[An original fantasy wuxia setting + A vast span of time + A large cast + Not a power fantasy]
Three thousand years ago, the Nine Netherworld opened. Baleful energy surged into the sky like a black dragon, overturning rivers wherever it passed. The Shenshang, the Xuanniao Jiuhu, and the Northern Snow Wolf tribes drew on the power of the Star Stones, wielding the Big Dipper as a sword and Mars as a blade. Only by forming the Great Array of the Celestial Stars could they suppress the Nine Netherworld’s evil dragon beneath the Frozen Abyss.
Yet a demonic creature from the Nine Netherworld fashioned a spirit form and infiltrated the Xu Tian Sword forged by the Shenshang tribe. It bewitched generations of Shenshang leaders, turning the three tribes against one another in war and suspicion. In the final battle, the surviving righteous warriors of all three tribes burned up their own astral souls and drew upon the light of the Ziwei Star Stone to seal the Nine Netherworld once more.
Seven hundred years passed. The Shenshang tribe’s art of star divination became a secret technique of the imperial court, the sacred Jiuhu forest became a forbidden place for woodcutters, and the Snow Wolf Ice Soul Art was reduced to a supernatural tale told by teahouse storytellers.
Only the Frozen Abyss still gives off the muffled sound of chains straining every sixty years. On the sacred artifacts of the three tribes, the totem of the Nine-Petal Nether Lotus is quietly revealing the outline of its first petal.
And it was at this time that Zhao Qingming entered the jianghu…
