Two centuries ago, a great battle against demons raged. The Northern Elder sacrificed himself to defeat the evil forces.
Since then, peace has gradually settled across the land. Why “gradually”? Because wherever there are people, there’s strife. Even over trivial matters, conflicts arise. This problem would persist even if the Northern Elder were to rise from his grave.
Witnessed by martial artists worldwide, the Elder’s six descendants gave him a grand, moving funeral. Afterward, they and their families settled at the Elder’s residence on the Myriad Waters and Thousand Mountains Cliff. There, they practiced martial arts, studied, and occasionally held meetings to reminisce about their ancestor’s glorious past.
As the saying goes, “A great tree spreads its branches.” In just over twenty years, the six descendants had numerous children and disciples. At this point, they realized three things:
First, while they were as close as siblings, rarely quarreling except during sparring sessions, the same couldn’t be said for their wives, children, and disciples.
Second, they had initially believed that after the Elder’s passing, they would need to band together to survive. However, as their children and disciples ventured into the world, they discovered that the skills they had learned from the Northern Elder were enough to command respect throughout the land.
Third, where there is light, there are shadows. Although the demons were defeated, within a decade, a demonic cult arose. Given that the Northern Elder’s death was partly due to the cult’s ancestors, how could his descendants stand idly by? They decided to establish separate sects in various locations to guard against the cult’s threat.
In short, it all came down to one thing: separation.
Regarding this nearly two-hundred-year-old family history, five-year-old Cai Han once grumbled while memorizing the family tree: “It’s just a family split. Why write so much fancy reasoning, as if they never argued on that cliff?”
His sister rewarded him with an unskilled knock on the head. “You’re so naive. Can you call it a mere ‘family split’ when it involves a noble clan?”
Rubbing his head, Cai Han asked, “Then what should we call it?”
Young Miss Cai Zhao replied righteously, “Naturally, it was for the sake of upholding justice in the world. The Northern Elder’s descendants endured the pain of separation, scattering to various places to prevent evil forces from taking advantage and harming the innocent!”
She had overheard this a few days earlier while gnawing on a braised chicken leg at Uncle Sandpot’s stall. The most crucial skill in the martial world is sharp rhetoric. While fighters might not always come to blows, they never miss a chance to exchange barbs.
“Well said, my dear Zhao. You spoke beautifully,” their aunt, Cai Pingzhu, applauded from her sickbed. Though frail and sallow, her face still beamed with a carefree, playful smile.
The children’s father, Cai Pingchun, sat silently nearby. Never good at acting, he couldn’t force a smile. By the window, their mother, Ning Xiaofeng, lowered her head to blow on a bowl of medicinal soup, a large teardrop splashing into it.
They had long known this day would come, but when it finally arrived, their hearts still ached unbearably.
Twelve-year-old Miss Cai stood nearby, her long lashes framing clear eyes like dewdrops, seeming to sense the impending sorrow.
A few days later, Cai Pingzhu passed away. Cai Zhao fell seriously ill and observed a full three years of mourning for her. Soon after, Cai Pingchun proposed that Cai Zhao should leave the valley to become an apprentice. He had already arranged everything with the Qingque Sect, the only branch of the Northern Elder’s descendants that remained on the Myriad Waters and Thousand Mountains Cliff. Known as the world’s premier sect, it was quite prestigious.
Young Miss Cai Zhao immediately expressed that she hadn’t fully recovered from her grief and suggested postponing her apprenticeship.
“Postpone any longer and you’ll be eighteen!” Cai Pingchun scowled threateningly. “If you don’t join another sect before you’re eighteen, do you want to become a demon woman?!”
Cai Zhao furrowed her delicate brows. “I like staying at home. I won’t be comfortable eating or living elsewhere. Father, if I never leave home, how could I possibly become a demon woman?”
“Is there a single shopkeeper or assistant from the town entrance to its end that you don’t know? And you call that never leaving home? Gallivanting about the streets all day…” Ning Xiaofeng scoffed, then straightened her expression after catching her husband’s eye.
