Su Jinyao, a female investigator from the previous dynasty, was falsely accused and died after her father became embroiled in the “Nine Gates Secret Case.” Forced to conceal her identity, she ventures into the turbulent martial world, marked only by a jade hairpin engraved with a star pattern. She inherited her family’s secret investigative techniques and hides a mastery of light-footed martial arts, all in the hope of uncovering the truth behind her father’s wrongful death.
But the martial world is already in turmoil, and a string of bizarre murders strikes the nine great sects: a Wudang priest dies in a locked room, a Beggars’ Guild elder is poisoned with a strange toxin, and an Emei disciple’s body hangs over the Sword Mound… Each case bears an uncanny star-pattern mark, just like the secret case her father once investigated.
During her investigation, she meets Xiao Jin, the Demon Sect’s Left Envoy, a man who is both righteous and wicked. He always appears at critical moments, sometimes helping her and sometimes testing her. She also befriends Xie Qingci, a Kunlun gentleman as warm and refined as jade, who seems open and honest but conceals an unspoken secret in his eyes. Their identities are shrouded in mystery. Are they allies or enemies?
Nine murders, nine clues, woven into a vast web spanning both the martial world and the imperial court. Su Jinyao uses her wit to unravel the mysteries, only to discover that behind every truth lies a deeper lie, and that her father’s death is closely tied to the legendary “Map of Mountains and Rivers,” said to have the power to overturn the world. As those around her begin to show their true colors one after another, and she herself is driven into a desperate situation, can she use a single jade hairpin and her ingenuity to pierce the layers of darkness and expose the shocking final secret?
