On the ninth day of the first lunar month, in the early morning, in a forest about ten miles east of Lu Town, a tall and thin young man stands atop a lofty pine tree covered in white snow, facing the rising morning sun. With his eyes squinting and a faint smile on his face, he breathes in and out a few times before jumping down from the tree. He then starts practicing his boxing skills on the flat snowy ground.
He completes a set of boxing techniques without any rest, and then starts another set that looks almost identical to the previous one. If any martial arts expert could observe him closely, they would be able to notice that the second set of skills is essentially the reverse of the first one.
This young man is, of course, Zhang Xiaohua, who is currently on his way to Guo Village.
