He was once the most dazzling swordsman in the world, and now he is the sharpest sword in the court.
The rivers and lakes called him a traitor, and the court guarded him like a thief. In the vast world, no one regarded him as one of their own. But when the plague spread in Songjiang Prefecture and there was no cure for the 300,000 victims, he was the only one who led the secret guards of the Imperial City Division into the medicine-hoarding house and transported out the life-saving medicines hidden by corrupt officials one by one. An old monk asked him in the ruined temple: Is the donor from the imperial court? He said: Yes. The old monk asked again: People from the imperial court would boil water and carry buckets for people in this ruined temple? He replied: People in the imperial court are also human beings. If you are a human being, you should do human things.
In this story, there is a disciple who was "abandoned" by his master but was willing to shoulder his master's sins, a secret guard commander who was willing to erase himself from history just to pass the sword to those who came after him, a wealthy businessman from the south of the Yangtze River who spent twenty years hating and spending the rest of his life trying to atone for his sins, and a swordsman who carved the word "Shou Zhuo" on the cliff in the north and died alone. None of them are perfect. They all made mistakes, shouldered their own debts, and walked the same path in different ways - turning the bad world into something good bit by bit.
This is not a story about "the great hero serves the country and the people". This is a story about "the sword is not used for gratification, but for guarding people". Guard a mountain, guard a college, guard a group of orphans, and guard the thought that "the world is not anyone's, but the world of those who live on this land." The rhythm is steady, the writing is restrained, and the emotions are carried on the edge of the sword, boiled in the fragrance of medicine, and waited under the maple tree. Every character is doing what they choose and reaches the end of their choice.
