Songpan, Sichuan: a thousand-year-old fortress stands beside the river, guarding the throat of the Tea Horse Road and linking the lands of the Tibetans and Han Chinese. Wind and snow lash this border town year-round, and the bitter northern winds bury its streets, mountains, and rivers beneath drifts. It seems cold and still, yet undercurrents roil beneath the martial world, where old grudges and tangled feuds have endured for centuries without ever truly settling.
Decades ago, the secret art known as the Qiang-Subduing Art, once used to guard the western frontier and deter invaders, vanished without a trace. The Qiang-Subduing school that practiced it was wiped out overnight. No one dared investigate the bloody massacre or speak of it. In the end, this old case of wrongful deaths was buried beneath the deep snow of Songpan's ancient city, becoming a taboo that no one in the borderlands dared discuss. Year after year, snow hid the truth, and no one dared bring it up again.
The young Shen Yanguan is the sole survivor of that massacre. He grew up adrift among the streets and markets of Songpan, hidden away in the bustle of the ancient city's teahouses. Far removed from the feuds of the martial world, he knew nothing of blades or blood debts. He only wanted to live an ordinary, peaceful life, believing he would spend his days quietly, with no need to concern himself with the world of officials or martial heroes.
But the border town's snow hides deadly schemes, and buried conspiracies never simply fade away. One night, a blizzard swept over the ancient city. Mysterious old followers who had lain in wait beyond the pass for years slipped inside, carrying decades of sealed-away murderous intent and secrets. A rusted frontier garrison token and half a shattered, incomplete copy of the Qiang-Subduing Sword Manual suddenly resurfaced, shattering the peace of ordinary life and dragging Shen Yanguan into one mystery after another.
The bloody truth behind his school's destruction, the essence of the long-lost Qiang-Subduing Art, a century-old border alliance hidden deep along the Tea Horse Road, and a vast martial conspiracy entangled with the military and political order of the western frontier: four layers of mystery intertwined, each bound to the next.
