The Fake Chancellor

Beneath the dragon throne, white bones form the steps; one thought from a twin's face can topple the heavens.

As the Great Sheng Dynasty teetered on the brink of collapse, an assassination targeting the ruthless chancellor Yan Song revealed a secret capable of overturning the entire court: the man who had been struck down in the chancellor's residence was not the real Yan Song, but his timid twin brother, Yan Song, who had been sent away to a Taoist temple as a child.

He is a double, a puppet, and the only living piece on the board at the heart of the maelstrom.

Coerced by the sinister eunuch Eunuch Zhao, Yan Song is forced to step into the deadly arena of power under the notorious name of "Yan Song." He must imitate his elder brother's iron-fisted ruthlessness, treading carefully and fighting for survival between the watchful leader of the upright officials, Imperial Censor Lin, the vassal princes and frontier generals who command armies of their own, and the vengeful assassin sworn to take Yan Song's life.

Yet as Yan Song plays this "counterfeit chancellor," he discovers a deeper darkness beneath his brother's cold mask: a "Dragon Vein Protection Plan" built on the bones of a hundred thousand refugees and the sacrifice of the young emperor Xiao Jing. It threatens the empire's very survival, and is entangled with the three-hundred-year-old "Twin's Curse" that haunts the Yan bloodline: brother slays brother, or brother devours brother, and even the victor is doomed to die young!

When the double sees the truth, and a spark catches in the timid heart:

He wanted only to survive, but was forced to move the pieces. He bears a notorious name, yet his heart yearns for a glimmer of light. When the "counterfeit" takes hold of the key to turning the tide, will he become the new player, or... smash this bloodstained board to pieces?