The True and False Keepers of the Archives

Chen Yuan, a history PhD, sees his dissertation rejected. While delivering takeout on a rainy night, a bolt of lightning hurls him back to the chaotic Five Dynasties period.

The moment he opens his eyes, he finds himself holding a bloodstained letter of recommendation belonging to a dying scholar. Forced to assume the name “Liu Mingcheng,” he enters the imperial examinations and is drawn into the treacherous court.

The chancellor plots to depose the ruler and install another, the empress hides murderous intentions, and the young emperor is sickly and suspicious. Yet the broken jade mirror in Chen’s hands and the unfamiliar memories in his mind point to a secret identity lost for a thousand years: Keeper of the Archives.

He holds the mirror that verifies legitimacy and records history as it truly was.

A mere impostor, he nevertheless becomes the only player in this game for the realm who can certify the “Mandate of Heaven.”

Will he use his modern knowledge to stir the tides and usher in new policies, or will imperial power crush him and leave his corpse in the wilderness?

The night of the Five Planets converging on Kui is drawing near. A struggle over legitimacy spanning time and space has already begun to take shape, silently written on the reverse side of history…