Lost Ferry Boat

Xuanquan Post Station was established during Emperor Wu of Han's reign and destroyed in the fires of Western Region wars. The last postmaster devoted his life to duty, never abandoning his post even when communications ceased. Fortune brought him across the endless desert to his homeland's border; misfortune saw him captured and exiled, becoming an unjustly bound prisoner. All the hardships of his journey, all the wandering of his life, transformed into overwhelming sorrow and thorns covering half his body. He returned to the boundless desert seeking traces of his former comrades. But all that remained were cold winds, poplar trees, and the silent, towering lonely fortress. The postmaster became a tree boat, wandering in the cold and desolate eternal night, lost in the desert, searching for fluttering banners.