After dying in a modern car accident, Gu Lan awakens in Jing Nation, a world of cultivators and celestial prophecies that he has found out to be the world of a novel he partially read. Luckily, he’s armed with two advantages.

1) A "Scholar’s System" that rewards reading and writing—reciting poetry grants cultivation years, and composing stories unlocks martial insights. Another major way to get system points to change the destiny of the characters.

2) Fragmented memories of the novel’s plot, where a tyrannical Empress and a rebel protagonist clash.

Determined to avoid the plot’s carnage, Gu Lan settles in a remote city as a humble scholar. But fate laughs at his plans when he meets Mu Yuyan—a woman of ethereal beauty and quiet grace—at a temple fair. Their love blooms like spring cherry blossoms, and within months, they marry.

There’s just one problem.

Mu Yuyan is actually the reigning Empress, who temporarily leaves the capital (but still reigns the nation) due to a prophecy: "Only by living as a mortal can the nation’s doom be averted." Disguised as a merchant’s daughter, she seeks to break the heavens’ decree… initially unaware her new husband has knowledge of her world’s future.