Two hundred years ago, during the Great War of Demons, Old Ancestor Bei Chen sacrificed himself to vanquish the demons.
Since then, the world has enjoyed intermittent peace up to the present day. Why say "intermittent"? Because wherever there are people, there is the Martial World. As long as humans exist, there will always be gossip between neighbors, petty quarrels over trivial matters, and inevitable conflicts—problems that even if Old Ancestor Bei Chen were to rise from his coffin, he couldn't solve.
Under the witness of all martial practitioners in the world, the six descendants left by Old Ancestor Bei Chen held a grand and moving funeral for him. Afterward, these six descendants and their families dutifully settled in the ancestral residence, the Myriad Waters, Thousand Mountains Cliff. There, they spent their days practicing martial arts, studying, and occasionally holding memorial gatherings to reminisce about the ancestor's glorious deeds.
As the saying goes, a large tree must branch out. In just over twenty years, the six descendants had already raised numerous children and nephews. It was then they realized three things.
First, though they themselves were as close as brothers—rarely quarreling except during friendly sparring sessions—their wives, children, disciples, and followers were not necessarily so harmonious.
Second, they had initially believed that after the ancestor's passing, they would be left helpless and would need to stick together for survival. However, as their descendants and disciples ventured down the mountain, they discovered that even the fragments of knowledge they had inherited from Old Ancestor Bei Chen were enough to dominate the world.
Third, light and shadow walk hand in hand. Though the demons had been vanquished, within a mere decade, the Demonic Cult had risen in the Martial World. Given that the death of Old Ancestor Bei Chen was partly due to the ancestors of this very cult, how could his descendants stand idly by? Thus, they resolved to establish branches across the land to guard against the cult's encroachment.
In the end, all the lofty talk boiled down to two words: division of the family.
Regarding this history from nearly two hundred years ago, five-year-old Cai Han once grumbled while reciting the family genealogy: "It was just a family split. Why write so much pretentious reasoning? As if they never argued on the Myriad Waters, Thousand Mountains Cliff back then..."
His sister responded with an unskilled head flick: "How ignorant. Can the division of a noble orthodox sect be called just a 'split'?"
Cai Han rubbed his head. "Then what should it be called?"
The little girl, Cai Zhao, declared with righteous solemnity: "It was for upholding justice in the world that the descendants of Bei Chen endured the pain of parting from their brethren, scattering far and wide—all to prevent evil heretics from exploiting any weakness to wreak havoc upon humanity!"
This was something she had overheard a few days earlier while crouching by Casserole Uncle's stall, gnawing on a braised chicken leg—in the Martial World, the art of sharp retorts was paramount. Practitioners might not always fight, but a battle of words was inevitable whenever they met.
"Well said! My Zhao Zhao speaks so well. When you venture into the Martial World in the future, no matter how sloppy your actions, your words must always be impeccable," their aunt, Cai Pingshu, applauded from her sickbed. Though already frail and bedridden, her sallow, emaciated face still wore a spirited, teasing smile.
The siblings' father, Cai Pingchun, sat silently nearby. Never much of an actor, he couldn't muster a smile. Their mother, Ning Xiaofeng, stood by the window, blowing on a bowl of medicine, a large teardrop falling into the brew.
They had known this day would come long ago, yet when it arrived, their hearts still ached as if wrung by grief.
Twelve-year-old Xiao Cai Guniang stood to the side, her lashes thick and delicate, her large eyes clear as morning dew, as if faintly sensing the sorrow that was about to descend.A few days later, Cai Pingshu passed away. Cai Zhao fell seriously ill and dutifully observed three years of mourning for her. Shortly after, Cai Pingchun proposed that it was time for Cai Zhao to leave the valley and seek apprenticeship. He had already arranged her sect affiliation—the Azure Tower Sect, the sole remaining branch of the North Star descendants still residing on the Myriad Waters, Thousand Mountains Cliff. Renowned as the foremost sect in the Martial World, it was certainly prestigious enough.
Young Cai Zhao immediately protested that she hadn’t fully recovered from her grief and suggested postponing her departure for apprenticeship.
"Postpone any longer and you’ll be eighteen!" Cai Pingchun scowled threateningly. "If you don’t join another sect before eighteen, do you mean to become a demoness?!"
