Spring in the Main Hall

There are three great swordsmen under heaven.

Qiushan Huai, the Sword Immortal of Huaishan; Liangqiuke, the Old Man of Donghu; and Sun Wuxia, the Recluse of Xiangming.

Twenty years ago, Sun Wuxia died at Meihua Ridge, leaving the third place among the great swordsmen vacant. For years afterward, the martial world argued endlessly over who deserved the title.

Ten years ago, at the Daoist Symposium on Fucha Mountain, the Sword Immortal's first disciple, Song Luobai, made his debut. He seemed like the Sword Immortal's very double, alike in form and spirit. He was invincible wherever he went, and achieved fame at a young age, with no one able to rival his renown.

People across the land agreed that only the Sword Immortal's disciple could claim that third place.

Spring turned to autumn, the stars shifted, and several years passed. But who could have guessed the Sword Immortal had misjudged him? The disciple he had taken in and painstakingly raised was an ungrateful, treacherous wolf...

He betrayed his sect, leaked its secret manuals, shamelessly challenged Qiushan Huai, and proclaimed that he would have nothing more to do with Huaishan.

The greatest joke in the martial world came from the Sword Immortal's own household. Gossip spread like wildfire, and curses and laughter swept across the land.

Qiushan Huai declared, "We will hunt down the traitor and cleanse the sect." Song Luobai vanished without a trace.

In the sixth year of Changning, Song Luobai assassinated a court official and fled to Huny ang Gate. Righteous warriors from across the martial world hurried to Dixing Valley to uphold justice and act on Heaven's behalf.

Red leaves drifted down beneath the autumn rain that blanketed the city.

Song Luobai, who had never bowed his head, now lay crumpled at Qiushan Huai's feet. "Even now, there's one thing I still want to ask. Why do you hate me? Because I disobeyed you, or because I violated propriety, showed no shame, and dared to fall in love with you?"

Theme: Through wind and rain, I will live my life as I please.