Elegy: Everyone in the Martial World Is One of My Mother's Old Flames

Blurb:

For fifteen years, Yin Changge's world consisted of one mountain, one mirror-like lake, one flexible sword, and one godlike person.

Then one day, the mountain stood empty, the lake fell still, and the person was gone. His master left behind a note that said "Do not look for me" and vanished without a trace. Forced to descend the mountain in search of him, Yin Changge stumbled upon the secret his master had hidden from the entire martial world.

The sword his master gave him was called the Water-Repelling Sword. Its previous owner was the "witch" reviled by everyone in the martial world.

The sword technique his master taught him was called Startling Swan, created by the demonic cult leader known as the "Jade-Faced Asura."

His master had worn a mask for years and had never told him: Whose son are you? Who was your mother? Why are you alive?

The road to finding his master is full of deadly dangers. Some want his life, some want his sword, and some turn red-eyed the moment they see his face.

Yin Changge doesn't know that every step he takes follows the bloody trail left twenty years ago, until the powerful prime minister plays a tune from the Western Regions on an ocarina.

"Your mother was the finest woman in the world."

"Though she couldn't be there to watch you grow up, giving birth to you was already more than enough."

It turns out there truly was a woman like that in this world, one who never had to appear to remain forever in everyone's thoughts.

Rumor in the martial world called her a witch, but only those who survived knew who she really was.

This is a story about a boy who descends the mountain to find his master, and also a song of farewell written in blood and tears by three generations, two nations, and one family.

---------------------New Novel Announcement: The Story of the White-Moonlight Mother----------------------

[Elegant and strategic Central Plains secret envoy] x [Silent, sharp-edged Rakshasa who betrayed his sect]

Ajiu was an assassin who had clawed her way out of the Rakshasa arena, covered in scars and believing in neither gods nor fate.

In the Dunhuang wasteland, the Youyun cavalry pursued a foreign girl. She stole a horse and drew a bow, saving a stranger from a rain of arrows.

Several days later, during the Dunhuang Nuo ritual, she was thrown into the hunting grounds and killed a wolf in a bloodbath to the cheers of thousands. As she lay dying, only that man from the Central Plains was willing to wager his future to save her life.

Han Zhaowen, a renowned scholar of Chang'an, was sent west on a secret mission from the princess to investigate a case.

He was elegant and distinguished, with a deep mind and a rare talent for making moves among people's hearts and the tides of the times.

He held out his hand to her. "Ajiu, would you come with me?"

At the time, Han Zhaowen needed her help to break the deadlock, and Ajiu needed his help to stay alive.

Each had their own agenda. They tested each other, but amid the desert winds and repeated brushes with death, they gradually went beyond their original bargain.

Ajiu had taken a blade and an arrow for him, and carried him across a snowy wasteland, step by step, to safety.

Han Zhaowen had planned an identity for her and searched for a place she could call home, rescuing her time and again from her sect and former master.

Ajiu once thought she could give up her name and abandon her memories. As long as she stayed alive, she could be a weapon that killed for others.

Han Zhaowen once thought everything in the world could be shaped by human effort. If he planned for every contingency, he could arrange the safest path for her.

Until Ajiu gradually understood that not every prison in this world was a dungeon without light.

Some people imprisoned her with desire, others trapped her with gratitude, and the prison Han Zhaowen gave her was the gentlest of all.

Han Zhaowen, too, slowly realized that protection, if it left no room for refusal, could become another prison.

A secret order from the princess brought to light the suppression of a sect in Dunhuang, a struggle for the throne in the Western Regions, a grain riot in Jinling, and an unresolved conspiracy from Chang'an ten years earlier.

When they finally saw the whole board, they realized they had long since become pieces in the game themselves.

Ajiu finally understood that her body could be broken in, her name could be taken away, but she could never again let others make her choices for her.

The moon shines over Dunhuang, snow falls in the Western Regions, frost deepens in Jinling, and winds rise in Chang'an.

They journey from the martial world to the imperial court, from using each other to finding a place in each other's hearts.

Han Zhaowen was proud of his schemes. He could calculate people's hearts and break deadlocks, but he could never predict whether, once someone had the power to leave, she would still choose to stay with him.

Ajiu crossed ten thousand miles of snow and wind, all so that one day she could answer that question from their first meeting, clear-eyed and free.

"Ajiu, would you come with me?"

[Reading Guide]

1. An alternate-world historical romance, divided into four volumes: Dunhuang, the Western Regions, Jinling, and Chang'an. Wuxia, political intrigue, and mystery.

2. The heroine is a powerful martial artist; the hero excels at strategy. They use and test each other at first, and the romance develops slowly.

3. The heroine has experienced amnesia, conditioning by her sect, and trauma. The hero is not morally perfect and will overstep in the name of protection. This is not a lighthearted, sugary romance.

Please click: [Ducks Alight on the Frosty Sandbank]

For the upcoming novel, click: [Ascending the Palace Gate], [ambitious schemer, ruthless and rakish] x [highborn Jiangzuo woman who cannot speak]. A novel based on historical figures such as Gao Cheng of Northern Qi. If you're interested, please add it to your favorites. If not, never mind.

Theme: All beings suffer, longing goes unfulfilled