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Chapter 446 The Republic of China! Peach Blossom Spring (23) Requesting monthly votes!

"How can I have a home when the vengeful spirit has not been extinguished!" Zhang Dong continued to struggle.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Zhuang Boshi shoved Zhang Dong into the coffin.

Then Dr. Zhuang possessed Zhang Dong's body and used shapeshifting magic, instantly transforming back into the appearance of that rotting man.

After thinking for a moment, Zhuang Boshi erased all the signs of decay on his body. Apart from being a little pale, he was no longer a dead person.

And so, he went upstream with the small boat, and the boat went faster and faster. The scenery he saw was vastly different from the tranquil river he had seen before.

What used to be a lush forest is now just rows of withered peach trees.

The peach tree branches were twisted and gnarled, resembling grotesque corpses.

The withered peach tree exuded a chilling aura that almost completely filled the riverbed, obscuring the view ahead.

“These supernatural phenomena have almost formed a spontaneous ghost realm,” Zhang Dong said to himself.

"Are these peach trees ghosts too?" Zhuang Boshi looked them over.

"It is not a vengeful ghost, but rather a ghost similar to a courier ghost that died from a vengeful ghost."

"Under every peach tree lies a vengeful spirit."

As the current quickened, the boat traveled further and further away, as if several hands were propelling it from underwater.

The withered peach trees on both sides gradually blossomed, and before long, the mountains and fields between the two banks were covered with peach blossoms.

Peach groves lined the banks for several hundred paces, with no other trees in sight, the grasses were lush and green, and fallen petals were scattered everywhere.

Zhuang Boshi looked with his divine eyes and saw that beneath these peach blossoms were the gruesome corpses of vengeful ghosts. This was no peach blossom forest; it was clearly a ghost peach forest.

How many vengeful ghosts are there? A thousand, or ten thousand?

But this method of burying evil spirits with peach blossoms looked very familiar to him. Wasn't this the grove of trees outside Zhang Dong's old house?

"Uncle Zhuang, I understand."

Zhang Dong suddenly said, "Under the withered peach tree are only treacherous ghosts, but under the blooming peach tree are fierce ghosts."

"Moreover, the closer it is to Peach Blossom Spring, the more blooming the peach blossoms there are, which can only mean that this Peach Blossom Spring village is nurturing a vengeful ghost."

Zhuang Boshi nodded and said, "You're right, but I have an even more terrifying conjecture. It is said that the villagers of Peach Blossom Village have continued for thousands of years. How many people have died of natural causes in these thousands of years?"

"One hundred thousand people?"

"Still 200,000 people?"

"Those dead people are very likely the ghosts under that withered peach tree."

"After a person dies, they become a 'changgui' (伥鬼), and after a hundred years of nurturing, they become a vengeful ghost."

"Because the villagers who died at the beginning were buried nearby, the more peach trees that bloom there are, the more mature the evil spirits become."

"As more and more people died, the peach trees began to spread outwards."

“Peach Blossom Spring is consciously expanding its ghostly domain.” Zhang Dong was shocked.

He had seen and heard of many vengeful ghosts, but he had never seen one like Peach Blossom Village, which was so perfectly aligned with the cycle of life and death of humans.

If my guess is correct, Peach Blossom Village raises humans, and the deaths of humans become the vengeful offspring of Peach Blossom Village.

A basic cycle has been established!
Moreover, over the past thousand years, who knows how much territory Taoyuan Village has expanded?

If there is enough time.

The Peach Blossom Spring might actually encompass an entire province.

This Peach Blossom Village is not as peaceful and serene as legend has it.

Beneath the harmonious facade of humans and ghosts lies an extremely terrifying force, spreading relentlessly like an invasive species.

A vengeful ghost is simply a ghost!

I don't know how long we've been traveling.

The ship docked, and Zhuang Boshi vaguely heard shouts coming from outside.

"They're here, they're here, the Sun family's child is here."

"Oh, this is finally here."

The sound grew louder and louder, and then with a "snap," the coffin lid was opened.

What came into view was neither a terrifying and ferocious demon.

It was not a pale-faced, stiff-moving ghost slave.

Instead, they were simple and honest villagers with rosy complexions and full of energy.

Their clothing was simple and rustic, reminiscent of the style of ordinary people before the Tang Dynasty, but their faces were all very clean.

They were completely different from the impoverished refugees outside.

It's a living person!
"My child, you've finally arrived."

An elderly couple in their fifties, with gray hair, burst into tears the moment they saw Zhuang Boshi.

They frantically pulled him out of the coffin.

Seeing Zhuang Boshi's somewhat confused expression, the remaining villagers seemed a little suspicious.

“I knew Sanlang wouldn’t forget his parents.”

"Everyone says there's war outside, but things are much better here."

"Sanlang insisted on going out to make his mark, and we lost all contact with him for several years. Fortunately, he returned safe and sound."

Zhuang Boshi caught every whisper of the villagers' conversation.

He immediately bowed to a couple in their forties who had been standing silently to the side.

"Father, Mother!"

"Your child is unfilial!"

The man scoffed, "Only now you know to come back?"

The middle-aged woman next to him tugged at his sleeve and said with some emotion, "No matter what, it's a good thing that the child is back."

"Aren't you going to pay your respects to your second uncle and aunt?!"

Zhuang Boshi then bowed to the couple who had helped him up.

"Second Uncle, Second Aunt, I've been away from home for many days and I'm a little shy. Please forgive me."

"It's alright, it's alright, it's good that you're back." Auntie's eyes were filled with tears.

