This brand-new prequel to the martial arts comic book classic Abi-Sword grips the reader with the fast-paced story of a young man who leaves home on a journey of discovery and terrifying risk – truly an Asian counterpart to the King Arthur saga.

Every Taiwanese comic book reader remembers Abi-Sword, the 1989 martial arts series by Chen Uen that held an entire generation in thrall. Now, years after the famous series was cut short and its creator Chen Uen passed away, former series scriptwriter Ma Li has decided to pick up the master’s pen and narrate in novel form the backstory of Abi-Sword’s central protagonist.

At nineteen, young Ping Chuan dreams of nothing else but leaving his position as an innkeeper’s assistant and traveling the country. When that opportunity arrives, however, he soon finds that the road is a harder taskmaster than he can endure. He attempts suicide, but fails, and his rescue at the hands of an old man and his beautiful daughter, Cricket, signals the beginning of a new – yet still dangerous – life.

In a subsequent moment of peril, Ping Chuan is rescued by a man of great ability – none other, in fact, than the peerless swordsman Wu-Sheng. Having pledged to serve Wu-Sheng as his valet and caretaker, Ping Chuan learns that Wu-Sheng is hunting for an old, hidden asset – the Abi-Sword, the weapon Wu-Sheng once wielded on the battlefield, then sealed beneath a mountain to escape its bloodlust. But whether or not Wu-Sheng can still wield it – indeed, or even draw it from its stone casing – is yet to be seen.