Water Margin: The Heroes Return to Their Places

Song Jiang burned the imperial decree granting amnesty. There was only one line of blood on its back: "None of the one hundred and eight who accept this decree will meet a good end." Half a year later, Song Wan died in a rain of arrows in Runzhou, exactly as the note had foretold. Only then did he understand: someone had spent thirty years compiling every restless soul in the martial world into a book. The oath of brotherhood, the amnesty, the campaign against Fang La: they were all just ways to extinguish the one hundred and eight stars in order. Before the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness, Song Jiang took out the Heroes’ Return-to-Place Map bestowed by the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden. The map shone like a bronze mirror, revealing one hundred and eight stars, each linked to a mountain, a city, or a lineage: Lin Chong returned to Wind and Snow Mountain, Lu Zhishen to Six Harmony Monastery, Wu Song took up residence at Broken Arm Cliff, Li Jun sailed to the Southern Seas, and Hu Sanniang founded the Yizhangqing Sect. "Together, we’re doomed. Only by going our separate ways can we return to our rightful places." The Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits established thirty-six great paths, while the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends founded seventy-two unorthodox sects. But on the day they split up, a black-clad woman stepped out from Fang La’s ranks. "There are fifty-four names in the secret register. Add yours, and that makes one hundred and eight, completing the Three Powers. One wrong move, and we all die together." Song Jiang rolled up the Heroes’ Return-to-Place Map and smiled. "We won’t follow the map. I’ll make my own move in this game."