On the night of national mourning, Xie Zhao, a centurion in the border army, is thrust onto the throne, while the true crown prince dies in a carefully engineered coup. Shen Zhiwei, a female court official, uses celestial signs as her blade and quietly sets her plans in motion. The broken saber in the mute soldier Xiao Yuanlang's hand holds the last truth about the crown prince. When Chief Councillor Pei Jingzhou's cavalry closes in and Empress Dowager Chu's prophecies fill the skies, Xie Zhao finally realizes that this realm is not his to inherit, but to take back. He has neither rank nor power, and can only carve a path in blood. And Shen Zhiwei's secret is bound to him by blood.
