Chapter Ninety-Four: The Cruelest Tenderness

"He has gone."

"The great vengeance has been avenged. To him, what do these pawns still amount to? On that day, this village of blossoms, with petals swirling through the sky, ran red with blood. Peach Blossom Village ceased to exist. Everything was gone," the old peach tree said in anguish.

"And yet, it was far from over."

"I was once nothing more than an ordinary peach tree, one that Yao Yao had planted herself. It was only during those days that Baili Mo chose me, enlightened me, and forced me to witness everything as I awakened to consciousness."

"After Baili Mo left, after every last person had perished, I, still bewildered and childlike, discovered that the blood formation remained active. It had been sustained all along by the blood of the villagers and those cultivators."

"Perhaps it was because of that formation that, nourished by the villagers' blood and using the corpses of those cultivators as fertilizer, I unwittingly stepped onto the path of cultivation. I became a peach tree spirit."

"But not by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transforming it into demonic power. It was through something far closer to a blood sacrifice, something the heavenly order could not abide. I could only cling to life within that blood formation. The moment the formation vanished, I would certainly be struck down by divine thunder. Yet precisely for that reason, my cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds in those years."

"Until I was able to discover that this blood formation had trapped the souls of everyone. Yes, that man never intended to spare a single soul. In his eyes, all of them were nothing more than usable tools, and I too had always been part of his design."

Yu Daoyi lowered his head and clenched his teeth. Before this, he had guessed some of it, here and there, but that sliver of conjecture was nowhere near as heavy as the truth spoken aloud by another.

"In the end, I fell into his trap. I hated those bandits, and once I had gained real power, I shattered their souls outright, without giving them the slightest chance."

"But after that, when I looked upon the villagers' souls drifting and imprisoned in the air, I was suddenly overcome by sorrow. I wanted to return to the days when peach blossoms danced through the wind. I wanted to go back to that quiet, peaceful village, free from worry."

"That day, I made a decision. It was also that decision that brought me to utter ruin. I became his accomplice."

"Some things, once begun, are very hard to bring to an end. Whether you wish it or not, there will always be a hand pushing you further down."

The old peach tree fell silent for a very long time after saying this, as though weighed down by guilt and remorse, as though unwilling to remember any further, unwilling to face it anymore.

The wind rustled through the branches. Blue sky, white clouds, green mountains, clear waters. At their feet, the village below was so tranquil, so peaceful.

"You created a paradise," Yu Daoyi said, lifting his gaze toward this illusory world. "You created the Peach Blossom Village of your memories."

"Yes. Through the blood formation, I cultivated myself into a demon, a tree spirit that did not refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but instead devoured flesh and blood to cultivate."

"Decades later, relying on that evil, shortcut path of cultivation, I gained the power to create the world I desired. In that world, everything was beautiful. There was no evil, only goodness."

"There, everyone could live and work in peace. There would be no Baili Mo. Everything would become good again. Everything would return to how it once was."

"Only, I had imagined it all far too beautifully, far too simply. I am a peach tree, inherently possessing the power to ward off evil. But no matter how strong I became, I was still only a dark thing dependent on that blood formation."

"I used my trunk to nurture the souls of all the villagers, then offered up my own cultivation as a sacrifice, drawing those souls into the world of Peach Blossom Village that I had created."

"And at first, everything went so smoothly."

"Until I discovered that the villagers had been altered by the blood formation. Within it, I gradually lost my power to ward off evil. And with the sacrifice of my cultivation, I was at my weakest. I could only watch as, because of the blood formation and the resentments they had harbored at the moment of death, their souls became bloodthirsty."

"Good and evil have always been relative. The pursuit of absolute goodness and what is called evil is often nothing more than the distance of a single turn."

"The madness those villagers displayed afterward terrified me. They began to slaughter one another and devour everything in sight, yet because of the blood formation, their souls could only scatter and gather again. They could not truly die."

"There was no other way. I could only seal away the other side of those villagers, sealing those emotions and those negative forces within myself, allowing only their kind and gentle side to appear in that world."

"But I had underestimated the blood formation's influence. Those powers grew day by day, far faster than I had expected, until one day I discovered that this force had given rise to its own consciousness, and I could no longer suppress it. Yet if I allowed those negative emotions to spill out, the paradise I had created would be destroyed."

"With no alternative, I had to force that power out once more. Only this time, I changed my method. I wanted to use the villagers' kindness to wear it down little by little, and with my help, I hoped that one day it would be exhausted completely."

"Another method?" Thinking of the two most unusual people in this village, Yu Daoyi had his own guess.

"After that force gave birth to its own consciousness, it wanted nothing more than to break free from here. I could only seal its awareness and its memories to the fullest extent possible, then send it into the village to experience the villagers' goodwill. That was Xiaoqian."

"By day, because of the seal, he was no different from any ordinary person. But at night, when the blood formation's influence grew stronger and my seal weakened, the power within Xiaoqian would seep out and affect the world I had created. That was how the blood moon came to be, and the blood-soaked nights beneath its glow."

"And you, as a result, came to feel that negative force, even..."

The old peach tree did not continue. He knew that the young man before him could understand what he meant.

"Even I did not know that this force had already seeped into me. No matter how many times I was reborn, it never fully vanished. It was carved deep into my soul. Until, lost in overwhelming power, it erupted completely. In the end I fell into obsession and gradually lost myself," Yu Daoyi said, his fists clenched so tightly they trembled, his expression complicated.

"Yes. That is the origin of Peach Blossom Village, both as a paradise apart from the world and as a living hell."

Because it seemed precious, he wanted to keep it.

Because it seemed impossible to let go, he wanted to begin again.

Even if it became tainted, even if it twisted, he still wanted to preserve it.

The curtain rose and fell. Peach Blossom Village was still Peach Blossom Village. With his eyes open, he saw the most beautiful blossoms in the world; with his eyes closed, he savored the warmest smile in the world.

He began to smile.

The curtain rose and fell. Peach Blossom Village was no longer Peach Blossom Village. With his eyes open, he saw the ugliest evil in the world; with his eyes closed, he feared the bloodiest slaughter in the world.

He began to fear.

The sunlight pouring down no longer felt warm, and the ugliest side of this world appeared before him without the slightest concealment.

It was he who had personally lifted the veil and seen it.

This was the cruelest tenderness.

"My power was born within this blood formation to begin with. Add to that the fact that I had to divide my strength to maintain the illusion and suppress the negative force, and little by little I became unable to keep up. Little by little, I lost control."

"As time went on, protecting that innocent child became the only thing I could still do," the old peach tree said with a trembling sigh. For him, only Yao Yao had ever been the one he could not let go of.

"Xiaoqian's power continued to grow within the blood formation, while mine declined day by day. I began to lapse into uncontrollable slumber, and all I could do was, when I was awake at night, tell Yao Yao to come here and use the last trace of warding power left within me to frighten those villagers."