Legend Management Bureau Chapter 404

[ … words ]

“What in the world is going on?!”

Before Du Yu could recover his senses, the characters filling the sky vanished completely, and the group of men and horses arrived right before their eyes.

“Bring out the weapons,” the governor said slowly. “Did everyone bring their red cloaks?”

The numerous guards pulled their weapons from the carriages and replied, “We brought them!”

“Tie on your red cloaks to ward off evil,” the governor said, glancing back at the group.

The fisherman was a little confused. He asked with a smile, “My Lord… what do you mean by warding off evil? Aren’t you here to collect taxes and grain?”

“Fisherman, your business here is done. Leave,” a guard said, stepping forward.

The fisherman paused slightly. “Leave…? Go where?”

“Go back,” the guard said impatiently, shoving the fisherman. “We will find you after this is over.”

The governor sighed and gave a look to one of the guards.

Understanding the silent command, the guard gritted his teeth, drew his blade, and slit the fisherman’s throat in a single swift motion.

A look of sheer astonishment washed over the fisherman’s face. He opened his mouth but could not utter a single word. Clutching his neck, he slowly collapsed to the ground.

“Bury him with the rest later,” the governor said slowly. “Our murderous sins will inevitably be too heavy today. We will have to rely entirely on these red cloaks to conceal the malicious aura.”

The group secured their cloaks and marched into Peach Blossom Spring Village one after another.

Du Yu’s eyes remained wide open. A sudden realization struck him: Was this going to be a massacre?

Yet, contrary to his expectations, the governor was clearly extremely experienced. Since he had only brought a few dozen men, slaughtering the village and looting everything would normally take a massive amount of time.

Therefore, the moment he sealed off the exit, he immediately ordered his subordinates to round up all the villagers of Peach Blossom Spring Village and herd them into the open clearing in the center of the village.

What followed was an exceptionally cruel game of “trading goods for lives.”

The governor forced the villagers, one by one, to hand over wealth or grain in exchange for their lives. If they could not produce anything, they were executed on the spot.

In the span of just half an hour, the peaceful and harmonious Peach Blossom Spring Village was reduced to a living hell.

Screams, sobs, and pleas for mercy merged into a chaotic cacophony.

Under the escort of the officials, many people continuously returned to their homes to fetch their grain, then piled it up behind the governor.

Because Peach Blossom Spring Village was isolated from the rest of the world, money had long lost its value. The surplus grain in their homes was their entire fortune.

One bag of grain for one head, and that included children and the elderly.

After the first round of slaughter, the population of Peach Blossom Spring Village had been reduced by a full third.

Little streams of crimson blood looked exceptionally jarring against the beautiful scenery of Peach Blossom Spring Village.

The surviving villagers all knelt on the ground, shaking with fear, their faces ashen like dead embers.

Just when Du Yu thought the ordeal was over, the governor began the second round of “trading goods for lives.”

Those who had survived were required to continue producing items of equivalent value in exchange for their lives. Otherwise, the executions would continue.

Thus, some families brought out the very last rations from their cellars, others offered up clothing or tools, and some handed over their domesticated chickens and ducks.

But most of them had absolutely nothing left.

By the end of this round, more than half of the villagers in Peach Blossom Spring Village had been slaughtered.

The villagers finally realized that this nightmare was far from over.

Even in a paradise like Peach Blossom Spring Village, known for its honest customs and isolation from the world, the ugly side of human nature gradually began to show itself.

The villagers spontaneously began to act as informants, pointing fingers at the wealthier families in the village, insisting they definitely had hidden grain. They begged the governor to spare their lives in exchange for this information, while others even offered to trade their own children to save their own skin.

Yet, all of this seemed to be within the governor’s expectations.

He ordered the guards to follow the wealthy villagers to their homes to extract the grain, and then continued to squeeze the remaining people dry. He intended to extort them until not a single grain of rice could be found, and not a single thread was left in any household.

Du Yu and the old man were completely paralyzed by the horrifying scene unfolding before them, neither able to utter a single word.

“Y-young man… what in the world is this…? Are those people really Daoist Priests? Are there truly Great Immortals in this village?” The old man felt his entire worldview had been turned upside down, his mind completely shutting down.

