A voice into Peach Blossom Spring

On the Du River in Zhushan County, a small wooden boat was slowly making its way along a narrow tributary.

Beautiful mountains and waters surrounded it, the scenery a delight. Even in this sweltering summer, with temperatures breaking records across the country, it remained a comfortable twenty-something degrees here. Standing at the bow, Yi Shuyuan could not help thinking, No wonder the Peach Blossom Spring Record described someone setting out from here and finding a paradise beyond the world.

Many people assumed Changde was the ancient Wuling, but during the Taiyuan era of the Jin dynasty, the only place on China's map called Wuling was present-day Zhushan County. Back then, it was Wuling County, part of Shangyong Commandery. The Du River beneath the boat had been the Wuling River, and it was somewhere Yi Shuyuan had wanted to visit for years.

Amid these mountains and waters, Yi Shuyuan felt so immersed that his craving for storytelling stirred. He pictured a scene in his mind, adjusted his throat and breathing, and began to speak with the emotion that filled him.

"During the Taiyuan era~ of the Jin dynasty, a man of Wuling made his living fishing. He followed a stream, forgetting how far he had traveled. Suddenly, he came upon a grove of peach trees, lining both banks for several hundred paces. No other trees grew among them; fragrant grasses were fresh and lovely, and fallen blossoms drifted in profusion."

Yi Shuyuan seemed immersed in the world of the Peach Blossom Spring Record, his voice clear and strong.

In his mind, a picture seemed to take shape: a fisherman in the Taiyuan era of the Jin dynasty, drifting leisurely along the water. His top-grade Mandarin, his own emotional delivery, and the scene he imagined all came together as he slowly pointed toward the bank, as though peach trees were materializing there, one after another.

The old man rowing at the stern was so absorbed that he unconsciously followed Yi Shuyuan's finger with his gaze. Of course, he saw no peach trees.

Yi Shuyuan was still building the mood, but the old boatman thought he had finished reciting and could not resist speaking.

"Young fellow, you're pretty good! What a nice voice you've got. What do you do for work?"

Yi Shuyuan turned toward the stern with a helpless look and pointed at the action camera on his head.

"Sir, I make my living online. Just think of me as a storyteller."

Understanding dawned on the old boatman.

"Oh, oh! You're one of those-those internet celebrities, right?"

At that, Yi Shuyuan gave a self-deprecating smile.

Combining storytelling with vocal mimicry, a single performer could bring all the wonders of a book to life. Since ancient times, a handful of master storytellers had attained extraordinary skill in this art. Today, it could not be called entirely extinct, but traces of it were hard to find.

That was precisely Yi Shuyuan's ambition. He had once believed himself exceptionally gifted, certain he would achieve something. After working for several years, he had resolutely quit his job and entered the new-media industry with his dream as his blueprint.

But hard work did not guarantee success, and the emergence of all sorts of AI voices had shattered Yi Shuyuan's confidence. Now that his travels across the country had brought him here, it was about time to step out of his dream and back into real life.

"Sir, I'm just having a bit of fun. I'm nothing like an internet celebrity. If you like listening, I'll carry on. There's more to come!"

Ironically, Yi Shuyuan felt that his name had been most widely known back in university.

It had not been a good kind of fame, though. He had received a public reprimand before the whole university. That time, everyone in his dorm had gotten drunk, and he had dragged them along to paint a conspicuous piece of doggerel on the white exterior wall of the university library. From then on, Yi Shuyuan's nicknames, "Immortal" and "Charlatan," spread throughout campus. Even his counselor used them.

"Sure, sure! Go right ahead!"

The old boatman's voice interrupted Yi Shuyuan's brief recollection. He gathered himself, took a deep breath, and built up the emotion once more. Turning toward the front, he imagined the wonders in his heart.

"The fisherman marveled greatly at this. He went farther, wishing to reach the end of the grove. Where the grove ended, at the source of the stream, he found a mountain. In the mountain was a small opening, where there seemed... to~ be~ light."

Yi Shuyuan's voice slowed. His eyes widened slightly, his pupils gradually dilating of their own accord. For a hazy instant, he almost seemed to see a misty glow ahead.

Bang-

The little boat suddenly struck something. Caught completely off guard, Yi Shuyuan had no time to react. With an "Ah!" he fell into the river amid the old man's startled cries from the stern.

