Among the first of the 108 stars to fall was a man named Lin Chong, arms instructor of the Imperial Guard—loyal, skilled, and honorable.

His misfortune began on a spring day at the Temple of the Eastern Peak. His beautiful wife, Lady Zhang, caught the eye of Gao Yanei, the lecherous son of Grand Marshal Gao Qiu. When the young nobleman attempted to assault her, Lin Chong burst in to save his wife—but stopped his fist at the last moment, recognizing his superior's son.

He did not know that his mercy would be his undoing.

Grand Marshal Gao Qiu, protecting his son, fabricated charges of conspiracy against Lin Chong. The loyal instructor was stripped of his rank, branded on the face as a criminal, and sentenced to exile in the distant prison camp of Cangzhou.

"Go," his wife wept, clutching his hands. "I shall wait for you forever."

But Lin Chong knew the truth. Men like Gao Qiu did not stop at exile. Along the road to Cangzhou, his guards—bribed by the Grand Marshal—attempted to murder him in his sleep. Only the timely intervention of his sworn brother saved his life.

Even in Cangzhou, his enemies pursued him. One snowy night, he discovered Gao Qiu's assassins burning the supply depot he had been assigned to guard—a crime that would mean his execution whether he survived the flames or not.

Standing in the blizzard, watching his last chance at honorable life burn to cinders, something within Lin Chong snapped.

Three assassins died that night, their blood staining the snow crimson. And the man who had once been the most disciplined warrior in the empire became an outlaw, riding through the storm toward the one place that would welcome him: Liangshan Marsh.