The Legend of the Returning Wild Goose from the Northern Desert

On a bloody night in Chang'an, Shen Jinghong, the last surviving son of a loyal family, lost everything when the Black Eagle Hall stole his family's heirloom, the Map of Mountains and Rivers. With his Coldstar Sword in hand, he fled west and became known in the martial world as “the lone wild goose.” Beneath the snowy peaks of the Qilian Mountains, he met Su Ningshuang, a disciple of Jade Maiden Peak. They went from mistrusting each other to fighting side by side, but in the poisonous mists of the poplar forest, they witnessed how treacherous people could be: Jade Maiden Peak was in league with the Black Eagle Hall, plotting to use the secrets hidden in the Map of Mountains and Rivers to ally with a Western Region khanate and invade the Central Plains. Su Ningshuang gave her life to protect him, using her final breath to slip a secret letter detailing the plot into his hands. She also shook him from his obsession with avenging his father: what he was protecting was never just a map, but the vast lands of the Central Plains. The wind and sand of the Moheyan Desert honed his sword, while a maze at Lop Nur led him to his long-lost cousin, Ayi Na, Princess of Kucha. When the jade pendant bearing the Azure Phoenix clan crest fit together with the jade hairpin, Shen Jinghong finally understood his father's last lesson: “Protect the map, protect the people.” He helped Ayi Na secure her throne and used a secret treasure from the previous dynasty to strengthen the Western Region's defenses. By then, he had become the “Hong” connecting the Central Plains and the Western Region. When the Netherworld Cult spread rumors in the Central Plains and used a fake “descendant of the Shen family” to incite the martial world to attack the Shens, Shen Jinghong rode east. His Coldstar Sword pierced the web of deceit atop Mount Hua, and the golden light of his righteous swordsmanship drove back the evil forces conspiring with foreign enemies. With Su Ningshuang's farewell letter and his aunt's final words as proof, he awakened the righteous factions' conscience.