The Heavenly Trigram Breaks the Dream

Cool, obsessive prophet Dao Ji × domineering, unruly general Chen Yu

Love at first sight + mild stalking, political intrigue + the martial world + identity reversals + mild mystery

Dao Ji, a celestial master of the Shaoyang Sect, lived in seclusion to hide a scandal involving a cat being switched for the crown prince. But after his beloved teacher passed away, he could not defy the imperial decree and had to leave his seclusion to serve as the Northern Dynasty's national preceptor.

The stable hand leading his horse was Chen Yu, the imperial guard commander and the most powerful minister at court. Having been impeached three times for his arrogance and bullying, he was ordered by the emperor to reflect on his conduct. Unwillingly, he escorted Dao Ji to a palace banquet.

From a valiant general who had fought the enemy across the frontier to the most powerful minister in the court, Chen Yu had made the climb in just three years. He accepted bribes, confiscated property, killed people, drank at brothels, and skipped court. His infamy was widespread, and everyone called him the emperor's most obedient dog.

No one remembered the twenty thousand soldiers who died in Beizhou under his command. In the Battle of Chishui, almost the entire Beichen camp had been wiped out, all to secure a peace treaty with Yimeng. His father, his sworn sister, his sworn brother, and his deputy general had never come back.

Chen Yu believed in neither ghosts nor gods, and revered neither immortals nor Buddhas. Yet he happened to meet Dao Ji, a divine fortune-teller whose skill at divination seemed to reach the heavens.

Chen Yu fell in love with him at first sight. The more time they spent together, the more he realized that the national preceptor, who seemed noble and aloof, was actually obsessive and evasive, just a bull-nosed little Daoist!

What others did not know was that Dao Ji, despite his youth, was plagued by nightmares. Even with the Plum Blossom Celestial Divination, he still walked into a vast plot laid out for him by the Heavenly Dao.

Chen Yu was the worldly trial he would eventually have to face. Dao Ji himself had drawn Chen Yu into the grudges of the previous dynasty.

The chosen one of the current dynasty, the orphan of a fallen battlefield soul: they were truly a match made in heaven, brought together by the will of the Heavenly Dao.

Later, Chen Yu's old case dragged Dao Ji into the affair, and he was thrown into prison. Using the Plum Blossom Celestial Divination to expose the conspiracy, the young national preceptor joined hands with Chen Yu to uncover old court cases and clear one wrong after another.

[Plot Highlights]: A sword wound treated at a blacksmith's shop in Jinling, negotiations with a great army at a frontier camp, a wrongful imprisonment and a secret investigation into an old case involving the great clans of Beizhou, and royal secrets about twin princes.

[Scene 1:]

Dao Ji's junior nephew: Our martial uncle doesn't read fortunes for people lightly. He's too accurate, and it can cost him his life.

Chen Yu: How about the reading you did for me last time?

Dao Ji: ...It cost me my life.

[Scene 2:]

Chen Yu's sworn brother: A male sister-in-law is still a sister-in-law, but why do my sister-in-law's eyes look so foggy? Can he see where he's going?

Chen Yu: All that fortune-telling has made his eyesight poor.

Chen Yu's sworn brother: That's true. Anyone who isn't blind wouldn't fall for you.

Dao Ji: ...I can see.

A few content notes:

1. The hero is a new arrival who steals the heroine's childhood sweetheart. There is a same-sex rivalry.

2. Both leads have admirers, and both have some personality issues.

3. Mild coercion.

4. Dual POV, with plenty from the hero's perspective, about 30% (possibly).

5. The plot makes up about 50%.

Theme: I decide my own fate, not Heaven.