Shrek Academy was quiet, as if buried beneath snow.
The ginkgo trees had shed their leaves, and the winter wind had swept the bluestone paths bare. Even the sparrows that usually hopped about on the windowsills had vanished somewhere.
As Tang Wulin walked down the corridor in front of the dormitory building, the echoes of his boots striking the tiles rang out with unusual clarity. Every step carried an amplified, hollow reverberation.
A thin mist had condensed on the corridor windows, kneading the sunlight outside into a blurred grayish white.
When he pushed open the dormitory door, the room was still exactly as he had left it.
A cup of tea that had long gone cold sat at the corner of the table, a dark ring of tea stain left at its bottom. The leaves of an unidentified potted plant on the windowsill had curled slightly from the cold, and the soil beneath it was already cracked and dry.
Tang Wulin stood in the doorway and looked around. Then he turned, closed the door, and walked farther down the corridor before stopping outside Mu En's small room and knocking twice.
Mu En's voice came from inside, hoarse with the rasp of someone newly awake from a nap. "Come in."
When Tang Wulin pushed open the door, the old man was reclining in a wicker chair by the window. He held no tea in his hand. A half-closed book lay spread across his knees, its pages fluttering slightly in the wind.
Seeing that it was him, Mu En swept his gaze over Tang Wulin. His aged eyes narrowed slightly, as though he had sensed something. He then set down the book, unable to suppress the amusement and satisfaction in his voice. "Oh? You went out for a trip and your cultivation