In the chaotic Five Dynasties, cities burn in war and human lives are worth less than ants.
At a battle on the banks of the Hutuo River, an orphan boy known only as Huiwa is swept into the flames and bloodshed. Ten years old, he crosses the river with the army, hauls the dead, swallows a blood-written letter, and carves words into his palm. He stakes his life on upholding General Wang Qing's last words and his oath of loyalty.
He has no name or surname, no grave or biography. Neither official nor unofficial histories record a single word about him. Only the scars carved into his palm and the cold wind over the Hutuo River prove that his humble little body once bore the heaviest burden of honor.
Princes and generals are written into the annals of history, while people like him turn to a handful of ash.
But the conviction burning in those ashes has never truly gone out.
