The Blood Pact of Longchang

Historical fiction Political intrigue Yi culture Replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials Native chieftain system The final years of the Ming Dynasty Female protagonist Family feuds Secrets of witchcraft Frontier politics During the Wanli era, the Bozhou Rebellion had just been put down, and the imperial court's blade of “replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials” hung over the heads of Guizhou's chieftains. At the coming-of-age ceremony of Aji, the legitimate daughter of the Xixuan Pacification Commissioner, a charred piece of wood revealed a terrifying secret behind the Longchang Post Station fire thirty years earlier: the iron deed of hereditary privilege bestowed by the founding emperor could only be unlocked with the heart's blood of a direct descendant. An assassination began that very night. Imperial censor Zhang Heming arrived with a secret edict, only to discover that his own father was also implicated in the bloodshed. From an ambush on the Sancha River to a blood oath at a witchcraft pool, from a night banquet at the Pacification Commissioner's residence to the sacred wood cliff in Miao territory, a deadly struggle of intrigue, betrayal, and cultural survival suddenly unfolded. With the full moon drawing near, would Aji become the sacrifice needed to unlock her family's treasure, or seize control of her own fate before Xixuan fell apart? The choice of this noble Yi woman would decide the future of thousands of miles of Guizhou.