In the thirty-second year of Changping under the Great Zhou, the northwestern frontier is plagued by repeated incursions, and strife returns to the martial world. The legendary Thousand Sects Scroll, said to contain peerless martial arts and a fortune beyond measure, has resurfaced, and every faction is poised to make its move.
Su Peiqing, a wayward young master of the Su family in Chang'an, entered the tutelage of Daoist Chenchen of Wudang two years ago and transformed from a lazy youth into a swordsman of exceptional skill. On his way home, he defeats Liu Yuejiang, known as “Crescent Moon Scimitar,” only to receive devastating news: all twenty-five members of the Su family have been massacred, and his father, Su Qingyun, has vanished. Seeking the truth and vengeance for his family's blood, Su Peiqing ventures into the perilous Wolf Mountain. There he unexpectedly reunites with his long-lost younger sister, Su Ruyin, and joins forces with the little princess to thwart a power-grabbing plot by the eldest princess and the steward, Yang Wanao.
Qin Zhongyuan, head of the Northwestern Qin Clan, and other warlords, including the “Northwestern King Dong,” all have their eyes on the Thousand Sects Scroll. A storm of blood sweeps through the martial world. The Fortune God Group is destroyed, and the Tang Clan of Shu nearly perishes. Su Peiqing and Tang Ziyan, heir to the Tang Clan, fall in love, but repeatedly find themselves on the brink of death.
When the dust finally settles, Su Peiqing discovers that an invisible “hand” has been manipulating every conflict. It is the Great Zhou emperor's astonishing scheme to “repel foreign threats and pacify the realm.” The martial world is a chess piece, and so are its heroes.
Faced with a choice between life and death, Su Peiqing chooses to flee overseas. But he does not know that the real game has only just begun…
The greatest chivalry is to serve the nation and its people. When the imperial court turns the realm into a board and its people into pieces, who can turn the tide?
