Chronicle of the Fallen Phoenix

[Feel-good power fantasy + strong female lead + female-led political intrigue + women's growth + historical palace intrigue + no groveling after men + a heroine who grows on the battlefield] I am the most formidable empress in the land. The emperor respects me, the empress dowager fears me, and the consort is constantly plotting to kill me. The Protector-General is my father, a founding hero is my grandfather, and the old madam is my grandmother. The damned emperor is my childhood sweetheart and former lover. A foreign emperor gifts me treasures to curry favor, while the empress of the Western Regions speaks to me with affection. Everyone in the realm knows that I, Ye Youning, am surrounded by glory and peerless in splendor. But they do not know that the street-side slap and the whip I used to knock off a crown years ago did not earn me the crowd's cheers. Instead, they brought me a military order exiling me to the frontier. Everyone in the realm knows that I, Ye Youning, embody the dignity of the phoenix and am the most beloved woman in the six palaces. But they do not know that, sent on a mission abroad, I was left at death's door in a foreign land, my bones broken and my title stripped away. From that moment on, Empress Ye ceased to exist. But so what? I returned from the brink of death, took the name Ye Zhi, and came back to the capital. “I once ruled the six palaces. Now, I seek only to defend a measure of justice in this world.” Once pushed into the abyss, in this life I will break the deadlock and be reborn through my own efforts, then return in triumph! “My name is Ye Zhi. I am both a blade of grass and a spark. They destroyed my throne, so I will set the people's hearts ablaze.” The heroine is resilient, brilliant, and resourceful. She saves others and herself, breaks through deadlocks, and challenges fate. A thrilling tale of a deposed empress reborn, taking on corrupt officials, tearing apart the political order, and protecting the people.