During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Yan State was established by Xianbei's Murong family and the wolf tribe outside the mainlands. The Yan king was young, and political battles between the royal families were prosperous. An incident of an adoptive daughter causes the Duke of Zhen's manor to be turned upside down.
The eldest son Murong Yan was beheaded, the second son Murong Chen was sent to exile, and the adoptive daughter Murong Yi was sent back to the Wolf tribe's Khan Ming Yefeng, cast aside by the Yan people. Under the help of the evil spirits, Murong Yan, who faked his death, wants to make a comeback and win the ancient gods. Murong Chen studied the powers of vanquishing devils in order to take revenge, and he meets Murong Yi who has transformed into a devil. The three siblings were being coerced by the hate and revenge of the nations, leading to the unraveling of a thousand-year conspiracy to be unraveled.
In the ancient troubled times where the legendary monster Jiuying roamed the lands, the five great elements joined forces to lock the demon. However, Jin Zhengyi was not sealed and became a thousand-year-old wandering soul. He then uses all sorts of intrigues and wiles to reincarnate as the Emperor of Yan. His goal was to re-gather the five great elements and release the legendary monster Jiuying, causing great chaos to the world. The obsession of past life, the love, and hate of this life, faced with the entanglement of the millennium, the five people fell into a situation of incomparable contradictions. In the end, Murong Yi persuaded everyone to jointly choose to love the world, to give up their lives, to lock the demon, and once again fulfilled the promise of defending the world two thousand years ago.
The main character begins a dangerous journey of human against nature to find an antidote to save his master Shifu by traveling to a faraway land where he makes friends with a few key characters.
Note: Adapted from the novel written by Tian Xia Ba Chang following the rivalry of two hunting clans at the end of the 80s.
The plot’s initial development revolves around a coveted martial arts manual known as the “Bixie Swordplay Manual”. The manual is an heirloom of the Lin family, who run the Fuwei Escort Agency, a private security service, in Fuzhou. Yu Canghai, the leader of the Qingcheng Sect, leads his followers to massacre the Lins and attempts to seize the manual for himself but does not find it. Lin Pingzhi, the sole survivor from the Lin family, is saved by Yue Buqun, the head of the Mount Hua Sect, which is a member of the Five Mountains Sword Sects Alliance. Yue Buqun accepts Lin Pingzhi as an apprentice and trains him in swordplay.
The novel’s protagonist is Yue Buqun’s most senior apprentice, Linghu Chong, an orphaned, happy-go-lucky but honorable swordsman who has a penchant for alcoholic drinks. He befriends the notorious bandit Tian Boguang and saves Yilin, a nun from the (North) Mount Heng Sect, from Tian’s lecherous advances. In the meantime, Liu Zhengfeng of the (South) Mount Heng Sect announces his decision to leave the jianghu (martial artists’ community) and invites his fellow martial artists to witness his retirement ceremony. The event turns into a bloodbath when Zuo Lengshan, the chief of the Mount Song Sect, and other orthodox sects accuse Liu Zhengfeng of being unfaithful to their code by befriending Qu Yang, an elder of the “evil” Sun Moon Holy Cult. Liu and Qu are cornered by Zuo and his men and eventually commit suicide. Before dying, Liu and Qu give Linghu Chong the score of Xiaoao Jianghu, a musical piece they composed together.