Li Jianqiu stood motionless beneath the massive rock, only the fire of the Flamesword flickered in the mountain breeze.
Jiang Wang walked to his side and made out the inscriptions on the rock.
"In the twelfth year of Yongtai, after a hundred battles steeped in blood, hands behind the back, undefeated, these words are left for posterity to admire!"
The signature was Wu.
It seemed incomplete, for there was a single stroke nearby, obviously just the beginning of a character.
Yongtai is the era name of the current ruler of Zhuang Country, and now it is the fourteenth year of Zhuangli Yongtai, or the year 3917 in the Dao Calendar.
This meant that the inscription was from two years ago, during the time when the Vertical Brush Peak was first thoroughly swept clean.
After vanquishing the Fierce Beasts, Li Jianqiu did not boast of his exploits, nor did he summarize them, nor did he continue onwards. Instead, he stopped before this conspicuously storied inscription, falling silent.
