In the oasis.
There was not a breath of wind.
The moment before, the sky was still full of wind and sand. But the instant Zheng Xiu's "Finishing Touch" landed, the sandstorm ceased. The fine sand high in the air fell like a sandy rain.
For a moment, Zheng Xiu had the strange sensation that something had unstopped both of his ears.
The whisper of sand grains rubbing against each other mid-air, the sound of Xie Luohe's breathing, the rustling of the two camels in the sandpit—every sound was crystal clear.
The world before him was brighter, as if Zheng Xiu had always been viewing it through a thin veil. Now, after he pushed open the seventh door of the Painter's Path, that veil had been torn away, and the colors before him were far more vivid.
A look of astonishment crossed Zheng Xiu's face. He reached out into the rain of sand, catching the fine grains.
A handful of sand piled into a small mound in Zheng Xiu's palm.
"Congratulations."
