During the Tianxi reign, ghostly shadows haunt the capital. Seven relatives of officials and merchants are killed in succession. Each scene is bizarre, and all that remains is half a blood-red nursery rhyme. Panic grips the people, and talk of ghosts and demons spreads like wildfire.
Yan Jiyi, a criminal investigator with the Six Fan Gate and a scion of the imperial family, is ordered to investigate. He firmly believes that “the heavens’ net lets nothing through, and all things leave traces,” and uses a mind as clear as ice and eyes sharp enough to catch the slightest detail to cut through the fog. The daughter of a minister dies in a sealed room, though the silver needle has not turned black. A wealthy merchant is found dead on a windless night, and candle wax has flowed backward toward the scene... Every piece of hard evidence leads him to an even deeper paradox.
When all the evidence fits together perfectly and points to an impossible culprit, Yan Jiyi runs his finger over the cold iron token and realizes something for the first time: this painstakingly constructed “truth” is itself the flaw. Beneath the supernatural tricks lies human scheming more terrifying than any vengeful ghost. Behind the string of bloody murders, a shocking game of strategy has already begun, one designed to tear the court apart and shake the foundations of the realm.
And he, the lone official who trusts only evidence, is becoming the first piece the players want to break. When the very order of things becomes a mask for lies, should he cling to the letter of the law, or make himself a blade and cut through the darkness surrounding the imperial throne?
