In the winter of the tenth year of Zhaoming, a fire burned through the mask of prosperity.
Chen Yong, the director of the Ministry of Industry, died suddenly late at night, with a shocking word "Jin" carved on his chest. Shen Qingheng, the chief prosecutor of the Ministry of Punishment, was ordered to investigate the case, but found that he was opening the lid of a palace murder case that had been sealed for ten years - the "Jinye Incident".
The clues point to the ghost market in the West City, the secret pattern of the previous dynasty, and even to the ruins of the Qinghui Palace that burned down more than half of the imperial city. And in the hands of all the deceased, they held the same fragment with dark gold patterns.
At the same time, a "ghost" who was supposed to have died in the fire ten years ago quietly returned. Yan Wujiu, the son of the former Taifu, is now "Jin" wandering in the darkness. He holds the forbidden "Jin Jutsu" - every time he uses it, he will permanently lose a memory or an emotion. He only came back for two things: to kill all those who set the fire, and to find the entrance to the underground palace beneath Qinghui Palace that swallowed up everything he had.
Shen Qingheng follows the light of law, while Yan Wujiu pursues the fire of revenge. The two were supposed to be the chess player and the pawn, the judge and the murderer. But the hand that pushed her away in the fire scene ten years ago and the bloody word "Jin" on the case file now tightly intertwined their fate.
What is buried under the underground palace is not the treasure of the previous dynasty, but the forbidden power that can subvert the dynasty, and the cruel truth of the "Human Soul Key". And the hand behind the scenes that controlled everything, Grand Master Gong Yiyan, was smiling and planning a bigger chess game. He regards the world as his situation and all living beings as his sons. What he wants is never just to cover up the past.
When the key is inserted into the keyhole, will it open the door to truth or the road to purgatory?
