Peach Demon Prologue

Hey guys! Here’s the first part of Peach Demon! The prologue is mainly the set-up for the whole short story, so it contains more “information”, than the actual plot. Thus, don’t base your judgement of the story off of this chapter~ The next chapter of Peach Demon will be posted tomorrow!

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Prologue

In April, when the spring aroma was still fresh in the air, the crowd swarmed around him as he stepped onto the terrace.

After having killed the leader of the demonic sect,  the people of the wulin¹ no longer dared to raise their eyebrows at him. The Icy Firmament Sword in his hand was dyed completely in fresh blood. As he stood above everyone else, looking out as far as the naked eye could see, everyone was excited and deeply moved.

^{[1] Wulin: A community of martial artists.}

With his frigid sword pointed directly towards the heavens, he looked up at the sky and yelled, “The demonic sect has been exterminated!” His voice was deep and daring, and resounded much like the sounds of a beating drum. He appeared as if he was trying to announce these words to the heavens.

Tens of thousands of people below him burst out into explosive cheers. Then there were those who  reacted differently-  some cried tears of joy while others looked up and laughed. There were even some people who suddenly became despondent.

Three years ago, the demonic sect plotted and initiated a large scale invasion on the wulin. This pushed the wulin into enter an era of darkness, one where the meaning of hope became lost. It was all because of the demonic sect, that the lust for revenge had been etched into these people’s lives, including that of Shangguan Qihua.

His hate, regret, and pain were real. The revenge he felt in his heart was real. But now, he just wanted to throw away the bloodthirsty long sword in his hand, and leave this platform…

As his serene and hidden pupils gazed out at the crowd, from under the not so distant green poplars, a girl in pink appeared abruptly without saying a word. After seeing his look, the girl lifted her hand lazily as her lips curved upwards forming a smile. She raised up her thumb, and even though he could not hear her, he knew she was saying, “How dashing! You are truly my man!”

As he sheathed his sword, he could only feel the brilliant sunlight as well as a chill that came from the blood that had been splattered all over his body, “Ah Zhuo.”

This soft and gentle call had yet to disappear within the breeze before the image of the smiling girl in pink under the green poplar trees gradually began to dim. One by one, the green soft shoots and leaves on the tree drifted, guided by the warm April breeze. In an instant, under the camouflage of the leaves, the girl in pink had fluttered away in the wind, dispersed like light smoke.

Dispersed?

The corner of his mouth had yet to fall, but his pupils could not help but contract. A multitude of  people crowded around the man as his complexion suddenly turned pale. Using his qinggong² to tread on the shoulders and heads of the audience, he rushed directly to the poplar tree.

^{[2] qinggong: Qinggong, or “light body skill” is a martial arts technique.  An interesting article on the topic.}

Green grass covered the ground and a few peach blossom petals, not in season, lay scattered all over, almost as if telling him, the girl that he had just seen indeed existed.

“Ah Zhuo…”

His Ah Zhuo…

In the fourth month of the eighth year of Emperor Wuzong’s reign in the Yuan dynasty³, the calamity of the wulin, the Demonic Sect of Xinjiang had been destroyed. Meanwhile the Central Plains section of the wulin were looking for a leader. Everyone elected Shangguan Qihua as their Chief. However, Shangguan refused and returned to the mountains on the same night. Even now, no one knows his whereabouts.

His story will be passed down, from generation to generation.

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