After leaving the place where he had been in seclusion, Pan Long used no lofty, high-flying technique. He simply strolled east as though out for a leisurely walk.
His steps were unhurried, yet each stride was enormous. Anyone watching from the roadside would have seen him cover at least a dozen yards with every step, while somehow never appearing to move quickly. It was as if the earth itself shortened beneath his feet, lending his walk a strange, mysterious air.
Seen from afar, though, he looked as if he were flying over the ground, his figure moving so fast it nearly became a gust of wind.
This was one of the abilities that came naturally upon reaching Return to the Natural State: Shrinking Land to Inches.
True Person Grandmasters were not the only ones capable of Shrinking Land to Inches. Many Innate Masters could do it too if they trained specifically for it. But to travel this way without expending any extra energy, as effortlessly as taking an ordinary stroll, one had to reach Return to the Natural State.
Only by drawing in and refining all of one's power, so that none leaked away needlessly, could one use this supreme art even while walking about.
Pan Long continued along the road at an easy pace, admiring the scenery as he went.
It was already late March, the season when spring brought warmth and flowers bloomed. Along the Heaven-Reaching River, birds sang and flowers scented the air. He often passed entire orchards where red, white, and pink blossoms bloomed in dazzling profusion. Sometimes fruit trees grew right beside the road, and a sudden gust would send petals pattering down around him, as though he were walking through a fine pink rain.
"I remember several famous cherry blossom avenues in my previous