In the 16th year of the Yonghe reign of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Su Wanjing, the concubine of the Ministry of Personnel, was admitted into the harem by Emperor Jingcheng, who was nearly fifty years old, because of her appearance similar to that of the late Empress Yuan, and was named a talented person. She originally wanted to survive in the deep palace, but she fell into three fatal relationships that were destined to be evil:
• A taboo entanglement with the young and gloomy prince Xiao Zhi after the palace banquet
• Confronted with the out-of-control desire of Xiao Jue, the king of Zhenbei who guarded the border, at the royal hunting ground.
• The broken Taoist heart with the cold and ascetic national master Xie Wuwang on the observatory
In this cage where desire and power are intertwined, Su Wanjing gradually discovered that she was just a pawn deployed by the emperor to draw out the undercurrent of the court. From a substitute at the mercy of others to a heroine who controls the world of chess, how will she deal with three men and find true nirvana in the flames that burn up the Phoenix Palace?
