The Sword Walks by Night

Everything in the world has cracks. Swords have them. Mountains and rivers have them. So do people's hearts. Shen Yan, son of a swordsmith in Qingshi Town, had been able to see these hidden cracks since childhood. He once thought this ability could only help him mend broken swords, until a mining disaster swallowed the north slope, his father went missing, and the mine was sealed. Then a piece of shadow-stained origin sand that should never have appeared pointed every clue toward Qingheng Sword Academy. Seeking his father and trying to uncover the names of the dead buried beneath the mine, Shen Yan leaves his hometown with a fragment of silver foil and half of an old copper clasp. Beginning with a hundred straight thrusts, he steps into sects, secret realms, and the struggle for supremacy across the Nine Domains. He can see his enemies' weaknesses, but gradually comes to understand that seeing a crack does not give him the right to exploit it. The true way of the sword is about more than cutting things apart. Years later, as the Nine Domains teeter on the brink of collapse, all living beings await the one swordsman who will provide the only answer. But Shen Yan asks: “Does this world need to be restored to what it was, or should everyone decide together what it ought to become?”