Settings The game is set in a
Wuxia fantasy version of medieval China. Central to the story is
Yunnan and its historical
Kingdom of Nanzhao, ruling during the 8th and 9th centuries, whereas the depiction of the Chinese heartland vaguely resembles a mix of
Tang and
Song dynasty settings. It presents a fictionalized civil war that ravages Nanzhao and its
Miao populace, and later spilling into the
Han lands, setting off the main plot. The game mostly features real locations, beginning in
Yuhang in northern
Zhejiang, and then continuing through the likes of
Suzhou and
Yangzhou, eventually ending up in the Nanzhao capital of
Dali City.
Characters Li
Xiaoyao is an teenaged orphan with dreams of becoming a
wandering swordsman, living with his aunt, who runs an inn in a small fishing village in Yuhang County. He is receiving dubious guidance from a perpetually intoxicated master of the Shushan School, a powerful cultivation sect. However, Xiaoyao is soon thrust unexpectedly into a quest across China with Zhao Ling'er, an exiled princess with great powers of sorcery who is the heir to the throne of Nanzhao. They are aided by the chivalrous swordswoman Lin Yueru, and later A'nu, a young Miao shamaness. Romantic tension persists during the group's journey as they become increasingly embroiled in Nanzhao political intrigue and the prolonged conflict that saw the country divided between the
White Miao and the
Black Miao. Their effort to reunite Ling'er with her royal parents, as well as to restore peace to the land, would place them in the path of a deadly Black Miao cult, as well as its plot to conquer Nanzhao and thenceforth all of China.
Plot :
Note: There are many subtle differences among the numerous versions of the game. The plot provided in this section is based on the original version for MS-DOS and Windows 95. Xiaoyao's aunt suddenly falls gravely sick, and the young man sails to a nearby island, rumoured to be inhabited in recent years by
"fairy ladies", to seek a cure. He finds a temple, where he is given a magical salve by a beautiful young maiden named Zhao Ling'er, and the two develop romantic feelings. Ling'er's nanny, the head sorceress, discovers Xiaoyao and inexplicably forces him to marry Ling'er and remain on the island forever. He manages to escape with the medicine and succeeds in healing his aunt. However, he loses memory of his encounter on the island, after being tricked into consuming a potion of amnesia by some Black Miao warriors staying in the family inn. Things get worse when he finds Ling'er abducted by the Black Miao, who have massacred the islanders, but he defeats them and saves her. Despite not remembering their previous acquaintance, he decides to help accompany Ling'er in her search of her mother, who she thinks might still be alive, to her homeland Nanzhao. The two arrive in Suzhou and runs into Lin Yueru, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy martial artist family, who stabs Xiaoyao after an altercation. Revived and healed by Ling'er's magic, they visit the city and chance upon a martial arts contest, where Xiaoyao is taunted into a fight with Yueru and defeats her, unexpectedly winning her
hand in marriage (as the official purpose of the contest is to test potential suitors and find Yueru a husband whom she will accept). While Xiaoyao initially shows reluctance to marry Yueru, he eventually pretends to agree in order to avoid incurring her father's wrath, but plans to escape later. On the planned wedding night, a serpent monster is sighted in the mansion while Ling'er disappears under mysterious circumstances. Xiaoyao and Yueru believe that Ling'er has been kidnapped by the monster, so they set off in search of her. After a series of adventures in the vicinity of Suzhou, the duo stumble upon twin villages plagued by a
jiangshi outbreak. They are reunited with Ling'er, who was found passed out by the village doctor's daughter. Soon after, Black Miao agents kidnap the doctor's daughter and demand Ling'er to meet them for negotiation. The group encounter an Elder of Nanzhao and are promptly defeated. The Elder then reveals he has come to retrieve Ling'er on behalf of her father, the shaman king of Nanzhao, who is terminally ill. Ling'er goes with the Black Miao in exchange for them sparing Xiaoyao and Yueru's lives. The two pursue the trails of the Black Miao group, and soon happen upon them again when staying at a pub run by undercover White Miao. A scene of massive bloodshed ensues between the Miao groups, and a traumatized Ling'er reverts (again) to her true snake-bodied form. The grandmaster of Shushan is alerted to the events, and arrives from the sky on his sword; he assumes that Ling'er is responsible and takes her away. With the help of Xiaoyao's old master, a friend of the grandmaster, the duo ends up in western
Sichuan, where the Shushan School is based. They learn that Ling'er has been imprisoned in the base of the Demon Prison Tower, where no human has reached before. Xiaoyao and Yueru break into the tower and succeed in rescuing Ling'er after making a perilous descent to its base level. However, they are all crushed under the tower as it collapses due to their attempted escape. Xiaoyao awakens and finds himself being nursed by a Miao grand shamaness, who finally reveals to Xiaoyao that Ling'er has been pregnant with his child all this time, and that Yueru has died from her wounds. Xiaoyao is deeply saddened by Yueru's death, but he puts aside his grief because he has a more important mission to complete: find two rare items which can save the lives of Ling'er and their unborn baby. In his quest he meets and befriends A'nu, a shamaness-in-training and the daughter of the White Miao chief, who tells him that the Miao region has been affected by a prolonged drought, the Kingdom of Nanzhao is in chaos, and the White and Black Miao are at war with each other over scarce resources. After Xiaoyao finishes travelling back in time at the
Nüwa Temple to retrieve the last of the five elemental pearls from his younger self in Yuhang, Ling'er recovers from childbirth, fulfils her destiny and assumes the mantle of a demigod descendant of Nüwa, and summons a rainstorm that restores peace to the Miao land. They then discover that the drought was actually caused by the evil Black Miao cult leader Baiyue, who has already murdered the Naozhao king, the father of Ling'er. The trio confront and appear to defeat him in a heated battle, but the crazed cleric summons a massive ancient water monster and merges with it. Ling'er sacrifices herself to destroy the abomination for good. Xiaoyao is traumatized by the loss of both Ling'er and Yueru. He bids A'nu farewell and travels home alone. Just before he leaves, he sees Yueru, raised from the dead by the grand shamaness' "puppet bugs" and
gu magic, carrying his child with Ling'er and waiting for his return among the snow. ==Gameplay==