Xiao Che jolted awake to the cold gleam of a blade at the executioner's block, only to find himself inside the old-school political intrigue novel The Phoenix and the Owl: Chaos in Troubled Times, as the cannon-fodder general who dies in the opening chapter! In the original story, this brute is sent to the execution ground by the icy, beautiful Empress Feng Zhaoming, also known as the Black Phoenix Emperor, for “growing too powerful for the throne to control.” With death just inches away, Xiao Che's quick wits kicked in. He roared, his voice forged in blood and battle: “Through a hundred battles, our armor is pierced by yellow sand!” The verse rang out like thunder, stunning the crowd and making the deep-set eyes of the Black Phoenix Emperor in her carriage suddenly freeze.
“What are the next two lines?” The empress's voice was as cold as a blade, yet her question gave him a sliver of hope.
Seizing that glimmer, Xiao Che began his counterattack amid the whirlpool of power and the narrow confines of fate. He was no longer a brute, but a lethal weapon infused with a modern soul! A virulent plague breaks out in the military camp? He uses modern public health principles and his extensive knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine to trace its source, isolate the infected, and administer treatment, turning the tide. The border army's gunpowder is weak? Drawing on his knowledge of chemistry, he improves the formula and personally builds the era's first “palm-thunder” bombs and demolition charges. He also forms the “Shadowguard,” armed with modern special-operations tactics, and its first appearance is enough to strike terror into the enemy.
