With every stitch, she embroiders a skin; with every spell and technique, she beguiles the heart.
In the early years of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, with the throne still insecure, strange events plagued the imperial palace.
Su Xiuniang, an embroiderer from Jiangnan, carries the secret of the "Heavenly Craft Embroidery Vein" and is forced into the palace. She thinks all she needs to do is earn a living with the thread in her hands, unaware that the twin lotuses she embroiders can haunt a favored consort with nightmares night after night, and that restoring a phoenix robe from the previous dynasty will awaken the rotting palace attendants who wander the passageways.
"I don't embroider flowers, birds, insects, or fish. I embroider demons and monsters, the treachery hidden in people's hearts."
When palace maids are found one after another hanging from threads in bizarre poses, and the curse of human-skin embroidery spreads within the palace walls, she becomes the only one who can see the truth behind the "threads."
The gentle physician Gu Yunshen wields silver needles and commands awe-inspiring magic. He is her salvation, and also the guide who leads her into an even darker whirlpool.
The unruly shaman Xuan Xiao controls spells and curses, walking the line between good and evil. He is her doom, and also the only companion daring enough to defy heaven and change her fate.
"The Forbidden City is a vast tomb to begin with. The dragon's aura suppresses grudges that have festered for a hundred years."
And in the shadows beneath the Golden Throne Hall, a shocking conspiracy to sacrifice the flesh and blood of young girls and steal the nation's fortune is quietly casting its net around her...
See how this master embroiderer uses needle as sword and thread as formation, carving out a path to survival amid imperial power, magic, and the occult, and piercing the vast ghostly fog shrouding the Qing dynasty.
