Martial Emperor Xiao Yi had risen with sword in hand amid chaotic times and founded Northern Li. More than two hundred years later, under Emperor Tai'an, the nation stood strong, and all four directions came to pay homage.
Northern Li prospered and flourished, yet beneath this peaceful realm, dark currents churned.
Fifteen years ago, Northern Que and Western Chu were successively destroyed by Northern Li, their territories absorbed into Northern Li's rule.
Some surviving people of Northern Que fled north and rebuilt their power beyond the ice plains, intending to restore their nation. The former people of Western Chu, meanwhile, completely assimilated into Northern Li.
The Yan Clan, once a great clan of Western Chu, had through years of development become one of the two powerful forces in Northern Li's Southwestern Circuit, standing in rivalry with the Gu Clan, an aristocratic family native to Northern Li.
In the autumn of Taihe's fifteenth year, Northern Li had enjoyed twenty years of peace, yet undercurrents stirred in the martial world. The Gu and Yan Clans fought for supremacy in the Southwestern Circuit, each claiming victories and suffering defeats.
Now, Gu Luoli, the head of the Gu Clan, had been brutally murdered. No one had expected this upheaval in the Southwestern Circuit to mark the beginning of chaos across the realm.
Yan Bietian, head of the Yan Clan, took advantage of the Gu Clan's lack of a leader and forcibly sought a marriage alliance with Gu Jianmen, the Gu Clan's second young master.
Storm clouds gathered, and forces from every side began to stir...
Such was the martial world; so too was the imperial court.
Tianqi, the center of power in Northern Li, held a lavish residence bearing the inscription: Prince Jingyu's Residence.
In the rear garden of the residence, a refined young