In the final years of King Huiwen of Qin, the young Bai Qi of Mei County was just another name in the military register, forgotten by everyone.
The eight thousand dead at the Battle of Danyang, a state document whose authenticity is in doubt, the seventh night after the Qin king's death, and the men who failed to return after the conquest of Shu gradually draw him into the rivalries between the states and the undercurrents in the Qin court. To survive, and to make sure the dead are remembered, he begins learning how to read people, command troops, and choose between the king's orders, military law, and the will of the people.
From a lowly supply carrier to commander of the Qin army, from an obscure nobody from Mei County to Lord Wu'an, whose name terrifies the six states, he wins city after city, while gradually losing old friends, the woman he loves, and the person he once was.
In an age of chaos, Bai Qi wants to preserve the name of one person, but history demands that he bear the blood of countless lives.
This is not the story of a born invincible god of war. It is the story of an ordinary man who ascends to the altar of legend, and of a life ultimately consumed by it.
