At the Dawn of the Republic

King Li of Zhou, Ji Hu, had suffered repeated defeats in foreign wars. The root cause was a depleted treasury, which left his armies weak. He therefore introduced a monopoly system, funneling all private wealth into the state treasury. This sparked widespread discontent and criticism among the people. To silence them, King Li summoned Wei Wu to use sorcery to spy on them. Before long, the roadside trees in Haojing were crowded with black crows placed there by the sorcerers. When people ventured outside, they dared only to signal one another with their eyes. At that time, the reclusive mage Yu Qiusheng, who lived in Luoyi, received a secret letter telling him to hurry to Haojing...