At that moment, a little boy of five or six, his tiny hands cupped together, trembling as he held a small puddle of river water, fell to his knees before the governor.

The governor cast a cold glance at the child and asked, “What are you doing?”

The little boy swallowed hard. His hands shook incessantly, causing a bit of the water to spill out.

“G-great Lord… my parents have already been killed…” The child’s eyes were wide, but he did not cry aloud. He spoke in a flat, hollow tone, “C-can I use this clean water in my hands to buy my own life…?”

In the very next second, blood splashed three meters into the air, splattering against the guard’s red cloak.

Those small hands that had been cupping the clean water slowly dropped, spilling the river water into the crimson pool of blood.

“Old man… we were all wrong…” Du Yu murmured to himself. “They found it every single time… They were able to find it every time!”

“What did you say?!”

With a trace of horror in his eyes, Du Yu grabbed the old man tightly and said, “Throughout history, the fisherman led the governor to Peach Blossom Spring Village every single time!!”

As soon as those words left his mouth, a wave of lingering fear washed over Du Yu, sending a chill down his spine. So much of what he thought he knew had just been completely overthrown.

He shook his head, his gaze shifting erratically as he muttered, “The ending of the Peach Blossom Spring fable states that Liu Ziji of Nanyang went searching for the spring, but ‘he fell ill and died, and thereafter, no one asked for the way.’ We misunderstood the meaning of that sentence… Did Liu Ziji really die of illness? No, perhaps the sentence meant ‘he discovered the fisherman died of illness,’ or perhaps he was murdered… Not to mention, all those who came looking for it afterward found absolutely nothing… Now I understand! It is because Peach Blossom Spring Village was already gone! Someone wanted to keep this secret buried forever!”

Immediately after, another thought suddenly struck Du Yu—

The rift in space and time that appeared just now was absolutely not about “completing Legends”!

Instead, it was because Du Yu had decided not to lead the governor to Peach Blossom Spring Village, causing the legend to deviate from its course!

The space could no longer sustain itself, so it had no choice but to shatter!

The agonizing screams still had not ceased. The governor and his men ruthlessly continued slaughtering the villagers of Peach Blossom Spring Village.

Perhaps, if the villagers had risen up and fought back from the very first second, they wouldn’t have met such an end.

But the governor before them had given them false hope far too many times, stripping away countless lives in this twisted game of murder again and again.

Now, with only a little over a dozen people left, they no longer even had the strength or opportunity to resist.

To intimidate hundreds of people, one only needs to kill a single person.

To kill hundreds of people, one needs to break their spirits.

To avoid having to haul the grain themselves, the governor made the villagers carry the rations over with their own hands.

To avoid having to move the corpses, he gathered everyone into one place beforehand.

It was a meticulously planned, flawlessly executed, and highly experienced plundering, yet it also marked the absolute darkest hour of human nature.

During the Taiyuan era of the Jin dynasty, the world was in sheer chaos.

The Heavenly King of Former Qin, Fu Jian, annihilated the various regimes in northern China, briefly achieving the unification of half the realm and cementing his formidable power. However, Fu Jian only destroyed those nations without suppressing their nobles or remnant forces. Thus, beneath this facade of prosperity and might, dark undercurrents were actually surging.

Following the Battle of Fei River, the power of Fu Jian and Former Qin was severely weakened, diminishing their control over the nobles of various nations and ethnic groups. Figures such as Murong Chui, Murong Hong, Tuoba Gui, and Qifu Guoren of the Xianbei, Yao Chang of the Qiang, and Lu Guang of the Di, all took advantage of the aftermath of the Battle of Fei River during the Taiyuan era to either declare independence or restore their fallen states. One by one, they broke away from Former Qin’s control, plunging the world into total turmoil.

In such a grand, chaotic environment, how insignificant was the tiny Peach Blossom Spring Village?

Peach Blossom Spring Village saved Wuling Commandery, yet it completely vanished into the long river of history.

The governor personally severed the head of the very last person, bringing a gruesome end to this catastrophic massacre.

On the stone wall, that familiar line of text slowly drifted out once more: “Du Yu, do you truly understand human nature?”