My name is Wu Qi, and I am a shaman of the Shale tribe. I mean, I'm supposed to be Wuqi, I'm supposed to be from the Shalle Ministry... What am I?Leader?Warrior? No, my arms are too thin to hold a scimitar, and I shouldn't be a Leader, because I don't have a Leader's tattoo. Wait, tattoos? Why do I know that the head man should have a tattoo on his right arm? Yes, the tattoo is the medium, the medium of the head man and the spirit of the ancestors, and as for the tattoo of our Shale department, it should be... I forgot about it, no, it was so disqualified to be a shaman, I would have been reprimanded by my heavenly father in my dreams. Oh! Shaman, I'm a shaman, I'm a shaman from the Shale tribe, my name is Wu... Wu Yan, Wu Yan or, forget it, it's enough for me to know that I am.

Where is this? Is it a grassland? I think there is a feeling of rubbing against the grass stems below the knees, but there is too much cow dung on the ground, and it takes a lot of effort to take every step. And why is the air so humid, and why are the clouds in the sky all around me? My father taught me, yes, he taught me, it's fog! Yes, fog, fog is the clouds that fall to the earth! They go to the earth because they have been exiled from the sky, poor fellow, I will not be too happy if I am exiled.

But I'm no different from being exiled, isn't it? where is this? why am I here? It's terrible that you can't see the sky without the sun and can't tell your bearings. I'm beginning to understand why these clouds are being exiled, they are so unpopular. But having said that, the fog doesn't disperse on its own, and staying in place won't help. And, I vaguely felt that something was staring at me, my eyes couldn't see through the fog, I couldn't determine whether it was good or malicious, so I kept moving.

This cloud must have kept us out of sight of the sun all day when it was in the sky, it was too big. No matter how you walk, the fog around you is the same. And cow dung under my feet, maybe horse manure? It must be a large tribe with thousands of heads of people who can raise so many cows and horses, and I hope they don't mind letting me rest a little. If you find them.

The sight was still there, and even though I was almost unable to walk, I could still feel it, the sight behind me. But every time I turned around, I couldn't see anything but fog. There is a feeling of being hunted, and no, given that the other party has not yet attacked, perhaps it is more appropriate to be observed. Should I try to talk to the other person?

I shouted several times, and it was definitely the loudest sound I had ever made in my life, and my father never allowed me to make loud noises, saying that our voices would reach the ears of the spirits, who did not like to make noise. Thinking about it this way, maybe that's why he made his mother mute... No, of course not, what am I thinking, he made her mute, so that I could not hear her, I could not learn her language, I could not know her past. Strategies that worked, before I was seven years old.

Speaking of mothers, judging by her hair color and skin color, she is supposed to be from the South. The carriage was also from the south, and if they knew some news, how could it be? A woman who was lost more than twenty years ago, no one would remember it. It's sad. In a few years I will have to think about the heir, who to find to give birth to offspring? the girls of the tribe? no, there is no sparkle in their eyes, and the spirits will not bless the children born of such a woman. Wait, why did I start thinking about this?

I only found out when my clothes were torn, starting from the ankle part, and the pants below the knee had turned into strips of rags. It's really hard to tell the difference between pain and dampness, isn't it? If I hadn't looked behind me and saw blood on the blades of grass. Damn the grass, this must be abandoned by the spirits, the grass is all jagged, and they tear my pants! These are the pants I made of cloth for prayer! They don't understand how rare cloth is on the grassland. Damn grass.

Well, at least the grass made me aware of another problem, which is not normal here, except for the fog. Now I'm starting to wonder what the hell is that soft, sticky thing under my feet. It feels like I'm stepping on fat. No, I had to stop thinking like this, my feet were starting to feel uncomfortable.

The sight is still there, the jagged grass is still there, how long have I walked, a day, or several sunsets? It's hard to say, it seems impossible to judge the passage of time by the light. But with my physical strength, I probably only walked a lot less than I expected. I've always been the one with the worst physical strength. Compared to the U... Strange, why would I try to remember a name that didn't exist? My father and I lived alone in the wilderness, didn't we? There weren't many shamans without tribes. I'd still like to find a tribe to join me if I could, if they could accept my father.

The fog was thicker, and I could only see what was two steps in front of me now. I guess I'm approaching the core of this cloud, and if it's spiritual, maybe I can ask it to disperse? Or should I turn around and go in the opposite direction now, and maybe get out of the clouds. Forget it, I don't have enough stamina. Although I didn't feel hungry yet, the muscles in my legs were already starting to hurt like they were burning. Even the warriors couldn't have walked that far, could they? After all, their legs were deformed from riding too many horses.

I found something strange, something that looked like some kind of totem or ornament, maybe a landmark, telling people whose territory it was. But I haven't heard of a tribe that uses knots as landmarks, and the way those knots look uncomfortable for me. It was a knot made of a mixture of twigs and grass stems, six ropes of varying lengths tied to a branch and inserted into a protrusion made of small stones. It's a bit like a grave, but the steppe people don't build graves. And the ropes and branches were clearly precisely calculated, and put together according to some law that I did not understand, and they had a resemblance to the carvings made of bone, and they all had a certain indescribable charm.

Anyway, this can be used as a sign to show me the way, good news, it seems that the spirits have not forgotten me. It would be better if the signs they gave were not in this form.

The second knot, this one was smaller than the last, and it was buried in the grass, and I wouldn't have noticed it if I had almost tripped up. Compared to the first one, this knot has only two ropes and a branch. But it reminded me that there might be more of that hidden in the grass, maybe before I found the sign. But what are these knots for? I don't know, my mind can't answer that.

More knots. At first glance, I thought it was a person, but when I got closer, I realized that it was a one-man tall knot. Around it, more and more similar things towered. I think of dried corpses, the kind of corpses that have survived the gnawing of jackals in the wild, which will dry into a similar shape. I knew it would make me uncomfortable, but somehow I couldn't stop. I began to wonder if I had gone somewhere I couldn't go.

More and more knots, large and small, some with a dozen ropes and branches, some with only one or two. I don't have time to judge their workmanship, these knots are getting worse and worse for me, and I don't want to see them anymore, but they are everywhere. O spirits!

I started running, regardless of the physical protests, I'm going to get out of here, I'm going to get out of here anyway!

I tripped and, of course, there were knots in the grass. I've got a lot of slimy stuff on my body, and I don't want to figure out what it is. As I got up, I saw a big black shadow in front of me, big, bigger than all the tents of all the tribes I had ever seen. Maybe I've run to the territory of the Southerners and the dark shadow is their castle? Just wish there were no knots there.

Mistakes, huge mistakes. The Shadow wasn't a castle, it was a tree! It was so big, how could it be that big! And why were its roots and trunk covered with those knots...

No, no, no, the knots are tied together like a spider's web! I see something carved into the roots of the big tree behind the cobweb, whatever it is, I'm going to see it.

I saw it! I saw it! I saw it...

"Calm down, whatever you see or hear, now you're back. ”