This is a village bent beneath the weight of taxes, an era in which bandits trample every last hope. With a homemade bow, he rediscovers the instinct to survive, laying deadly traps deep in the forest. With the principles of the lever, he rouses an agrarian civilization that has slumbered for millennia, weaving the first web of industry between the blacksmith’s forge and the carpenter’s workshop. The villagers’ eyes shift from mockery to awe, like currents stirring beneath winter ice.
But rising to power is never a smooth road. When Wei Fan takes his newlywed wife to the city to see the lantern festival, bandits set the whole village ablaze. He clenches his fists, his knuckles cracking as if he were crushing the rules of the old world. Training village militias, befriending heroes, building an intelligence network: every step puts him on a knife’s edge. And a greater storm is brewing at the heart of the empire. Northern Di cavalry shatter the border defenses, while a tyrant’s harsh rule drives the people to revolt. Wei Fan stands at the cliff’s edge, his wife, children, and brothers behind him, and endless flames of war ahead.
He once captured an impregnable fortress with a tunnel, and once shattered a cult’s myth with a battle fought using poisoned water. Wu Ying’s spear cuts through the night sky, Chen Ce’s pieces fall silently into place, and Zhao Ming’s arrows tear through the veil of lies. Yet every victory comes at the price of blood. Brothers fall on the battlefield, allies betray their oaths, and enemies close in at every turn. There has never been a moment of peace in Wei Fan’s world.
