Chapter 42: Here, Joy Is More Than Enough—So Much So That One Forgets Home!

"Yan Ming!"

Spotting an acquaintance, Chu Tian and Wang Dali immediately hurried over.

"Oh? You two know me?" Yan Ming, dressed in traditional ancient attire, asked with a strange look as he gazed at Chu Tian and Wang Dali.

"You're a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Literature at Shangshi University. Do you have any idea what kind of place this is? If you stay here, you're dead for sure," Wang Dali said, staring at Yan Ming.

"You two don't seem to have come here entirely of your own free will," Yan Ming said, holding an ancient text in his hand and looking at Chu Tian and Wang Dali.

"Don't tell me you *did* come here willingly?" Wang Dali's eyes widened. "You haven't lost your mind to some evil spirit, have you? Hold on, let me find something—watch old Wang slap some sense back into you."

With that, Wang Dali pulled a yellow talisman out from his overcoat.

Just as Wang Dali was about to make a move, a powerful aura of ghosts suddenly descended from the sky, pressing directly down upon him.

"Watch out!" Chu Tian's expression turned stern. He stepped in front of Wang Dali and looked up to face the crushing pressure from above.

The ghost power of a netherworld runner collided with that oppressive force, creating a strange equilibrium, as if two equal powers were holding each other in check.

"Put your talisman away," Yan Ming said, looking at Wang Dali. "To live here, all you have to do is follow the rules of this place."

Wang Dali stowed the talisman away, and the heavy pressure bearing down from the sky instantly dissipated.

"What on earth is going on here?" Wang Dali asked, still lingering with a trace of fear.

"These are the rules!" Yan Ming replied, looking at him.

"Rules?" Chu Tian raised an eyebrow.

"Come inside and sit," Yan Ming invited Chu Tian and Wang Dali. "I swapped identities with that ghost, inheriting everything from each other. This was originally his courtyard."

With that, Yan Ming led the two men into the room.

***

After entering the room, Yan Ming had the two men sit down and poured each of them a cup of tea. "You should both be familiar with Tao Yuanming's *The Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring*."

"Yes," Chu Tian and Wang Dali nodded. "When we first came in, we suspected this place might be the Peach Blossom Spring."

"Your suspicion was correct," Yan Ming smiled and said. "Peach Blossom Spring, Utopia—they're all right. But I think a more fitting name for this place is—Grand Unity!"

"Grand Unity?" Wang Dali looked utterly bewildered.

"When the Great Way prevails, the world is shared by all; men of talent and virtue are selected; trustworthiness is valued and harmony is cultivated. Therefore, people do not only love their own parents, nor do they only treat their own children as children. This ensures that the elderly have a proper end, the able-bodied are put to good use, and the young have the means to grow—is that the Grand Unity you mean?" Chu Tian asked.

"It sounds so familiar. I think I've heard of it," Wang Dali frowned and said.

"It's a text from middle school Chinese class," Chu Tian said speechlessly.

"Never mind then," Wang Dali said.

"Correct," Yan Ming picked up his teacup and took a sip. "That's the very Grand Unity. This place already existed when Tao Yuanming wrote *The Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring*. The Peach Blossom Spring was merely the name given to this place by later generations after Tao Yuanming. But what about before that?"

"You mean the concept of Grand Unity that you mentioned?" Chu Tian asked.

"Yes," Yan Ming nodded. "The concept of Grand Unity first appeared in the *Book of Rites*. The exact time when the *Book of Rites* was compiled cannot be definitively verified, but there is a general timeframe: somewhere between the Warring States period and the Qin and Han dynasties."

"Back then, the ancients envisioned their ideal world of Grand Unity. Yet, it was precisely during that era that wars broke out frequently, resulting in countless casualties and injuries," Yan Ming said. "Under the intense clash between the cruel reality and the beautiful ideal, the fervent wishes of countless wandering souls coalesced into a force that could not be ignored. I surmise that this was the initial reason for the creation of this place."

"Did you figure all this out through recent analysis?" Chu Tian asked, looking at Yan Ming.

"That's right," Yan Ming nodded. "It's the most rational deduction. Grand Unity was their obsession, something they yearned for but could never attain. Therefore, after those people died, they wished to foster the realization of Grand Unity, and thus the Peach Blossom Spring came into being."

"Your explanation is rather different from that of Mr. Liu, the one you swapped bodies with," Chu Tian noted.

"That's because there is a gap of more than a thousand years of knowledge and perspective between us," Yan Ming smiled and said.

"Indeed, a gap of over a thousand years. Are you really willing to stay here and leave behind the outside world, which has developed for over a millennium past this place?" Chu Tian asked.

***

"I wonder what this gentleman believes human existence is all about?" Yan Ming asked, looking at Chu Tian.

Chu Tian fell silent.

"Materialism or idealism—that is a difficult question to answer," Yan Ming said. "From our conversation just now, I gather that the gentleman still retains some impression of classical literature. You should remember an essay you studied in the past, *A Tribute to Master Dongyang*."

"'The other students in the hostel were all dressed in embroidered silk, wearing red-tasseled hats adorned with jewels, with white jade rings around their waists, swords hanging on their left, and fragrant sachets prepared on their right. As for me, I lived among them in a quilted robe and worn-out clothes, without the slightest bit of envy, because there was enough joy in my heart, and I cared not that my food and clothing were inferior to those of others,'" Yan Ming recited. "I have already lived for over thirty years, and I want to do something I truly love."

"To outsiders, you're already a successful person with a respectable job and a generous income. Isn't that enough?" Wang Dali asked.

"That's only what outsiders see," Yan Ming replied. He picked up a book from his desk and showed it to Chu Tian. "See this book? A lost masterpiece of Confucianism! It's unheard of in the outside world, having vanished long ago in the river of history. This dates back to the Warring States period. And over here..."

Yan Ming pointed to another stack of books. "These are from the Wei and Jin dynasties. Over here, the Tang dynasty... Every few centuries, the Peach Blossom Spring opens up, and the people who enter bring in new literary works. These are things you can never see outside. Do you know how precious these are?"

"We could easily take all these things out with us, and then you could read them at your leisure," Chu Tian suggested.

"How long can I live? Thirty years? Forty years?" Yan Ming looked at Chu Tian and asked, "Besides, do you know when a branch of learning is at its most romantic?"

"When you don't have to cope with exams for the sake of any evaluations," Yan Ming replied, an expression of excitement appearing on his face. "When answers have no right or wrong, no rigid standards, when you can define your own thoughts and realizations, and when you can reflect your philosophy in your everyday life. Here, I don't have to deal with any performance reviews, nor do I need to violate my true nature. I only need to obey the rules of this place, and I can converse with those sages forever, and ever, and ever."

"Do you really have no attachment to the world outside?" Wang Dali asked.

"I'm an only child, still single, and last year, my father passed away as well," Yan Ming said, his expression gradually calming down. "Liu Ziji will use my body to live out the rest of my life, and no one will notice anything amiss. As for me, I will cultivate myself here. Perhaps when the Peach Blossom Spring opens again sometime in the future, I will go out and exchange places with someone else, living out a lifetime in his stead to witness the new world hundreds of years later, and then record my insights gained in the Peach Blossom Spring into books for posterity."

After hearing Yan Ming's words, both Chu Tian and Wang Dali fell silent.

This man... seemed beyond persuasion.