At the summit of Mount Tai, eighteen masters from across the jianghu have gathered, their brows all knit in a …
At the summit of Mount Tai, eighteen masters from across the jianghu have gathered, their brows all knit in a grim gloom, for within this single year, the jianghu has been rocked by two brutal calamities.
First was the massacre at the home of the Martial Alliance leader, Yuwen Yue. His entire kin, along with over a hundred estate guards, were slaughtered overnight. Not a single soul was left alive.
The second came not long ago, when Gao Qun, head of the Gao family of Tianhe, was struck through the heart and killed on the spot by a white-haired madman. The madman seemed utterly deranged, yet possessed a bizarre and fearsome martial art. Though the remaining Gao warriors surrounded him on all sides, they still could not stop him. He broke through with overwhelming palm force and vanished without a trace.
With renowned luminaries falling in both slaughters, a shadow of dread has fallen over the jianghu; every warrior now fears for their own life. Should both atrocities be the handiwork of that white-haired madman, he is nothing less than a demon incarnate!
Lu Yuan, a wandering disciple of the Mohist, stands amidst the giants. She gives a soft, rhythmic tap to the massive mechanical case strapped to her back:
"That demon... wouldn't be you, would it?"
Hidden within that case is the unconscious, white-haired patient she pulled from the brink of death days ago. His snow-white hair is too conspicuous, forcing her to conceal him within the case...
At first, the casket remained silent. But after the others whispered for some time, the patient suddenly channeled his voice into a focused thread of sound, vibrating directly into Lu Yuan's ear:
"Leave now. There is a life I must take."
Lu Yuan is stunned. She has actually rescued the very demon. Before she can utter a word of protest, the demon erupts from the case. With a predatory lunge, his fingers curve into a claw, snaring a man from the crowd. A single strike, and the life is snuffed out.
The masters spring to their feet and launch their attack, yet none can bring him down!
"That Mohist girl is his accomplice! There's foul play here. Seize her for questioning!"
Hearing that, the white-haired demon, who has already broken through the siege, plunges back into the lethal fray to shield Lu Yuan. Drenched in fresh blood and braving a rain of blades, he carves a path through the encirclement once more.
By nightfall, they find sanctuary within the crumbling walls of a derelict temple. Lu Yuan lashes out at the white-haired fiend, demanding how he could spill the blood of the innocent so ruthlessly. To her surprise, the man who seemed invincible in the daylight now only weeps in a heavy, hollow silence. Seeing the injuries he's suffered while protecting her, Lu softens and presses him for an explanation.
"If I were to speak the truth... would you even have the heart to believe me?"
The demon is well aware that his unusual appearance makes it hard for others to trust him.
But Lu Yuan, kind-hearted and innocent, is already all ears.
"I am Yuwen Tianyin, son of Chief Yuwen Yue. On my mother's birthday, vipers bribed our servants to poison the feast. I awoke to see my father fall, shielding me with his dying breath. I fled through an inferno, and the toxic miasma turned my hair white. The Gao Clan played the savior only to plunder our halls. They cast me into a lightless dungeon, torturing me for the secrets of our Cloud-Steering Palm. That poison altered my appearance, but it also broadened my meridians. As my strength gradually returned, I broke free of my shackles, seized the chance to kill Patriarch Gao, and escaped. Later, when I was wounded and unconscious once more, you saved me."
Lu Yuan studies his face. His words are raw with grief, the logic untainted by deceit. Her doubt softens; she believes him, at least in half. Since Tianyin has risked everything to save her, the remaining half of her heart follows suit. So she helps him piece things together:
"The timing is precise. The succession of the Alliance was at hand. He who covets the high seat most is likely the one with your father's blood on his hands."
After a fortnight of grueling trials, only five champions remain to vie for the supreme mantle.
Suddenly, the white-haired demon comes out of nowhere, and the crowd falls silent with fear. No one dares to face him. The five men exchange uneasy glances, unwilling to show weakness, and take turns launching their attacks against him. Even five against one, they can't overwhelm him.
"How did this white-haired demon get such overwhelming palm power?"
Just as one of them can no longer hold back, he spots a flaw in Yuwen Tianyin's Cloud-Steering Palm and lunges, driving his sword toward a vital spot.
But as the victor's cry dies in his throat, the truth is bared: the figure on the stage is nothing but a puppet. From the shroud of shadows, the real Yuwen Tianyin erupts. With a devastating strike of the Cloud-Steering Palm, he claims the villain's life.
The crowd, blinded by ignorance and fueled by rumors, surges forward in a frenzied assault. As the signature Cloud-Steering Palm is revealed, the four remaining warriors lunge at Yuwen Tianyin with lethal intent, despite Lu Yuan's cries.
"With the Yuwen line around in the jianghu, the rest of us will forever remain in their shadow!"
A chilling realization strikes Yuwen Tianyin: the annihilation of his kin was no solitary crime. The great sects, hungry for the supreme mantle, had woven a web of complicity, some through silent consent, others through active bloodletting. That day, through a storm of steel and blood, he carved a path for Lu Yuan and escaped the mountain's peak.
In the years that followed, Lu Yuan wandered in the jianghu alone. Yuwen Tianyin had vanished, yet no one dared to lay a finger on Lu Yuan. Whispers spread like wildfire: the world's most terrifying demon was slumbering within the case she bore upon her back. At the following year's Grand Assembly, Lu Yuan's rivals fled or surrendered before the first drumbeat. Without drawing a single blade, she ascended as the Sovereign of the Martial World. From her high seat, she washed away the infamy of the "White-Haired Demon." Her task complete, she abdicated her power and vanished into the mist. Their final destination remains a mystery, their names lost to the shifting winds of history.