A massacre on a stormy night leaves Chu Yunxiao, the orphaned heir of a medicine merchant, carrying a blood feud into the martial world. But half a piece of blood jade draws him into a shocking conspiracy spanning three dynasties. The poison beneath the gilded mask of his sworn brother, Duan Wuhen; the star map hidden in the silver hair of mechanical genius Shen Qingqiu; the encrypted rebellion plans in the canal gang’s account books, written in grain prices: every clue points to the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion, which has controlled the martial world for a century. When the soft sword Dragon-Devouring Blade parts the curtain of conspiracy, three identities emerge from the blood and flames: a scion of the former imperial family, a traitor within the Pavilion, and a descendant of the Dragon Slayer. The jade pendant exchanged in their blood oath conceals magnets that repel each other; a prophecy in a secret mechanical realm foretells that they will perish together; and the burning scar on Chu Yunxiao’s brow is slowly opening into a Dragon’s Eye. This time, the martial world is no chessboard. It is the stake.
