The forest ended where the stream originated, and a mountain appeared, with a small cave, in which there seemed to be a faint light. The fisherman left his boat and went in through the hole. At first the opening was so narrow that only one man could pass through. After a few dozen more steps, it suddenly became wide and bright. Here the land was flat and open, the houses were neat and tidy, there were fertile fields, beautiful ponds and such scenery as mulberry trees and bamboo. Paths crisscrossed the fields, and the sound of chickens and dogs could be heard between the villages. The people there come and go to work the fields, and the men and women are dressed exactly like the people outside the Peach Blossom Garden. The old man and the child are leisurely and pleasant, self-satisfied look.
When the people in the Peach Garden saw the fisherman, they were surprised and asked him where he came from. The fisherman answered one by one. They then invited the fisherman to their house and set up wine and killed chickens for cooking. When the people of the village heard of such a man, they all came to ask for news. They themselves said that their ancestors in previous generations had led their wives, children and fellow villagers to this place isolated from the rest of the world in order to escape the wars during the Qin Dynasty, and had never gone out again, and were eventually cut off from the world beyond the Peach Blossom Garden. They asked what dynasty it was now, but they didn't even know that there was a Han Dynasty, not to mention the Wei and Jin Dynasties. One by one, the fisherman told them in detail what he knew, and they all sighed with regret. The others invited the fisherman to their own homes, where they served him with wine and food. The fisherman stayed for a few days and left. The people here told him, "Please don't tell anyone outside the Peach Blossom Garden about this place."
After the fisherman left the Peach Blossom Garden, he found his boat and went back the way he came, marking it everywhere. When he returned to Wuling County, he went to pay a visit to the Taishou and reported all this. The governor immediately sent his men to follow him, looking for the markings he had made earlier, but they got lost and could no longer find the markings left by the fisherman.
Liu Ziji, a native of Nanyang, a noble and famous scholar, heard of this incident and planned to go there in high spirits. Not finding the mark, he soon fell ill and died. There has been no one else who has explored the path to the Peach Blossom Garden since then.