The Journey Through the Great Wilderness

Young Cang Xing, who studied the incomplete Classic of Mountains and Seas since childhood, refused to blindly follow the myths and legends of gods and monsters within. At twenty, he left his homeland, carrying brush, ink, measuring tools, and bamboo slips, embarking on a journey through the Great Wilderness, determined to measure the ancient mountains and rivers with mortal feet and verify the authenticity of ancient records through field surveys. Along the way, he met A Ruo, who knew the properties of all herbs and the habits of all creatures, and they became fast friends, traveling together for twenty years. They sought no immortal arts, practiced no divine powers, and slew no beasts, but spent their days traversing deep valleys and wild plains, crossing rivers and seas, surveying mountain ranges, tracing water sources, analyzing strata and relics, and meticulously recording the uses of plants, the nature of beasts, and the customs and migrations of ancient tribes. After thousands of miles of wind and dust, they returned home in old age. Cang Xing compiled his half-life of observations into a book, stripping away layers of mythical falsehoods, and from the most ordinary mortal perspective, outlined the true ancient world, its creatures, and human society, writing this unique Record of the Great Wilderness. — Description from novelcodex.org