Unofficial History: The Righteous Bandit

As the insect-like beings multiplied and flourished, their tangled connections grew ever more complex, each seeking what its nature desired. Thus, a shared authority was established to bring them together and set their intentions down, creating a history through which the past might be examined and its origins traced. Yet every lineage has its omissions; this effort to clarify the truth was also shaped by hidden partiality.

The account begins with the straightforward histories, their style gradually taking shape. Their winding, rugged paths cannot be fully grasped, and only then does one realize how rough the world beyond the well-trodden roads can be. Wang Jin headed west, his name recorded in a robe without end; by night, the ring-pommeled saber rang out, and one could only marvel that a pearl lay within the clam. So-called unofficial histories gather what is missing and fill in the gaps. Their figures may not appear in the orthodox biographies, yet they still offer one account among a hundred generations, and a hundred generations make the record more complete. History's verdict does not depend on wealth or poverty, merit or failure. No one can escape it. The great sea flows as one: how could it be laid out evenly?

The tale begins with a bandit and a stronghold. Do not seek their origins. What matters most is to look far ahead, as they rise and fall across north and south. "The circling eagle, the coiling serpent; the stars wheel and the moon shines. Stone split, gates opened; fallen iron leveled the rugged ground." These words sum it all up.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.