Xie Yan wakes up as a famine victim on the road, with only a copy of The Four Books in his arms.
When he opens his eyes, he finds himself in a living hell where people are trading their children for food.
He quickly casts aside useless moral scruples and uses modern thinking to survive the inferno: organizing refugees and outwitting defeated soldiers, all for one goal: to stay alive.
Only the living have the right to talk about ambition.
From an entry-level scholar to a presented scholar, he studies under renowned masters, enters the Hanlin Academy, and becomes the crown prince's trusted confidant.
He thinks he can navigate the games of power with ease, until his closest friend, the crown prince, is poisoned to death and entrusts his only heir to him.
“If you can support him, then do so. If you cannot, you may claim the throne yourself.”
At that moment, Xie Yan holds the infant in his arms and faces a realm divided into three. He makes his choice.
In the north, he installs the young heir as ruler, governs with benevolence, and wins the people's hearts. Through him, the ancient prophecy “The Liu clan shall rise” resounds through the heavens.
In the central plains, the Overlord Xiang Chu sweeps through the Six Kingdoms with unmatched military might, seeing Xie Yan as his one true rival.
In the south, the powerful minister Sima Cheng holds a puppet emperor and watches the two heroes clash with a chilling smile.
And a moonlit glimpse of the martial world shines on his path. His beloved, Lin Qingyue, asks with a smile, “Liu Yan, do you want the realm, or do you want me?” He cannot answer.
Not until she burns away the last of her light for him and the realm he seeks.
In the end, he stands by the Wu River and faces the Overlord in a conversation ordained by fate.
Behind him lies a vast realm on the verge of unification. Before him is the endless desolation of a hero's final days.
He wins the realm, yet becomes its loneliest guardian in an age of prosperity.
It feels good, come on