An endless wasteland stretched as far as the eye could see.
Dune after dune lay connected in an unbroken chain. To travel through them was to see nothing but withered yellow in the distance—no plants, no animals, not even a breath of life.
Yet scattered throughout this great desert were isolated oases, miracles amid the sands. The little boy and the old man lived in one of the hundreds of oasis city-states spread across the land.
Though it was called a city, it was merely a low earthen wall enclosing a mud-brick settlement. Its name was Mukta, meaning "pearl," and it also symbolized a place of purity.
The blind old man was the city's sole teacher, a figure of extraordinary status. People believed he possessed remarkable divine powers: he could divine, pray, and heal, aiding those who lived in the oasis.
In this great desert, every teacher was beloved by the people. Even a city lord had to observe proper etiquette upon meeting one.
A Yue was the blind old man's disciple, born to a lowly serf in the city.
Mukta was tiny, with very few residents. Most who remained were old people and frail women, while the young had largely gone to the largest oasis city-states in the desert.
Those larger oasis city-states stood at the edge of the desert, close to the lands of the Great Xiye Kingdom. This was also a famed trade route, a shortcut leading straight toward the heartland of the Great Xiye Kingdom.
The Niduso Kingdom, the Tangut tribes, and the Rouran used this route to pass through the Tiele people's blockade of iron hooves and reach the Great Xiye Kingdom directly. They often conducted trade between Great You and the Great Xiye Kingdom, carrying out multinational commerce between the two great powers.
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