A Game of Strategy Through the Ages

One day, strategic analyst Chen Guanlan wakes up as an impoverished scholar in the Great Yin dynasty of another world, humiliated by a powerful noble's son. In a world that values bloodlines and divine power above all else, his golden finger is not a System capable of destroying the heavens and earth, but a fragmentary scroll recording the political arts of Guiguzi's School of Diplomacy. While others are still reciting poetry and currying favor with the powerful, Chen Guanlan has quietly made his first move. Using his ability to “read people's hearts,” he leverages his humble position to shift the balance of power in the capital. With a single remark, he exposes the powerful at their weakest point, rising from a prisoner in the stocks to a trusted guest of the Crown Prince. But his ambitions reach far beyond that. He discovers that this world once had a brilliant “Age of a Hundred Schools,” when the Mohists built ingenious mechanisms, military strategists devised formations, and Legalists shaped laws. Their traditions have all been lost. He will be their sole torchbearer. His goal is not to conquer the world, but to reshape civilization. At court, he builds alliances and pits factions against one another, applying modern thinking to economic warfare and diplomatic maneuvering. Far from the court, he seeks out heirs to the Hundred Schools, gathering like-minded allies to fight the terrifying Cult of Annihilation, which believes that “thought itself is a sin.” From the “art of the game” to the “methods of the game,” and then to the “way of the game,” Chen Guanlan will use the human heart as his pieces and the world as his board in a final contest over order and freedom, civilization and annihilation. This game wagers not only the realm and the power to rule, but also the spark of human thought and the future of civilization.