The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

Based on the series of novels by acclaimed wuxia author, Jin Yong, the comic's initial part of the story revolves around a highly coveted manual containing a powerful martial arts technique known as the "Evil Exorcising Swordplay". The manual is an heirloom of the Lin family, who run the Fuwei Agency, a private security service in Fuzhou. Yu Canghai, the leader of the Qingcheng Sect, leads his followers to massacre the Lins and attempts to seize the manual for himself, but does not find it. Lin Pingzhi, the sole survivor from the Lin family, is saved by Yue Buqun, the head of the Mount Hua Sect, which is a member of the Five Mountains Sword Sects Alliance. Yue Buqun accepts Lin Pingzhi as an apprentice and trains him in swordplay. Meanwhile, Yue Buqun's most senior student, Linghu Chong, an orphaned, happy-go-lucky and honourable swordsman who has a penchant for alcohol finds himself befriending the notorious bandit Tian Boguang and saves Yilin, a nun from the (North) Mount Heng Sect, from Tian's lecherous advances.