One day when Emperor Qianlong leads his royal officials and Queen to pray in a temple, the entire group is ambushed by rebels of a "Sun-moon cult", which includes many powerful martial art warriors such as the cult leader's son Zhong Liang and Zi Xia. Luckily, no one's life is in peril, but this attempted assassination startles Emperor Qianlong's fav pregnant Queen so she takes a herbal-medicine from a royal doctor to calm down, yet she dies due to poisoning from the medicine. Therefore, Qianlong is furious about this tragedy and makes an order to investigate this matter. At the same time, a local rebellion is happening in China that troubles Qianlong, and he has a suspicion about his concubines conspiring with royal officials. Hence for the sake of the country, Qianlong decides to travel to Jiang Nan to get a better understanding of the people and inspect the royal courts. He brings with him his bodyguard E Rong An, scholar Ji Xiao Lan and Lian Er, who previously was the Queen's maid.