The imperial capital is a glittering arena of bloodshed, where everyone wears a mask and every step conceals a threat.
She is Linghua, an assassin of the Shadow Pavilion. She infiltrates the court disguised as a gentle songstress, hiding poison in her pipa and blades in her sleeves. Her origins conceal a secret that could topple the dynasty.
He is Qiguan Che, the ruthless Prince of Zhenbei. A purple robe conceals his sharp blades, and ambition consumes his heart. Yet he falls for this seemingly harmless woman, moving from disdain to concern as love and hatred become entangled.
The deposed crown prince, the seventh prince, the master of the Shadow Pavilion... Everyone is a player, and everyone is prey. She fakes her death again and again, making her way from songstress to the power behind the throne. He wades through blood to seize the throne, only to end up utterly alone.
The capital of Chengping is peaceful in name only. Beneath its finery, blades flash everywhere.
Linghua is an assassin of the Shadow Pavilion, hiding blades in song and dance beneath the guise of a songstress. In public, she is as frail as a willow; in private, she coldly takes lives. The crescent-shaped birthmark on her neck conceals a royal secret.
Qiguan Che, Prince of Zhenbei, commands a mighty army. Ruthless and strikingly handsome as ice, he treads over blood to seize power, yet his feelings for this "frail girl" grow from disdain to obsession.
The deposed crown prince, the seventh prince, the master of the Shadow Pavilion... Everyone is calculating, everyone conceals a sharp edge, and all will do anything to pursue their obsessions.
When her identity as an assassin is exposed and her royal bloodline revealed, she fakes her death again and again, rising from songstress to the power behind the throne. He climbs over a mountain of corpses to the summit and ultimately claims the throne. Their entanglement began as a scheme, but beneath the Nine Cauldrons, it becomes the fiercest game of love and hate.