“Your great-grandaunt’s parents thought the same way. They believed their sickly daughter couldn’t even walk to town to buy rouge, so how could she get into trouble staying at home? But in the end, she caused more chaos than any real demon woman! You’ll go to the Myriad Waters and Thousand Mountains Cliff for three years, whether you learn martial arts or not. It’s to avoid gossip—and it’s your aunt’s wish!”
“Your mother is right,” Cai Pingchun slammed the table, settling the matter.
Cai Zhao puffed out her chubby cheeks, feeling utterly dejected.
Aunt Cai Pingzhu was the person Cai Zhao respected and loved most in her life. Upright and forthright, she was a shining example of righteousness. Yet from a young age, Cai Zhao had little ambition. She only wished to sleep late, dab some water on her face to make herself look rosy, eat and drink well, and desire nothing more from life.
Now that her beloved aunt had passed, Cai Zhao, amidst her grief, hoped to follow her ancestor’s character and actions, fulfilling Cai Pingzhu’s wishes… if only she didn’t have to leave Luoying Valley. Surely there were other ways to follow in her footsteps?
This dilemma stemmed from the Cai family’s peculiar fate in Luoying Valley—Cai daughters must apprentice to other sects and couldn’t be raised at home. Otherwise, they’d cause trouble at best or great calamity at worst.
In the very beginning, when all the Northern Elder’s descendants lived together on the Myriad Waters and Thousand Mountains Cliff, the six families’ children intermingled freely. It wasn’t uncommon for Family A’s son to learn swordsmanship from Family B’s uncle, horsemanship from Family C’s brother, and how to woo girls from Family D’s elder brother. Back then, the Cai family daughters’ quirk wasn’t so apparent, manifesting at most as petty squabbles with their female cousins.
Once the families separated, the first Cai daughter raised purely within her own family embarked on the path of a demon woman with unstoppable force—defiant, perverse, and blessed with extraordinary talent. No matter how her elders advised her, she remained willful, scouring every corner of the martial world for unorthodox martial arts manuals and fierce beasts. Eventually, she indeed caused great trouble.
This ancestress was straightforward enough to disappear from the martial world before others could seek retribution. For decades afterward, martial artists would shake their heads at the mention of Luoying Valley.
A generation or two later, skipping over several “ordinary level” unfilial daughters, the Cai family produced an innovative demon woman. Not only was she unruly and unable to distinguish right from wrong, but she eventually colluded with the demon cult’s leader. This forced her father to declare he would “sacrifice his daughter for righteousness” and personally lead righteous martial artists to suppress the demon cult and clean house. However, this matter also fizzled out as this ancestress similarly vanished without a trace.
Despite these impressive predecessors, it was Cai Zhao’s great-grandaunt, who was said to be bedridden for eleven months of the year, who truly cemented the Cai family’s bizarre fate.
After nearly a century of strict precautions, and continuously sending daughters to brother sects to ward off disaster, the Cai family hadn’t produced a demon woman in a long time. When this frail great-grandaunt was born, the Cai Valley Master and his wife, pitying their sickly daughter, inevitably relaxed their vigilance and kept her at home to recover. Who could have guessed she would later spark an unprecedented bloodbath in the martial world?
Since then, the Cai family dared not harbor any wishful thinking. Whenever a daughter was born, they dutifully contacted their brother sects to see which sect leader was good-natured, had relaxed rules, and most importantly, maintained an unrestrained atmosphere. They would send their daughter there for a few years, not expecting her to become a great female hero, but merely hoping for a peaceful life free from illness and disaster. With luck, she might even bring home a son-in-law.
For instance, Cai Zhao’s aunt, Cai Pingzhu, was sent to the Pei Qiong Manor, one of the Northern Elder’s six sects, at the age of ten.
Conversely, as long as Cai’s daughters obediently apprenticed to other sects, they would grow up to be either gentle and virtuous or righteous and principled. Currently, the pinnacle of Cai women was the legendary heroine Cai Pingzhu, who not only displayed astonishing talent from a young age and became world-renowned but also reversed a desperate situation. The lower limit for Cai women was still a smooth marriage and a happy family life.
