General Zhiyi

Spring in March.

Next to the official road outside Taohuaxi in the small town, a small tea shop that has been passed down for a hundred years is full of tourists who come from other places for an outing. The cool breeze blows, and the peach blossoms blooming on both sides of the official road are like thin pieces of rouge. , Falling down one after another, imbuing the world with a sense of poignancy.

There are two men sitting facing each other on the chairs at the entrance of the tea shop. One of them is dressed in white and looks as gentle and handsome as jade. Notoriously dark.

The other man was a handsome monk, his plain monk robe was spotless, even though he stepped on the mud with bare feet, he was never stained with any filth.

The two sat facing each other, seemingly acquainted but silent to each other. Under the peach blossom tree that was just beginning to bloom, they looked like people in a painting, which attracted other tea drinkers inside and outside the tea shop to look back again and again inadvertently.

Yin Liansheng reached out to catch a falling peach blossom, looked at it with lowered eyes, and said softly: "I have been here before."

Wu Na stopped reciting the scriptures in his mouth, slowly opened his eyes, his eyes fell on his palms, and said: "The past is just a passing cloud."

"Since that's the case, why is the master so deeply involved?" Yin Liansheng gathered his fingers, put the peach blossom into his palm, and looked at Wu Na quietly.

Wu Na looked at him blankly, and said slowly, "For atonement."

Yin Liansheng chuckled: "It's hard to persuade others with good words."

Wu Na murmured "Amitabha" in a low voice, got up and signaled to leave, Yin Liansheng got up after him, put down tea money on the table, and followed him to the official road.

After only a hundred steps away, Yin Liansheng suddenly stopped, looked back at Taolin, and frowned slightly.

Wu Na followed his gaze, and the peach forest spread infinitely deep. Many tourists strolled in the forest to enjoy the flowers. At the end of the peach forest, a building with black tiles and white walls could be seen faintly. The only small town - Taohuaxi.

In the middle of the peach grove, there is a lush peach tree blooming, and the bloody petals falling under the tree are like drops of bright red blood.

Under the tree stood a young man wrapped only in a long black cloth.He has a slender figure, and the black cloth that drags the ground flutters in the wind, as if he will be blown down by the wind at any time. His pale feet step on the bloody petals on the ground, making his whole body pale like a corpse. Peach Blossom Eyes looked straight at Yin Liansheng, the eyes shot out of the black eyes were sharp, penetrating and flamboyant, very much like the man on Xiyun Mountain, but there was an undisguised coldness in the eyes , making Yin Liansheng feel a little uncomfortable.

The young man and Yin Liansheng looked at each other for a moment, then suddenly raised the corners of their mouths, revealing an unfathomable smile, then slowly turned to the small peach tree closest to the Jiangtao tree, which only had a few peach blossoms here and there, sticking out its light white Finger, broke a branch, he sniffed the only peach blossom on the branch, glanced at Yin Liansheng casually, turned around and walked towards Taohuaxi, his figure disappeared in the forest in an instant.

Wu Na asked lightly: "Acquaintance?"

Yin Liansheng withdrew his gaze, shook his head, seemed to think of something, and said, "Perhaps... a former acquaintance."

After the figures of the two disappeared at the end of the official road, the soft-spoken tea drinkers unconsciously let go of their voices and talked loudly, and the tea shop became more lively in an instant.

"Speaking of which, tomorrow is Taohuaxi's 'Peach Festival'. Why don't we stay one more day to join in the fun?" A young man in purple said to his companions with a smile.

"'Peach Sacrifice'?" A white-haired old man with a goatee at the next table suddenly turned his head to look at these young people, and said seriously, "I advise you to give up this idea."

All the young people looked at him one after another and asked in puzzlement, "What do you mean by that?"

The old man's name was Liu Yan, and he glanced at the owner of the tea shop who was busy, lowered his voice, and said, "As we all know, 'sacrificing peaches' is a unique sacrifice in Taohuaxi, and the sacrifice is to a god here—Peach Yea, but this sacrificial ceremony once disappeared 800 years ago because of the fall of the Yin Kingdom, and was restored only 300 years ago."

"Yin country?" The eyes of the young man in purple who proposed suddenly lit up, "When I was in the imperial city, I heard the storyteller there say that it was a powerful country 800 years ago! It's a pity, because the invasion of foreign races will eventually be difficult." Escaping from the calamity of the country..."

Before he finished speaking, another young man rushed to say: "I've heard of this too! I remember that the birth mother of the king of subjugation, Concubine Yue, was the goddess enshrined by the invading alien race! It is rumored that the alien race who invaded the imperial city of Yin Kingdom back then The soldiers died tragically overnight after destroying the defeated generals in the palace of the Yin Kingdom. Their leader arrived with the rest of the soldiers the next day, and none of them survived. Then thousands of ghosts raged in the imperial city, and the people there were almost extinct. During the 800 years of wind and sand burial, the imperial city of Yin Kingdom became the current Yin Ruins, many people went to search for treasures, most of them disappeared, if they were lucky, they would either return empty-handed or end up insane."

