Peach Borer

“Also,”

Lu Qiancha stood on her tiptoes mysteriously and leaned close to Shangguan Yunzhu, her blue eyes shining with the light of someone who had grasped a secret.

“I also saw… that this so-called Peach Blossom Spring is actually… a fragment of a secret realm attached to the main world!”

Shangguan Yunzhu nodded slightly, not too surprised by this.

“I’ve lived here for several months, and I can indeed sense that the laws of heaven and earth here are slightly different.”

“So, that demonic insect just now, was it really the mountain god here?”

Shangguan Yunzhu’s voice was filled with some confusion.

“If it was a false god, how could it have the Mountain God’s Command Token? If it was a true god, how could it have poisoned living beings and created a hell on earth like this? Why would the underworld sit by and do nothing?!”

Lu Qiancha shook her head, her fingertips gently tapping her brow as she guided the information she had obtained from the mountain god’s token.

“It wasn’t a mountain god. It was just a greedy borer that attached itself to the divine body, eventually hollowing it out and replacing it.”

“A borer?”

“That’s right,” Lu Qiancha’s gaze, as if pulled by an invisible thread, pierced through the distant space and locked onto the remains of a nearly completely withered, giant peach tree on the edge of the mountaintop cliff.

“Do you know… of the peach fruit borer?”

“What’s that?”

“A… pathetic pest that binds its entire life to the peach tree.”

Lu Qiancha’s voice had the calmness of a storyteller.

“From the moment the larva breaks out of its egg, until it transforms into a moth, mates, lays eggs, and dies… its entire life, it is never satisfied. Its only instinct and destiny—is to bore into the branches, trunk, flowers, and fruits of the peach tree, until its host completely withers and dies.”

“So that giant insect… was a peach fruit borer that had cultivated into a spirit?”

Shangguan Yunzhu suddenly understood.

“No,” Lu Qiancha’s gaze returned, and she slowly stated her conclusion.

“It is a peach fruit borer… but it is not a peach fruit borer that has cultivated into a spirit.”

“What do you mean?”

Shangguan Yunzhu was getting more and more confused.

If this insect wasn’t a peach fruit borer that had cultivated into a spirit, what else could it be?

Could it be some other insect that had mutated?

Lu Qiancha didn’t explain directly, but instead bent down and picked up the storage ring that lay on the scorched earth.

She sent a wisp of spiritual energy, and with a click, the seal was released.

Immediately, a roll of old, faded bamboo slips appeared in her paw.

Lu Qiancha gently handed this secret bamboo slip, which had spanned across time, to Shangguan Yunzhu.

“The truth is all in here.”

With a heart full of doubt, Shangguan Yunzhu cautiously unrolled the bamboo slips.

On the simple, slightly yellowed bamboo strips, a past was recorded in elegant ink marks—

“In my youth, my family was poor, and we had no grain to fill our bellies. I often went through the bamboo sea, catching rats and digging for bamboo shoots for food.”

“One day, I suddenly encountered a mountain bear, and in my fright, I fled, getting lost in the depths of the bamboo forest. I could not find my way back, and I was bewildered and lost.”

“How fortunate! At that time, the bamboo was in full bloom, and bamboo rice was everywhere. I was able to survive because of this.”

“However, after being trapped for several days, the way out was still nowhere in sight. I suddenly saw a giant wall in front of me, blocking the sky, as majestic as a heavenly gate and a dead end, reaching straight to the clouds.”

“There was a hole in the wall. I was terrified, but my curiosity was also piqued, and I climbed in with great effort. It was dark inside the hole. After walking for more than a hundred steps, I suddenly saw a thousand acres of peach blossoms, their green canopies reaching for the sky.”

“Among them, one tree stood out on the peak, about a hundred zhang tall, its blossoms blooming brilliantly for more than ten li, its leaves like jade, warm and moist and emitting a mist.”

“Seeing it, I plucked one of its peaches and ate it. Its flesh contained the essence of the sun and moon, and one could satisfy three days of hunger.”

“I was overjoyed and built a hut under the divine tree. One day, I saw a black bird pecking at the wood and drinking its sap. My heart was moved, and I also licked the liquid that seeped from its wound. It was sweet and cool, and drinking it was like washing away the dust and forgetting all worries.”

“From then on, my greed grew day by day. I carved its bark with a blade every day and stole its divine sap to drink. Gradually, my greed became more and more intense, and the divine sap could no longer fill the abyss of my desire.”

“Finally, I cut down this spiritual root with a foolish axe. I saw something hidden in the heart of the tree. Its shape was as round as a dragon’s pearl, and its fragrance was like the immortal wine of the nine heavens. My heart’s demon was raging, and I brazenly snatched the pearl and swallowed it.”

“In the following months, my stomach was full, and I had no desire for food. I was secretly happy: could it be that I have attained the Dao and ascended to immortality?”

