After lingering in the county town for several days, she continued eastward.
She cut down plenty of bamboo in a grove and stored it in her storage pouch, carving umbrella frames as she traveled. Wandering as fancy took her and settling wherever she pleased, she found idle strolling too boring and needed something to do. Making money seemed like a good idea.
Since she was free anyway, earning a few taels of silver was better than squandering money all day.
She reached a busy official road.
The official road was bustling. During the Great Tang's golden age in past years, travelers had worn rosy faces and high spirits. Though the road was still crowded now, every face was full of sorrow. The packhorses and donkeys were thin and withered, as though everyone carried a thick air of desolation, like old people at death's door with one foot in the grave.
At the edge of a mountaintop cliff, Bai Yujun performed Swallowing Clouds and Exhaling Mist, drawing in the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and breathing out turbid air. Each breath secretly accorded with the supreme principles of heaven and earth.
She stopped her Breath Control only after the sun rose.
Suddenly, something stirred within her, and she looked toward Chang'an. The dragon qi belonging to the Li Tang Imperial Family seemed to be in turmoil, as if under attack, while the Anti-Dragon attacking the imperial family's dragon qi was in Jiangnan.
"The Anti-Dragon is growing stronger and stronger. It has already begun provoking the imperial family's dragon qi."
"I can't put off that matter I promised Li Xiangning any longer. Those rebels really are something else—every one of them thinks himself extraordinary and chosen by fate. Greedy people deserve to die, but those poor humans are pitiful."
Bai Yujun