The Golden Stone Cipher

In the winter of the first year of Xingyuan, a string of bizarre murders shook Chang'an. Wang Yan, an official in the Ministry of Rites, and Chen Yan, a gentleman of the Ministry of War, were killed one after another. At each scene, a single character written in the style of Yan Zhenqing was left behind: "Rites" and "Map." Yan Lugong had died for his country three months earlier, yet his calligraphy had become a code for murder.

Li Shu and Pei Minghui, Yan Zhenqing's adopted daughter, followed the clues and uncovered a complete espionage network known as the "Sixfold Cipher Method." Its operators were the eunuch faction in the palace and the peace faction at court. Working together, they were eliminating their rivals and plotting to sell out the Four Anxi Garrisons. Their next target was the eminent general Li Sheng, whose achievements had become a threat to the throne.

Li Shu was torn between loyalty to the emperor and adherence to the Way. Exposing the truth would send shock waves through the court, but staying silent would mean watching the realm's territory fall into enemy hands. Before his own name was crossed off on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, he had to use the brush of "Uphold Righteousness" left behind by Yan Zhenqing to decipher the identity behind the final codename, "Vermilion Bird." In the shadows left unrecorded in the history books, he would make one last stand for the bedrock of civilization and the integrity of the scholar-officials.