Tao Ran was very patient. Facing Bai Youhui's questioning, she was not angry at all. She calmly pointed to the place halfway up the mountain behind her and said, "It was not me who forced them to stay. They stayed willingly."
Bai Youhui raised his voice and argued with him: "Impossible! Are you kidding me? There's not a soul in sight in this godforsaken place, who would want to stay?"
Even the taciturn Qian Wenbing couldn't help but retort, "Look, there are ghosts everywhere. What living person would want to be with ghosts?"
Tao Ran calmly took a sip of wine, then countered, "What if there were renowned teachers here? The scholars who voluntarily stayed here are all because of Master Qi. I don't blame you for not knowing this. They can leave whenever they want; I haven't set up any barriers. Including you, you can come and go freely. But since you're here, Celestial Master, why not take a stroll around and see what you think of my illusion?"
He spoke with a sense of accomplishment: "The villagers who died in Taoyuan Village continue to live here, as if the plague had never happened. Look at the people here, everyone has a smile on their face, and families are together happily. Isn't that wonderful?"
Yuan Qi snorted: "How do you know they want to be trapped here and repeat the same life every day, or they want to be reincarnated? You're imposing your own ideas on others. Do you know what you're doing?"
Tao Ran, unconvinced, pointed at the people coming and going on the street: "Didn't you see it too? They're very happy. Shouldn't I do something now that the villagers of Taoyuan Village have nurtured me for so many years and they're dead? I've long considered the villagers here as my own family, and I'm very saddened by their deaths. I can't bring them all back to life, but isn't it good to let them continue to live in this way?"
"You're too self-righteous. You should ask them." Even with her good temper, Yuan Qi didn't want to talk to him about these repetitive things. With a gentle wave of her hand, the illusion shattered instantly, and the brightly lit night market returned to a gloomy and desolate forest, filled with wandering ghosts, most of whom looked terrifying.
Because they died of the plague, their exposed skin—face, hands, and arms—was covered in pustules. Their loved ones, seeing each other's gruesome deaths, wept uncontrollably. They repeatedly recalled their final moments, reliving their agony.
They wandered in groups, unable to find their homes, some unable to find their relatives, and some wanting to leave but unable to.
Yuan Qi said angrily, "This is their true state. The illusion you just saw was you deceiving yourself."
She formed a hand seal and released a burst of energy, which directly shattered the barrier here, allowing the wandering souls that had been drifting for many years to leave on their own.
Tao Ran was furious and sternly questioned, "Master, what are you doing? If they leave here, they will become wandering ghosts, and they might be eaten by those evil spirits. You are harming them."
Yuan Qi snorted: "I'd harm them? Tao Ran, let's ask them if they want to stay here. If they're dead, they should go into the cycle of reincarnation and wait in line to be reborn. They shouldn't linger in the human world. It's better to let them go where they belong."
After saying this, Yuan Qi chanted an incantation, which directly summoned a large number of underworld messengers, numbering fifty or sixty.
Taoyuan Village has thousands of residents, so calling one or two wouldn't be enough.
Tao Ran knew he was no match for Yuan Qi and dared not make a move. He was filled with grief and indignation and did not want to say a word.
Yuan Qi greeted the underworld officials and instructed them to take them away.
She was busy for a long time before she finally had a chance to say a few words to Tao Ran.
Before she could speak, Tao Ran questioned her: "Weren't you also acting on your own initiative? Did they want to go with the underworld officials? You just let the underworld officials tell them to go?"
Yuan Qi patiently reasoned with him: "Birth, aging, sickness and death are things that everyone must go through. Being born in the mortal world and dying in the underworld is the way of heaven. You have violated the way of heaven. The fact that I did not mention this matter to the underworld officials today is already because you have not harmed them. Otherwise, you would be in serious trouble for the crime of privately detaining ghosts."
Bai Youhui also tried to persuade him, "You should try to think more positively. If you can stop this place from being so gloomy and desolate, maybe some people will come and settle here. Peach Blossom Village will prosper again. As long as you don't do bad things, Seventh Sister won't do anything to you."
As Tao Ran watched the villagers' souls being taken away by the underworld officials, he actually shed tears: "I can't bear to part with those fellow villagers; they are all good people."
However, some villagers still came to thank Tao Ran, thanking him for making their lives happy all these years.
But many more followed the underworld messengers in silence, repeating the same life day after day for so many years, and sometimes even having to relive the pain of their loved ones' deaths, which was a torment for many.
Bai Youhui patted Tao Ran on the shoulder: "Brother Taoshu, don't be sad. The prefect of Jiyang and the magistrate of Taoyuan County are just outside the village. If you talk to them properly, maybe they will relocate some people to settle here."
Tao Ran's eyes turned cold: "No need. Our fate has run its course. Let's leave it at that."
As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished on the spot, startling Bai Youhui and the others.
"Where is everyone?!" Bai Youhui asked Yuan Qi in fear.
"They went back into the trees." Yuan Qi said helplessly. Fortunately, Xing Shuo and the others still had their torches. Otherwise, how eerie would it be if this place were pitch black, desolate, and lonely?
“What about those scholars?” Xing Shuo reminded Yuan Qi. “Celestial Master, shall we go find them now?”
Yuan Qi nodded: "They were halfway up the mountain when it suddenly became pitch black. They were probably scared. So, I'll use a teleportation talisman to send everyone there to avoid any accidents."
Bai Youhui glared angrily at the peach tree: "That Tao Ran is really disloyal. He just left like that. No matter what, this is the mess he left behind, and he just dumped it on us like that. Disloyal! If you ask me, I'd say he burned it down!"
Qian Wenbing also grabbed Bai Youhui's arm and complained, "Exactly, that's so unmanly, so petty."
In fact, he was afraid of such a dark, desolate, and gloomy environment, and he was only talking to relieve his fear.
Xing Shuo stood still and asked Yuan Qi, "Master, shouldn't we let Tao Ran say something to Lord Zhang? Are we just going to let him go like this?"
Yuan Qi didn't want to do anything to Tao Ran, since Tao Ran hadn't harmed anyone.
"Go check if those scholars are safe. If something happens, then come find him. He's like a tree, he can't escape."
The next second, Yuan Qi took out a teleportation talisman and had everyone hold hands and stand around her. She held Bai Youhui's hand with one hand, and the others held Bai Youhui's hand as well. They all arrived at the mountainside together.
It was very quiet halfway up the mountain, with only the chirping of insects.
Bai Youhui and Xing Shuo led everyone to search the vicinity with torches. Bai Youhui said angrily, "This Tao Ran, could he have killed all those people?"
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