**, She turns love and desire into a game, plotting a grand chess match for the realm, **
**Yu Qingxian** is the famed courtesan of the Drunken Immortal House, celebrated throughout the capital. In plain robes, she plays the zither, and her song "The Phoenix's Cry from the Ninth Heaven" leaves the entire audience spellbound. The world knows only of her breathtaking beauty and unmatched talents, unaware that she is also the leader of Night Bloom, a mysterious jianghu organization. Her mastery of medicine and poison is unparalleled, and her martial arts are unfathomably deep. Fifteen years ago, she was the youngest daughter of Yu Hong, the Great General Who Guards the Nation. She witnessed her entire family being slaughtered, and that blood feud is etched into her bones. Now she lies low in a brothel under the name of its celebrated courtesan, seeking only to uncover the truth behind her family's massacre and kill her enemies with her own hands!
**Ni Yunzhou** is the youngest Prince of Jing in the Great Zhou Dynasty, a celebrated war hero whose life hangs by a thread because of the “Frost Marrow Gu.” By imperial decree, he secretly investigates the wrongful case against the Yu family. When he first meets Yu Qingxian at the Drunken Immortal House, she sees through the deadly poison in his body at a glance. She channels her energy through acupuncture points with silver needles, while he takes his sword to the imperial court. From mutual probing to joining forces, the two draw ever closer to the truth.
**, Power plays, love, and hatred: who is caught in whose game?, **
As a courtesan's billowing sleeves conceal sharp blades and a prince's chessboard hides deadly moves, a storm that will sweep through the court quietly gathers. The Zhao family's secret letter revealing their treason, the Nine-Dragon Jade Pendant left behind by the late emperor, blades flashing beneath the brothel's night banquet… Yu Qingxian moves among the powerful with peerless grace, while Ni Yunzhou willingly shields her from attacks both open and covert.
**“Your Highness, do you know that working with me is like making a deal with a tiger?”** she asks with a laugh, a silver needle glinting coldly between her fingers.
**“If you are the tiger, then I, Ni, am willing to feed you.”** He takes her hand and places half a jade pendant in her palm.
**, Phoenix
