The saber is two feet and four inches long, with a one-foot-five-inch blade and a nine-inch handle. A ball the size of an egg sits at its tip. Apart from a narrow, half-finger-width edge, the whole thing is covered in mottled rust. It is, quite literally, a rusty saber. Left out in the wilderness, it wouldn’t even catch the eye of a woodcutter.
It was once a dazzling treasure of a weapon, with a grand name: Xiezhi.
Seventeen-year-old Zhu Qing, a constable with the Chief Constable’s Office, is the saber’s owner.
Five years ago, when he was only twelve, constable Zhu Qing used the rusty saber to kill Jiao Canglan, young master of the Jinmen Gang, and gravely wound Wu Daoce, leader of the Divine Ram Sect, the greatest sect in the martial world. Peace reigned across the land for five years thereafter.
Wu Daoce fled overseas and went into hiding on Solitude Island. Over five years, he devised the Solitude Palm, a style consisting of only five strikes. To rise again, he established twelve branches and recruited the Esoteric Sect master Qingwu Buddha as chief guardian, Canxue, master of the Sword Dissolving Path, as left guardian, and Dushunzi, the Meat-Palm Laughing Buddha, as right guardian.
Prince Zhong, a seemingly carefree royal at court, is in truth an ambitious man. Over the past five years, he has secretly bought off martial-world gangs and hired Left Hand, an assassin organization, to eliminate powerful ministers at court, hoping to seize military authority and claim the throne.
The court discovers Prince Zhong’s treacherous intentions and orders Gan Yizi, Chief Constable of the Realm, to recruit promising young martial artists and establish the Office of Scrutiny under the Chief Constable’s Office. Officially, the Office of Scrutiny monitors the martial world. In truth, it exists to guard against Prince Zhong’s rebellious designs.
Prince Zhong senses danger drawing near and joins forces with Wu Daoce once more, setting off a struggle for power at court. Across the martial world, a bloody storm of intrigue and violence begins to rage.
The writing is great!