Li Xuan, a modern historian, was reborn in the fifth year of Tianbao as a disgraced member of the imperial clan exiled to Yazhou. With the An Lushan Rebellion, destined to topple the Tang dynasty in ten years, looming ahead, all he had was a sack of salt, a jug of wine, and knowledge far beyond his time.
On the shores of Yazhou, he boiled brine into salt and brewed wine to build his fortune, quietly laying the foundations of a new future at the empire's southernmost edge. But a mysterious symbol dragged him into the shadowy world of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, an organization embedded throughout the imperial court that seemed to be manipulating the fate of the empire.
In the open, he started with salt fields and played the game of the world, using his foresight to oppose the iron cavalry of the regional warlords and turn the tide when all seemed lost. In the shadows, he matched wits with the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, unraveling the astonishing plot hidden behind layer upon layer of mystery.
This is a contest spanning a thousand years. When flames of war engulf the golden age, who will command the pieces and decide the fate of the realm in the blood-red dusk?
