The Desolate Game of Go

When Cheng An stepped into the desolate Demon Realm, she held the empress’s secret order in her hand, with four teammates at her side, each harboring their own agenda. On the surface, they seemed devoted to one another. Behind the scenes, they were all plotting. Zeming, the cool and stern lord of Vermilion Bird City, wanted to use her status as a princess to open a path between the two realms and fulfill his ambition to unite the Nine Provinces. Bai Yu, a half-demon healer, saw her as a stepping stone to escape her fate as a medicinal test subject. Bai Fang, the seemingly gentle young lord of Shennong City, only wanted to use the mission to leave the city that held him captive for good. The naive, talkative young woman Xuan Wu bore a dangerous soul-based witchcraft, and was a hidden pawn planted by the queen of Blackwater City. And Cheng An herself hid a blood feud and a secret mission she had to complete. This was a meticulously laid political chess game. Everyone was a pawn, and everyone thought they were the player. From testing one another to entrusting their lives to one another, they faced: Losing all their powers in an underwater illusion, with no choice but to entrust their backs to an “enemy”; Confronting a thousand-year-old conspiracy in the empty city of Shennong, forced to expose one another’s deepest wounds; Seeing the shameful pasts and desperate desires in each other’s memories with their own eyes in the Blackwater Mirror Realm… Until the day of the final battle, when the mastermind laughed aloud: “Look at you, you fools, using one another!” But Cheng An stepped in front of them all, her swordlight reflected in four equally resolute faces. Later, Bridge City stood between the two realms. Someone asked how those five young people, each harboring their own agenda, had made it this far. Cheng An looked at those beside her: Her best friend, treating demon beasts while still remembering to glare at her for not taking her medicine on time; Her lover, reviewing Vermilion Bird City’s documents while naturally taking the chores from her hands; Her sworn sibling, sending specialties from the merfolk and ingenious blueprints from afar; And her little sister, rushing over in a noisy flurry and proudly presenting her improved, harmless witchcraft. She only smiled. “Perhaps because, in the end, we all chose to believe in the better selves who were willing to believe in one another.” Reader’s Guide: 1. A powerful team, with equal emphasis on political intrigue and romance, from love and mutual antagonism to risking their lives for one another. 2. A fantasy ensemble cast. All five members of the team have complete character arcs, and none are mere plot devices. 3. Romantic tension: The genuine feelings that grow amid all the scheming are the most devastating of all. The male lead falls first and confesses first. 4. A fully realized world, with many clues revealed layer by layer, and a happy ending. 5. A healing theme: Even when things are riddled with schemes and scars from the start, walking side by side can bring true friends and love, and help you make peace with the world. Theme: The greater good of the nation comes before personal feelings.