Hidden among distant, mysterious cliffs, in the shadows of the forest, there is a deep and quiet cave.
“Ha… ya… whoosh!”
On a wide stone platform, several young men in black and blue were practicing martial arts, sweating hard.
Swords flashed.
Palms cut the air.
The sharp sound of weapons meeting rang through the cave.
Torches burned around the platform and lit their quick figures.
One young man in blue stood out.
He held a sword that shone like a rainbow.
He had a square, handsome face, sword-like brows, bright eyes, a hooked nose, and a wide mouth.
He was tall and straight, with a strong man’s presence.
The eyes under those sword-like brows were sharp and clear.
His sword work was clean and ordered.
His forehead was full, his body strong, his stance firm.
When he danced with the sword he was graceful and free.
Sweat ran down his bare upper body and showed firm, well-cut muscle.
Anyone could see he had trained for a long time.
His face was serious.
That look felt a little out of place in the dark air of the cave.
Deep in the cave there was another world.
Buildings rose in layers.
People moved about.
Lights burned bright.
The cave roof was painted with man-made stars, so that when you looked up you almost felt you stood under an open sky.
This strange, hidden cave was the headquarters of a secret evil sect, the Evil Moon Cult.
It was called Evil Moon Cave.
The Evil Moon Cult had a long history, but its people stayed in the dark, and there were never many of them.
Every member was a skilled fighter.
They acted in odd ways, and every martial sect feared them.
Luckily the cult rarely meddled in mortal business.
They could be cruel, but they still kept some of the jianghu’s rules.
Most of them worked alone.
Because of that, they had kept a cold peace with the righteous sects for many years.
“Senior Brother’s Crescent Moon Sword Technique has improved again.
That is truly worth praise.
This junior brother learned a great deal just from watching.
Thank you, Senior Brother!”
The young man in blue was still practicing on the platform.
A young man in black stood to the side as he spoke.
He was very tall, with a fine, almost womanish face.
He was handsome too, and clearly gifted.
His long, slim body stood more than eight chi high.
But his brows and eyes were deep and cold, and that fine face carried a chill.
“It is all right.
I just feel I have not gone out to move my body in a long time.
Staying in the cave has been too stuffy.”
The young man in blue sheathed his sword as he said this.
“Senior Brother, I heard the Holy Mother will summon us soon and raise us to Patrolmen.
Then we can take duty outside all the time.
That will be much freer than now.
We will not have to stay locked in here so long.”
The young man in black grinned.
His face was pale and cold, and the smile looked forced and sharp.
The young man in blue glanced at him and said in a flat voice, “After you get out, you are not going down the mountain again to hunt brothels and so-called decent women, and mess around with those cheap girls, are you?”
The young man in black put on a lewd, dirty smile.
“Lust is a man’s nature.
I am only the older brother who walked into that world a little earlier.
Next time I will take you, Senior Brother, out to have some fun, so you cannot say I kept the good fortune to myself.
Haha.”
He laughed loud.
The young man in blue only smiled a little and let it pass.
“Junior Brother, why did Master raise us from childhood and make us train so hard in this dark place?
Is it so that, when the day comes, we will throw our lives away like the other members, to pay back the sect’s great kindness?”
The young man in blue spoke as if his mind had drifted far away.
The young man in black thought for a moment, then laughed.
“You still have time to think about that?
We are alive today, so enjoy today.
If we can go out and play for one day, then enjoy that day.
That is my rule for living.”
Seeing the youth in blue frown and stay silent, the youth in black sneered.
“Heh heh.
If you ask me, the happiest days in this world are the ones I spend with beautiful women, making love in bed, watching them come under my hands.
That feeling… hehehe…”
He licked his lips again.
A dirty look sat on his face.
He dropped his voice.
“Speaking of beauties, none of the women outside can match the Holy Mother.
That fiery figure… that alluring face… tsk tsk tsk…”
When he heard the youth in black speak of the Holy Mother in that lewd, disrespectful way, the youth in blue grew a little angry.
Just then a deep, charming woman’s voice came from the depths of the cave.
“Xing’er, come to Evil Moon Palace now.”
The youth in blue started.
He put away his weapon at once and used his lightness skill to fly up the stone steps along the inner wall of the cave.
This youth in blue, called Duanxing, was in truth named Mo Xingyun.
He was the only son of Mo Xiubo and Ning Xuefei.
He was the boy who escaped during Wei Wuyin’s rebellion.
On his way down the mountain he was stopped by the leader of the demonic sect known as the Evil Ancestor, and taken back to the cult.
The Evil Ancestor was one of the oldest elders of the Evil Moon Cult.
He seemed to have lived beyond counting.
Even the other old elders did not know how long he had been alive.
His rank was extremely high, and his demonic power was terrible.
He was one of the three greatest experts in the sect.
But he almost never touched sect business.
He was cold and distant, and rarely spoke with anyone inside the cult, so he was both mysterious and deeply respected.
Eighteen years ago he brought a boy back from the outside, named him Duanxing, and took him as a disciple in name only.
He did not teach the boy himself.
He left him to the people of the cult to raise.
The masters of the sect took turns teaching him deep martial arts until he grew into a man.
