A young man in a blue robe stood aboard the boat. His frame was a little thin, and his face still youthful, but his eyes were clear and resolute. They reflected the towering outline of Chang'an in the distance, shining with a longing and radiance beyond words. His name was Lin Yan, courtesy name Mingyuan, and he came from an ordinary farming family in Jiangnan Circuit.
In his luggage, besides a few well-worn volumes of Confucian classics, he carried only a family heirloom: a smooth, warm-colored jade pendant, broken and incomplete, and a heart full of earnest ambition to master the arts of letters and war, then serve the emperor.
He did not know that his journey to Chang'an would be both a leap through the Dragon Gate and an entry into a game of chess.
Nor did he know that the seemingly unremarkable fragment of jade in his arms would one day tip the balance of power between the martial world and the imperial court.
