A second graphic novelization drastically change the storyline involving Zhou . Like the original , Zhou become the tutor of the Wang estate , but , when news of his arrival prompts rich families to send their sons to learn from him , he is forced to accept droves of these students on a trial basis . He eventually choose his friends ' sons as his indoor disciples and Yue as his " godchild " . Years later , he take his now teenage students not to see the Buddhist abbot , but to teach them military strategy out in the mountain wilderness . Yue senses trouble after his martial brothers separate to explore the forest and rush off to rescue them , only to be confronted by a monstrous snake . After vanquishing the beast with his sword , Yue discover a magic glowing spear within a cave and report back to Zhou . Following their training , Zhou become ill from overexposure to the cold mountain air on the return trip home and die soon after . Instead of just Yue , all of his students live beside his grave for a mourning period of one hundred days before returning home to their families . These events take place three years before Zhou originally died in The Story of Yue Fei .