Legend of Zang Hai

The empire is Da Yong (大雍). Real power sits with three men: the Marquis of Pingjin (平津侯), the leading general; the chief of the palace eunuchs; and a senior minister. All three are chasing the Gui Seal (癸玺), a legendary emblem of hidden power.

Kuai Duo (蒯铎) heads the Qintian Jian (钦天监, "Bureau of Astronomy"). After he uncovers something tied to the Seal, the Marquis has his household killed, fourteen people in all. Only the youngest son, Zhinu (稚奴), gets away, carried out by a masked stranger.

The boy spends ten years with three masters, then returns to the capital with a changed face and a new name, Zang Hai, hired as a feng shui master. Soon he is inside the household of the man who destroyed his family.

If you know Nirvana in Fire (琅琊榜), the shape is familiar. The difference is position: Mei Changsu arrives as a seasoned strategist at the centre of power, while Zang Hai arrives as a pawn with a narrow view of the board.

Da Yong is invented, though the makers imagined it in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The screenplay is original, but the hero's name and some props come from the Daomu Biji (盗墓笔记, "Grave Robbers' Chronicles") universe of the novelist Nanpai Sanshu (南派三叔).

The name Zang Hai (藏海) means roughly "hidden in the sea", and critics have traced it to a line by the Song poet Su Shi (苏轼) about one body hiding among ten thousand.

Chinese commentary praised the show for withholding shuang (爽, "satisfying"), the easy payoff of a revenge story, though critics named its coincidences. At the 31st Magnolia Awards (白玉兰奖) it had six nominations and won none.