.
Zhuang Lin slowly opened his eyes. At once, the somewhat lazy students straightened up, gripping their brushes tightly, wary of their teacher’s inspection.
Though fully aware of the students’ small distractions and thoughts, Zhuang Lin had no intention of checking their work just then.
He retrieved the formation diagram he had casually drawn earlier and spread it across the desk.
A slight smile crossed his lips. Dipping his index finger into the inkstone, he lightly traced a circle along the edge of the paper, guided by his inner feeling.
At this moment, his spirit melded with the formation; even this impromptu doodle became a conduit for effortless transformation.
Though the ink was minimal, it flowed continuously along his fingertip, forming a complete, closed circle.
The saturated ink ring spread across the rice paper as if melting into it.
With a simple stroke, he not only activated the formation but also, on a spiritual level, infused his own essence to mend subtle disharmonies within the formation.
I, too, am a link within this formation!
During this process, the paper seemed to dissolve into the ink, vanishing entirely from the desk...
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Meanwhile, in the mountain waterways, a small boat returned, signaling to the flagship that it had found a marked route.
The flagship immediately set off, following the small boat.
“Sir, the tree on the riverside ahead bears the mark, and the current’s direction has changed. There’s some light mist, but just follow me!” the boatman called out, urging the flagship to keep close.
Lu Jing wasted no time waiting for the other small boats and ordered the flagship forward.
As the two boats traveled together, they indeed entered a stretch where the current reversed, noticeably slowing their progress.
Yet this only fueled everyone’s enthusiasm; even the boatmen rowed with greater vigor.
Soon, someone aboard the flagship spotted marks on the nearby shore.
“Look, the tree bark has been cut—”
Following the speaker’s pointed finger, they saw a tree with carved lines, lifting everyone’s spirits.
The most excited was Zhao Chenyu.
“Quick, follow the marks!”
“Understood, Mr. Zhao!” the boatman shouted, rowing vigorously.
Unbeknownst to them, the surrounding fog thickened.
Where once two or three marks were visible through the haze, now only one remained. With the waterways growing more complex, misdirection became frequent.
They repeatedly lost their way, the flagship and smaller boats becoming separated in the fog.
At first, they could still hear each other’s calls, but as distance grew, the echoes in the mountains distorted the sounds, making it impossible to trace their source.
Likely, one party had taken a wrong turn, and the echoes faded...
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The officials aboard the flagship continued calling out.
“Boatmen—Brother He—where are you—”
Their voices echoed through the mountains, as if the mountains themselves responded.
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At the same moment, within the Hidden Immortal Valley’s academy, Zhuang Lin sensed everything through the grand formation.
Though his eyes could not see, he understood events from this novel perspective.
He shook his head gently, then focused his mind.
At that instant, the valley’s spiritual energy pulsed with the formation’s flow; the heavens seemed to tremble.
The crescent-shaped valley mirrored the sky; daytime stars appeared, constellations shifted, and the world seemed transformed...
This upheaval existed only within Zhuang Lin’s perception; none in the valley noticed, including Liu Hongyu, who was diligently writing.
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Meanwhile, those on the boats searching for the Peach Blossom Spring, lost repeatedly in the dense fog, gradually ceased struggling and paused.
“The fog seems to be thinning?” someone remarked, drawing attention.
“Looks like it...” “Just our imagination?” “Let’s wait a bit longer?”
Perhaps because the sun had reached its zenith, its heat hastened the fog’s dispersal.
“Look, the marks!” someone aboard spotted a distant riverside mark, reviving everyone’s excitement.
The boats pressed onward; rowing felt lighter, and the fog’s hindrance lessened.
Though still prone to errors in following the markers, progress resumed smoothly.
After another hour and a half, the flagship halted at the end of a river bay.
This was their third such pause.
Though following the marks, they repeatedly encountered dead ends.
Without seeing the peach grove, the path was clearly wrong; the boatmen turned back to try a previous fork.
No matter how many times they changed course, they found no peach grove, nor a passable mountain gorge.
Continuing forward led only to dead ends or loops back to prior waterways.
The current’s direction had subtly shifted, and after many detours, the group lost track of sequence and doubted whether earlier observations were illusions.
By the time the fog had thinned enough, the other small boats had long since regrouped, but still no discoveries.
The sun dipped westward, and the group’s enthusiasm cooled.
Zhao Chenyu, standing for long stretches, slumped despondently at the bow.
“How could this be? Why can’t we find it? Did Yuanliang lie to me? How could he deceive me...” he murmured, gazing into the water.
There, peach blossoms floated upon the current.
“Peach blossoms! There are peach blossoms!” Zhao Chenyu’s mood briefly brightened, only to fall again.
The fog was gone, yet the hope of finding the Peach Blossom Spring had faded.
“The blossoms remain in the water, but why can’t we find the source...?”
Earlier, the dense fog and focus on following markers had distracted them from noticing the blossoms drifting downstream.
Now, hearing Zhao Chenyu, they all peered more attentively.
“There really are peach petals...” “But just a few petals aren’t proof.”
“Maybe they fell from some wild peach trees nearby?”
Lu Jing also looked into the water, seeing petals floating by.
He glanced around at the rugged landscape—though red flowers bloomed on cliffs, they were mostly mountain azaleas, not peach trees, let alone a full peach grove.
Only the cries of mountain creatures echoed endlessly.
“We’ve searched everywhere. Let’s return...”