With the Ancestor’s rank and name behind him, Mo Xingyun was still young, but he already stood high in the sect.
Among them, the leader of the cult, the Mysterious Enchantress Yin Luoyan, was especially fond of him.
From the time Mo Xingyun entered the sect at five years old, she often kept him at her side, taught him martial arts herself, and passed him secret arts.
The Enchantress was charming and ruthless.
She always held her authority and frightened the members.
She killed without pause and was cruel in her methods.
But she spoiled Mo Xingyun and treated him as her own trusted one.
She often called him “Xing’er” with real warmth.
The rest of the sect both envied him and feared her.
The Mysterious Enchantress was honored by her followers as the Mysterious Enchantress Holy Mother.
She was one of the ten greatest martial masters in the Longyue world of that age.
Her skill was extremely high.
She had mastered the Dark Enchantment Technique, a secret art of the demonic sect.
She was hard to read and did as she pleased.
She killed without mercy and could bewitch hearts and twist wills.
She often made enemies of righteous people, and she was a demonic leader the righteous path feared most.
Mo Xingyun had rare talent and a steady mind.
He had grown up in the demonic sect, surrounded by its strange and wicked ways, but the earnest teaching of his parents in his early years had sunk deep into him.
He tried to keep his heart quiet.
Apart from training, he took little part in the cult’s dirty work.
He never dared disobey the Demon Queen’s orders, though.
He felt awe for her power, and a tangle of other feelings he could not name.
He did not know why the demonic church had saved his life.
The Ancestor was his savior, but he rarely saw him.
The Demon Queen was, in a vague way, his foster mother.
Life as a grown disciple was not bad, but he always felt he lived on the edge of danger.
The Ancestor had also given him a special order: no one else knew his true identity, not even the Demon Queen.
He was to keep that secret, or his life would be in danger.
All of this made him think more than other young men his age.
Mo Xingyun drew a deep breath and used his lightness skill to climb the stone steps inside the cave, heading straight for Evil Moon Palace.
The cave was wide and open.
Torches flickered and lit the walls.
Black sandalwood buildings carved with care blended into the rock.
Strange, fierce beasts were cut into the stone, enough to frighten anyone who looked too long.
He knew the path by heart.
When he reached the top, a faint, clean floral scent drifted through the air and woke his senses.
Before him stood a black building that was not very tall.
Elegant phoenix and dragon patterns covered its outside.
It looked refined and secret at the same time.
Several burly, shirtless guards stood at the door with spears.
When they saw him they called out together, “Duanxing, the Holy Mother orders you to enter the palace at once!”
He came here often and knew the place well.
He nodded and leapt into the hall.
Inside, the long corridors mixed black and red.
The courtyard was open.
The main hall walls were painted gold.
Red carpets covered the floor.
Phoenix and luan patterns were carved all around.
The whole place felt elegant and eerie at once.
When he reached a place that looked like an inner palace, he stopped.
A sharp scream came from within.
A slender silver shadow shot out, hissing, and lunged at him.
Mo Xingyun’s lips curved.
There was a familiar light in his eyes.
In a flash he sent inner energy through his body, shifted aside, and easily dodged the silver dragon’s strike.
At the same time he sent a backhand palm.
The wind of it was gentle, but power hid inside it, aimed straight at the silver figure.
The silver dragon was extremely quick.
Its whole body shone with a dazzling light.
With a slight twist of its slim body it slipped past the palm.
It floated in mid-air, hissed a few times, shook its huge head to show sharp teeth, and flapped its large ears, as if it were teasing him or inviting him to play.
The little monster was silver from head to tail.
Its scales shimmered like stars.
Its head was not like an ordinary snake’s.
Its huge mouth opened and closed with a fierce look.
Its elegant, slim body floated in silver light, just like the dragons of legend, only it was tiny, and somehow quite cute.
He chuckled low.
“Little thing, trying to tease me again?”
The silver dragon seemed to understand.
It shrieked and pounced again.
Mo Xingyun stayed calm, dodging and turning, playing with it.
Man and beast tangled through the hall.
The silver dragon was wonderfully quick, but it could never quite catch the hem of his robe.
Mo Xingyun struck several times, sometimes with a light sweep of the palm, sometimes with a flick of a finger, but he held back on purpose and often missed.
The silver dragon hissed with delight.
As they played, palm wind and silver light wove through the hall, and neither side could take a real upper hand.
Before long a woman’s charming laugh came from the inner hall.
It was sweet and seductive, full of a grown woman’s charm, and it caught the ear.
She said in a soft, sweet voice, “All right, Silver Dragon.
Stop playing with him and come back.”
At the summons the silver dragon hissed a few times and flew into the hall, leaving a shimmering silver trail.
Mo Xingyun chuckled, shook his head, and followed it in.
The room was small but finely made, more like a study than a throne hall.
In the center stood a large, rich chair and a red wooden desk.
Behind them stood a screen painted with delicate landscapes.
Suddenly the crisp, alluring sound of high heels came from behind the screen, along with a rich, mature woman’s fragrance.
A captivatingly beautiful grown woman stepped out with an easy sway of her hips and sat down in the chair with a seductive air.