Everyone believes that Yi Wang Mu Senye is a “shadow prince,” still consumed by his elder brother's death, sentimental and unfit for great responsibility.
No one knows this is merely a disguise to hide his true strength.
Once he takes his place in the Eastern Palace, he must face the Grand General Who Guards the Nation, whose power reaches across the court, and step by step enters a stunning game that has been in the making for decades. He treats the realm as a board and his opponents as pieces, yet fails to account for a cool, enigmatic zither player.
She is Zhou Ruoqing, the Grand Tutor's granddaughter, and a woman driven by a blood debt.
At their first meeting, he says her music conceals a blade. At their second, she calls him a “hypocritical scoundrel.”
Two souls skilled in disguise test each other amid flashing blades and shadows, then form an alliance amid the treacherous designs of the human heart, joining forces to unleash a storm.
A vast web called “Four Cups of Tea” has long shrouded the court. From framing loyal officials to murdering the heir apparent, its architects wield power as a blade and use people as pawns, stopping at nothing.
His dearest friend bleeds to death, and his beloved wife is “killed.” At last, he can endure no more!
As ruler, he must strike with thunder! He establishes the secret organization Lin Mu Pavilion and joins forces with a close friend from a foreign land. Using himself as bait, he lays a shocking trap with almost no chance of survival, vowing to tear out the great traitor entrenched in the heart of the empire, root and branch!
The realm is his bride, the world his game! See how the once “shadow prince” plans every move, striking decisively in a battle of wits and power, until he finally rules all under heaven and joins hands with the one he will love for a lifetime to create the glorious Qianxing Era, praised for all eternity!
