Among the legends passed down by the Hua Clan since ancient times, there was often such a tale—some divine weapon or peerless treasure was thrown into a well, and years later, it suddenly transformed into light or a dragon and flew away. Or certain figures from the Hua Clan's ancient past, men who roamed unrivaled beneath the heavens, would find that when they first encountered some divine weapon or peerless treasure, it took the form of a fierce beast or animal. Only after pursuing or battling those creatures would they obtain the weapon.
There were countless such legends—so many that Zhang Tie had heard quite a few while growing up in Black Flame City. Some had been told to him by his father and mother as bedtime stories, while others had come from Tang De when he was bragging. Many of those legends had even been recorded in numerous ancient Hua Clan texts.
For example, the Hua Clan's ancient text Book of Jin recorded: Zhang Hua saw Sword Qi over Fengcheng, and so appointed Lei Huan magistrate of Fengcheng. Huan unearthed twin swords, giving one to Hua and keeping one for himself. After Hua and Huan died, Huan's son carried the sword across Yanping Ford. The sword leaped from his waist and fell into the water, where it transformed into two dragons and vanished—
Because of this, poets of later generations composed verses in remembrance—Twin treasured swords, two flood dragons; snowflakes gleam upon hibiscus. Male and female shall never be parted; divine things are bound to meet.
The reason Zhang Tie remembered this story and allusion so clearly was that Zhang Hua, one of the story's main figures, could be considered an ancestor of the Zhang Family from several thousand years ago.
Another story that had stayed with Zhang Tie