In 1943, as the Anti-Japanese War nears its climax, the brutal Imperial Army launches a massive “sweep” across the Yimeng Mountains of Shandong. Outnumbered but unbroken, a regiment of the Eighth Route Army stands its ground. Amid fire and chaos, soldiers and villagers join forces in a desperate struggle for survival — and deliver a stunning counterblow that turns the tide of the invasion.

In the 1980s Hu Bayi, Wang Kaixuan and Shirly Yang return to the northeast of China, where they were once stationed in the countryside to attend the wedding of their friend Yanzi.

Judge Dee investigates a conspiracy involving a dangerous elixir and supernatural chaos, ultimately exposing a rebel general who used the elixir as a pretext for plotting a military coup against the Empress Wu Zetian.