Dragon's Roar Beneath the Cauldron

Prologue At the end of the Qin Dynasty, war raged and the realm fell into chaos. Commoners, driven to desperation, risked death to rebel; Jianghu factions stirred with hidden currents; the feudal lords' forces rekindled like dying embers. Legend tells that when the Zhou Dynasty waned, a great cauldron was lost among the people. That cauldron, peerless in its existence, stood towering in form, cast of bronze. Nine coiled dragons perched upon it, their eyes inlaid with luminous pearls that shone in the night. This cauldron was forged by Jiang Ziya from meteoric iron gathered at Mount Qi, copper collected from the Nine Provinces, and smelted in the Bagua Furnace. Ancient runes were inscribed within it; on every full moon night, the runes would flow and shift, granting passage between Heaven and Earth. The Zhou Son of Heaven regarded it as the sacred vessel of the state. On the day the cauldron was completed, strange phenomena appeared in the sky—a hundred birds paid homage to the phoenix, ten thousand beasts bowed their heads—and from that moment it became the symbol of the Mandate of Heaven. Those who lose the cauldron lose the empire; those who gain the cauldron gain the world. In an instant, hidden currents surged, and Jianghu factions and feudal lords alike went mad for it. Sikong Jingzhao, leader of the Tianji Pavilion, appeared friendly with the great sects on the surface, but secretly colluded with the demon cult of the Western Regions, scheming to kill by proxy. Xie Guya, leader of the Wuxiang Gang, knew how to employ people well and was renowned for his cunning; he set up layer upon layer of traps, hoping to reap the spoils while sitting idle. Among the feudal lords, the states of Qi, Zhao, and Qin each harbored their own schemes, forming and breaking alliances, each deceiving the other. A storm of blood and slaughter swept the realm, and plots and treacheries emerged without end. The struggle over the Zhou cauldron wrote a tragic tale of family vengeance and national hatred, of Jianghu grudges and feuds, and also played out a sorrowful romance between men and women. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Dragon's Roar Beneath the Cauldron — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