After conspiring with a conniving fox demon to kill the emperor and seize power, King Zhou reigns as a tyrant so brutal that he incurs the wrath of Heaven. In a final attempt to save the mortal world from desperate peril, the gods decide to intervene and invest in an unlikely champion brave enough to challenge the evil king—even if it may cost him everything.
(Source: WellGoUSA)
Adapted loosely from the novel "The Investiture of God".
The story is set during the period of the Chinese economic reform from 1978 until 1992 and the three men who relentlessly push the boundaries amidst trying times.
Song Yunhui is highly intelligent but he has always been discriminated against due to his background. He grabs the chance to take the exams in 1978 and successfully becomes a qualified technician. However, just as he builds a foundation for his career, he also begins to lose himself in his thirst to climbs the ranks.
Completely different from Song Yunhui is his brother-in-law Lei Dongbao. Being raised in a poor family, he is the typical rough and gruff man from the rural village. During the time of economic reform, he becomes a leader that the other villagers look up to, yet his lack of education ultimately impedes his initial motivations.
Yang Xun on the other hand brings a different set of encounters. He aspires to be a self-made man as he rides the tide of change to find business opportunities, thus embarking on a road to becoming an entrepreneur.
During the tragic Tangshan earthquake in 1976, Li Yuan Ni finds her twins, daughter Fang Deng and son Da Feng, buried under a giant slab of concrete. Rescue workers inform Yuan Ni that she has to chose between the twins, because as soon as one child is extracted the other will perish. Terrified Yuan Ni, who already lost her husband in the earthquake, finally choose her son Da Feng.
Unknown to those at the chaotic scene, daughter Fang Deng overhears her mother making the choice and then is left mistakenly for dead. Several days later, Fang Deng is pulled from the rubble by another rescue team who thinks she is a dead corpse at first. Traumatized to the point that Fang Deng refuses to speak she is eventually adopted by a middle aged couple.
Years later, the mother Yuan Ni is still haunted by her decision and refuses to leave her home when her now successful businessman son returns to Tangshan. Yuan Ni believes she must stay in the home to guide the spirits of her husband and daughter back home. Meanwhile, Fang Deng grows up as Wang Deng, but still, harbors anger and bitterness at her mother's decisions.
Now in 2008, another devastating earthquake strikes the city of Sichuan. Fang Deng travels to the devastated city as a volunteer. There she overhears another volunteer tell the story of his mother's anguish over a decision made during the 1976 Tangshan earthquake involving himself and his twin sister ...