Chapter 26: He Truly Got His Wish

Zhuang Lin held his pen at the doorway, lost in thought for a long time, before eventually smiling and putting the matter aside.

It had already been a remarkably productive night; did he really expect to solve every problem at once?

In any case, for his disciple Liu Hongyu, practicing according to the immortal manual he had written thus far was not a problem. After all, Zhuang Lin was now well aware that the young Master Liu could, under certain conditions, perceive spiritual energy.

Of course, there were other equally important things to be done.

Zhuang Lin stood at the doorway, gazing out at the crescent-shaped valley within his line of sight, his eyes lingering on places his intuition told him were special.

At his current level, even if he possessed the cultivation realm without yet having the strength to match, he was far beyond the average person. Furthermore, having been tempered by the information-saturated society of his past life, many of his ways of thinking had been opened up.

If they were able to traverse time and space to reach the Jin Dynasty, it was perhaps not necessarily because Tao Yuanming had opened a dimensional gateway and stumbled into the Peach Blossom Spring by mistake.

Rather, it was more likely that the source lay within the "Peach Blossom Spring" itself!

When the director, Zhou Xianglin, had mentioned it back then, he had remarked that the old Taoist priest was marveling at the naturally formed Hidden Immortal Valley and had gone to great lengths to arrange certain things there. At the time, Zhou Xianglin had merely attributed it to the man’s skill in set design, and Zhuang Lin had listened to it as one would a story.

Now, it seemed far from simple. Even the death of that old Taoist might not have been the standard case of an elderly man succumbing to illness.

Zhuang Lin then thought of the time before Tao Yuanming’s arrival. If there were any variable, it seemed to be only his own desire to understand the Dao of Heaven and Earth while at the school.

At this moment, Zhuang Lin already had a hypothesis, and proving it would not be difficult.

Before the bonfire banquet last night, Zhuang Lin had already arranged several things with a portion of the people in the valley. Early this morning, a group of teams that frequently trekked into the mountains, including the Li brothers, would set out.

Once they returned, Zhuang Lin’s deductions would likely have their answer.

Hmm, time to make breakfast.

Thinking this, Zhuang Lin twirled the brush in his hand and tossed it lightly back into the room without even looking.

*Clack.* The brush landed precisely on its rack, and not a single drop of the residual ink on its tip spilled.

***

In the backyard of the Mu family clinic, Old Man Mu had risen early, and Liu Hongyu was already awake, helping him stoke the fire and boil porridge.

Although it had only been a day since he returned, Old Man Mu had a feeling that the young Master Liu had become a different person. He was not only more proactive in his tasks, but he also seemed to brim with a certain enthusiasm.

In the room over, Mu Hongwen was the last to wake up today. He dressed and hurried out. Without even greeting his grandfather, he rushed to Liu Hongyu's door, pushed it open, and his slightly panicked voice rang out.

"Grandfather, Young Master Liu is gone again—"

The last time Young Master Liu went missing, his grandfather and the tutor had gone out to look for him, leaving the child worried for a long time. Seeing him absent again today, the child was quite frightened.

Hearing the child’s urgent cry, Old Man Mu and Liu Hongyu in the kitchen both laughed. The latter’s smile held a mix of embarrassment and gratitude.

The so-called benevolence of a physician—Old Man Mu’s kindness toward him was something Liu Hongyu understood well, and the memory of his previous unannounced departure still filled him with guilt.

"Silly child, go get ready for breakfast... Young Master Liu is helping in the kitchen!"

Old Man Mu called out with a smile, finally easing the child's tension.

Once the morning chores were settled, it was time for the children of the valley to head to the school.

Zhuang Lin stood on the high ground in front of the schoolhouse with a smile, watching the children from all over the valley arrive in high spirits. Liu Hongyu was the oldest student among them.

***

Classes at the school were noticeably different today.

Zhuang Lin, as the tutor, did not sit behind the desk at the back of the room this time. Instead, he stood in the corridor outside.

The students had also turned their seats around, facing the tutor at the doorway to listen and learn.

Zhuang Lin was multitasking: while lecturing and teaching the students to read and interpret text, he was simultaneously sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the unique rhythm of the valley, observing the structure of the Hidden Immortal Valley.

To be precise, Zhuang Lin was looking for the "formation," confirming what the old Taoist had laid out and verifying the unique nature of the Hidden Immortal Valley itself.

***

During the time classes were in session, several teams had already left the Hidden Immortal Valley.

There were five teams in total: the Li brothers each led one, one of Old Man Mu’s apprentices led one, and those who prospected and gathered in the valley led two more.

Each team included hunters and those familiar with the terrain. With a minimum of five people and up to a dozen in the larger groups, they left the valley from various directions at roughly the same time.

At this moment, the eldest of the Li brothers was leading a team through the mountains.

They had long passed the outer fruit orchards, walked past the nearby familiar peaks, and traversed a stretch of mountain territory, venturing quite a distance outward.

Even though it was broad daylight, and the angle of the sun at this time should have illuminated much of the protected area, a thin layer of mist persistently hung over the path the team was taking.

Fortunately, everyone who went out was experienced. Relying on the environment they were reasonably familiar with, this bit of fog could not hinder their sense of direction.

