War-Torn Chang'an: A City Shattered Like Jade

In the first year of the Guangming era, Huang Chao’s cavalry breached Tong Pass, and Chang’an, the capital of the Tang dynasty, was engulfed in flames. A century of prosperity collapsed overnight. As his family was destroyed, Meng Yichen, son of a mathematics scholar at the Imperial College, fled through the burning streets with nothing but half a dragon-patterned jade pendant his father had entrusted to him on his deathbed, and a vague final message. Amid the ruins of the Ci’en Temple, he met Liu Ruoxi, a young woman from an official family who was just as alone and struggling to survive. The half of a phoenix-patterned jade pendant hanging from her neck was the only clue linking their fates in this chaotic age. Yet the mortal danger came not only from the rebels in plain sight. Mysterious pursuers followed them like shadows, ruthless in their methods and intent on the seemingly ordinary remnant of jade. Then Jing Lie, a black-clad man with a scarred face and an inscrutable identity, suddenly appeared. He was their savior, but also a man with hidden motives. He warned them: no one in this world can be trusted. Amid this catastrophe, with the fate of an entire dynasty at stake, a tender bond quietly blossomed in the depths of despair. Can they protect each other, piece together the broken jade, and uncover the secret behind the city’s fall? Or will they ultimately be swallowed by the tides of history and the conspiracies lurking beneath the surface?