He spent ten years in the blacksmith's shop, his right hand trembling for ten years.
The martial world all said Chen Xiu was a useless man.
Until one night, the files on the 378 wronged souls of the Grain Escort Camp were shoved into his furnace.
What couldn't be burned away was a bloody handprint, left to frame someone else.
His sworn brother Su Wen had been abducted and beaten at the age of eighteen, forced to reveal an old grain route and press his hand to that mark.
The route was sold, and three thousand shi of military grain were lost. Someone traded 378 lives for five ledgers.
And Su Wen became the "traitor."
The day his rusted sword left its scabbard once more, he said, "This isn't revenge. It's justice for 378 lives."
After ten years of restraint, he draws his sword in a single instant. From the snowy plains of Beiliang to the halls of power in the capital, he investigates the ledgers, hunts down the mastermind, and overturns the secret network that has ruled the court for thirty years.
Behind every person he cuts down stands someone "above."
Until the tip of his sword points at the one who stands just below The Outcast...
Buried for ten years, the rusted sword is drawn.
The sky grows bright.