"Isn't it! I also heard..."

"Cough cough!"

The young man in purple wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Liu Yan, with a look of embarrassment on his face, he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Sorry, sir, I'm sorry, please continue."

Liu Yan nodded in satisfaction, tapped the table with two fingers, and his face became serious again: "Taohuaxi also belonged to the Yin Kingdom 800 years ago, when foreigners chased the royal family and loyal ministers' families here, the biggest tree in the Taolin They were massacred under the peach tree one by one to appease the Goddess's tainted wrath. The blood stained the fallen flowers all over the ground, soaked into the soil, and soaked the roots of the peach tree, so that it bloomed such blood-red peach blossoms. "

Hearing this, everyone looked at the unusually luxuriant peach tree, heard the subtle sound of the wind blowing the flowers and leaves, and vaguely heard the sound of weeping, and looked at the blood-colored petals that kept falling, as if When a blood rain fell, they suddenly felt a chill creeping up their spines.

"Sir, you're wrong, aren't we talking about 'sacrificing peaches'? Why mention something that happened 800 years ago?" The purple-clothed youth forced the corners of his mouth, and his smile was far-fetched.

"Yes... yes, sir, why can't we go to Taohuaxi to see the 'Peach Festival'?" another young man echoed.

Liu Yan glanced at him lightly, and said in a deep voice, "What do you think is being sacrificed in the 'sacrificing peaches'?"

"Could it be... the peach tree that was sacrificed?" The young man who was scrambling to talk earlier froze and asked in a daze.

"Exactly."

After several youths looked at each other, the purple-clothed youth asked again: "But, isn't Taoyao, the god of this side, the one who sacrificed? How could it be a... tree?"

Liu Yan said inwardly, "Ignorant child", and said with a smile, "The god you mentioned is that peach tree."

Seeing the surprised faces of all the young people, he took a sip of tea, and continued: "The so-called god of Taohuaxi is actually a demon god, who was cultivated from that peach tree. Back then, although the residents of Taohuaxi were lucky They escaped, but witnessed the brutal killing of the royal family they admired. They begged Taoyao to show up, but they never got a response. Therefore, they gradually lost faith in her, so they "sacrificed Taoyao" ' disappeared for 500 years."

He paused, and then said: "At the same time, in order to avoid disaster, they completely isolated themselves from the world. The gate of Taohuaxi was also sealed for 500 years. Until 300 years ago, for some reason, they regained their belief in Taoyao, and Taohuaxi also It is open to the public on the third day of the "Peach Festival" every year. However, in the past 300 years, no one who has entered Taohuaxi has ever come out."

The young man in purple showed a look of fear, and said, "What do you mean, sir...he...they are all...dead?"

"It's hard to say, but what is certain is that they have all become people from Taohuaxi." Liu Yan raised the tea bowl and drank the tea, adding, "Since then, they have been sealed in Taohuaxi, and have never taken a step forward."

The young people were puzzled: "Why?"

Liu Yan put down the tea bowl, looked at the owner of the tea shop who was busy greeting new tea customers, with an unidentified gleam in his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "I don't know for now."

"Since you don't know, why don't you go and see?"

A playful voice sounded from Liu Yan's side, and everyone looked forward slightly, only to see three more attractive tea guests at the next table at some time, causing the girls around to look back frequently with blushing faces and wringing the handkerchiefs in their hands.

The man who spoke had a pair of naturally romantic peach blossom eyes. He rested his cheek with one hand and played with a green bamboo flute in the other hand. His spirit is not weak at all.

"Everyone has said that once you go, you can't get out." The flirtatious red-clothed man beside him blinked and said with a smile, and there was something breathtaking in his frown and smile.

"But he still wants to go." The man in black who was holding a wooden spoon to deliver the peach blossom soup to his mouth raised his eyes and glanced at Liu Yan, explaining what he was thinking.

After pondering for a moment, Liu Yan nodded: "Yes, I come here every year to enjoy the flowers, and I have heard many stories about Taohuaxi. Heart."

"After listening to the words of the master, the three of us, the master and the apprentice, would like to go into the Taohuaxi for a while. Walking deep in the forest, it seems that he is really going to Taohuaxi.

Liu Yan was taken aback, frowned and shook his head.He had enjoyed peach blossoms in this tea shop for decades, heard countless rumors about Taohuaxi, and even walked to the gate, but he never dared to take a step forward.

He has witnessed the so-called "cannibalism" in Taohuaxi with his own eyes, so he has persuaded many people. Most of them are the same as those young people. It was he who was making alarmist remarks, or he went into Taohuaxi to find out, but the facts proved that those people never came out.

This time, Liu Yan didn't plan to sit in the tea shop to see if they could come out of it, he wanted to find out the truth himself, and even if he died, he would have to give himself an explanation.