When Qin Shi Huang unified the realm, a gigantic white serpent was unearthed during the construction of the Great Wall. Heeding the advice of sorcerers, the First Emperor bound it with chains of black iron, crushed its soul beneath boulders, and buried it under the Great Wall, hoping to use its spiritual energy to secure his empire for ten thousand years. The white serpent endured endless torment in the darkness, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and its own resentment. After cultivating for more than two thousand years, its demonic power grew ever stronger. Generation after generation of emperors regarded it as a demon that would bring ruin to the nation, while its cries for help turned into a deep-seated, bitter hatred.
In the eighteenth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, the white serpent finally broke free, triggering a massive earthquake in the capital and leaving devastation in its wake. She swore revenge, taking the form of a stunning demoness called “Bai Su.” She tore through time and space and traveled backward along the river of history, vowing to journey through eleven dynasties: Qin, Han, the Three Kingdoms, Jin, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. She would wreak havoc in the imperial harems, sow chaos at court, bring emperors to ruin, and topple dynasties.
From bewitching Ying Zheng in the Xianyang Palace to driving a wedge between Liu Bang and his allies in Chang'an; from maneuvering between Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms to secretly aiding the An Lushan Rebellion in the prosperous Tang dynasty; from leading Song emperors into a life of pleasure to stoking power struggles in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. She used her beauty as bait and her demonic power as a blade, intensifying court rivalries, harem intrigues, and bloody battles.
On her path of revenge, she must contend with the pursuit of sorcerers and cultivators, as well as the constraints of the laws of time and space. And as she contends with emperors and clashes with forces of good and evil, she begins to wrestle with her own humanity: will she sink into hatred, or break free of it? A cataclysmic vendetta spanning a thousand years, a tragic song of love and hate amid the chaos of war, begins in earnest the moment she enters the Xianyang Palace, unfolding against the rise and fall of China's imperial dynasties.
