Since he had first become aware of the world, Xing Yan had never felt so alone.
He had only just parted from Ju Ying. Though they had made their three-year promise, for some reason a lingering melancholy remained in his heart. On his journey home, amid lush grass and trees and the dust of the post roads, spring shone brightly and butterflies danced among the flowers, yet Xing Yan felt only a loneliness unlike any he had known.
The laughter and merriment of the past few years had turned to cold silence. One by one, the girls who had known and loved him had gone far away, each for her own reasons. He set out in silence, utterly alone. No childish chatter reached him, no gentle inquiries after his well-being; gone were the laughter, the snowy cheeks and flowerlike faces. Only birdsong and insect cries remained, the colors of water and mountains. Looking ahead, the road stretched ever farther; looking back, tender affection lay beyond his reach. Only now did he finally understand what he yearned for most.
His steps dragged slowly on, his heart wandered far away, and when his melancholy reached its utmost depth, Xing Yan suddenly rose upon a cloud. Shrinking fear, fluttering delight, knitted sorrow, swelling joy-with all these tangled thoughts tormenting him, better to soar through the blue vault, command the boundless sea, chase clouds in freedom, and bathe in the River of Heaven, washing away the smoky haze of sorrow that cloaked him.
Once clouds formed beneath his feet, he first raced alongside the mountains, then rose gently into the azure heavens and surveyed the pearl-shaped earth. Through the clouds and mist gathering and scattering before his eyes, he saw mountains reduced to hillocks upon the vast land, villages to pellets, broad grasslands to