he story begins some decades before our heroine was born…

he Chai family has been and continues to be a strong family with a lineage of proud soldiers serving the nation.

nce the eldest son succeeded his father's estate the remaining sons left the house to search for their independence. The second son of the house settled down in the town were the Ling Sheng Su temple was located since the great school was considered to be the strongest martial arts school in the land. The son was intent on following the traditions of the Chai family and these traditions stated that regardless of man or woman all members of the family must become skilled martial-artists and serve the nation. His daughter, Xiangfei, was born in the town and attended the Ling Sheng Su school to learn the art of swordplay. Due to her bloodline or not her diligent training over the years brought her a level of skill that surpassed even the monks of the great school. If only she had been born a man, then surely she would have been nominated to be the successor of the secret arts of the Ling Sheng Su sword style.

 fter her father passed away she began to train even harder and soon Xiangfei fell in love with one of the monks of the Ling Sheng Su temple. His name was Kong Xiuqiang, the probable candidate to be the successor of the one of the three treasures of the temple; the rod called "Kali-Yuga". Sadly this was a forbidden love. The managed to keep their love secret for many years and not until their daughter named Xianglian was born unto them did the monks know of their relationship.

his was Xianglian's second year.

  candidate could never sway from the pure path and thus the school drove the lovers apart. The school took little Xianglian. With both her daughter and her lover gone Xiangfei could not bear her sorrow and decided to leave town and never return.

heir sworn brother Han Dongxiu heard she was leaving told a penitent and depressed Kong. "How can you just sit here and wait? Leave now! Create your own future with your own strength!"

ith Han's help Kong was able to sneak away from the temple and down to the town under the vale of darkness. He gave Xiangfei a sword as proof of their love and as a reminder of the hope they would meet again. It was all he could do.

iangfei left the town and told none her final destination. She left pregnant with her second child but she hoped Kong would soon forget about her and focus on his candidacy for the Kali-Yuga. She returned to her noble family. With the Chai family's long lineage of soldiers in the Ming Empire capitol she was able to join the ranks of the soldiers. There she bore her second daughter Xianghua. Xianghua was brought into the Ming family and her mother never told her about the past. Meanwhile the Ling Sheng Su temple was facing a great crisis. The "Krita-Yuga", one of the three treasures of the temple was missing. Investigations traced the theft back to Kong and he was immediately excommunicated and drove from the temple. Xianglian was left alone and the temple decided to raise her as an orphan.

ong followed traces of Xianglian and discovered her link to the Chai family.

owever the Chai family told him, "She believes that you are in the temple training hard. She would certainly be sad if she met you. We beg you, please leave here and take no more action."

 s persuaded Kong left the house without knowing his second daughter had been born. He could never return to the temple and so he left the town and disappeared.

eanwhile the temple's search for the Krita-Yuga continued and the first suspect was Xiangfei. The search party found her but the sword they could not. All they found was little Xianghua playing with an old sword and Xiangfei looking after her daughter. The search party returned to the temple in failure and after many years the temple gave up the large-scale search.

ow could they have known? No one knew, not little Xianghua, the search party, the Chai family, or even Xiangfei herself knew that the old sword in Xianghua's hands was none other than the Krita-Yuga one of the thee treasures of the Ling Sheng Su temple ranking with the Kali-Yuga and the Dvapara-Yuga. To prevent its true power from being abused and in case it was ever separated from the other three treasures the Krita-Yuga would change its shape and sleep in silence. Only Kong, who separated it from the other treasures, knew this secret.

ianghua grew up never knowing she had an elder sister and by her tenth year she had acquired the basic arts of swordplay. Her mother's death drove her to train as hard as her dear mother once had and by her sixteenth year her skill was so renowned she applied for a position in as one of the royal guards of the Ming Emperor.

he emperor of the Ming Empire irritated by the lack of progress searching for "Soul Edge" the hero's sword, decided to send his royal guards as the third searching party. Xiangua's best fried Meimei and Ming's Imperial Maid of Honor heard that Xianghua was part of the search party and asked her to look into her brother, Li Long's health. Xianghua agreed to the task.