March, the second year of Ganlu.
The snow on the distant peaks slowly melted, though they still looked blanketed in white.
Yet beneath those snow-white mountains lay a sea of emerald green.
Liu Song, Inspector of Sha Province, sat on his fine horse and gazed at the distant scenery, unable to keep from sighing with feeling.
A group followed behind him, including Zheng Mo, Governor of Dunhuang, Liu Shi, Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, and Deng Zhong, the Wuji Commandant.
For now, all these men were under Liu Song's leadership.
Liu Song pointed into the distance and said, "If immortals exist in this world, they probably live on those mountaintops, don't they?"
Deng Zhong smiled. "Probably so."
They had traveled for a long time, even getting stranded in Wuwei along the way because of heavy snow. After enduring a thousand hardships and ten thousand trials, they had finally reached Dunhuang.
Their party was enormous. Besides these principal officials, there were accompanying petty clerks, Imperial Guards, servants, and others, bringing their total numbers to nearly a thousand.
Traveling like this was much like marching an army, only far slower.
Upon reaching Dunhuang, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Along the way, they had also gotten to know one another.
As Inspector of Sha Province, Liu Song needed some understanding of the men under his command.
Liu Song was a rather stern man. He greatly disliked those who relied on their fathers' or families' influence to commit wrongdoing. When he first learned the names of the men who would follow him, he had wondered whether they belonged to the very sort he detested most.
After all, Zheng Mo's father was Zheng Mao, Deng Zhong's father was Deng Ai, and many of the other officials also came from great clans.
But