ZhiYi pulled his horse to a stop. He had arrived at the edge of the Misty Forest. It had been years since he last visited, and in his heart, he felt a tinge of guilt for abandoning it for so long. But even though two decades had passed, the mist still persisted, swirling around the trees like gigantic snakes. Nothing seemed to have changed as ZhiYi dismounted his horse and stepped closer.
The mist shivered as it recognized the man before it and coiled back like a curtain, revealing a path before ZhiYi.
He was home.
A smile formed on ZhiYi's lips as he stepped inside, the mist reforming behind him, hiding him within. The trees hummed, the sound comforting as the air sizzled around him, as if excited for him being there. Slowly, the low hum grew louder until weak whispers could be heard.
'General Wang… You have returned…'
'It has been years…'
'General Wang… Welcome back…'
'We feared you had forgotten about us entirely…'
