One Man, One Blade, Guarding Yanmen

In the first year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song, heavy snow sealed the mountains beyond Yanmen Pass.

Shen Wei’s master, Shen Tieshan, who had guarded Yanmen for thirty years, fell in battle. With his dying breath, he pressed a jade shard into his disciple’s hand.

That piece of jade was called the Mountain and River Token.

Legend said that nine Mountain and River Tokens could be assembled into an ancient map revealing nine treasures hidden by the Song: military strategy books, weapons, provisions, silver for soldiers’ pay, gunpowder recipes, methods for breeding warhorses, plans for naval warships, a list of the intelligence network, and, finally, a map of the northern campaign route.

Whoever obtained the map could change the balance of the war between the Song and Jin.

Wanyan Zonghan, a ten-thousand-man commander leading the Jin army’s western route, pursued Shen Wei in person. He knew that if the boy lived, he would become a grave threat to Jin.

Qin Hui, the powerful chancellor of the Southern Song, coveted the map in secret. He intended to offer it to the Jin in exchange for wealth and glory.

In the martial world, some wanted to protect Shen Wei, some wanted to kill him, and some wanted to use him.

Shen Wei did not know whom he could trust.

He knew only one thing:

He had to keep guarding the land his master had protected for thirty years.

It began with a bloody battle beyond Yanmen Pass and ended with the final clash at Caishi Rock.

Over ten years, he went from a boy not yet grown to the top name on the Jin’s wanted list, known as the “Song Savage.”

Over ten years, he found all nine Mountain and River Tokens, one by one, and uncovered the secrets of all nine treasure vaults.

But in the end, he discovered that the greatest secret was not in any of those vaults:

It was within himself.