In the final years of the Yuan Dynasty, Master Chongba, abbot of Huangjue Temple in Haozhou, stumbled upon an ancient book from the Northern Wei dynasty in the temple's scripture hall: the eleven-volume Water and Sky Scroll. Its contents were complicated and abstruse, and even after Master Chongba consulted many learned scholars, none could decipher more than a fraction of it. Later, with the help of Liu Bowen, known as the "Crouching Dragon of the Age," and Liu's sworn younger brother, Meng Lingcheng, he deciphered the first three volumes of the upper section. The first volume, titled Mountains and Rivers, describes the routes and waterways from the Central Plains to the Western Regions in great detail. The second, titled The Unorthodox Way, records the essential military strategies of famous commanders such as Sun Bin, the Crouching Dragon, and Zhongda. The third, titled Divine Dragon, is a handwritten work by Hua Tuo, the famed physician of the Three Kingdoms era. As Master Chongba read the ancient book, he realized it truly contained all the wisdom of the world and was extraordinarily profound. Unwilling to remain secluded from worldly life, he was moved by the desire to compete in the mortal realm, so he left the monastery and became sworn brothers with Liu and Meng. Each of the three studied one volume. Chongba, the eldest, focused on Mountains and Rivers, while Liu and Meng took The Unorthodox Way and Divine Dragon, respectively. After three years, all three had made great progress. From Mountains and Rivers, Chongba learned of a wondrous stone in the world called "Fengyun"...
This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.
