The Sword of No Regret

Ten years ago, the Sword Forging Manor was wiped out overnight, with all thirty-seven members perishing in flames. Ten years later, in a blacksmith shop on Apricot Blossom Lane in Lin'an City, the young Gu Changyuan spends his days forging iron, silent and subdued, enduring bullying. When the Black Water Gang comes to collect protection money, they break his last shred of patience. That night, with the forge fire still burning, Gu Changyuan leaves with his sword. 'I didn't want to kill, but you shouldn't have touched him.' Alone with his sword, he bloodies the Black Water Gang's branch. The gang leader Zhao Hanyi dies in disbelief that this mute apprentice he humiliated for three years was actually the survivor of the Sword Forging Manor, an eighth-rank swordsman. With revenge unfulfilled, the sword is not sheathed. From Lin'an to Jinling, from the capital to the northern deserts, Gu Changyuan plays the fool along the way, leaving countless dead in his wake. But as he digs deeper, he gradually discovers that the massacre was far from a simple vendetta. The world is a chessboard, and all beings are pieces. And Gu Changyuan's sword must ultimately split this game apart. — Description from novelcodex.org