Past midnight, in the third watch of the night.
West of Guang'an Prefecture, two hundred li away, there lies a mountain range named Qiuniu Mountain.
Within the forested mountains, the night is pitch-black, one cannot see their own fingers before them, and the sky drizzles persistently, with threads of rain weaving through the air.
At this moment, from a distance, a faint voice can be heard.
"Damn this wretched weather! How many days of rain has it been now? Breathing feels damp, carrying a musty scent."
Along with the sound, the trees in the mountain forest ahead rustle, moving progressively closer.
Soon, within the blackness of the night, two vague silhouettes flit about the treetops, leaping and bounding, until they land on a thick branch of a banyan tree, settling there. That very branch extends out over a cliff, overlooking from this vantage point, a range of unending rolling mountains, faintly revealing their contours.
