Calamity of the Shocking Tide: A Path Through Dragon's Blood

Zhao Jinglan, young master of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency in the Northern Frontier, is a chivalrous young hero whose Meteoric Iron Dragon-Shocking Spear has made him famous along the border. While his father and elder brother were escorting a tribute shipment of Dragon-Scale Gold, vital to the Northern Frontier's defenses, they were ambushed and killed by the mysterious Candle Dragon Cult. Both the men and the cargo vanished, leaving behind only a poisoned dart bearing the mark of the Candle Dragon. Enraged, the imperial court confiscated the escort agency for dereliction of duty, wrongfully condemning the entire Zhao family. Branded a criminal, Jinglan fled for his life with his little sister, Zhao Ling'er. To clear his family's name, avenge them, and uncover the truth behind the Candle Dragon, Jinglan was forced to venture into the martial world, where he was swept into a vortex of court conspiracies, martial-world conflicts, and foreign invasions. After a series of extraordinary encounters, he mastered powerful martial arts and gathered like-minded allies into the Jinglan Guard, becoming Zhao Jinglan, the fearsome Reverse Scale of the martial world. Yet the road to revenge was soaked in blood, and the hero of old gradually succumbed to dark impulses. At last, when he exposed the mastermind, the former dynasty's surviving heir Candle Jiuyin, who had been hiding deep within the palace and sought to overthrow the Great Yin and establish a theocratic empire in the name of the Candle Dragon, he discovered that he, too, had become the most pivotal and most dangerous piece on the board of power. In the final Battle of Dragon Abyss, Jinglan slew Candle Jiuyin, but his power spiraled out of control. To save the people, he crossed a mountain of corpses and was thrust onto the throne. At his coronation, robed in the imperial dragon garments as the people bowed before him, he laid down his weapon and chose forgiveness, only to have his heart pierced by a dagger coated in the Candle Dragon's deadly poison. The assassin was the true heir of Candle Jiuyin, who had long remained at his side and whom he trusted most. Jinglan fell with a smile, leaving behind a dynasty still shaken by turmoil and riddled with unanswered mysteries, while his legend and the controversies surrounding him would endure forever. His blood stained the dragon throne and the Reverse Scale jade pendant of the Candle Dragon, bringing his story to an end amid shock and sorrow.