A Desolate Tune

Originally titled A Pact with My Archrival, the Powerful Minister

(Previously titled Like a Tiger, Like a Snake)

The political intrigue gets much stronger after Volume Two. Volume One leans toward mystery!

[Upright, tiger-like female martial artist x snake-like, self-deluding Minister of the Court of Judicial Review]

Fujin became a martial artist on a whim, partly because life left her little choice and partly because she wanted to live freely.

But fate was fickle, and fortune could bring misfortune. On what should have been a joyous day of joining the sect, the second earth-shattering news arrived: a royal notice announcing that her elder sister had been imprisoned.

Her sister had been a consort for years. Rumor had it she was the emperor's favorite, since the current emperor had never taken an empress.

Their parents had long since left to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Now that the neighbors who used to flatter them had heard the scandal surrounding the Fu family, they looked down on Fujin, left to fend for herself on the streets.

So be it. Fujin had no reason to care about the neighborhood, especially when no one had ever helped her.

Today she would go to the capital. With the sect leader clearing the way, she would make the road so treacherous that no one who came after her would dare set foot on it.

What did she care about imperial power or the afterlife? If there was a road ahead, she would use her martial arts to break through this absurdity!

/

But things got off to a bad start. She had barely sneaked into the palace when, instead of finding the sister who was waiting to be saved by her little sister, she ran into the famed "smooth operator," the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

Fujin was no delicate beauty with soft skin and a fragile constitution. She had fangs and claws of her own. At first glance, she decided this man was no honest official.

Unfortunately, she learned who he was too late. By the time she found out he was the powerful Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, feared for his ruthless decisiveness and responsible for her sister's major case, she had already offended him from head to toe.

Baili Qin prided himself on being no magnanimous man, but somehow he found her clumsy imitations and incisive questions more precious than gold.

A person who has enjoyed every luxury and honor in life will inevitably find it dull. Gold and silver are lifeless things, but people more precious than gold and silver are spirited and lively. Of course he would carefully appraise and collect such a treasure.

/

As they pushed and pulled at each other, behind the beaded curtain, clues were scattered like traces left by a hidden snake, with threads stretching for miles. One secret after another from the court and one bizarre tale after another from the martial world came to light.

"Help her fulfill her lofty ambitions, then make her suffer a cruel and untimely death."

"Who is this person who died and came back to life?"

"The west is where all things return, while the east is the cradle of all living beings."

The ruler would have his minister die, but the minister would have the ruler die, and live.

This ruler is not that ruler; this minister is no one but you.

You have power, and I have my life. We cannot bear to part, nor can we be separated.

Even if we stumble into someone else's inescapable trap,

With you and me together, why fear a setback? After surviving a catastrophe, we will find a way through.

Theme: Uphold justice, eliminate evil on behalf of the people, and follow your heart.