And at the end of the bamboo slip, there was a crazed, ghost-like scribble of charred ink, heavily inscribed with one sentence: “What pain! What regret! It was a demonic poison from the heavens that entered my stomach! Now my organs burn like a heavenly fire, all food is tasteless, and all drink is without moisture—I am eternally fallen into the hell of endless hunger and thirst!!!”

The bamboo slip did not record this person’s final end.

But Shangguan Yunzhu’s gaze had already, uncontrollably, turned heavily to the stained, scorched mark left behind after the giant insect had been incinerated and dissolved…

The answer was obvious.

Greed is like a fire, which not only burns the divine tree, but ultimately consumes oneself.

A man becomes a demonic insect, bringing disaster to the human world!

“Greed without satisfaction… ultimately leads to great disaster.”

Shangguan Yunzhu sighed deeply and gently returned the bamboo slip, which carried endless greed, to Lu Qiancha’s paw.

Lu Qiancha nodded in deep agreement, then immediately moved her short legs and prepared to leave.

“Work’s done! I’m going back to the sect. Do you want to come along, Junior Sister Yunzhu?”

“Hey, Little Qiancha, you should call me Sister Yunzhu.”

With the crisis resolved, Shangguan Yunzhu returned to her previous relaxed state.

She caught up in a few steps, her amber eyes curving into a sweet crescent moon.

“No!”

Lu Qiancha didn’t stop, rolling her eyes slightly and forming a seal with her paw—a soft white cloud condensed out of thin air at her feet.

She leaped lightly, and her small blue figure was already riding the cloud, flying towards the exit of the secret realm that she remembered, without looking back!

“Hey, hey, hey?! Don’t run, Little Qiancha—!”

Shangguan Yunzhu was really a little flustered now, shouting from behind, “Wait for me! I haven’t packed my luggage in my room yet!”

As she spoke, the spiritual sword at Shangguan Yunzhu’s feet hummed and instantly transformed into a stream of crimson light, chasing after her with all her might.

Lu Qiancha eventually slowed down the cloud.

A moment later, the two landed in front of the familiar little wooden house at the edge of the secret realm.

Shangguan Yunzhu packed her bag with the fastest speed of her life.

Then, a white cloud and a crimson sword, like birds returning to their nests, quietly flew over this Peach Blossom Spring, towards the only exit.

On the way back, the clouds and mist flowed by.

Shangguan Yunzhu couldn’t contain her curiosity and flew her sword a little closer, looking eagerly at the small figure standing on the cloud, her sleeves fluttering in the wind.

“Little Qiancha, now that you’re the mountain god, have you… unlocked some great divine powers like moving mountains, filling seas, summoning wind, and calling for rain?”

“I’ve become a mountain god… not a dragon king. Where would I get the ability to fill seas, create land, summon wind, and call for rain?”

Lu Qiancha turned around helplessly and gave her a huge eye-roll.

Then, she shrugged her small shoulders and said in a huffy voice, “I only know that this title of mine, as a mountain god, allows me to control the entry, exit, and opening of this secret realm.”

“And then?”

Shangguan Yunzhu persisted.

“That’s it!”

Lu Qiancha spread her paws, her face full of righteousness.

“No incense, no believers, not even anyone to burn incense and kowtow. Do you expect me to turn stones into gold, summon lightning, and call for rain?”

“Oh…”

Shangguan Yunzhu nodded, her face instantly switching to a look of serious disappointment, and she delivered a pinpoint sharp jab: “Tsk, Little Qiancha, this mountain god position of yours… sounds like it’s not very useful, huh?”

“…”

Lu Qiancha was so choked up by this that she almost fell off the cloud.

Her big, dark blue eyes stared at this ice beauty junior sister who was hitting a sore spot.

This bleak reality that they both knew.

Was! It! Ne! Ces! Sa! Ry! To! Say! It! So! Blunt! Ly?!

But Lu Qiancha was in a good mood now and didn’t want to argue with Shangguan Yunzhu about these things.

Then she put her little paws on her hips, her chin slightly raised, and tried her best to put on a dignified air as she said half-jokingly, “Hmph! What Little Qiancha? No manners! In the future, you must address me with respect—Great Mountain God!”

“Yes, yes, yes~”

Shangguan Yunzhu couldn’t help but laugh.

She immediately cupped her fists in the air on her sword in a serious manner, and even bowed, her voice sweet and sticky.

“The Tianyuan Sect disciple Shangguan Yunzhu, respectfully obeys the Great Mountain God’s decree! Paying my respects to the Great Mountain God~~!”

“Hmph, hmph, that’s more like it.”

Lu Qiancha looked at her “obedient” appearance with satisfaction, her little tail wagging proudly as she contentedly continued to ride her cloud forward.