Blood-Red Yaoguang

A wooden chopstick pierced straight through his throat.

In a pool of blood, someone gasped out a deadly rumor

There are still survivors in the Yu Prince's residence...

In the early years of the Dingguo era, the powerful minister Gao Tai seized control of the court. Taxes were as cruel as blades, and border troubles burned like fire. Loyal officials were falsely accused, and the bloodshed at the old Yu Prince's residence was branded an act of treason. From then on, no one dared speak of it.

Eighteen years later, Xiao Jingran returned to Lanzhou in Jiangnan.

He had honed his hatred into a web: none of the eight assassins would escape their reckoning.

But he sought more than vengeance.

There was an apothecary in Lanzhou, Lin Yaohua.

She was bright and brazen, always determined to win. She verbally sparred with every talented young man in the city, yet could turn around and deliver a bag of incense or a dose of medicine to the sick in the southern part of town.

She didn't know that the "safety charm" she always wore was anything but safe. Hidden inside was a pair of phoenix-blood jades, twin pieces of the same origin. They could quietly "point the way" in the dark, and in a certain moment, a phantom phoenix could illuminate the ruins.

When the Chishui River in the southern part of town dried up, its mud cracked like knife wounds and its dark red, murky water looked like clotted blood;

When alchemy dregs turned into deadly poison and murder cases rolled out of the riverbed like a tangled ball of thread;

When a "water ghost" was executed in silence, and even the mud beneath his fingernails became evidence

Xiao Jingran finally realized that the waters of Lanzhou led not to a single case, but to a hand capable of turning the tides.

He drew her into the game, but she wasn't in a hurry to believe in "fate."

She wanted to know instead:

Why her, of all people?

Why would those people rather let the whole city fall ill than allow one name to be revealed?

And why was the person who treated her like a "princess" so perfect it felt like a carefully rehearsed performance?

The truth isn't the end. It's another kind of execution.

When friends turn against each other and benefactors become blades; when "heaven's decree" becomes a prize everyone fights over; when the answer you've fought so hard to seize demands that you burn the evidence with your own hands

Do you want revenge, or the throne?

Do you want redemption, or will you learn to use lies to claim your crown?

[Reading Guide]

1. Not a conventional power fantasy with a strong female lead, and not a conventional sweet romance! Everyone is unhinged, and the moral shades are very dark.

2. The leads in the early part: bickering enemies and detective partners. Later: co-conspirators in crime and political allies.

3. The ending is deeply shocking, the logic is airtight, and there are many clues and foreshadowing. Be sure to read to the end!

[Content Notes]

Strong suspense and airtight logic | Multiple storylines | Psychological battles and political maneuvering (slow burn, but packed with twists)

#RevengeAndRetribution #MysteryAndInvestigation #CourtIntrigue #EveryoneIsEvil #LiesAndFate #CharacterGrowth #LoveRivalry

Theme: This is not the end