"This humble monk still has rites to conduct at the temple. Please excuse me, benefactors."
"Thank you for helping the people of Vast Terrace change their customs and ways."
"Only a meager effort."
"Ah, go on, go on. Whenever you want to return, send word in a letter. Write it postage due, I'll cover it and have Red Mountain come fetch you."
Huai Kong pressed his palms together and bowed, stepping across the bluestone slabs as he slowly headed east toward Hantai Prefecture.
Watching him leave, Ling Xuan and Liang Qu walked out of the courtyard, swung onto their fine horses, pulled the reins to turn their mounts around, and galloped toward the rolling grasslands.
The fine horses passed through the city gates.
Wind swept across their faces.
The low houses and squat dwellings vanished behind them, and their view abruptly opened wide.
A scattering of tents stood here and there, cattle and sheep tethered beside them. Herdsmen hung hides on taut clotheslines to dry, beating them fluffy with rattan paddles.
As though admiring the scenery, the two of them simultaneously tugged their reins and slowed down, their upper bodies swaying with the rise and fall of the horses' backs.
Hooves pressed into the grass, and the earth seemed to breathe in and out, squeezing muddy water up from between the blades.
Liang Qu leafed through the "Hidden Scripture," glancing at the horse hooves caked in mud.
"It rained yesterday?"
"The day before yesterday. A rare downpour," Ling Xuan answered. "This spring has been quite warm, and both sedge grass and Purple Stipa have grown well. But even in such fine weather, the grass roots still can't hold the mud together. A stretch of mud slid down Mirror Mountain outside the city and crushed three earthen houses. The ground still