Long Songs in the Misty Rain

[A mix of martial arts world, court politics, and ensemble cast. No System, no mindless plot, a classic old-school read.] The pace may be slow at first as each character is carefully developed, but it's absolutely worth looking forward to. Beneath the mines, bones lie in heaps. Across the realm, famine victims stretch for a thousand miles. Within the capital, lanterns glow as night falls. A hunter takes the place of a noble young master. A scholar is hunted day after day, all because he refuses to sit for the exams. A meek and timid general sees his favorite dumpling stall destroyed and rises in revolt in a fit of rage. A compassionate monk trades thirty thousand living people for thirty thousand dead ones, all in the name of saving every living being. A beggar becomes the king of gamblers, yet has not a penny to his name. A humble old servant who cleans out latrines turns out to be a great hero.