Shards of rock rained down as Li Yuan lightly descended the mountain. He tossed his blade and robe into a shallow pit, built a cairn over them as a grave marker, then looked back at the carved words on the cliff. The characters were charged with power, every stroke brimming with fierce, dominating energy. If any traveler in the future gleaned insight from them, so be it.  0

A warm sun shone through drifting clouds. Li Yuan let out a hearty laugh and turned away. This was the end of his heroic wanderer life.  0

He had ruled out the possibility of completing the Thousand-Mile Hero by himself. He also discarded the possibility of completing Southern Mountain’s Ghostly Rain; it was too steeped in too much darkness and cruelty.  0

That left only the Young Master Riding the Deer—a painting that embodied a carefree, unencumbered spirit. It seemed closest to his own temperament, though, on second thought, he wasn’t quite as detached from the world as it required.  1

He shook his head, helplessly amused. So his immediate plan was to refine his forging craft and find a way to mature the seed. If he could spread his original cultivation technique far and wide, its growth would hasten, paving...3