In the nd of Rivers and Lakes, where rivers shine under radiant skies and lotus beds swell in fragrant abundance, there stands the Court of Yuchi, the revered stronghold of Cn Ming. Rooted in tradition and blessed by the Red Crane, the cn has flourished for centuries, its wisdom stretching to all four corners of the realm.

  Known for their martial prowess, the gentle tempers of their women and their peaceful, steadfast philosophies, Cn Ming found allies in the other four Great Cns, and the Emperor himself favored them with a benevolent eye. In days of strife, they had stood as shield and sword against the unsent dead and the horrors hidden in the unseen.

  Yet as the mulberry blossoms under warm spring rain, so too must its leaves wither in the bitter winds of autumn.

  In the long shadows of mankind’s resentment, among the roots of old injustices and the bones of the forsaken, a camity festers. And of all horrors that stir beneath the starless night, none inspire greater dread than the Jiewei—the bck serpent that coils in the waters beneath the Naihe Bridge. No man, no seer, no immortal can augur when her gaze will fall, only that where she treads, ruin follows. She is the harbinger of desotion, and in her wake, spirits rise from the abyss, trailing in her shadow like a procession of the damned.

  For decades had Cn Ming stood among the Five Hands that guarded the realm. But no feast sts forever; no mountain shall weather the tooth of decay.

  Barely five years after the leader’s mantle was passed to Yin Zhaoyang of Ming, misfortune struck. The whispers came first. Forked tongues spoke of greed, of ambition turned rotten; softer voices murmured of mistakes, of youth stumbling blindly into ruin. No one could say when Fate’s hand first moved, only that it did not falter.

  In the end, neither loyalty nor mercy could forestall what followed. Yin Zhaoyang, titur zongzhu of Cn Ming, fell from grace, lost face, and at st, lost his very life to the cold iron of Imperial w.

  His legacy stands thus: a name in disgrace, a cn left fractured, a sworn confidant bound by ghosts of duty, a stray warrior who swore upon his grave, and a brother — much too young, much too untried — left to bear the weight of his burdens.

  And beneath it all, buried within whispers and sealed records, the truth remains untold.