Ning State, Han Yang Pass.
Wei Yuan rode out of the pass on a scrawny horse, setting foot on the westward path.
Dressed in the robust attire of a Cultivator, draped in a rainproof poncho, with long leather boots on his feet, and his scrawny horse carrying two square baskets made of willow twigs filled with luggage behind him—this was the most common attire for a Loose Cultivator in the west.
It was just past noon, the sky was clear, but the sun seemed veiled with a layer of gauze, casting a crimson hue with blurred edges. The air was sultry and humid, and people's clothes would often get so damp that they could wring water out of them as they walked.
