The Snow Blade Seals the Shadow

An uncompromising wuxia epic set in a completely original world.

The martial world is divided anew by the Cang River, running north to south, and the Bai River, stretching east to west. Martial arts evolve in distinct styles and schools across the four regions of Dongchuan, Xiling, Nanye, and Beiyuan. There is no Shaolin or Wudang here, only the Zhi Ge Society, the Qianji Tower, and the Baimai Hall, each with its own radically different ideals. The Eighteen Linked Strongholds control the lifeblood of river transport, the Money Society holds the reins of commerce, and deep within the imperial court, the Neitan Bureau carries out a secret order: "Gather the world's martial fortune within the imperial city."

The story begins with a bloody case in Wangchuan Market, a lawless borderland. Orphan Shen Mo enters the martial world to investigate the murder of his adoptive father, an old blacksmith, and becomes entangled in the Money Society's bloody internal struggle alongside Yan Jingxue, an officer of the Zhi Ge Society investigating a series of break-in murders. They discover that the violence unfolding before them is intricately connected to the unsolved case of the "tax silver sunk in the river," which shocked the imperial court thirteen years ago. Every clue points to the Ghost Calculator, who sells every kind of secret in Wangchuan Market's black market, and to the shadowy hand within the imperial court behind him.

From then on, their fates become tightly bound to the undercurrents of the entire martial world. From the Bai River to the Cang River, from the terrifying chains of Suoyun Gorge to the frontier fires of Tianmen Pass, they are forced onward through assassinations, conspiracies, factional wars, and clashes of ideals. Shen Mo relies on his innate, keen perception, known as "Moon Reflected in the Heart Lake," while Yan Jingxue struggles to choose between his ideal of "stopping violence with force" and the harshness of reality. They will uncover a web of corruption stretching back thirteen years, confront the greed of imperial power, and, after settling the final scores, seek a new path for the martial world.