Cast out at the very start, Lin Shutong stands in the rain clutching a cardboard box, finally understanding: people who seek the truth do not deserve to live.
Back in her hometown, a jade belt falls out of her grandmother’s belongings. Its dragon carving seems compassionate, and strangely familiar. The moment Lin Shutong grips it, images from 900 years ago flash before her eyes: a man in prison taking up his brush to write his final words; a woman turning back through the flames, tears streaming down her face; a swordsman setting a warship alight and perishing in the blaze.
From then on, she sees the lives of three people in her dreams every night.
He was the last loyal official of the Southern Song, who became a lonely ghost by his own hand to protect the spark of civilization. She was a frail woman in a chaotic age, who spent her life guarding a valley as she waited for someone who would never return. He was a swordsman of the martial world, who twice went to his death for her, yet never let her know: I’m still alive.
Nine hundred years later, following the clues they left behind, she steps into Guixu. But when the truth is finally revealed, she realizes that what he protected was not treasure. He wanted people like her, generations later, to ask on his behalf: Is this world still worth it?
A legacy of protection spanning nine hundred years, and three people entrusting one another with their lives. This time, it is her turn to protect them.
