The Ninth Prince of Great Yin, Xiao Jin, is reborn with bitter hatred on the eve of the night he was to be given poisoned wine. The agony of being executed by a thousand cuts, the blood debt owed for his mother’s entire clan, the Zhenbei Army, all burn through his soul. With only three hours left, he turns into a vengeful demon and seizes his one chance to survive: he sees through the disguise of Shen Li, a palace maid from the Cold Palace who is actually the young mistress of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. Using the truth behind their blood feud as bait, he strikes a deadly bargain.
He fakes his death and takes on the identity of “Young Master Jin.” Taking command of outlaws across the martial world, he founds the Nirvana Alliance, kills his enemies with his own hands at a mass grave, and offers their blood in sacrifice to his family’s spirits. He intercepts military weapons, frames the Netherworld Cult, and stirs up a storm in both court and martial circles. In the struggle over salt and iron in Liangzhou, he seizes the empire’s lifeline of money and grain. In the imperial examination leak scandal, he sparks a wildfire among the poor and powerless. The Netherworld Cult’s Saintess, Chi Lian, pursues him like a shadow. During an ambush in the Gobi, he takes an arrow laced with a bone-corroding poison while saving Shen Li, only to trigger the dormant “Life-and-Death Gu” inside him. He is left on the brink of death!
At Medicine King Valley, the truth about the Life-and-Death Gu is revealed: it is actually a secret twin Gu! Using the bloodline of a Saintess as a catalyst, Shen Li performs a blood pact to bind their lives together, and they barely survive. A sudden upheaval rocks the capital: the emperor “dies,” and the palace is stained with the blood of the crown prince and Prince Rui. Xiao Jin enters the fray with his newly risen forces. Before Zhengde Gate, a world-shaking arrow pierces the Shadow Dragon’s false face! The mastermind finally shows his true face
With schemes as its bones and the martial world as its blade, will this road of revenge lead to rebirth through nirvana, or eternal descent into the abyss? Beneath the blood-red imperial throne, who will rise and who will fall?
