A Man's Name, a Tree's Shadow! September 1st.
The rice shoots in the paddies were lush and green. On windless days, the water lay clear as a silver mirror; when the breeze occasionally stirred, the silver mirror shimmered with faint light. Egrets stood in rows beside the raised banks, stepping forward on long legs and into the mud to forage.
"Grandpa, hurry, hurry! If we're late, we won't get to see it!"
"No rush, no rush. There's still half a quarter-hour."
The egrets flew low.
On the ridge between the fields, a little boy and girl each tugged one of the old man's hands, lowering their heads and charging ahead like calves.
Nearly two months had passed since the Ghost Mother Sect's blood sacrifice incident. The major bandits had also been cleared out. A few days ago, the court's tax exemption decree had been issued, and before anyone realized it, life seemed to have returned to what it once was.
They had ridden in an ox cart all night, hurrying from Donghao County to Xihe Prefecture City. Arriving at their relatives' home in the middle of the night, they had made do for the night. In the end, the old man could not match the children's energy, and under the blazing heat, he inevitably began to pant.
The old man looked around and found that many people on the road, like the three of them, were hurrying toward the north of the city.
"It's livelier than a festival."
The Martial Arts Field by the river north of the city.
The training field, thirty zhang by thirty zhang—one hundred meters in both length and width—and covering a full fifteen mu, stood three chi above the surrounding ground, vast and spacious.
To the east of the training field stood three rows