Night had already fallen. Inside a deep cave on a floating mountain far from the Myriad Mountain Plain, Zhang Tie found some dry firewood outside the cave and piled it within. With a flick of his finger, a spark shot out. Before long, the pile of wood blazed to life. Sprites of roaring flame danced through the cave, instantly brightening its gloomy depths and driving away its trace of chill. At the same time, they cast Zhang Tie's shadow upon the dark-red rock walls. As the firelight flickered, his shadow twisted as well, like a shifting opera mask.
Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the dancing flames with rapt attention and feeling their warmth.
For someone who had not seen such natural, bright flames for over eighty years in the Infinite Divine Prison, being able to see those dancing flames again today and feel the reassuring heat they gave off was indeed an enjoyable and comforting thing.
From around the bend in the cave, faint rustling sounds drifted through the darkness—the soft noises of women changing clothes. Zhang Tie had not heard such sounds for a very, very long time. Longer even than the more than eighty years he had spent in the Infinite Divine Dominion. Including the time since he had come to the Sky-Piercing Realm, it had been nearly ninety years since he had heard such sounds from so close by.
Back in Great Xia, he had often heard such sounds, because many times, they were the prelude to his wives, concubines, and women joining him in bed at night. Back then, he would generally lie in bed, drinking wine, while listening to such rustling from the next room or behind a changing screen. Sometimes, in order to please him, his wives, concubines, and women would use