Chronicles of the Bitter Cold

During the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song dynasty, the Song and Jin courts secretly agreed to sacrifice their negotiating envoys to eliminate future complications. The Song court easily assassinated its civil official, but the Jin envoy, a master of the “Ice Art,” proved a thorny target.

The court secretly summoned the ten most outstanding young disciples from the ten great sects and put them through brutal training. They were made to set aside their sect rivalries and learn one another's martial arts, all to hone the most efficient way of working together to kill. On a snowy night at Gushan, a bloody assassination began. The ten prodigies paid a terrible price, but at last they killed Wanyan Lie with their swords. Yet no rewards awaited them. Instead, the Song court had already arranged for a merciless rain of arrows and a massacre at the hands of their supposed allies. Accused of treason and collusion with the Jin, they were silenced.

Yu Qingfeng of the Qingcheng Sect was the sole survivor, but he had been gravely wounded by the Ice Art. Its chilling poison took root inside him, tormenting him day and night. Ten years later, he went into hiding under an assumed name, becoming Han Ren, the mysterious “Blade for Hire” who wore a bronze mask. He prowled the shadowy streets of Jiangnan, using a bizarre and ruthless fighting style that combined the strengths of various schools to deal with all kinds of “trouble.” In secret, he built up his strength, vowing to uncover the truth behind his companions' deaths and the false accusations laid against them.