Cai Zhao furrowed her delicate brows. "I like staying at home. Outside, the food and lodging don’t suit me. Father, if I never step beyond the inner gates, how could I possibly become a demoness?"
"Is there a single shopkeeper or clerk from one end of town to the other you don’t know? How is that ‘never stepping beyond the inner gates’? You’re always roaming the streets and alleys…" Ning Xiaofeng scoffed, but upon seeing her husband’s warning glance, she quickly composed herself.
"Your great-great-aunt’s parents thought the same way. They believed their frail, sickly daughter, who couldn’t even walk to town to buy rouge, would never come to harm if she stayed home. And what happened? Even the most notorious demonesses from the Demonic Cult couldn’t rival the spectacle she caused! You will obediently spend three years on the Myriad Waters, Thousand Mountains Cliff. Whether you learn martial arts or not is irrelevant—just avoid giving people reason to gossip. This was also your aunt’s instruction!"
"Your mother is absolutely right," Cai Pingchun declared, slapping the table to settle the matter.
Cai Zhao puffed out her soft cheeks, her heart brimming with resentment.
Aunt Cai Pingshu had been the person Cai Zhao admired most in her life—upright, honorable, a beacon of righteousness. Yet Cai Zhao herself had never harbored grand ambitions. Her only desires were to sleep in, dabble her fingers in water to paint her cheeks rosy, and enjoy good food and drink. Beyond that, she asked for nothing more.
Now that her aunt was gone, Cai Zhao, in her grief, wished to honor her legacy by emulating her virtues and fulfilling her wishes… but if only she didn’t have to leave Fallen Blossom Valley. Surely there were other ways to honor her aunt’s memory?
Her reluctance stemmed from the Cai Family’s peculiar fate—their daughters had to seek apprenticeship outside the family and could not grow up within their own household. Otherwise, they would either end up in petty squabbles or bring about calamitous disasters.
In the earliest days, the descendants of the North Star all lived together on the Myriad Waters, Thousand Mountains Cliff. The six families mingled freely—sons of one family might learn sabers from an uncle of another, swords from an elder of a third, and even horse-riding and courtship from a brother of a fourth. Back then, the Cai daughters’ peculiar affliction was less pronounced, manifesting at worst as petty rivalries among young sisters.
But once the families separated, the first Cai daughter raised entirely within her own family embarked on the path of a demoness with unstoppable force—defiant, perverse, squandering her extraordinary talents. No matter how her elders pleaded, she remained obstinate, scouring every remote corner of the Martial World for obscure martial arts manuals and taming fierce beasts and birds of prey. Eventually, she indeed brought about a great catastrophe.
To her credit, this ancestral matriarch didn’t wait for retribution—she simply vanished, disappearing from the Martial World entirely. For decades afterward, martial practitioners across the land would only shake their heads at the mention of Fallen Blossom Valley.After another generation or two, skipping over several 'ordinary-level' unworthy daughters, the Cai Family produced a new generation of female demons who not only acted recklessly and indiscriminately but eventually colluded with the great demon of the Demonic Cult. This ultimately forced her own father to vow to uphold justice by eliminating his kin, personally leading righteous people to besiege the Demonic Cult and cleanse the family—though the matter later fizzled out because this female ancestor followed suit and vanished without a trace.
Despite the illustrious achievements of their predecessors, it was Cai Zhao’s great-great-aunt—who was said to be on the verge of death for eleven months out of the year—that truly cemented the Cai Family’s bizarre fate.
For nearly a century, under strict vigilance, the Cai Family had continuously sent their daughters to brother sects to ward off calamity, and no demoness had emerged for a long time. When this frail great-great-aunt was born, Valley Master Cai and his wife, pitying their daughter’s weak and sickly condition, inevitably let their guard down and kept her at home to recuperate. Little did they know she would later unleash an unprecedented storm of bloodshed in the Martial World.
From then on, the Cai Family dared not take any chances. Whenever a daughter was born, they dutifully contacted brother sects to see which sect leader at the time was lenient in temperament and lax in rules—most importantly, whose sect had an unrestrained ethos—and sent their daughter there for a few years. They didn’t expect her to become a world-class heroine, only that she remain free of illness and disaster, with smooth sailing and, if luck permitted, perhaps even bring back a son-in-law.