By the afternoon, the eldest Li and his men stopped beside a mountain stream, where the fog was thicker than elsewhere.

They all crouched by the water, looking at one another.

"Brother Li, we’ve come this far. We should have passed the location by now, shouldn't we?"

Li Cai, the eldest of the Li brothers, frowned and looked across the stream.

A while back, when Tao Yuanming had first arrived at the Hidden Immortal Valley, someone had gone out once, but that group might have lacked experience and returned empty-handed due to the heavy fog. But now...

"Eat some dry rations to replenish your strength, then we'll try scouting the surroundings further!"

"Understood!"

The group was indeed tired, so they found places to sit, took out their rations, and ate them with cold water.

After a few silent mouthfuls, someone asked, "Do you think any of the other teams found the monitoring station?"

"Hard to say..."

"Under these conditions, I doubt it!"

"Alright, everyone, eat up and rest. We’ll try again. Perhaps once we walk out of the fog, things will be clearer!"

"Right!"

That was the situation with the eldest Li’s team; the others were faring no better.

***

That afternoon, the scouting teams returned one after another. Everyone gathered at the clinic because some of those who had returned were injured.

Zhuang Lin arrived from the school, while the students remained in the classroom for self-study.

When Zhuang Lin arrived, he saw Old Man Mu treating a wound.

Those near the clinic felt as if they had found their backbone the moment they saw Zhuang Lin.

"Tutor Zhuang is here!" "Master Zi'an is here!"

"Master Zi'an, over here..."

Zhuang Lin nodded to greet those who spoke and walked quickly into the clinic. Upon entering, he smelled blood and couldn't help but frown slightly.

"Master Zi'an!" "Tutor Zhuang, you're here!"

"Tutor Zhuang, we..."

The crowd gathered around, everyone trying to speak at once. Fortunately, Zhuang Lin interrupted the useless noise immediately.

"Hm, what happened? Speak one at a time! Start with him—why is his injury so severe?"

Zhuang Lin looked at a man lying on a rattan bed; the smell of blood was strongest on him.

Li, the eldest, sighed.

"Sigh, we went a bit too far. The environment was vastly different from our impressions. Through a moment of carelessness, someone fell into a pit. It took a lot of effort to get him out, and after some emergency treatment, we rushed him back..."

"It’s just a minor fracture. The bone has been set. Although it’s a painful injury, it’s not life-threatening and doesn't require surgery. A splint for a while, supplemented by medication, will do."

Old Man Mu and his apprentice in the Hidden Immortal Valley could perform surgeries, but they lacked the best conditions. Under normal circumstances, such emergencies would require outside intervention.

"And you all?"

Zhuang Lin noticed that another group was covered in injuries, mostly abrasions of varying degrees.

These were seasoned mountain men; such a situation was rare.

Hearing Zhuang Lin’s question, the men turned slightly pale. The leader swallowed hard before answering.

"Master Zi'an, you don't know—our progress was smooth, but we didn't find the experimental monitoring station. Instead, we ran into a tiger!"

"A tiger?"

Zhuang Lin’s brows twitched. He looked at the others, and from their expressions and reactions, he realized that everyone had already heard the news.

"Yes, it was definitely a tiger. First, we heard a roar—the kind that makes your legs shake uncontrollably... then we came face-to-face with it!"

"That’s right, just thinking about it makes my heart tremble!"

"Luckily, the tiger seemed startled by the number of us and bolted away, but we were terrified and ran for our lives..."

Once the tiger was mentioned, the group began to chime in, vying to describe the danger. Only then did they gradually quiet down.

Zhuang Lin nodded solemnly, realizing how they had sustained their scrapes and cuts. He also instinctively glanced at the Li brothers.

The Li brothers were silent, standing to one side. In fact, they had seen tigers in the wild about twenty years ago when they were young and had hunted them with their elders—using guns, of course.

The second Li brother, seeing Zhuang Lin look his way, remarked, "Even though this is a national nature reserve, the tigers in this area... didn't they go extinct in the wild long before the reserve was established?"

Zhuang Lin frowned, nodded, and then looked at the others.

"Did anyone find the monitoring station?"

The monitoring station—the nominal economic test forest observation station—was entirely set up by the Liu family and was generally supposed to be built around the hills outside the Hidden Immortal Valley.

After Zhuang Lin asked, everyone fell silent, which was an answer in itself.

Zhuang Lin sighed.

"Very well. Let the other teams describe their situations as well..."

"I'll go first!"

Li Dong took the lead in describing their ordeal, and the clinic became lively once more.

A moment later, Zhuang Lin had a clear picture.

Some teams had encountered accidents; some had walked far, felt something was wrong, and turned back; some had wandered in the fog as if under a supernatural spell; and others had actually encountered a tiger, a Class-I protected animal.

But no one had found the monitoring station, and after passing certain landmarks, the terrain outside had become completely unfamiliar.

Zhuang Lin already had the answer in his heart, and he realized that everyone present likely shared the same suspicion.

After all, few people here were foolish, and the heavy atmosphere before Zhuang Lin’s arrival was proof enough of that.

Just then, someone in the corner muttered under their breath.

"Well, it seems he finally got his wish..."

As for who "he" was, everyone who heard it understood.