The Shu Immortal

In the year of Bingwu, strange phenomena plagued the land of Shu. The Min River surged, flooding riverside villages again and again. Demons, too, exploited the rising waters to wreak havoc, leaving the people displaced. The Shushan Immortal Sword Sect, the orthodox cultivation sect of Shu, had for generations taken it upon itself to uphold order between humans and demons and protect the balance of the earth's spiritual veins. The strange events greatly troubled its leader, Master Xuanqing. After observing the heavens by night, he discovered that Shu's fortune was in disarray and spiritual energy was leaking from the earth's veins. The source led to the Jade Maiden's Chamber, a secret realm tied to Li Bing's ancient efforts to control the floods. According to Shushan's records, the Jade Maiden's Chamber was a place of cultivation for an ancient female immortal. Within it were the yin-yang arts passed down by the Mysterious Lady and Peng Zu's secrets of longevity. It also held the sealed remnant spirit of the water god who had helped Li Bing tame the floods, making it vital to maintaining the balance of Shu's waters and spiritual veins. Now the seal on the secret realm was weakening. Not only had the water god's remnant spirit run amok and caused floods, but it might also awaken the remnants of Chiyou's forces, whom the Mysterious Lady had suppressed there. If that happened, Shu would be plunged into utter ruin.

Ling Yun, a Shushan disciple, was an orphan from beneath Mount Qingcheng. Master Xuanqing had taken him in because of his innate spiritual root, and after just five years of cultivation, he had already reached the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, making him one of the brightest members of Shushan's younger generation. Steady and resolute, with a heart set on helping the world, he volunteered to investigate the Jade Maiden's Chamber when he learned of the crisis in Shu. Though Master Xuanqing admired his talent, he knew how dangerous the mission would be. He therefore sent along his junior brother Mo Chen, an expert in talismans, and his junior sister Su Qingyuan, skilled in medicine. He also entrusted the mission to Situ Changfeng, a Shushan elder traveling abroad who was famed as the Wine Sword Immortal, asking him to provide covert support.