Li Long was a skilled warrior and an assassin for the Ming Emperor.
The Ming Dynasty had long suffered plundring
by Japanese pirates called the Vakou. The emperor sent Li Long to
assassinate the leader of the pirates, and also gave him a secret order to
locate and retrieve the legendary sword Soul Edge.
Li Long cared nothing for the Soul Edge, however. Taking advantage
of war-torn Japan, Li Long not only targeted the Vakou leader but the
Dainyo feudal lords as well. This was beyond the limits of his mission, but
Li Long knew he would be successful and he would earn high praise from the
emperor for his actions. However, he was only one man. His attack on the
head of a powerful family in Honshu went awry, and he was badly wounded.
Fortunately for Li Long, a beautiful girl named Chie found him and
rescued him. Chie was the daughter of an innkeeper named Hachibei. As a
child, Chie had been traumatized by her mother's death and had lost the
ability to speak. She had an ability to understand other people's sorrow,
and she devoted herself to Li Long's care.
During his months of recovery, Li Long and Chie came to love each
other and Li Long decided to stay with her even after his wounds had healed.
He stayed with them and helped tend the inn, not caring what was going on
back in China. One day, he left the inn for supplies. When he returned, he
found out that there had been a brawl at the inn and Chie was believed to
be dead. Consumed with rage, Li Long asked Hachibei who had done this. In
his grief stricken state, all Hachebei could get out was that a wandering
swordsman had caused all the destruction. Eyewitnesses speculated that the
lone mercenary Heishiro Mitsurugi was probably
responsible. However, it was not Mitsurugi. In fact, it had been a ninja
who had been looking for Chie and her father. Hachibei and Chie had belonged
to a mystic ninja clan until the clan leader fell under an evil spell.
Hachibei had taken the sword he thought was responsible and left the clan
with Chie. Ninjas were not allowed to leave their clan, however, and
Hachibei and Chie had been hunted since they left.
Li Long did not know any of this, however, and blamed Mitsurugi for
Chie's death. He vowed to hunt down the mercenary and kill him for what he
had done. Realizing that it was possible Mitsurugi was not responsible,
he modified his vendetta to include every swordsman he met. In his
travels, he discovered that Mitsurugi was searching for Soul Edge. This was
the sword Li Long had been sent to retrieve long ago, so he set out after
Mitsurugi. If his journey was successful, he would avenge Chie's death and
have the legendary sword for Eirakutei.
Through his travels, he encountered many swordsman, but never found
Mitsurugi. During the journey, he did discover that Soul Edge had been
located in a small port town in Spain. He journeyed to the town in the
hopes that Mitsurugi would be there as well. When he arrived in the port, he
encountered the evil pirate Cervantes who
possessed Soul Edge. Li Long attacked him, and despite his great skill and
strength, he was quickly defeated. He fell to the ground covered in blood, and
as he felt his life slipping away he called out Chie's name.
About this time, Chie awoke at a monastery in Honshu. There was a
large sword scar on her back, but other than that she was fine. She learned
that her lover Li Long had believed her dead and set out on a journey of
revenge. A month passed and Chie had waited for Li Long to return home, but
she somehow knew that he was dead. She grieved for months, but her spirits
raised when she learned that she was carrying Li Long's child. She gave
birth to their child a few months later, and was happy knowing that a part
of her lover would live on. |
