Chapter 1: A Child Appears Through the Fog on Zhongnan Mountain
The fog on Zhongnan Mountain was alive. In the last moments of the hour of the Tiger, while the sky was still veiled in pale gray, fog began to spill in through the mountain pass. It was not the choking smog of the city, but a mist carrying the coolness of mountain streams. It clung to the pine branches, and before even half an incense stick had burned, fine frost formed upon them, glistening white, as if the needles had been coated in sugar. Where it fell on the blue stone path, it left faint damp marks. The ground felt soft underfoot, and the fog swallowed most of the sound of each step. Xuan Guzi headed deeper into the mountains with a bamboo basket on his back. Inside were the poria he had gathered just the night before, round and plump, still damp with the scent of decaying leaves. Now and then, they brushed against the bamboo
