Eight rivers wound around Chang'an, its countless stars arrayed like pieces on a board.
Since the Qin and Han, this majestic imperial capital had seen emperors of more than a dozen dynasties.
Its walls towered into the clouds, its streets stretched as broad as rivers, and merchants and travelers streamed in from every direction.
Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang had ascended the throne and proclaimed the Zhenguan era. Peace reigned beneath heaven, tribute arrived from every direction, and the four seas acknowledged his sovereignty. Chang'an flourished as never before.
As morning light first shone, Vermilion Bird Street seethed with voices.
Peddlers and porters, princes and nobles, foreign merchants and envoys, monks, Daoists, and Confucian scholars-people of every kind rubbed shoulders.
Amid that bustling stream, two figures walked at an unhurried pace.
The one in front was gaunt, with tangled hair and a filthy face, wearing a threadbare monk's robe and straw sandals. Scabies covered her body, making her a frightening sight.
A young novice followed behind, likewise dressed in rags, his face vacant.
They looked this way and that as they went, the very picture of impoverished monks wandering for alms.
Yet had a Great Divine Ability User been there, they would have seen ten thousand rays of Buddhist light faintly shining three feet above that "scabrous monk's" head, sinking into her brow.
Lotuses bloomed beneath her feet with every step, each blossom hidden beneath the dust.
These two monks were Guanyin Bodhisattva of Spirit Mountain and her disciple Mu Zha.
"Master, the Human Dao Destiny in Chang'an truly blazes like the sun," Mu Zha transmitted, his voice carrying a measure of wonder.
"When I entered the city, I felt my divine abilities suppressed beyond use. I cannot even ride the clouds."
Guanyin nodded slightly. "Human Dao Destiny is