Shen Zhiwei, the daughter of the guilty minister, hid in the palace for twelve years, just to find out the truth about her father's death in prison. The prince of Shuobei, Xie Linyuan, was ordered to return to the capital. He originally wanted to break away from the royal chess game, but he was involved in old cases in the East Palace, a secret struggle for the throne, and a crisis in the frontier army. From testing each other to playing chess side by side, the two uncovered the truth about the imperial power transaction among fake edicts, old scrolls, jade ultimatums and blood letters. King Qi locked power, Pei Dang was conservative, King Yong raised his troops, and the old order used human life as a bargaining chip. But what they want to win is not just the battle for the throne, but to make the injustice clear, so that living people will no longer be sacrificed, and so that mountains and rivers can re-establish a new covenant from the ashes.