With past events as a mirror and the historical environment so harsh, Cai Zhao had no choice but to leave home for her apprenticeship to ward off disaster.
Accustomed to being ordered around by his sister Cai Pingzhu since childhood, the Cai Valley Master was quite efficient in handling affairs. In just three short days, he had prepared the necessary luggage and servants for the journey to the Qingque Manor on Mount Jiuli.
On the day of departure, valley and town residents crowded to see her off. Cai Zhao, teary-eyed, kept waving outside the carriage while biting her handkerchief until Ning Xiaofeng pulled her back.
Cai Zhao sighed tearfully, “Without me, how lonely the shopkeepers and assistants in town will be.”
Ning Xiaofeng snorted, “Look outside the carriage. Are they fearful or jubilant?”
Cai Zhao peeked out and saw that it was indeed as her mother said. She immediately stopped crying, feeling somewhat indignant. “Truly, the world is full of ungrateful people. That rouge shop owner said I was the most discerning customer he’d ever met, and the silk shop owner just said the other day that meeting a perceptive buyer like me was his greatest fortune in three lifetimes.”
Ning Xiaofeng casually remarked, “Perhaps they were being sarcastic.”
“Mother, what’s the opposite of ‘greatest fortune in three lifetimes’?” little Cai Han asked curiously.
Ning Xiaofeng picked her ear. “The worst misfortune in three generations?”
Cai Han, sitting in his father’s lap, burst into giggles.
Cai Zhao indignantly exclaimed, “These shopkeepers are so short-sighted! The reason our Luoying Town has become the most popular market within a hundred miles in just over ten years is that we’ve always upheld Aunt’s wishes. Whether selling food, clothing, or acting as brokers, everyone strives for honesty, excellence, competitive pricing, and a good reputation.”
Little Cai Han grumbled, “But sister is too particular. Even for a bowl of wonton, she insists on a filling of 70% front-leg meat and 30% shrimp paste. Why can’t they use back leg meat…”
Cai Zhao looked astonished. “Using back leg meat might be acceptable for braised meat, but for clear soup wontons, of course, you need front leg meat. Back-leg meat is too tough. Can’t you taste the difference?”
The remaining three Cai family members shook their heads in unison—who could tell the difference between such tiny pieces of meat in wontons?
Cai Zhao shook her head repeatedly, sighing, “You’re all so undiscerning. This is why so many century-old shops’ skills stagnate—they’re spoiled by undemanding customers like you. Ah Aunt was right. I pour my heart out for the world, yet the world misunderstands me…”
The Cai couple, unable to bear it any longer, simultaneously covered their ears.
Cai Zhao struggled to plead once more, “Father, Mother if it doesn’t matter whether I learn martial arts or not, why must I go to the Qingque Sect? I heard there’s a new Green Bamboo Gang just outside our Luoying Valley. That seems good to me. I could apprentice under their leader, leave in the morning, and return to town to sleep at night.”
Cai Pingchun frowned, “That Green Bamboo Gang was formed by bamboo raft operators on the river. They’re barely considered part of the martial world…”
“Father, you shouldn’t say that. Their leader Wang’s Forty-Nine Strokes of Water Paddling technique has some reputation.”
Ning Xiaofeng remarked casually, “Wasn’t that name you came up with a few months ago and then persuaded Uncle Sandpot to tell Leader Wang?”
Cai Zhao smiled sheepishly.
Ning Xiaofeng continued, “Saying the Green Bamboo Gang ranks last in the martial world is already being polite. If you’d rather go there than to the Qingque Sect, it would be quite embarrassing for our world’s premier sect. To be honest, I’m not too fond of your future master’s…”
Cai Pingchun coughed lightly.
“…your future master’s wife,” Ning Xiaofeng quickly added. “However, going to the Qingque Sect was personally agreed to by your aunt. You should consider that.”
Cai Zhao let out a small sigh. “…Alright.”