Walking Alone in the Desert: Two Journeys

On the night their thatched hut burned to the ground, Yun Bai and Qin Fei were left with nothing but a battered wooden cart and a young amnesiac they had picked up by the roadside. Using a few clever ruses, Yun Bai managed to get the trio past the city gates. But once inside, Qin Fei grew adamant about enlisting in the army—as if his eight-foot frame and sinewy build were destined for nothing but the battlefield. Along the way, a girl of unknown origins appeared out of nowhere and latched onto him with stubborn insistence, refusing to leave his side. Not long after they ventured into the vast desert, the pair ran into separate ordeals, and their paths diverged for good. One found his way into Nanhua, where a chance entanglement drew him into the orbit of a wealthy merchant. The other strode deep into the yellow sands, taking on a crippled master who taught him the way of the blade and the art of the arcane—until a beast-shaped Suanni tattoo gradually took form upon his shoulder. When the great eye at the desert's end finally opens, the two will meet once more—and the journey they began together will demand its reckoning.