Sixteen-year-old Lu Heng makes a living running errands in Chang'an. Eight years ago, he awoke in a white facility with memories of the modern world, only for a black sword to seize control of his body and kill the people who came near. He buried the sword outside the city and never dared touch it again. Then Chen Xiaoman, a girl he knew, was abducted. He tracked her to a human-trafficking depot, where he discovered that the traffickers were looking for children for a mysterious faction: born in the nineteenth year of Jingli, aged seven or eight, unregistered, with an unusual mark on the back of the neck. Every detail pointed to him. To save the people still alive, Lu Heng dug up the black sword and, for the first time, deflected its killing blow while fully conscious. Fang Ruzhi, an investigating official of the Court of Judicial Review, and Zhou Jiming of the Astronomical Observatory became involved. Beyond the Great Wall, the Heavenly Law Divine Court took notice once more of the
