They possessed a title that could be passed down through generations, but they were not nobles. Their family’s ancestry was long and illustrious, yet they were not powerful. The current scion of the family believed he had secured his employment for a lifetime by inheriting the position that had been passed down from his forefathers. However, this prison chief of a yamen, a government establishment, had his little world unexpectedly thrown on its head by a swindler acting like a mystical being. Thus, a tyrant who could cover the sky was created.

Yang Ling1 was known as Yang the Beheader, and Yang Fan2 was known as the Plague Doctor, but our protagonist was dubbed with many names, the Insane Dianshi3, the Dickhead Prefectural Judge, Night Emperor… Every one of those nicknames represents his legend.

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1 Yang Ling is the main character of one of Yue Guan’s early works called 回到明朝当王爷之杨凌传 which can be loosely translated as Return to Ming Dynasty as a prince : Yang Ling’s biography. It’s still a very popular novel which will be turned into a TV series due to be out on 2017 under the title of Royal Highness.

2 Yang Fan is the main character of another one of Yue Guan’s novels called zuì zhěn jiāngshān (醉枕江山). In fact, it’s the previous complete work before Night Emperor. It’s a historical novel similar to Night Emperor.

3 It’s an unranked government post which is outside of the nine rank system in the imperial officialdom and tasked with various miscellaneous jobs.