Zhou Lingfeng, the once-mighty Crown Prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was falsely accused of treason—his very brilliance making him a target. His mother, the Empress, died unjustly; his meridians shattered; and he was forced to feign crippled legs before being exiled to Mangcheng—a treacherous southern frontier city plagued by deadly miasmas, rife with internal strife, and teeming with hidden enemies. Trapped in utter despair, he faces court conspiracies, local warlords’ oppression, and foreign spies’ relentless probing.