"Sir, may I ask if Chang'an lies ahead?"
On the desolate plain, a young man carrying a bundle stopped an old man shouldering a pole and asked respectfully.
"Yes. Walk another ten-odd li ahead and you'll reach Chang'an, but you'd best make a five-li detour to the southeast first."
The young man looked puzzled. "Why?"
"There's a Heavenly Abyss ahead. If you don't detour beforehand, you'll have to walk through the ravines along its edge, which is even more strenuous." The old man waved a hand, said no more, and headed into the distance.
"Heavenly Abyss..." the young man murmured. "I've never heard of any Heavenly Abyss near Chang'an before."
Though perplexed, he followed the old man's advice and began detouring southeast.
The young man looked to be around twenty-four or twenty-five. He wore a dark blue robe covered in dust. From afar, he resembled a refined scholar, but a closer look revealed mended patches at his cuffs and hem. Though the repairs had been skillfully done, slight differences in color remained.
He shifted the heavy bundle higher onto his back, wiped the sweat from his brow, and walked forward step by step beneath the blazing sun.
After an unknown amount of time, he climbed a small earthen slope and turned to look. Sure enough, an enormous abyss lay in the distance, its inner walls exceptionally smooth. It was like a bottomless pit, so deep that he could not see its end at a glance.
"To think there's such a miracle near Chang'an..." Shock filled the young man's eyes. He could not imagine how such a vast, profound abyss had come to be.
After resting for a while, he set off for Chang'an again. Several hours later, he finally arrived beneath its walls.
What puzzled him was that a large