Xing Yi stared at the board for a while until he finally sighed.

“Ok, I give up,” Xing Yi laughed, completely admitting defeat.

The board was without question, the young master’s win. There was no need to count the squares. Fortunately, the road was tame and allowed for them to play without interruption.

The young master remarked, “I’m surprised. You play very well.”

“Thank you,” Xing Yi replied. He was flattered.

“No, really. You are frighteningly good,” the young master squinted his eyes, studying Xing Yi’s facial features in fine detail. The youth had average but well-defined features. Tanned skin upon a noble, straight nose and short, un-styled black hair. His eyes were like a dark abyss, and he had cheeks as smooth as a baby.

The young master leaned back, the thin layer of armour underneath his shirt jingled.

“Although I am intrigued, I have better things to be doing. Either way, the road up ahead will begin to get quite bumpy as we leave the vicinity of this village. We wouldn’t want the pieces flying everywhere. I enjoyed the game. Now, if you will,” the young master said as he proceeded to pull out his book again and resumed reading.

Xing Yi cleaned up and put everything away and was now left staring out the window, an expanse of forest that just seemed to be endlessly repeating itself.

Time passed and Xing Yi discovered that the trip to Rising Dragon City was going to take at least two months. Which was a long time. It was located at the furthest north part of the State of Xia, whereas he lived in the southernmost part of the state.

During that time, he had to think of something to do.

Something came to mind immediately.

Meditation.

It was rumoured that immortals wouldn’t sleep or eat. They were all youthful, beautiful and tall and that they often went into seclusion for many several decades at a time to meditate to grow stronger and contemplate the dao.

Even if it was all heresay, he felt that the meditation part had some truth to it.

That’s why he decided to begin meditating, even if he didn’t know what he was doing at all.

He crossed his legs and just closed his eyes. He focused on the world around him.

The strain of the wheels as they churned against the dirt. The bumping of the carriage, the trotting of the horses, and just then, the young master flipping through his book.

It was difficult at first. He wasn’t a hyperactive kid, but he couldn’t help but bounce his left leg and up and down. His mind was just begging to move. As what seemed like an hour had passed, he couldn’t help but feel him meditating was useless and didn’t want to do it anymore.

But he didn’t give up.

Xing Yi was already extremely tired and exhausted from having meditated for just a whole hour. Just then, he moved his leg, and it was completely numb. It felt like his leg didn’t exist. As if it was just bone.

He moved it around and tried standing up, he almost collapsed but saved himself and sat back down. The young master looked at him strangely when he saw this but quickly resumed reading, not taking Xing Yi’s antics to mind.

Xing Yi gave a mental sigh of relief and resumed meditating.

Like that, a week passed, and they arrived at their first major destination.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Qizhou City.

Xing Yi had been here once before, but it still amazed him.

There were just so many people here. It was loud too. Nothing was tangible as all the voices were talking over each other.

They stopped here for the next day, and he stayed inside a hotel with the young master and the merchant. He assumed that his grandfather had paid off the merchant with a big sum of money as he didn’t even pay but was presented with a room all to himself.

It was the first time he slept in a room all by himself!

Previously, he would have to sleep in the same room as his little sister. But now it was just him. Unfortunately, the previous week had been a bit less than pleasant as he was forced to sleep outside on the grass.

It was a nice change of pace.

But it was nothing compared to the pain of meditation.

He felt like quitting every single second that passed. He was forcing himself to do it. He didn’t have to do it but he did. He had meditated twelve hours every day for the past seven days. To his previous self, that would be an inconceivable thing to do.

But he really could!

At the start, he was constantly moving around, and his mind would be wandering. But now he was like a statue and felt completely in tune with the environment and his breath, depending on what he was focusing on.

His legs still got numb. Having to learn how to walk at the end of the day was quite hilarious. Then after that came the pins and needles. He wouldn’t be able to move around for at least a few minutes or a prickly sensation would instantly wash over his body, causing him to burst out in laughter.

It was painful. But Xing Yi was grateful that he did it. There was never a time where he regretted not meditating that day.

Time passed. He woke up from the bed of grass in the wild, went for a leak and washed up if there was a river nearby, jumped in the carriage, meditated, had lunch, meditated, had dinner and then finally went to sleep. This routine continued for the next seven weeks.

And that’s when they finally arrived at Rising Dragon City.

Before that, the first sign that they were nearly there was that they were now treading on a paved brick road. The road then became more populated, and people were now walking all around them.

They went inside underneath a massive stone arch guarded by a few dozen guards, with more of them lining the walls and patrolling with crossbows in hand. They wore silver armour and helmets, leather straps and swords hanging at their sides. They gave intimidating gazes at anybody that walked inside, including him.

As they travelled in, it was literally a sea of people. There were countless heads bobbing up and down. They didn’t go down the main street and eventually stopped at a large building made to accommodate carriages like Mr Wang’s.

As Xing Yi got off along with the young master, Mr Wang walked up to him.

“This is as far as I will take you boy. As according to my deal with your grandfather, I was to bring you to Rising Dragon City. So unfortunately, you are on your own now. Goodbye,” Mr Wang said before he walked to pay his toll to the owner of the building.

Xing Yi watched him leave before he turned and left onto the street.

The young master was also like him and quickly left but went in the opposite direction. Presumably to never be seen again.

Xing Yi found his own rhythm and found himself walking with the crowd, enjoying the sheer magnificence and size of the city. He walked on for a long while until he found himself in an area less crowded and mainstream.

That’s when he approached a random middle-aged man.

“Excuse me, but do you perhaps know where Long Tang Mountain Range is,” Xing Yi kindly asked.

The middle-aged man momentarily stopped and answered, “It’s simple. Go to the north exit and just follow the road. But don’t enter the fog. It’s dangerous.”

Xing Yi bowed to the middle-aged man, allowing him to pass and continue on with his day.

With that information in mind, he made his way through the city over the course of several hours and was neaby the north exit until it was late in the afternoon. At that point, the sun was setting, and he didn’t want to be travelling at night where he literally couldn’t see.

So, he found the nearest inn and booked a night.

The food was good and he had a night of sleep that left him completely refreshed.

He left early in the morning at the break of dawn and began walking. It had rained last night so there was still dewdrops on the leaves and the ground was damp, some of it sticking to the bottom of his footwear.

He travelled on foot, walking while swinging his arms around and singing to keep himself busy.

When he finally reached the foot of the mountain range, the slope increased. He kept walking and walked deeper and deeper inside the mountain range. That’s when he encountered a wall of grey fog in front of him that continued on all the way to his left and right.

“So this is the fog he was talking about,” Xing Yi muttered.

He sized up the fog and felt quite intimidated. His heart started beating faster and faster as he thought about entering. He even took a couple steps back to ease his worries.

I don’t have to walk inside. I can always turn back.

This thought was left unanswered for a moment as that train of thought started taking off but he soon extinguished it.

No! We must go through with it.

He grabbed out a cloth-wrapped circular object and unwrapped it. He held onto it tightly and then lifted it straight up into the air and slowly walked in.

The fog swallowed him.