The mental chess match between Zuo Yun Qi and the landlord doesn't end when season one does, it deepens, because now they're trapped knowing each other's patterns and still can't predict what comes next. The show understands that the funniest thing two brilliant people can do is fail to outsmart each other in increasingly elaborate ways, each trap triggering a counter-trap that was already waiting. Season two escalates the conspiracy they uncovered without losing what made the first one work: two people who should be enemies instead becoming the only ones in the room smart enough to see the real threat coming.

In the world of Daliang, people who die can wake with the souls of travelers from two thousand years ahead, and the imperial court has grown wary of them. Half a year after a massive explosion left Lou Zhu buried under a fallen mountain, the emperor moves to wipe out every time traveler. Meanwhile a radical group called the Pioneers, headed by Jiao Jiaoran, wages war on the throne with modern firearms and pushes the court's forces back toward the capital. Both sides want Lou Zhu, who is rumored to be healing somewhere in the martial arts world. Hiding within the Wulin League, he hopes to stage his own death and slip away, but assassins keep coming, and Zuo Yunqi stays at his side to guard him. This second season blends action, comedy and fantasy.