The Phoenix Roars Across the Nine Heavens: Nangong Shuyun

The snow in the twenty-third year of Yong'an was colder than the sandstorms of the northern frontier.

When Nangong Shuyun stepped through Vermilion Bird Gate in bloodstained black armor, the people of Chang'an had already forgotten that she was once the pearl in her father's palm. Ten years ago, the Prince of Zhenbei died in battle. In his place, she took command as a princess, enduring freezing nights and icy water at Yanmen Pass, crushing her delicate nature beneath her armor.

The iron-blooded princess who returned became a thorn in the new emperor's side and a "disaster" in the eyes of the powerful in-laws. The scorn at family banquets, the schemes in the palace, the open and hidden attacks at court: all sought to crush this "unruly" pawn.

But the blizzards of the northern frontier had taught her long ago: take one step back, and you fall into an abyss.

She used the flames of war on the border to reclaim military power, wielded a poor-born top scholar as a blade to cut open the festering sores of the court, and silenced the endless objections of the imperial clan with the tears of refugees. From her black armor pounding at the palace gates to blood staining the inner court, from ruling as regent to ascending the throne, she climbed step by step to a summit none dared approach, treading on suspicion and blood.

The dragon throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was piercingly cold. As she ran her fingers over the sword left behind by the Prince of Zhenbei, she finally understood those words

"The warmest thing in this world is the human heart. The coldest is an emperor's cloak."

Ten years of blood and iron had won her unrivaled power, but when the snow swept past the empty palace walls, she still had to ask herself: Was the cold at the summit the fulfillment of her promise to him, or her exile from herself?