In the late Kaiyuan years, Chang'an's prosperity was like a thin layer of glaze, covering the undercurrent surging underneath. A faceless corpse was fished out from the Qujiang Pool. Half of a jade engraved with the word "Gui" was tied around the wrist of the corpse. The death state exactly coincided with an unsolved case three years ago. Xie Heng, the secretary of the Jingzhao Prefecture who joined the army, took over the case. As soon as he investigated, all the clues pointed to the Yulin Guard - the iron-blooded guard controlled by Xiao Che and only obeyed the imperial power. Xiao Che is the "cold-faced general" who is shunned by everyone in the court, and is also an old acquaintance of Xie Heng's childhood.
During the investigation, Xie Heng encountered repeated obstacles: witnesses' confessions were tampered with, evidence disappeared out of thin air, and secret guards attacked and killed one after another. He was forced to deal with Xiao Che, and in the tug of suspicion and temptation, he discovered that this murder case was just the tip of the iceberg: Yujue was involved in the abolition of the East Palace twenty years ago, the secrets deliberately erased by the Li family, and was linked to the war that was about to sweep through the Tang Dynasty.
What Qing Shi wrote was a glorious chapter of a prosperous age, but the flesh and blood buried in the soil of Chang'an and the unsaid conspiracy gradually came to light as the two of them pursued it step by step. They not only have to solve the mystery and find out who is behind the scenes, but they also have to face the alienation and entangled affection between each other before the conflict in the court and the crisis of their family and country. As the clues were dismantled layer by layer, both Xie Heng and Xiao Che realized that they were already pawns in this court chess game that they could not escape from.
