In the early years of the Southern Song, the world is shrouded in chaos. The fires in Lin’an have yet to die out, and a group of “useless” yet precious people become a glimmer of hope for civilization’s survival: a pedantic scholar obsessed with movable-type printing, a courtesan skilled in the art of whisked tea, an injured old craftsman who knows architectural engineering and mechanisms, an orphan who recites banned books from memory, and a female physician dismissed as a witch doctor. Their skills and memories are the “seeds of civilization” the protagonists must protect and carry to Quanzhou.
Shen Qingwu, a fallen woman from a disgraced family, flees to protect herself and settle an old score. Along the way, she meets Gu Yanzhou, a contact for the organization known as the “Kindling.” They go from using and doubting each other to finding love in adversity, leading their companions across the hills of eastern Zhejiang and over the ancient Xianxia Trail, facing setbacks at Mingzhou Harbor and struggles at Quanzhou Harbor. Their pursuers have complicated motives: some are simply doing their duty, while others are driven by personal grudges. They stay on the group’s heels at every turn.
As they flee, the ensemble faces life-and-death choices: the scholar gives his life to protect the type molds, the courtesan endures humiliation to find a way to survive, and the old craftsman uses his broken body to lay an ambush... When they reach Quanzhou, the cosmopolitan port city offers hope, but also conceals new dangers. In the end, with their wisdom and friendship, they win the seeds of civilization a chance to survive where a thousand sails set out. Battered but carrying hope, they write a sweeping song of humanity, love, and the protection of civilization amid chaos.
