Author: Dugu Qiuhun
Wielding the heart as a sword, he brings the Song Dynasty into focus
This is a trope-defying power fantasy about transmigration. When Su Xuan, a modern PhD in psychology, transmigrates into the Northern Song Dynasty, he doesn’t follow the usual route of writing poetry and sitting the imperial examinations. Instead, he uses a discipline far ahead of its time, psychology, to spark a revolution in thought during Emperor Renzong’s reign.
The main thrills:
- The wisdom of overwhelming those from another era: Using modern psychological techniques such as microexpression analysis, criminal profiling, and hypnotherapy, he impresses the incorruptible Bao Zheng, intimidates officials at court, and crushes his opponents intellectually by reading people’s minds.
- A new way to play the game of power: Rather than relying on political schemes, he uses cognitive behavioral therapy to ease the Crown Prince’s psychological troubles and group psychology to break up alliances among political enemies, turning psychology into the sharpest scalpel in politics.
- Deep emotional bonds: He and Zhan Ruoyan, daughter of the Southern Hero, go from protecting each other through life and death to sharing a profound spiritual connection, discovering their original commitment to the people through the story of “a single egg.” His family ties with his elder brother Su Shi and younger brother Su Zhe reveal warmth and sacrifice amid factional strife. In his later years, he cradles his infant grandchild with joy while grappling with the helplessness of fate’s arrangements.
- Clear-eyed amid the tide of history: Though he knows the historical course of Wang Anshi’s reforms, he navigates them as a detached guest inspector, seeking to protect the justice he believes in amid the waves of change and revealing the wisdom and helplessness of an observer.
This is not a simple novel about changing history through transmigration. It is an experimental collision between psychology and ancient society, and a profound story about power, human nature, and the price they demand. The imperial sword in Su Xuan’s hand has never been drawn, but he can see into people’s hearts
