Tales of Dark River

Dark River, capable of assassinating royalty and nobility in court and wiping out powerful sects in the wild, is the most feared organization of assassins in the martial world. However, its leader, the Patriarch, is aging and gradually losing control. During a mission to kill Tang Clan’s Second Master, the Patriarch is severely injured. Several faction leaders within Dark River send out assassins to kill him, while he seeks physicians to prolong his life. This race against time, concerning life, death, and the future of the assassin organization, begins. Fate brings two young men, who crawled out of piles of corpses and share a deep bond, to stand on opposite sides…

This is also a prequel novel but is set after Shao Nian Bai Ma, approximately 8 years before the start of Shao Nian Ge Xing.