A Peach Tree (Bonus Chapter Thanks to 'Sad Blueberry Jam' for the Tip)

Old Daoist continued, "I'm already at such an age. I've lived enough. Twenty more years or twenty fewer—it doesn't matter."

Shen Hui looked at Old Daoist and fell silent for a moment.

Yet Old Daoist maintained his posture of holding out the peach, his face full of pleading.

"Have you truly thought this through?" Shen Hui asked.

Mo Yunsong nodded without the slightest hesitation.

Shen Hui looked at him for a long while before finally sighing and reaching out to take the peach.

He cradled it in his palm, lowered his head for a glance, then casually tossed it onto the ground.

The instant the peach hit the ground, its fresh skin rapidly withered and discolored, as though every drop of moisture had been drained from it. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a pinch of ash.

Within the ash, only a peach pit remained, lying quietly on the ground.

The peach pit cracked open.

A jade-green shoot emerged from the crack, as thin as an embroidery needle.

But the moment it touched the ground, it plunged headfirst into the earth beneath the bluestone slabs.

The slabs creaked as they were forced upward, cracks spreading in every direction like a spiderweb. The next moment, they were blasted apart by an immense force.

The shoot surged upward and spread outward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Its tender green bark turned grayish brown, then deep brown, while the grain of its trunk changed from fine and dense to rugged and bold.

Its branches stretched in all directions like coiling dragons, threading through streets and alleys, crossing courtyard walls, climbing the city ramparts...

Its canopy unfurled across the sky, shrouding all of Zhaoyang Commandery City beneath lush green shade.

Some branches even poked out beyond the city