Cold Blade, Startling Swan: Tales of Strange Cases in the Martial World

Cold Blade, Stunning Swan: Records of Jianghu Mysteries follows Shen Yan, a former junior minister of the Court of Judicial Review who is falsely accused and demoted. In the Jiangnan town of Luoxia, a “painted-skin ghost” case draws him back into the world of Jianghu. He teams up with Su Wan, the daughter of an apothecary who knows her poisons, and begins with the gold dust under the fingernails of a woman found dead in a dry well and the eerie writing hidden in an embroidered painting. Their investigation leads to clues about the theft of a secret letter from the Xuanwu Gate twenty years earlier.

As they follow the trail, they encounter a case of bodies dissolving at the Bone-Eating Post and a mechanized revenge plot at Puppet Graveyard. In the capital, they are drawn into a string of bizarre cases, including “Ink-Scent Murders” and “Shadow-Puppet Sacrifice.” The wandering swordsman Xiao Lin is an inscrutable figure, sometimes an enemy and sometimes an ally. The three discover that every case points to the secret letter: the late emperor’s final edict, capable of shaking the imperial court to its foundations.

At last, the three storm the headquarters in Soulbreak Valley. Amid deadly mechanisms and white bones, they piece together the complete secret letter. They expose not only the truth about Celestial Official Zhao Chong murdering his brother to seize the throne and framing Shen Yan’s father, but also outwit their foes in the final showdown. With his name cleared, Shen Yan refuses to return to court and goes back to Luoxia with Su Wan. But as he sharpens his sword, a letter from Xiao Lin arrives: the Jianghu’s strange cases are far from over, and a new investigation is already at hand.