The Blood Demon’s Calamity

This is a wuxia novel rich in classical romanticism, comprising twenty chapters and roughly 450,000 words. In the tenth year of the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming dynasty, as spring filled the Jiangnan region with fresh greenery and blossoms, the family of Bing Xiong, master of the wealthy Taiwu Manor in Chenzhou, western Hunan, was massacred. Only his daughter, Bing Xinru, escaped by sheer luck; hundreds of others in the household perished. The tragedy shocked the entire martial world, and a rumor soon spread: Taiwu Manor held a peerless martial arts text, The Treasure Mirror of Zhixuan. The news sent shock waves through the martial world. Sect after sect flocked to Chenzhou, all hoping to seize the book, and a chaotic battle to search for and claim the treasure began.

Zuo Qiuming, an old friend of Bing Xiong’s who possessed extraordinary martial arts, received a desperate plea for help from Bing Xiong and hurried to the manor, only to arrive three days too late. He spent two months making discreet inquiries in Chenzhou but found no clues. Just as he was preparing to leave empty-handed, he rescued a young woman in distress. She was none other than Bing Xinru, the sole survivor of the Bing household. The situation took a sudden turn: unable to find the legendary Treasure Mirror of Zhixuan, the martial arts sects turned their attention to Bing Xinru, all wanting to capture her and force her to reveal the book’s whereabouts. Zuo Qiuming protected the orphan, displayed his formidable power on the river, thwarted the Pai Sect’s Tiger Might Hall’s attempt to seize her, and took Bing Xinru back to Taiwu Manor to resume his investigation.

During a second clash with Lei Zhenyue, master of the Tiger Might Hall, and his deputy, Ping Yibo, Zuo Qiuming was shocked to discover that Ping Yibo possessed the vicious Blood Demon Palm, a technique that had vanished from the martial world twenty years earlier. Though Zuo Qiuming killed both men, he was also injured internally. The Blood Demon Palm had appeared without warning more than twenty years ago and terrorized the martial world for three years. It was the most vicious of techniques: anyone struck by it died instantly, beyond all hope of rescue. The martial world called its wielder the Blood Demon and declared him a common enemy. The various sects joined forces and selected the twenty most skilled fighters to hunt him down. After dozens of battles, only eight of the twenty survived, while the Blood Demon escaped. Just as everyone was growing anxious, the Blood Demon stopped appearing in the martial world. People assumed he had died from his injuries or some other cause, and were greatly relieved.

Based on the Blood Demon Palm wound he had received, Zuo Qiuming concluded that the massacre at the Bing household might have been the work of the Blood Demon, who had disappeared more than twenty years ago, and that the fiend might have returned to the martial world. He broke into the Pai Sect’s headquarters at night, only to discover that the evidence had mysteriously been moved long before. Just as he was about to force the sect leader, Sima Yunlong, to reveal the secret origins of Lei Zhenyue and Ping Yibo, Sima Yunlong and his subordinates were killed by someone with astonishing martial arts skills, and the trail went cold once again.

With no other leads, Zuo Qiuming returned and met Mu Ziyan, the young mistress of Phoenix Palace in the Southern Wastes. The two became friends. When he returned to Taiwu Manor, he was surprised to discover that a mysterious masked figure had been searching for something right under his nose. After they fought, the masked figure fled. Zuo Qiuming searched the manor from top to bottom but could not find the intruder, so he came up with a plan. He pretended to leave with Bing Xinru, then suddenly doubled back once they were a hundred li away and hid in a large tree. Sure enough, he overheard a tremendous conspiracy. After his defeat, the Blood Demon had realized that he was too isolated to dominate the martial world. He actually took inspiration from King Goujian of Yue, who endured hardship and bided his time, and hid in the mountains for twenty years, honing his martial arts while gathering outlaws and amassing