Chapter Ninety-Two: A Tremor from Below

Yesterday was a busy day. After finishing one chapter, I hurriedly and flusteredly knocked out the remaining two drafts, but when I came back and reviewed them again, I found they were an utter mess. The sentences were awkward, and the wording felt forced. The more I read, the more irritated I became, and in the end I deleted everything I had written yesterday. So yesterday’s update did not appear—not because I broke my promise, but because I was afraid that if I posted it, you would think I was padding the word count, and that would have betrayed my own style. So today I rewrote yesterday’s draft from scratch. This version is passable, so I’m putting it up. There will be three updates today. If I do not finish them, I will not sleep.

The boundless desert stretched without end, as though nature had laid a yellow carpet over this place. A gentle wind swept across it, as if someone had lifted the carpet and shaken it. Dust rose into the sky, and across the desert spun whirlwinds, one after another, lifting the yellow sand high into the air like smoke rising from the ground, whirling as they raced over the dunes.

Lu Zhe tipped up his chin and waved a hand before him, trying to scatter the flying sand in front of his face. It only cleared his sight for a moment before the fine grains, still dancing through the air, veiled the world again. Between heaven and earth, everything was a hazy yellow.

Carefully, Lu Zhe and the old healer pressed onward through the great desert. Traveling over sand was no easy matter; each step sank deep or went shallow, and the fine grains swallowed their feet. It was far less easy or carefree than walking on level ground.

They had not gone far before Lu Zhe suddenly sat down heavily in the sand. He pulled off one shoe, turned it upside down, and shook it. At once a stream of fine sand poured out like a little trickle of water, only to be scattered by the wind.

The old healer, who was walking ahead, noticed that Lu Zhe had stopped. He halted as well, turned to look back, then came over and asked, “What is it?”

Lu Zhe shook all the sand from both shoes, put them back on, and stood. He glanced up at the sky, already swallowed by yellow haze, then lowered his head and said helplessly, “When will this sandblowing season finally be over?”

At that, the old healer gripped the brim of his hat, lifted his face to the sky, then looked back down and said, “It should be ending soon. The sandblowing season in the Endless Desert never lasts very long, usually only three to five days. We’ve already made it through three. If nothing unusual happens, it ought to settle down by tomorrow.”

Lu Zhe frowned, but there was nothing he could say. In the end, he could only nod in resigned agreement.

Seeing Lu Zhe’s dispirited expression, the old healer smiled and said, “This is actually Heaven helping us. Think about it: when a wondrous medicine appears in the world, it is bound to draw attention. Even though this is deep in the Endless Desert, once people weigh the gains and losses, there will certainly be no shortage of those willing to come and fight for it. But now we happen to be in the sandblowing season, which means we’ll arrive three or five days earlier than the others. Doesn’t that make it more likely that we’ll find the wondrous medicine before they do?”

After thinking it over, Lu Zhe felt that the old healer had a point, and he nodded in agreement.

“Then let’s go,” the old healer said calmly.

And so the two of them once again braved the vast sand and wind, continuing northward through the Endless Desert, each step sinking deep and shallow into the ground.

A day later, the yellow sand that had been flying through the air gradually stilled, and the endless desert returned to its usual appearance. Now and then a clear breeze would pass through, whirl lightly in place, lift a patch of yellow sand, and then blow it onward into the distance.

The desert wind had passed, and the yellow sand soared into the sky.

A whispering sound of sand arose.

Lu Zhe walked on through the desert, every step careful. At this moment he dared not be even the slightest bit careless. A few days earlier, during the sandblowing season, he had accidentally been trapped by a patch of quicksand. No matter how he struggled or what means he tried, it was all to no avail, like a stone sinking into the sea. If the old healer had not struck the ground and shaken up a square mile of sand around the quicksand, Lu Zhe did not know whether he would still have had his life to continue searching for the wondrous medicine.

They walked for a long while, leaving a string of footprints across the yellow sand before finally reaching the place described on the scroll, the so-called land where crimson light had once soared into the heavens. Yet after arriving here, all they found was nothing but endless yellow sand.

The two of them wandered aimlessly through this desolate, silent place for an entire day and night, and still found not the faintest clue regarding the wondrous medicine. This cast both Lu Zhe and the old healer into gloom for a very long time.

The old healer and Lu Zhe sat facing each other on the vacant yellow sands of the desert, a lively fire burning between them.

The old healer snapped a dry branch in two and tossed it into the flames. The fire tongues surged up at once and swallowed the branch, producing a series of crackling pops as the wood burst apart.

“We’ve searched all day and still haven’t found even a shadow of the wondrous medicine. What are we supposed to do now?” Lu Zhe stared at the fire, looking helpless and dejected as he sighed.

“If it were really that easy to find, then it would not be a wondrous medicine,” the old healer said with a wry smile as he looked at Lu Zhe’s troubled face.

“Oh, this is giving me a headache,” Lu Zhe groaned. Then he lay flat on the yellow sand and stared silently up at the sky.

That night, the heavens were as black as ink, covering the earth like a vast canopy. Darkness spread down like a black net, quietly casting itself over the whole world. The night ran deep, a lonely moon hung high, and here and there on the horizon a few stars glimmered faintly, cold and lonely, as if shunned by the others. Suspended alone in the endless dark sky, they gave off a beauty touched with desolation.

Scattered stars hung at the edge of heaven; beneath the moon, the troubled heart grows weary.

Lu Zhe lay there with one leg crossed over the other, and the night wind came from afar carrying a thread of chill, making a soft whooshing sound.

The night wind drifted gently across the place where Lu Zhe lay, causing the bonfire to lean slightly. The cold breeze of the night was piercing, and Lu Zhe could not help shivering.

“Ah,” he sighed softly again.

“Why are you sighing and moaning like an old man?” Hearing this, the old healer frowned and said irritably.

Lu Zhe paid him no mind. His gaze remained unfocused as he looked into the ink-black sky. The moon was dim, the stars sparse, and it seemed as though the whole earth had fallen into slumber. Looking at it filled one with a weary, defeated feeling.

He yawned broadly, then slowly closed his eyes and sank into sleep.

The night wind still drifted gently, and drifted on...

“Ahh.”

Lu Zhe yawned and stretched, then sat up from the sand. He rolled his neck and moved his arms and legs a bit, glanced at the bonfire, which had burned itself down to ash, and then let his eyes pass beyond the fire to rest on the old healer, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation.

“Do all masters sleep like this?” Lu Zhe murmured to himself, suddenly remembering that Old Ye also slept with his legs crossed, and he could not make sense of it no matter how hard he thought.

“Master.” Casting away the clutter in his mind, Lu Zhe called softly.

The old healer remained cross-legged with his eyes closed, apparently not noticing Lu Zhe’s voice.

“Master.” Seeing no response, Lu Zhe called again, even more gently.

Still the old healer did not move.

Lu Zhe scratched his head, utterly baffled. What had happened to the old healer?

Just as Lu Zhe began to wonder whether the old healer had suffered paralysis, the man with his eyes tightly shut suddenly opened them, frowned, and said loudly, “Found it.”

The words struck Lu Zhe like a bolt from the blue. He drew in a sharp breath and steadied himself before asking in confusion, “Master, what did you find?”

The old healer looked at him with a faint, triumphant smile.

“I found the wondrous medicine.”

Lu Zhe was overjoyed at once. “Where?”

The old healer extended one hand and pointed straight down with his forefinger.

“Right here.”