As the year drew to a close, another heavy snowstorm swept through, scattering countless fragments of broken jade.
A military ferry boat of the Great Quan Dynasty had already traveled far beyond the northern border. In a few more hours, it would reach the Xiandu Mountain ferry crossing.
An old man wearing a weathered, heavy fox-fur cloak had traveled north aboard the boat. Every so often, he left his room and came to the railing to gaze at the winding mountains and rivers amid the wind and snow.
To test the signs of a bountiful year, drifting fairy algae arrived.
It was no longer that bleak sight of barren fields below the mountains, countless withered bones, and in the mountains nothing but apes climbing dead vines and cranes watching ruined steles.
At the side of the ferry boat, a figure in green robes suddenly condensed a Cloud Water Body, hovering amid the wind and snow.
He wore a long green robe, a jade hairpin in his hair, twin blades layered at his waist. Treading upon empty air, he kept pace with the ferry boat.
This green-robed swordsman, who had appeared beside the ferry boat without warning, seemed to be taking a leisurely stroll through the air, yet moved as swiftly as a hawk or falcon.
He raced a thousand-mile steed and bore the force of ten thousand foes.
Liu Zong walked out of the cabin and onto the deck at the bow. Leaning against the railing, he waved with a smile. "Brother Chen!"
The Chief Guardian of the Great Quan Yao family made a military hand signal, indicating to the guardians and armored soldiers aboard the ferry that they need not be nervous. He was one of their own.
After Chen Ping'an landed on the ferry boat, he called out,