Before Entering

That year, a tremendous snowstorm fell in winter, burying countless homes. Yet within and beyond the city, the difference was as vast as heaven and earth. Behind vermilion gates, people played zithers and admired the snow; wine fragrance mingled with music, singing girls and dancing maidens, their ribbons fluttering past, could even dance the wind and snow into the New Year.

Beyond the carved vermilion windows, azure roof tiles had long been covered beneath an endless expanse of snow. Icicles hung below the jade tiles, while the biting wind sliced like knives through alleys and covered corridors, passing not only through the painted beams and carved rafters of homes of gold and jade, but also through the old courtyards of decayed, impoverished estates.

The wind and snow lingered between heaven and earth for a long while, as though they could never disperse. In the vast skies, not a bird could be seen for thousands of miles. Now and then, a passage of tuberose zither music drifted in from nowhere, only to be teased into loneliness by the sparse, cold wind and snow before fading into silence.

At the time, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect was traveling below the mountain. When he slowly pushed open the vermilion gates of the manor, the brightly lit estate was still filled with dignitaries exchanging cups of wine. The dishes had not all been served, and the wine had not yet passed three rounds, yet he walked out on his own. Looking at the snow that had not yet finished falling, he saw nothing but bleak white fluttering across the sky.

Holding a clean paper umbrella, his figure carried an air of lonely elegance as he slowly walked out the gate.

Year after year, fresh snow melted and lightly spread itself over