Couple: A fierce, common-born orphan woman × a noblewoman from a prestigious family | Enemies become empresses, mutual salvation, one-on-one romance, happy ending
This is neither a fluffy romance nor a political intrigue story without romance.
It is a sweeping tale of two women driven to desperation, falling in love as they join forces to fight for the world amid the chaos of war.
In the final years of the Great Jin, the court is corrupt and crumbling, foreign powers threaten from beyond the borders, and rebel armies rise across the land.
But the cruelest irony of a chaotic age is that the young dragon slayer will one day be swept up in fame and fortune and become a new dragon.
Lu Jin | A fierce commander who rose from humble beginnings, commander of the Kai Shan Army's Lightning Division
She bears the empty title of the Heavenly King's adopted daughter, but has no land, no provisions, and no power base.
With the weakest forces and pushed aside at every turn, she is merely a benevolent figurehead for the rebel army.
At first, all she wants is not power over the realm, but to protect the brothers from her hometown who have followed her along the way.
But in a time of chaos, no one gets to choose their own path. Fate drives her from a lowly existence in the mire to the pinnacle of power.
Xie Heng | The chief councilor's legitimate daughter, defender of a besieged city
Born into one of the greatest noble families, she is proud and unyielding, yet fate has placed her in the dying days of a chaotic age.
Xunzhou has been besieged for three months. Supplies have run out, and the whole city is on the brink.
She cares deeply for her country and its people, yet ends up abandoned by all: her closest kin die defending the city, and her name is stained with infamy.
The noble clans of the realm abandon her, the court condemns her, and the times betray her.
Only Lu Jin, who stands on the opposite side from where she came, keeps her promise and comes to her aid, protecting both her and the people of the city.
One is a fierce commander who clawed her way out of a mountain of corpses and seas of blood.
The other is a noblewoman shaped by a scholarly family and its upright traditions.
Their allegiances are opposed by nature, and their status is worlds apart.
Their first meeting is a contest of schemes; every step they take together is a test.
They distrust and check one another, born rivals and each other's only salvation.
They entrust each other with their hearts amid the flames of war, and have each other's backs in the game of political intrigue.
She fights to find her a place in the chaotic world, while the other stands with her to defend thousands of miles of land.
The political intrigue stays sharp throughout, and the romance avoids manufactured sweetness.
There is no love at first sight, only two people surviving together in desperate circumstances and slowly finding their way to each other.
Rival factions, the Heavenly King's suspicions, and enemies on all sides: every step is a trap, and every step they take together.
Two women in a time of chaos, beginning as adversaries and ending as companions who share the realm.
Theme: Let love transcend boundaries, and weather the rise and fall of a chaotic age together