For example, Cai Zhao’s aunt, Cai Pingshu, was sent to the Jade Pendant Mountain Manor, one of the Big Dipper Six Sects, at the age of ten.
Conversely, as long as the Cai daughters were properly sent to other sects, they would grow up either gentle and virtuous or profoundly righteous. The pinnacle of Cai women was the heroine Cai Pingshu, who was not only exceptionally talented and renowned from a young age but also turned the tide in desperate times. Even the least of the Cai daughters could enjoy smooth marriages and happy families.
With history as a mirror and the environment so harsh, Cai Zhao had no choice but to leave home and seek a master to ward off disaster.
Having grown accustomed to being ordered around by his elder sister Cai Pingshu, Valley Master Cai was quite efficient in handling affairs. In just three days, he had packed the soft luggage and arranged the servants for the journey to the Azure Tower Estate on Nine Li Mountain.
On the day of departure, the valley and town residents came in droves to see them off. Cai Zhao, teary-eyed and biting on a handkerchief, kept waving out the carriage window until Ning Xiaofeng yanked her back inside.
With tears in her eyes, Cai Zhao sighed, “Without me, how lonely the shopkeepers and clerks in town will be.”
Ning Xiaofeng scoffed, “Take a look outside—are they weeping in sorrow or beaming with joy?”
Cai Zhao leaned out the window and saw that the scene was indeed as her mother described. 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 merchant claimed just days ago that encountering a buyer like me, who could see the subtlest details, was the fortune of three lifetimes.”
Ning Xiaofeng remarked idly, “Maybe they meant the opposite.”
“Mom, what’s the opposite of ‘fortune of three lifetimes’?” little Cai Han asked curiously.
Ning Xiaofeng scratched her ear. “Three lifetimes of bloody misfortune?”
Cai Han, sitting in his father’s arms, burst into giggles.Cai Zhao said indignantly, "These shopkeepers are so shortsighted and profit-driven. The reason Fallen Blossom Town has become the most bustling market within a hundred-mile radius in just over a decade is precisely because we've always upheld Auntie's principles. Whether selling food, clothing, or acting as brokers, everyone strives to be fair to all, constantly improving, comparing goods from multiple sources to earn universal praise."
Cai Xiaohan muttered, "But Sis is too particular. Even for wontons, she insists on filling made with seventy percent front leg meat and thirty percent shrimp paste. What's wrong with hind leg meat..."
Cai Zhao looked astonished. "For braised bones or minced meat sauce, hind leg might pass, but for clear broth wontons, it has to be front leg meat. Hind leg is so coarse and tough—can't you all taste the difference?"
The other three members of the Cai family shook their heads in unison—who could possibly discern front from hind leg in those tiny wonton fillings?
Cai Zhao sighed repeatedly. "You're all so unrefined. This is exactly why so many century-old shops never improve their craft—because of undiscerning customers like you. Ah, as Auntie said, I pour my heart out for the world, yet the world misunderstands me..."
The Cai couple could bear it no longer and covered their ears simultaneously.
Cai Zhao struggled to plead again, "Father, Mother, if learning martial arts doesn't matter either way, then why must I go to Azure Tower Sect? I heard there's a newly established Green Bamboo Gang outside our Fallen Blossom Valley. That seems perfect. I could apprentice under their chief and return home to sleep in town every night."
Cai Pingchun frowned. "That Green Bamboo Gang was originally formed by bamboo raft brothers on the river—they're only half-Martial World at best..."
"Father, that's not fair. Chief Wang's Forty-Nine Moves Water Paddling Staff Technique has gained some renown."
Ning Xiaofeng remarked idly, "Wasn't that the name you came up with a few months ago, then persuaded Casserole Uncle to suggest to Chief Wang?"
Cai Zhao gave an embarrassed chuckle.
Ning Xiaofeng continued, "Saying Green Bamboo Gang ranks last in the Martial World would be giving them face. If you'd rather go there than Azure Tower Sect, it would reflect poorly on our reputation as the number one sect. Though to be honest, I'm not particularly fond of your future teacher either..."
Cai Pingchun coughed lightly.
"...your future teacher's wife," Ning Xiaofeng quickly amended. "But going to Azure Tower Sect was personally agreed to by your aunt. You should weigh this carefully."
Cai Zhao let out a small sigh. "...Very well."
OpenNovel