Dragon Hidden in Broken Bones: The Guilty Minister's Bastard Son Settles the Realm

In the thirteenth year of Yong'an, the Marquis of Zhenbei was accused of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country. His entire household was sentenced to execution. His illegitimate son, Xiao Yanci, had his hands and feet crippled, his spiritual meridians ripped out, and was abandoned in a mass grave to die. As he lay on the brink of death, he was reborn with ten years of humiliation etched in his memory, returning to the marquis's manor three months before the verdict.

In his previous life, he had trusted his legitimate elder brother and his fiancée too easily. He watched his father and brother die before his eyes, the people along the border driven from their homes, treacherous ministers seize control of the court, and foreign enemies breach the nation's borders.

In this life, Xiao Yanci conceals his sharp edge and lies low, posing as a frail, disgraced son. Seeing through everyone's false masks, he exploits the rival factions at court, maneuvering carefully at every turn.

Within the manor, he settles accounts with the wolves lurking in its inner quarters, tearing into his treacherous elder brother and fiancée. Beyond its walls, he sees through the civil officials' plot to collude with the enemy, guards the northern frontier, and reclaims lost territory.

The world mocks him as weak and helpless, not knowing that a million troops lie within his breast and a vast realm fills his eyes. From a disgraced illegitimate son whom anyone could bully to the Duke of Dingguo, whose power shakes the court and who protects the realm, Xiao Yanci turns his battered bones into a blade and rewrites the fate of a fallen dynasty with his own hands.