The Sinister Star River

In troubled times, there is no righteous path, and the flames of alchemy corrupt the heart.

This is a long-form work combining political intrigue and mystery, hard-hitting wuxia, a fate left open to interpretation, and a sweeping ensemble cast in the jianghu.

In the final years of the dynasty, the royal family went mad in pursuit of immortality. The jianghu abandoned martial arts to chase alchemy, and all sense of honor collapsed. Finding immortal herbs, hunting strange beasts, forging alchemy furnaces, and seizing pill recipes became the ultimate pursuit of every sect.

A buried campaign to exterminate demons from twenty years ago became the root of the entire martial world’s ills. In this grand game of the jianghu, greed was the pawn and hypocrisy the blade. The so-called righteous and prestigious sects concealed every manner of filthy crime, while the so-called evil demons and heretical cults were all wronged souls of a troubled age.

The young Zhao Xinghe entered the world with a sinister shadow in tow, appearing as the “demon” in everyone’s eyes. Unable to clear his name, he was pushed step by step into the game, becoming entangled with a brother who sought immortality, a reclusive sword immortal, the heir to the previous dynasty, and a vengeful demon monk in a vast web spanning twenty years.

The prestigious sects rose to the top on lies, fools were manipulated into giving their lives, and avengers lay in wait and plotted. No one spoke of chivalry anymore; only greed and slaughter remained.