About the book: 2017 / Mother Dou-Mu - The North Star burns in the night skies above the Celestial Empire, showing the way to everyone, her compassion for the human race is endless. The students of the Northern Path School follow the same path of mercy. There are few of them, they are sometimes defenseless before those in power, but someone must save children whose souls and lives were broken by war, hunger, disease and human cruelty... Author's notes: In fact, this is an attempt to write a story in the wu-xia genre ( Chinese fantasy genre with martial arts elements). The setting is the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties - a period in Chinese history that lasted between 420 - 589. The basic facts are observed, but real historical events are shifted in time for the sake of fiction. So the story is somewhat alternative. And for those who are not in the know: 1. among the Chinese, first the Last Name, then the First Name, 2. the address “brother/sister” does not necessarily imply kinship