On the upper dark rock terrace of the bathhouse, the air carried the deep, steady deep ring of an active forge that had finally been banked for the night.
Here, nestled against the dark fiery bedrock just below the main spreading chimney pipes, was the Tier 4 High Dragon Plunge. Kept at a scorching, muscle-soothing heat, the water roiled with thick, billowing plumes of stone vapor that carried the rich scents of molten earth, sweet cedar heartwood, and crushed winter-green.
Underwater up to his massive chest in the steaming basin sat Tie Shan.
The Divine Titan Smith looked like an ancient mountain carved from gray granite and iron-furred muscle. His broad, heavily scarred shoulders rested comfortably against the curved dark rock rim, his massive bear head tilted back toward the starry rafters. Water droplets clung to his braided iron-gray beard like tiny liquid diamonds. His living star-iron right arm—an iron-hard limb forged by Lin Xiao from sky meteor marrow—rested lazily along the smooth cedar coping, streaming a steady, comforting warmth that kept the water heat perfectly steadied.
Beside the pool, seated upon a low bench of sanded storm-cedar with his bare feet dipped in a shallow wooden foot-tub of pleasantly warm stone water, was High judge Lu Feng.
