In the chaotic Five Dynasties era, rites have crumbled and music has fallen silent. Xiao Chen, a modern-day elite, transmigrates into the body of a prison guard and awakens on the brink of death. Armed with political cunning and practical wisdom beyond his time, he advances step by step from humble beginnings. He navigates the dying Later Tang court, the bloodthirsty wolves of Hedong, the ruthless Khitan cavalry, and the wavering military governors of the Central Plains, while bringing the shadows of the jianghu under his control.
He manipulates princes at will, sparks civil war in enemy states with lies, stages an elaborate deception alongside a foreign lover, and amasses the wealth of the realm. With the aid and rivalry of remarkable women such as Princess Yongning, the Khitan noblewoman Xiao Yaner, and Jiangnan magnate Murong Zhi, Xiao Chen eventually reduces imperial authority to a mere shell and pacifies the four corners of the realm. Yet when he stands at the pinnacle of power, he faces the ultimate test from someone closest to him: a “civilized” coup launched by the empress he personally groomed. Can he find the one path that balances absolute imperial power with human warmth?
Xiao Chen transmigrates into the body of a prison guard in Bianliang. The older guard claps him on the shoulder. “Before you’re sent to the execution ground, kid, here’s a little perk. There’s a former princess locked in the deepest part of the imperial prison. She’s going to die anyway, so why not...” Xiao Chen goes to see her, and under her furious, humiliated gaze, offers comfort to a woman on the verge of death. The next day, at the execution ground, the blade is about to fall when a rider gallops in. A messenger shouts, “Spare him! A new emperor has taken the throne and declared a general amnesty!” Xiao Chen survives and is sent to the frontier army. Three months later, after slaying an enemy officer on the battlefield and returning in triumph, he finds his direct superior, the princess he once “favored,” giving him a cold smile. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you to come back.”
