Ink-Stained Verses Shatter the Heavens

Pei Yanzhou, a scholar from a humble family, wields “practical learning” as his brush, carving a path through the imperial examination battlefield of the Eight-Part Essay Spirit Array and breaking the aristocratic clans’ monopoly. When sinister inkstones steal literary energy and the Heart Demon of the Star of Literature descends, only words tempered by the hardships of the people can suppress the spiritual veins of heaven and earth. This reformist storm, with policy essays as its talismans, is about to topple a thousand-year-old orthodoxy!