Hua Qiangu: Zhaozhao Burns Bright as Snow Buries the Red Begonias

At the pinnacle of power in the Liehuo Empire sits a ruthless Grand Princess. Her name is Zhaolie, and she is also a former demon god reborn.

Revenge is her stepping stone, and power is her armor. She rules a mighty empire with an iron fist, while imprisoning herself on an unforgiving throne.

His shadow is always three steps behind her. No one knows where he came from; they only know that he follows her like a shadow.

He shed his white robes as an Immortal Venerable, concealed his identity for twenty years, and willingly became her silent shield and invisible blade.

She resists his protection and ignores all he has done for her. He bears her resentment and suppresses the feelings surging inside him.

When her chronic illness takes hold and her life hangs by a thread, he resolutely takes her away from the vortex of power and confines her within a barrier on an immortal mountain.

A little tower, cut off from the world.

One stubbornly risks her life to break free of every restraint.

The other silently gives everything he has, trying to hold on to the last wisp of her soul.

What they shed is more than finery: it is layer upon layer of defenses. The silver needles pierce not only her ailing body, but also a love and hatred, a guilt and a punishment, spanning two lifetimes, too painful to speak of. In this cage of stillness, the struggle for power pauses, leaving two souls covered in wounds.

Power is her new garment, and her prison; the shadow is his disguise, and his shackles.

Within the immortal mountain's barrier, she is frail with illness, while he is tortured by worry. Silence is their last language, and touch their only battlefield.

Reborn beneath a blood moon, their obsession remains. He defies Heaven to protect her soul; she fights for life by embracing death. This game of chess has no solution, only obsession remains.

Zhaozhao burns bright, snow covers the red crabapple blossoms.