Splash.

At the instant he fell, Yi Shuyuan seemed to glimpse what had struck the boat. It looked like... a great sheet of ice?

The next moment, water engulfed him. He struggled to paddle, yet could not rise. In fact, the harder he paddled, the faster he sank, as though lead weights were strapped to his body, dragging him toward a terrifying expanse of deep darkness below-a gaping maw waiting to swallow him.

"Mmph, mmph, glub, mmph, blub..."

The panic and terror of his predicament made it even harder for Yi Shuyuan to hold his breath. Countless bubbles spilled from his mouth.

He sank faster and faster. Who knew how many mouthfuls of water he had swallowed? His awareness began to blur. Beyond the suffocating pain in his body, the water around him seemed to grow colder and colder, and his struggles weakened.

It hurts so much. It's so cold. Am I going to die?

Hazy streaks of light seemed to appear in the darkness, darting wildly before Yi Shuyuan's dimming vision. In his mind, scenes from his memories flashed past like a revolving lantern. He even began to hallucinate: figures, passages from books, voices, and versions of himself in long robes or armor, some familiar, others strange.

All of it seemed both inside his mind and right before his eyes, and all of it seemed about to leave Yi Shuyuan, just like his life, turning into streaks of light that flew from his body.

At that moment, Yi Shuyuan instinctively reached out to seize it all. The churning light seemed to catch at his fingertips.

Rumble, rumble...

The light swayed, his fingertips trembled without cease, and a tremendous quake seemed to shake Yi Shuyuan's mind, filling him with the terror of being torn apart.

The instant his mind wavered, countless points of light burst apart. The streaming radiance flew away like severed threads.

Boom~

The impact sent the water rolling and churning. Countless starry specks shot outward and vanished. The last trace of light at Yi Shuyuan's fingertips flashed and disappeared, while he tumbled through the water and everything grew increasingly blurred.

Thud...

Yi Shuyuan's head struck something, jolting him awake from his stupor. In a panic, he thrashed wildly-and immediately discovered, to his delight, that the force dragging him down was gone!

He could spare no thought for anything else. After daring only a single glance into the black water below, Yi Shuyuan paddled upward with all his strength, the agonizing suffocation driving him into a frenzy.

Bang~

Yi Shuyuan's head struck something. Amid a rush of splashing water, his body broke through a crack that had split in two and emerged above the surface.

"Hah, hah, hah... cough, cough... help, help..."

Yi Shuyuan shouted and groped wildly around him. Only amid the confusion did he realize he was surrounded by pieces of floating ice. They rocked so violently that he could not haul himself onto them.

Ice? How could there be ice? But Yi Shuyuan had no time to think. Seeing that the bank was close, he kicked hard and swam toward it. By now, though, his strength was exhausted and his limbs were stiff. He barely managed to cling to the bank, unable to pull himself up, and could only keep crying for help through lips trembling with cold.

"Hah, hah... is... is anyone there? Help-!"

But all he saw was woodland scattered with lingering snow, the setting sun shining over the river valley. It looked like a stretch of deserted wilderness, chilling Yi Shuyuan's heart more deeply than the icy water.

Yet there really were people here.

A group was hiding behind several large trees not far from the bank. Seeing what was happening in the river, one of them hesitated, then started to step out, only for someone beside him to catch hold of him.

"Let him thrash a little longer. The harder he thrashes, the better. That beast likes them alive."

And so the group waited quietly a while longer, watching Yi Shuyuan struggle in despair. As his movements grew weaker and weaker, even the man who had just spoken began to lose patience.

"Big brother, looks like it won't be coming today."

As he spoke, he saw his big brother nod and immediately hurried toward the riverbank. He reached it in just a few steps and, under Yi Shuyuan's delighted gaze, reached down and grabbed his arm.

Splash, splash~

With a single heave, the newcomer lifted Yi Shuyuan out of the icy water.

"Th-thank you."

Yi Shuyuan was so cold he could barely speak. The man who had saved him grinned, turned toward the others approaching behind him, and said with a laugh.

"He's actually thanking us?"

"Hahahahaha!" "Ahahahahaha!"

A chorus of laughter rose from the group.