The Crane Returns to the Northern Frontier Blade

On a snowy night in the twelfth year of Cheng'an, the air was thick with the acrid smell of burning oil. Seven-year-old Pei Yuechen huddled at the bottom of a dry well, half a page from the Thousand Gold Prescriptions stuck between his fingers. His mother had pressed it into his palm before a crossbeam crushed her. The yellowed page was soaked in blood, making the words "stroke caused by wind toxin" look especially horrific.

The cold wind howled, and Pei Yuechen shivered. Above the well, flames soared into the sky, and screams rang out one after another. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to escape the terrible reality, but he could not erase the last image of his mother from his mind.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.