Red Sleeves, Spring Garments

As magnolia petals flutter down across the steps in Jiangnan, old grudges buried by the Seven Stars Sect for twenty years still lie hidden in the mists of Yuhu Mountain.

Meng Qiubai, a young man from Sorrowful Mountain Manor, was once known throughout the martial world as the lavishly generous "Young Mengchang." But one fateful glimpse of a girl in green at the Shangsi Festival in Luoyang drew him into a world of turmoil. To rescue the woman he loves from the cage of the Flawless Palace, he wields a Lulujian and calls upon the Seven Heroes of the Seven Stars, plunging into the great storm unleashed by half of the Star Divination Martial Canon.

Poisonous fragrances sweep through the camellia paths, hidden secrets lie in the tattered scrolls of the Star Gazing Pavilion, the stone walls at the bottom of Yuhu Valley are engraved with the obsessions of the previous generation, and a red-clad figure on the summit of Goddess Peak has buried a lifetime of madness. From the intoxicating sea of flowers at Luoyang's Peony Festival to the midnight prison break at Blackrock Stronghold, from the flash of twin swords in harmony to a sword's cold gleam beneath the guiding Big Dipper. Grudges weave together, affection runs deep as the sea, and the young man grows amid the clash of blades, his chivalrous spirit forged through hardship.

A withered old man keeps a promise heavier than a mountain. A burly, bearded hero braves a thousand deaths without hesitation. A cold-faced heroine hides a lifetime of love and debts. A wandering drinker, having seen all the world's flavors, pours them all into a single pot of spring wine. As good and evil clash and hearts change, all that remains in the end is a long sigh and half a pot of wine.

When the Seven Stars shine again and the Chivalry Alliance is founded, the young man travels north and south with sword in hand through Jiangnan and beyond. Only then does he understand that true chivalry lies not in a sharp sword, but in a sincere heart.

And the stories of the martial world will go on forever. When the storyteller's clapper sounds, the magnolias fall once more.