Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern

Since setting sail in the age of the Ancient Kingdom, the Xianzhou Zhuming has drifted through the sea of stars for more than 8,000 years. If one could watch images of the ship's changing shape in chronological order, the process would be immensely romantic... The colossal vessel swallowed a deep blue fixed star, shed layer after layer of its old shell, then sprouted like a flower bud, and at last bloomed into a lotus.

Seen from the universe, the whole Xianzhou Zhuming looks like a golden lotus lantern. Enormous glowing “lotus leaves” stretch out little by little around the “lamp post”, bathing in pale blue light, so that one may say it is “like a ship yet not a ship, like a blazing lotus candle”. The “lamp stand” at the center is a spherical cage structure on a celestial scale, wrapped tightly around the blue sun, the “lamp wick”, and turning without rest. This gigantic structure is the crucial production site of the Xianzhou Zhuming, the place that holds the “Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern”.

Long ago, Zhuming's great artisan Yang Di was given a weapon mold by a nameless emperor, taken as a token of departure for the voyage. Thousands of years have passed since then, and although the fleet has now changed beyond recognition with its immortality and its seemingly endless return, the tradition of the great artisan has never been lost. On the Xianzhou Zhuming, craftsmanship is the highest school of learning. Every generation of generals has held the title of furnace master of the Artisanship Commission. When they go forth they command tens of thousands of troops, and when they return they swing the hammer and create marvelous things, and they are revered by all. Of the weapons the Xianzhou need for the hunt, six or seven out of every ten are made at the Zhuming Artisanship Commission. Because of this, the Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern has become a holy land of technology in all the universe.

Smithing is the measure of a civilization, and fire is the starting point of civilization. The most troublesome problem for the great majority of civilizations in their early stage is the source of energy. Everyone tries their utmost to find an energy source that can support their civilization in reaching higher levels. The Xianzhou Zhuming crossed this barrier... By imprisoning Suihuang, the ancestor of the Heliobi, the artisans obtained an inexhaustible source of energy. The orbital structures of the Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern spread out like branches of smoke, surrounding the fixed star to the greatest possible extent, and upon those dense branches and leaves receiving and converting devices are distributed everywhere, drawing the primordial flame of Suihuang to power every creation of technology.

Countless artisans regard the Zhuming Artisanship Commission, the place that swallowed this “False Sun”, as the Supreme Palace, and apprentices determined to forge divine arms come rushing there in competition. So long as one has ability enough, anything can be made, and the Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern has prepared everything these artisans might need...

Apprentices from different worlds gather together at the Forge, become fellow disciples, and learn one another's skills. People who come from elsewhere seeking divine arms will also pay a great sum for a smith to make them a sacred weapon... Yet in thousands of years, only a small number among the many apprentices have been raised up by General Huaiyan, the “master among masters”. He takes himself as the example and passes down the smith's craft and the martial arts to those who come after. His disciples either become great champions, or leave their mark in the chronicles as “furnace masters”, or become Cloud Knights famous throughout the Alliance, and among them the “Kalpagni Octoleaf” are the most renowned.

“The furnace refines a thousand stars, iron is forged as an offering to the heroic dead. Fame resounds on the battlefield in valor, sword and spear defend a life of peace.” From the day the artisans of Zhuming are given their tools, they must always keep that in mind... What they temper day and night is not merely a beam of cold light, but weapons that carry the faith of the Hunt.

The voyage of the Xianzhou Zhuming through deep space is always accompanied by bands of strange colored light. They are not only the energy product of fusion reactions at extreme temperatures, but also proof that Suihuang is still burning without death.

On the outermost layer of the auroral particles that escape with Suihuang's breath, newborn Heliobi slow down and linger there. The Hunt Judges of Zhuming's Ten-Lords Commission capture the naive Heliobi before they are tainted by any emotion, and use warm dreams to tame the immature temperament of the flame. Afterward, the Judges hand the harmless Heliobi over to the Year-Flame supervisors of the Artisanship Commission, who combine the Heliobi with all kinds of exquisite instruments, turning them into lanterns, vehicles, and every sort of scenery to be seen everywhere on Zhuming... Yet in the eyes of outsiders who do not know the truth, those strange things that walk and talk seem to confirm the rumor that “in the Immortal Abodes spiritual energy exists everywhere, and things that endure long enough turn into sprites”...

Continue deeper along the bands of strange colored light, pass the Forge, and you come to the supergravity field formed by the False Sun. An ordinary person can hardly endure this density of fixed star, it is a collapsing disorder of the inner mind, and only the Libo artisans can walk through this region as though it were nothing.

The outbursts of the blazing fixed star and the abnormal celestial phenomena have stopped the curious from approaching the False Sun any further. Every basic law of physics in the universe is strengthened to a terrifying degree within this space and time. Only the Libo, those short and powerful planet dwellers, can survive in a space of such abnormal gravity... The Libo were born to be the finest artisans. They move between the Forge and the False Sun, their sense of time is far removed from that of ordinary folk, and they keep their promise to go on refining their craft, forging colossal divine cannons and watching over the sleep of the False Sun. The Xianzhou Zhuming regards the Libo as loyal allies, respects their perseverance, and thanks them for their selfless devotion.

No one can follow the bands of strange colored light through that oddly twisted gravity field and dive deep beneath the False Sun. That place is forbidden to any creature with emotion, it is the endless dream of Suihuang. The Xianzhou Zhuming is always extremely vigilant, because even the smallest ripple of emotion could awaken the boundless power of the ancestor of the Heliobi.

There are always those who ignore the warning, who stare at the False Sun from afar, then quietly fall into the gravity field of the mind without knowing it. One careless moment and endless illusions sweep across like a tide and steal away their consciousness. Contrary to the illusion of gentleness, staring at that “blue sun” only makes one feel more clearly the fury that has been suppressed since ancient times. “The Heliobi will grant heroes the power of a flame that burns heaven and earth, but once all their missions are complete, the heroes must return to the Heliobi the bodies that were tempered...” How that ancient oath will finally be fulfilled, no one knows, and when Suihuang within its unchanging dream will finally awaken, no one has an answer either.

Amid the wick of the lotus lantern, the False Sun sighs in its endless deep sleep. The Xianzhou slowly crosses the sky, leaving behind only a trail of fantastic color. And so the Xianzhou Zhuming will go on swearing beneath fire, walking together with fire, and sharing its fate with fire.