Hu Xiaotian had never been someone who worried about his country and its people. Who ruled the world held no particular significance for him, especially when they shared the same blood and ethnicity. He cared even less then. What he wanted was freedom, a life without restraints. Yet faced with reality, he had gradually realized that the ideas he had brought with him upon first arriving in this world had been far too idealistic. The imperial court and the Martial World were not as distant as he had imagined. In fact, they were like the thatched cottage he lived in and the hot spring outside its door. A person could not live in this world and forever shut himself away within one particular environment. He had to learn to adapt to that environment and change it.
A soft knock sounded at the door. Zong Yuan had sent for him. Hu Xiaotian got out of bed and followed the young servant toward the Sword Forge.
Night had already enveloped all of Purple Cloud Mountain. Though the mountain was not tall, the sky felt very close. Countless stars glittered against the black velvet of the night, seemingly close enough to touch.
The Sword Forge had two great kilns, the dragon on the left and the tiger on the right, subtly embodying the image of a crouching tiger and a coiled dragon. Hu Xiaotian was heading to the dragon kiln. Long and narrow, it had been built along the slope of Purple Cloud Mountain, winding upward like a dragon or a snake, hence its name. Its chamber consisted of three sections-the head, bed, and tail-built along the incline to form a long tunnel-shaped furnace. The head had a preheating chamber, while the tail generally had no chimney, or only a very short one,