Gu Changyuan, the Ninth Prince of the Dayan Dynasty, was born to a mother who died young. Lowborn and long forgotten, he was a discarded piece on the chessboard. An imperial decree sent him north to marry into the Beidi court. Ahead lay a steppe royal court with wolfish ambitions; behind him stood the court of his homeland, which had cast him aside like so much trash. Everyone expected him to die in a foreign land. But they didn't know that this seemingly mild-mannered pawn could "see" things in the heavens. On the Wuwu day, the Heavenly Dog devoured the sun. Before the assembled court, his words came true. Ten thousand soldiers bowed their heads, and the steppe submitted. From then on, he advanced with careful moves, placing his pieces on the edge of a blade. Under the Beidi court, undercurrents swirled. The old Chanyu brought out a tortoiseshell engraved with the words "Master of Heavenly Change," pointing to an old pact from twenty years ago. The half jade pendant left by his birth mother bore, on its reverse, the secret mark of the three-legged crow from the Dayan Imperial Observatory. And the blade of an assassin on a rainy night left him with just one message: "Wait until you return." While everyone thought he was merely a hostage at their mercy, he had already seen through the entire game from the shadows. A discarded pawn or the chosen one, call him what you will. He never wanted merely to survive. With eyes that could read the heavens, he would take every piece on this board into his own hands.
