“In this deep palace, there are no madmen lost to madness, only carefully woven webs and power laced with poison.”
After Ulanara Ruyi ascends to the throne of Empress, she sheds her mask of patience. The deep love of bygone days becomes a consuming ambition, and her confidante Rong Pei is her sharpest blade. Curse magic, the poisoning of imperial heirs, false accusations in court, arson and regicide… Crimes absent from the history books take root in the shadows of Yikun Palace. The imperial harem is no longer a battlefield for favor, but a purgatory of life and death.
In their darkest hour, Hailan, once framed; the proud Han Xiangjian; the fierce Jinyuyan; the refined Yihuan; the gentle yet resilient Su Luyun; and even the suddenly enlightened Wei Yanwan cast aside old grudges and swear an oath of blood. They use their wits to turn the tables: Han Xiangjian captures a killer beneath the moon, Yihuan’s proclamation strikes at the heart, Hailan plans for every contingency, and Jinyuyan debates the assembled ministers!
From turning the tables on curse magic through a switcheroo to using a smallpox outbreak caused by raw lacquer to divert disaster elsewhere; from Yongqi sowing discord between father and son to the Empress Dowager delivering her verdict in the Buddhist hall… In this blood-soaked power struggle, there is no hysteria, only battles of the mind where every blow draws blood. When Rong Pei’s poisoned blade lunges for Hailan, and the flames consuming Yikun Palace scorch the walls red, the “deep love” of years past finally becomes a “debt of sin.”
This is a counterattack where everyone is on the side of justice:
The vermilion mole becomes tears of blood. In the Hall of Golden Chimes, there is no Ruyi anymore.
The creativity is good, and the writing is good, but your status is sometimes Hai Lan, the imperial concubine, and now she is the noble concubine of the sea, Jin Yuyan, sometimes she is the concubine, and sometimes she is the promise. Isn't the ups and downs of your status a bit ups and downs?
The creativity is good, and the writing is good, but your status is sometimes Hai Lan, the imperial concubine, and now she is the noble concubine of the sea, Jin Yuyan, sometimes she is the concubine, and sometimes she is the promise. Isn't the ups and downs of your status a bit ups and downs?