The sky was a tile blue, with flowing clouds drifting leisurely through the firmament.
On the Great Marsh below, under the clear and bright sunny skies with a gentle breeze, the river surface was tumultuously wavy, startling the water birds into circling without landing.
The boatmen poured a little vinegar onto the deck and used a brush to clean the remnants of bloodstains from the crevices.
"Three days off the bow, and my hands grow thorns.
Since taking the position of elder within the clan, I have long neglected campaigning and have not refined a hundred classics. There's an old saying in martial arts techniques, 'advance and never retreat.'
Now I only possess brute strength of my realm, and my real power is far less than it used to be..."
Elder Long Zongyin made a cupped-hand salute, his face expressing shame.
All for naught, the touch before boarding the ship.
