In the misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River in the thirteenth year of Yongning, Shen Yan, a failed scholar, would not have thought that the half of a blood-stained jade cicada glimpsed in front of the pawnshop would tear into pieces the sage books he had studied hard for twenty years. The jade relics of the execution ground hide the map of the twelve cities in the northwest, the chilong pendant of the black emissary bears the hidden pattern of the East Palace, and the sound of the flute played by the hermit in the bamboo forest can summon the stars and fireflies - all the clues point to the old conspiracy ten years ago.
From the banks of the Qinhuai River to the isolated city of Dunhuang, Shen Yan uncovered a bloody mystery amidst camel bells and wolf smoke: the articles in the examination room cannot match the ink pen of a noble family, and the true heart of a general cannot escape the lips and tongues of the temple. When he replaced "Analects of Confucius" with "Wei Liao Zi" and used jade cicada patterns to decipher Hu Qi's formation, he finally saw the truth reflected on the thin blade of the cicada's wings - someone wanted to use the beacon fire in the north to burn through the lining of this splendid dynasty.
On the day when the cicadas chirped and the fortress was built, the ink-colored landscape of mountains and rivers slowly unfolded. Can the pen of a poor counselor write a new chapter in history in iron and blood?
Intention: Counterattack