The wind of late spring swept the peach blossoms across Qingniu Town. Ling Yun squatted under the old locust tree, rubbing the yellowed "Taichu Sword Art" in his arms with his fingertips. The resin seeping from the cracks in the tree bark stained the edges of the pages. He carefully wiped it off with his sleeves, but his eyes couldn't help drifting to the entrance of the town - a salesman who passed by three days ago said that the minions of the "Dark Alliance", the largest evil sect in the world, had arrived in the neighboring town.
"Are you reading bad books again?" Tiehu's rough voice frightened the sparrows in the tree. The dark-skinned young man threw a bunch of candied haws, and the knife on his waist shone coldly in the sun. "Yesterday, Widow Wang from Zhenxitou said that a masked man robbed her of the money she needed to treat her son!"
Ling Yun bit down on a hawthorn, and the sweet and sour juice exploded on the tip of his tongue. He looked at the rolling green hills in the distance, which contained the cliff where he fell when he was thirteen years old - if it weren't for the sword technique in the arms of the skeleton at the bottom of the cliff, he would still be a young man helping his father chop wood. "Let's go and have a look." He stuffed the sword into his boots, and his cloak raised tiny peach blossoms behind him.
As soon as the two turned the corner, they heard the woman's exclamation. I saw three men in gray clothes surrounding a flower girl. The leader had a bronze medal with a skull hanging on his waist - it was the symbol of the Dark Alliance. "Young lady is so charming, how about you come back to the alliance with me and be a concubine?" The man reached out to grab the girl's wrist, but the back of his hand was scratched by the thorn rose in the bamboo basket.
