A Journey of Chivalry: What does it mean to be a hero?
To use one's own strength to help the weak without asking for anything in return, even to serve one's country and its people: that is what it means to be a hero.
Then what is the jianghu?
Some say that wherever there are people, there is a jianghu.
In this bustling world of the jianghu, events unfold one after another: one performance ends and another begins, and before one wave has settled, the next is already rising.
Let me ask again: So many things bind us to this world, but what is it that makes people linger and wander through it?
Every flower and tree, every blade of grass and leaf, is bound by feelings. And feelings, though they may seem faint, run deep and long, connecting all people and things together in bonds that cannot be severed.
As the saying goes, all beneath heaven bustle for profit, and all beneath heaven rush about for gain.
A hero lives for the jianghu, yet in the end is also trapped by it.
Pour a cup of wine and raise it to the heroes of the world. May you weather storms, rain, snow, and frost, then find your way home at the ends of the earth, returning to the land of your ancestors, still able to laugh heartily and sleep soundly.
This is a story about the people of the jianghu in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. I want to try telling the stories of different people as they grow through life. There are heroes and ordinary folk alike; it speaks of love and longing, as well as schemes and power struggles, but all of it ultimately comes back to the word chivalry.
Original blurb:
The martial world of the prosperous Tang Dynasty was known for the saying, "The Ye family in the south, the Liu family in the north, the Tang clan in the west, and the Yang family in the east."
But from the Kaiyuan era onward, the Bashan Manor of the Liu family in Hebei, once renowned throughout the jianghu, gradually lost its standing after its master, Liu Fenggu, went mad over the death of his son. Its place was taken by the rising Cangjian Manor, a family of swordsmiths from Jiangnan.
Thus, the northern Liu family fell into decline, while the southern Ye family rose. The Yangdao Tournament, which once drew heroes from across the land, was no longer held. Instead, the Sword Tournament established by Cangjian Manor, held once every ten years, became the new arena for the jianghu's heroes.
Years passed, and martial arts sects sprang up everywhere. The Tang Clan of Sichuan, once a match for Bashan Manor, also lost influence as the western Mingjiao advanced and the Beggars' Sect grew ever stronger.
Yet the Central Plains, once governed by the Nine Heavens, would ultimately face a great upheaval.
The court is on the brink of turmoil, heroes of the martial world rise and fall, and forces from all sides sweep across the Central Plains. Can the young Bashan swordsman, who has bided his time through these troubled days, join his friends in the jianghu and turn the tide?
Give Ba Ba a call!