An Earth-Shattering Breakthrough

On the peak of the mountain there sat a thin middle-aged man dressed all in white. He was silently watching the clouds roiling among the mountains, and looking very enthralled.

That was his homework, starting at dawn each day, always waiting until noon when the mist would disperse. 

Below the peak a city would appear and disappear, with a streak rapidly flashing by in the air from time to time. Those were all card artisans coming and going from the city, though none of them would dare to enter the realm of that mountain peak.