Central Region.
Qingyuan Mountain, Changde Town.
The sky was bright, the air clear; a gentle breeze blew warmly.
This day was no different from any other.
None of the news surrounding the new Seven Sword Immortal, which had set the Five Domains ablaze, could reach this little town.
Nor could the greatest storm that the continent knew Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain was about to face rain down here.
In this small town of simple folkways, its residents rose with the sun and rested at sunset, living their orderly lives.
Then, amid this tranquil, comfortable cycle of days, a thunderclap suddenly exploded beneath the clear sky. Violet lightning blossomed amid the town streets, then flashed away high into the heavens.
"Clap clap clap!"
As though answering the call, wooden windows atop house after house were pushed open, and bright-eyed heads poked out from within.
"Swish swish swish!"
The pedestrians on the main street also came to a halt, turning in perfect unison to stare in the same direction.
Yang Tieniu, the pig butcher, rushed to his meat-selling table with a whetstone and blade in hand, craning his neck to peer around.
Auntie Zhang, Zhang Xiuhua, who sold savory tofu pudding, hopped over her threshold with half a bowl of it in her hands, stretching out her neck.
Li Zhennia, who had been embroidering atop a little stool, shot to her feet, gauze in one hand and needle and thread in the other. Tossing her head back, she looked toward the center of town.
The center of town was no longer its nominal center, but the place that drew every eye—the collapsed Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop, which had yet to be rebuilt.
"Boom!"
From the long-still ruins of the blacksmith shop, a burly figure cloaked in a great mantle suddenly shot into the