Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese Broadswords and Knives (Dao) (2)

The broadsword that I’m describing today has really dramatic and awesome lore.

No. 7: Cold Moon

Appearance & Construction:

Forged by Madam Xu of the Warring States period before the Qin Dynasty.

Lore:

There is a very grand lore surrounding this blade. Specifically, it goes as follows:

Madam Xu was originally a scholar and she often sung songs to the moon. One night, a ferocious wind suddenly arose. The whole sky first became dark with heavy overcast and then became framed in a halo of red, with the moon surrounded by comets. Then a single loud thunder sounded, followed by a pillar of golden light rushing to break up the thick clouds and then rushing back down to ground again. This downward motion of the golden light caused a big reverberation that made Madam Xu unconscious. When she woke up again, the sky was clear and the moon’s light shone clear for thousands of miles, accompanied by starlight interspersed here and there. Everything appeared as if the dramatic scene she had just witnessed never happened. And then she heard an otherworldly call from amidst the winds. So she walked in the opposite direction of the winds. It was a summer’s night and supposed to be very hot and yet it was really chilly. Madam Xu walked into a forest and deep within it, she saw a terrifying sight. All of the trees in a radius of ten miles had been hacked to pieces and in the midst stood not really a simple fallen meteor but almost a blade completely formed that emanated a strong coldness. Struggling against such cold, Madam Xu pulled the blade free and saw that it was crystalline throughout and showed an ethereal beauty under the moonlight. The blade was still very chilly to the touch and upon closer observation, it was shaped like a new moon. Thus Madam Xu named the blade Cold Moon.

Placing this blade within her abode, Madam Xu suddenly had the urge to learn the craft of forging broadswords and set out to do so. Moreover, Madam Xu had quite the knack for it and learnt very fast. Then Madam spent ten full days and nights in her house forging Cold Moon into completion, not partaking of any food but merely subsisting on water. When Madam Xu emerged after the ten days, her friends observed that she had a haggard look and all her hair had become silvery white but her eyes shone bright. And the blade in her hands shone with a fierce light that was terrifying to behold. It was said that the smith who had taught Madam Xu the business of crafting had originally wanted to test his own broadsword against Cold Moon but he could not even get it out of the scabbard. For Cold Moon was the king among broadswords and no broadsword would dare to match against it.

Soon the reputation of the Cold Moon had travelled far and wide and alerted the Lord of the Zhao Kingdom (State). So he sent an emissary with ten thousand gold to purchase the Cold Moon. However, Madam Xu refused, saying that the blade is not of this realm and should not be handled by a mortal. Feeling insulted, the Lord of Zhao sent out assassins to get the blade and kill Madam Xu. That night, one hundred and twenty assassins laid siege to Madam Xu but she held out strong wielding Cold Moon. Specifically, it was said that all who were injured by the blade would have their blood frozen and their tendons and bones broken. Yet, at the end, Madam Xu’s stamina ran out and she killed herself with the blade. When the Lord of Zhao attained this blade, he continuously experienced nightmares and heard Madam Xu wailing whenever a cold wind blew. His royal concubines and sons all died from sicknesses. So he placed the blade under a three-footed instrument called Ding (originally one used for cooking but subsequently became used for ceremonial purposes only) to forcefully contain the hatred housed in the blade. Yet, the Zhao State still perished within a year. After the unsuccessful assassination of the founder of the Qin dynasty by Jing Ke using Cold Moon, this blade fell into the hands of Qin Shi Huang (the Beginning Emperor of Qin) and he became the only one who could ‘tame’ the blade. After the demise of the Qin dynasty, however, the whereabouts of this blade became lost.