The Hidden Emperor

In the first month of the Jingping era, the realm was shaken. General Zhao of the Great Zhou dynasty seized power in a palace coup, donned the yellow robe, and proclaimed himself emperor, founding a new dynasty named Song and vowing to usher in a new age. His one lingering headache: the young former emperor remains missing without a trace. Li Mingyi awakens in this world as that very fugitive sovereign—hunted across the land, hidden among the common folk. To his surprise, the world feels strangely familiar, eerily resembling an ancient-styled game he once completed. Armed with a trove of insider knowledge, he lifts his chin and strides toward the Song court. “I didn’t cross into this world to live as a runaway.” Princess Zhaoqing of the new dynasty has lately been both pleased and unsettled. Her newly recruited retainer, Li Mingyi, proves alarmingly capable—through nothing more than private conversations, he effortlessly draws civil ministers, military generals, nobles, grand cultivators, and even the royal court's female national advisor into her orbit. He constantly recommends talented officials and shows relentless zeal in rooting out the former dynasty's remnants. Yet she cannot shake the feeling that all these people look to him as their true leader—and the more they purge, the more remnants seem to appear. Meanwhile, her father the emperor's affliction grows worse by the day. Deciding she has had enough, she resolves to have a word with him.