In an alternate Tang Dynasty China, aspiring royal alchemist Zilan, who has the ability to resurrect the dead, arrives in the capital to compete against the best alchemists in the country and becomes drawn into the dangerous political games of the royal family.

Discovered practicing alchemy by apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash must help her find a sacred text of extraordinary power--a journey that forces him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he will go to seize it. For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime. Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic, so when Ash is rejected by the Lancaster Mage's College, he takes a job as the school's groundskeeper instead,...