"You too, when Sanlang left home, you kept talking about him."

"Who are you trying to impress with that long face as soon as you get back!"

"They miss you so much."

“Sanlang, during the years you were away, your parents couldn’t eat or sleep, and they cried day and night because of you.”

Looking into the deep affection in the eyes of the two elderly people, Zhuang Boshi's eyes immediately reddened and tears streamed down his face.

"Father, Mother, I...I'm so sorry."

For a moment he couldn't think of anything to say, and then he burst into tears.

The villagers smiled with relief upon seeing this.

"Sun Laowu and Li Sanniang have had a tough time; they've finally seen their son return." "But why do they need to do this test?"

"I don't understand either. This is a rule set by the village chief, who said it was to prevent outsiders from barging into our Peach Blossom Village."

"This family recognition step is absolutely necessary."

"Ah, who can argue with that? I heard it's a mess outside. Today this general is fighting that general, tomorrow that general is fighting this general. People are suffering. It's nothing like here."

Zhang Dong inwardly exclaimed how close he had come to disaster.

If the wrong person is identified, although these few can be dealt with with one hand, the identity of a villager of Peach Blossom Village will be completely lost.

It might trigger something strange.

"Uncle Zhuang, how do you know those two aren't their biological parents?"

"They are still human, not ghosts."

"Humans have emotions!"

Zhuang Boshi had just noticed that the two men and women next to him were acting strangely. Although they hadn't said a word, the intensity of their emotional fluctuations seemed to be even stronger than those of the men and women who were wailing loudly.

Zhuang Boshi stopped crying: "Father, Mother, I want to introduce you to..."

Zhuang Boshi turned around, about to say something, but froze there.

The sedan chair that originally carried living people has been transformed into a paper sedan chair.

After the paper curtain was blown by the wind, the once lively little girl turned into a paper doll.

Although it was incredibly lifelike, with a very clear expression of fear on its face, it had truly become a paper doll of a little girl, devoid of any trace of human life.

"Uncle, what's going on?"

Zhang Dong also witnessed this scene and anxiously cried out in his heart.

"It's clearly a living person."

"Don't worry."

Zhuang Boshi replied to him in his mind.

"This village is very strange."

When everyone saw Zhuang Boshi looking at the paper sedan chair, a villager asked, "What's wrong, Sanlang? Isn't this an offering for the goddess?"

"Yes Yes."

Zhuang Boshi quickly agreed.

"But why is there only this one?"

"Shouldn't a young boy have been brought in with them?"

"Yes, that's how it always is. A man and a woman, paired up, that's the offering for the Empress."

"Sanlang, have you seen another little boy?"

"Little boy..."

Dr. Zhuang cursed inwardly.

The villagers were definitely talking about Zhangdong.

So that was also taken into account.

“Sanlang, did you see it?” Sun’s father also asked.

"Could it be that it's lost?" The second aunt also looked suspicious.

All the villagers stared at him with puzzled looks.

Zhuang Boshi turned around with a puzzled smile and pointed behind them.

"Elders, isn't that little boy you're talking about over there?"

The villagers quickly turned around and saw a paper effigy of a little boy hanging from a peach tree, swaying in the wind—a very eerie sight.

It looks very much like Zhang Dong.

This was just rubbed together by Zhuang Boshi using a fourth-level hand speed.

"Oh dear, what's going on?" a tall man complained, walking over and carefully taking the paper figure down.

"I knew you were all going to see Sanwazi, and no one was even looking after the offerings for the Goddess. That's why the wind blew them here."

"That's right, that's right." The other villagers immediately regained their enthusiasm.

"Luckily, Sanwazi, you have sharp eyes."

"If these paper boys float into the river and don't become a pair, then we will be guilty of a terrible sin."

What will happen if they can't be paired up?
"Yes, hurry up, let's take the boy, girl and Sanwazi back to the village together, let's not talk here."

Everyone chattered away for a while, and then Zhuang Boshi's parents took his hands and led him towards a cave.

The forest ends at the source of the stream, where a mountain appears. The mountain has a small opening, and it seems as if light is shining through it.

At first he was extremely narrow, but only then did he understand people. After walking dozens of steps, I suddenly became enlightened.

After passing through the cave, Zhuang Boshi saw the legendary Peach Blossom Village.

Surprisingly, the village was very large.

It could even be called a small town.

The land is flat and the houses are neat.

It has fertile fields, beautiful ponds, mulberry trees, and bamboo groves.

The paths crisscross, and the sounds of chickens and dogs can be heard from one another.

The elderly and children alike were all enjoying themselves.

The elderly have support, and the young are cared for.

Although the villagers were mostly dressed in coarse linen clothes, they were very clean and tidy.

The child had a rosy complexion, indicating that he was well-fed and clothed.

They're all alive!

In the Peach Blossom Spring, thousands of living people were indeed raised!
Along the way, it seemed that many people recognized Sun Sanlang's original identity, and people kept greeting him. Zhuang Boshi naturally called out their names.

After all, his senses were so sharp that almost no sound in the village could escape his ears.

Even at the village entrance, he could already hear the rustling sounds of the villagers.

I can recognize most of these thousands of villagers.

Zhuang Boshi acted naturally, and everyone had less and less doubt about his identity.

Soon, Zhuang Boshi arrived at a south-facing house at the foot of the mountain, backed by the mountain, with a stream flowing in front of the door.

Although it's not big, it's very clean.

The wooden beams were painted, and the roof was thatched and covered with tiles.

"We're home," Mr. Sun said, turning around with a complicated expression.

(End of this chapter)