The Sage, the Swordsman and the Scholars: Second Ed. (Trials of the Middle Kingdom Book 1)

Follow the story of a legendary wandering swordsman and a political cabal of the vigilante Martial Scholars as they investigate the maritime arrival of a powerful and mysterious non-human race. Alarms were struck when the foreigners' agenda was discovered to be malicious, creating conspiracies within the court, and causing unrest within the imperial bureaucracy. The emperor must now mobilize his massive imperial army and go to war, but first he must quell the Underworld where secret societies and rebel groups have risen against him. In aiding the emperor, the swordsman finds himself in the company of a motley crew and is assigned by the Martial Scholars to discover the enemy’s plans. His new friend, an enigmatic sage insists that the real battle is, in fact, a spiritual one, and that victory lies only through following the will of Heaven.