The story takes place in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty's Wu Zhou period. It is the first year of Tianshou (690), when Wu Zetian proclaims herself emperor and changes the era name, setting off a wave of denunciations. Dark currents swirl between the twin cities of Luoyang, the Divine Capital, and Chang'an. A "human-skin lantern" appears in Chang'an's Western Market, and a fragment of the Tuibei Tu circulates through the ghost market, prophesying, "The woman will rule, and prosperity will follow." Meanwhile, a surviving fragment of the Yisi Zhan, left by Li Chunfeng, Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, records an astrological method for breaking the spell that lets ghost soldiers cross the road. Princess Taiping secretly forms a network of undercover agents within the Imperial Guard to investigate the "curse-working sorcery" buried beneath the Daming Palace, while the Zoroastrian Fire Worshippers of Persia plot a shocking conspiracy. (The story is entirely fictional and intended for entertainment only.)
