On the streets of Xianyang, the young Li Mo witnesses an attack on the prime minister's carriage. A mysterious ghost mask is left behind at the scene. Thanks to his photographic memory, he traces the assassin's movements, only to uncover a mole in the imperial guards. While investigating an abandoned mansion at night, he nearly gets silenced, but a blind old beggar saves him and gives him half a jade pendant. The pendant turns out to conceal a map to a treasure from the previous dynasty, drawing the attention of the Censor-in-Chief. The First Emperor falls gravely ill, Zhao Gao seizes power, and the court is thrown into turmoil. Li Mo realizes he has become entangled in a shocking conspiracy. Poison courses through his left arm, and his life hangs by a thread. An old friend of his mentor points him toward a cure, and Li Mo resolves to uncover the truth. He lays a network of informants across the city, befriends a street urchin named Xiao Liu, and follows the trail to a fangshi and the secrets of the Crown Prince's residence. With plots brewing and danger lurking at every turn, he proceeds with caution, unraveling the century-old mystery of the Shadow Pavilion through political intrigue and deduction.
