Shen Yan, an orphan from Luoyun Township, wears a gray, unremarkable ancestral bone around his neck. Ever since he was old enough to remember, the bone has grown hot: when murderous intent draws near, and when a secret lies right before his eyes. His grandfather only ever said one thing: Don't ask. Then he was taken away and died in the capital.
With the hot bone in his possession, Shen Yan travels from the countryside to the capital. Starting with the investigation of an ironclad case, he gradually discovers that beneath the case lies iron, beneath the iron lies a mine, beneath the mine lies a mountain, and at the mountain's foot lies a pillar that has bound everyone in the realm for a thousand years.
This is not a story about cultivating power and leveling up. Shen Yan can't fight, and his legs are always shaking. What he relies on is a pair of eyes that can "see through things," an account book that can make sense of the whole realm, and a group of people willing to take a blade for him: Wen Zhiyu, who brews medicine; Shitou, who chews steamed buns; the sword fanatic carrying a cracked sword; the emperor's uncle, crouched in the shadow of the palace gates; Wei Chenyuan, trapped in a ruined temple for twenty years; and Ye Jinghan, gripping a knife to settle his debts for him.
He investigates and overturns things along the way. He topples Chancellor Zheng, topples Cui Yan, and topples the entire web of "rules" that has bound the people of the realm. But in the end, he never becomes emperor or the greatest under heaven. He even shatters the meteorite bone at the back of his neck, returning to an ordinary man who gets winded carrying half a sack of rice.
He returns to the courtyard and squats by the well to wash dishes. One bowl has a chipped rim, and every time he reaches that spot, he scrubs it twice more. Wen Zhiyu hangs medicine out to dry, Shitou chops firewood, and Bao Diting tells stories beyond the wall. His son, Shen Li, walks out through the city gate with a bundle on his back. From atop the city wall, Shen Yan calls out, "If you get hungry, come back for a meal."
This is a political intrigue novel about how one person finds his own path on someone else's chessboard. It is about how a bone stayed hot along the way, how it shattered, and how it held up someone who was still standing.
Before writing this book, I thought for a long time about what I wanted to tell you. Then I thought, let's talk about three things. First, this is not a cool book. The protagonist Shen Yan does not know martial arts from beginning to end. His legs would shake, his mouth would be poor, and when being chased and beaten, he would run faster than anyone else. He has no system, no chance encounters, and no "three-year period has come" counterattack. He went from an orphan nibbling cold sweet potatoes by the stove, to the Jinluan Palace, to the outside of the pass, and to a pillar that had locked everyone in the world for a thousand years - not with his fists, but with a pair of eyes, an account, and a group of people who were willing to shield him from the knife. So if you open this book and want to see the protagonist punching powerful people, stepping on villains, and leveling up to fight monsters along the way - you may be disappointed. Second, this is a slow-burning book. It's not in a hurry. The first volume starts from Luoyu Township, the second volume goes to the capital, the third volume goes to Qingwu Mountain, and the fourth volume leaves the customs. Shen Yan walked step by step, peeling off the case layer by layer, burning the bones step by step. It won't give you a huge twist in the third chapter, nor will it make you so happy that you slam the table in the fifth chapter. What it gives is something that has been accumulated slowly. It was the three words that Chen Buyi spelled before he died. It was the words that the emperor's uncle squatted in front of the door at the age of sixteen. It was the break that Wei Chen Yuan had been waiting for for twenty years. It was the words that Shen Yan shouted on the city wall when Shen Li walked out of the city gate with his baggage on his back, "I'm hungry, come back to eat." These things cannot be rushed. If you rush it, it won't taste the same. The third thing is that I wrote this book to say one thing. In this world, some things are locked. What locks people is not chains, but "rules." The rules tell you that you can only go so far, you are not good enough, you are not worthy, so stop dreaming. Over a thousand years, many people have believed, knelt down, and accepted their fate. Shen Yan didn't believe it. His legs were shaking as he walked all the way, falling, being scared, and having his bones broken. But he never knelt. What I want to write about is how a person breaks the rope bit by bit in an invisible net. By the last chapter, he had no martial arts skills, no power, and was squatting by the well washing dishes. There was a gap on the edge of the bowl, so every time he washed it, he would rub it twice more. This is what I want to say: standing still is more important than anything else. Finally, thank you for opening this book. It is not long, with 430 chapters and over one million words. It's not perfect, it has its faults and thresholds. But if you are willing to follow Shen Yan all the way, you will remember him. I remember the way he squatted in front of the pillar, his bones broken, and he used his hands to gather the powder. Remember, he didn't kneel from beginning to end. ——Author under the lamp