For fifteen years, nightmares have haunted him every night: the blood-red dusk when his ancestors’ entire family was wiped out.
Shui Lingyun, a history graduate, has been tormented by a thousand-year-old blood curse. At last, a bond spanning time and space sends him on a journey to find his roots in the ancient capital of Wu and Yue. The instant his fingertips touch a broken stele, time and space twist, and he transmigrates to the chaotic Five Dynasties era, becoming an unknown staff officer under Shuiqiu Zhaojian, the loyal minister of Wu Yue and the ancestor he has thought of day and night.
At the time, Wu Yue is weak, surrounded by powerful enemies, and ruled by treacherous officials. The massacre of his ancestor’s family is just around the corner.
Armed with modern knowledge, Shui Lingyun draws on middle-school biology to stop an epidemic, uses waterworks to put an end to floods, and modernizes the military with gunpowder and composite bows. He even brings instant noodles, mahjong, and soccer to the chaotic age, rising step by step from a prisoner to a pillar of the state.
At court, he outmaneuvers treacherous officials such as Lin Wenyan and Li Song, exposing plots to collude with the enemy. On the battlefield, he lures the enemy into a trap, burns their supplies, and routs the armies of Southern Tang and Later Zhou. For the people, he establishes schools, promotes new farming methods, and opens up maritime trade, turning Wu Yue into a haven amid the chaos.
He swears brotherhood with his ancestor and protects the Shuiqiu family. He and Princess Yaohua come to know and cherish each other, forging a love amid the turmoil. He also witnesses Zhao Kuangyin’s mutiny at Chenqiao and helps Wu Yue join the Song peacefully, changing the fate of both his family and his country.
When his mission is complete, the passage through time opens once more. With his homeland in the present on one side and his brothers and beloved in the Five Dynasties era on the other, what will he choose?
This is a redemption spanning a thousand years, a legend of forging greatness in a time of chaos, and an epic ode to loyalty, family, and country.
