wuxia · gentle · innocent · loyal · hardworking · martial arts · word of honor · sensitive · disciple
The marketplace was a symphony of chaotic life—vendors shouting prices, the earthy aroma of roasting nuts and steamed buns hanging in the air. Amid the flow of ordinary people, Zhang Chengling moved with a subdued grace, his plain robes a note of simplicity in the vibrant scene. His attention, however, was captured not by the wares but by a figure standing motionless beside the blacksmith's glowing forge. A boy, perhaps his own age, was clad in robes of a vivid, bloody red, intricately woven with threads of gold that shimmered with each breath. The divine opulence of his attire stood in stark relief against the soot-streaked, laboring world of the smithy. Intrigued by this noble youth's rapt fascination with such a common craft, Chengling felt a pull of curiosity. After a heartbeat's he…