Shen Xiong rose from a common soldier to emperor, yet night after night he dreams of the flames in which his sworn brother burned himself to death.
His nine sons, all born of the same mother, each have their own schemes: the iron-blooded eldest cares nothing for his soldiers’ lives; the refined second son, confined to a wheelchair, manipulates the court; the sinister third keeps a stable of ruthless officials; the dissolute fourth controls the underworld; and the cold-faced fifth commands the Xuanjing Bureau...
When a new king ascends the throne among the northern barbarians, the marriage envoy Princess Zhaoming, Shen Zhao, bares her fangs, while remnants of the previous dynasty stir in the Ten Thousand Mountains.
At court, the eldest and second princes stand on the brink of open conflict. In the shadows, the third prince plots with the “deceased” sixth prince. A secret report from the fourth prince’s Gold Pavilion is delivered to the fifth prince’s Xuanjing Bureau...
Shen Xiong strokes the old armor of his sworn brother Chang Zhu, unaware that this “pillar of the realm” harbors a poisonous scheme to overthrow the dynasty.
A storm that will sweep across the realm is quietly brewing amid a father and sons’ suspicions and brothers turning against one another.
