Strange Tales Travelogue

Wilderness, an ancient road.

A gaunt horse moved slowly along, resembling an old man who had seen through the ways of the world, unruffled and calm.

Hung from the saddle were a sword and a bundle.

Seated astride the horse was a handsome scholar, upright and poised, clad in a simple, pale robe and a Tang-style headscarf. He gazed into the distance, his eyes reflecting the faint trails of smoke rising from a distant mountain village.

His robe, once elegant, was now somewhat yellowed from many washings and covered in the dust of travel, giving him the look of one who had journeyed long and far.

Yet none of this could conceal his inner vigor and spirit. In these troubled times, such a bearing was indeed rare.

“Hyah!”

Though the horse was old and thin, Cui Xiu harbored no complaints. Without this steed, the journey home would have relied entirely on his own strength—a feat not easily endured by most.

He sighed inwardly at the thought. His body was still weak, having once belonged to a scholar unskilled in the martial arts. Though he had exercised over the past month, his foundation remained poor, and little could be changed in such a short time.

It was not hard to understand—Cui Xiu was not the original owner of this body. In his past life, he had lived in a bustling world of skyscrapers and online shopping, an ordinary man with a pleasant enough life, never expecting to one day cross into another world.

But all that was behind him now. The crossing had been abrupt and a touch cruel, yet not wholly unacceptable. Afte