In the final years of the Warring States period, war rages across the land. Hidden deep in Yunmeng Mountain, the Gate of Heavenly Go produces a Sage of Heavenly Go once every three hundred years. Using the world as a board and the people as pieces, each sage averts disaster, stabilizes the realm, and guides the Mandate of Heaven. Su Yan, the previous sage, was unmatched in wisdom. Yet, in the final moments of his effort to help King Ying Zheng of Qin unify the realm, he trusted too much in the goodness of human nature and in the sage's detachment. His most trusted disciple, Han Fei, betrayed him. Han Fei appeared to be a leading Legalist, but was actually an agent of the ultimate boss, the Fate Thief. Under the pretext that sages meddling in politics would disrupt the natural order, Han Fei joined forces with opponents within the Qin court to frame Su Yan. Su Yan was ruined and torn apart by chariots in Xianyang. Only as his life and cultivation faded did he glimpse a fragment of the truth: his death was merely one carefully planned step in the scheme of a mysterious being called the Lord of the Profound, who had lain dormant for a thousand years, feeding on the stolen fortune of sages. The sages of past generations had all died young, not because of fate, but because someone had made it so.
When Su Yan opens his eyes again, he has been reborn three hundred years in the past, back to the time when his master had just chosen him as the next sage of the Gate of Heavenly Go, when he was still an innocent boy. Reborn alongside him is his only true friend from his past life, the young Bai Qi, descendant of a famed general, who died after being implicated for warning Su Yan not to trust Han Fei. This time, Su Yan is no longer the aloof, scheming sage who only knows how to divine the secrets of heaven. He is a player carrying a blood feud and three hundred years of memories of the future. He knows that simple revenge is meaningless. He must break free of the board and become the one who truly controls the game.
