There's a traveling merchant that you may find on the side of a road, not far from the village. He's selling lanterns with spirits within then - spirits of soldiers from the war. One such ghost fire is a young soldier that was told he would excel with a saber.

Perhaps if Dianxia would like to expedite the next part of our story...

[ it's easy to say, at least for this. because he's already thinking of all the things to send xie lian back with, all the ways he can help, all the things he can tell him to be more careful, more mindful... if he can avoid catastrophic events... ]