Locked in the Blood Oath

In 548 BC, after assassinating Duke Zhuang of Qi, the usurper Cui Zhu forces a blood oath of loyalty upon the court in the Grand Ancestral Temple. An earthquake seals the temple, trapping twenty-one people—including the righteous Yan Ying. A hidden killer begins to murder them one by one, each death mirroring the circumstances of Duke Zhuang’s own murder and exposing the violent secrets each person carries. As the body count rises, Yan Ying must unravel a web of vengeance that reveals how Cui Zhu’s coup did not end conflict but ignited a hidden cycle of hatred, binding them all in blood.