Hantai Prefecture.
Bai Clan residence tower.
Bai Mingzhe narrowed his eyes and gazed into the distance. Amid the vast sky light and lake glimmer, his eyes picked out an undulating arc stretching endlessly onward—the ridge of Ice Mirror Great Snow Mountain. Hard, sharp earth and stone lay beneath a thick blanket of snow, tender as a maiden's back.
Compared to several months ago, the snowline along the mountainside had steadily retreated.
Another summer.
No—now it was September, nearly October. Autumn had already arrived.
He had grown up here. At nine, he had gone to Southern Zhili to study the Classics, Histories, Masters, Collections under one of the era's great scholars. At fourteen, he had gone to the Imperial Capital to receive the most orthodox martial education; he had had three True Image teachers alone. He returned at twenty-four and became an Elder of the Bai Clan at forty-two, and within a sixty-year cycle...
"Ice Mirror Mountain, Blue Lake—the scenery of my homeland. How could I ever tire of it?"
"Master, Master!"
Bai Mingzhe broke free of his memories. "Well? Have you Cha Qing their origins?"
"They... they were from Southern Zhili! Third Master Bai recognized them the moment he heard their accents." The young man's face was covered in freckles. He spouted white mist as he panted. "We checked over a dozen ports, asking at each one, and found where they disembarked and boarded."
"Any leads?"
"No. They changed boats all the way here. By the time they boarded, they were already near Hantai. The boatmen who ferried them cannot be found, and we are still searching."
"One in the west, one in the east—how far apart they are. With four or five transfers, even if they can be found, it will take months. Any other leads? Who is their