Eight kingdoms stand side by side, and the realm is a chessboard. He intends to be the one who moves the pieces.
After two years guarding the frontier, Sixth Prince Jiang Ye returns from the windswept northern border with more than military honors. He also brings a game of chess eight years in the making.
At court, the Crown Prince’s gentle facade conceals murderous intent. His father is growing old, and Qi is beset by troubles at home and abroad. The other seven kingdoms eye them hungrily, while Qi is trapped in a corner of the Eastern Sea. Everyone thinks this is just another ordinary struggle between princes.
Until Jiang Ye makes his request before the assembled court:
“Thirty thousand frontier troops. We march north against Yan.”
He wants neither military glory nor the Crown Prince’s seat.
He intends to overturn the entire game in Qi, rotten to its roots.
On the banks of the Yi River, flames blaze to the heavens.
A carefully planned night crossing sends three thousand armored cavalry plunging like daggers into the heart of Yan.
The maps Jiang Ye drew himself, the reefs he had cleared, the Yan generals he had bought off: every move echoes the pieces he set in place over eight years.
Deep within the court, undercurrents surge.
Looking over the reports from the northern campaign, the Crown Prince smiles warmly. “Sixth Brother, you think you’re the one moving the pieces, but you don’t realize...” He takes up his brush and writes a secret order. A deadly trap for the northern army is already on its way.
And the real game has only just begun.
When Jiang Ye takes the Jinan Plain and points his sword toward the realm, he discovers that his greatest enemy has never been on the other side of the border.
The deadliest blades often come from those he trusts most, right behind him.
This is a story of ambition, betrayal, and being reborn.
Watch as a prince from the frontier uses an entire kingdom as his chessboard in an age of chaos among eight kingdoms: first breaking the deadlock, then starting a new game, and finally bringing it to its conclusion.
