In the third year of Xianfeng, in Jinling, Lin Yuan wakes from an endless, dizzying haze to discover that he has become Hong Xiuquan, Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Before him stands a palace of carved beams and painted rafters; at his ears, his subjects cry out their loyalty. And Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, whose gaze is sharp as an eagle’s and whose power dominates the court, is silently threatening him, the “Second Son of God,” in the name of “God the Father descending to earth.” History’s wheel is rumbling toward the abyss of destruction. He alone holds the script, yet he must play the Heaven-ordained “Heavenly King” to perfection starting this very second, or face utter ruin.
