At six years old, Princess Xiao Yunlang of Jing hid behind a palace pillar and watched her uncle swing his sword at her father, while her mother was consumed by flames. In a single night, a palace coup turned her from a princess born to wealth and privilege into a fugitive. Only her grandmother's desperate sacrifice saved her, carrying her away to the grasslands a thousand miles distant.
For ten years, she endured hardship and steeled herself. She sharpened her dagger, diligently studied medicine, tasted every kind of herb, and mastered the art of intrigue, waiting only for the day she could return to Jing and repay her blood feud many times over!
The fate of Mu Silang, a prince of Yan also known as Ji Heng, was even more like a living hell. His birth mother, an heir to the Mohist tradition, was abducted into the palace by the King of Yan because she held the secret of the "Mountain-and-River Jade Mechanism Lock," then imprisoned in the cold palace. He grew up in the palace's lightless depths, enduring cold stares and every kind of hardship. To save his mother and seize power, he disguised himself as a dashing merchant, infiltrated various states, and laid an inescapable web.
Fate brought them together on the grasslands: she was the "Divine Physician of the Northern Desert," traveling under an assumed name and waiting for a chance to take revenge; he was the "Undercover Young Master," seemingly carefree but secretly plotting.
When the Jing princess's road to revenge collides with the Yan prince's bid for power, and the secret of the Mountain-and-River Jade comes to light, will they be enemies or allies?
"Help me fight my way back to Jing and seize the throne, and I'll help you rescue your mother and escape the palace." Her gaze was cold as steel, yet she could not conceal a trace of hesitation.
He rubbed his black jade ring, his smile casual but every word sincere. "Deal. But this young master wants more than just a partnership."
A palace coup, political schemes, mechanical treasures, love and hatred intertwined: witness how a fallen princess and a patient young lord overturn the game and seize control of their own destinies amid a turbulent age!
