Ruling the Mountains and Rivers

[Next up: Reborn to Seize Heaven's Mandate]

*

Xu Angui was ambushed as soon as he left the city, losing three thousand elite cavalrymen.

Only after paying a heavy price to reach the Lingshan garrison did he learn that the person on Muyu Mountain had set the whole thing up.

He led his men back to camp, only to fall into another one of her traps.

Having narrowly escaped death, Xu Angui thought that Ji Liang was an interesting woman.

She actually dared to lay a series of traps right under his nose and flaunt her wits to him.

Xu Angui liked people like her. The road ahead of him was a bottomless abyss, and he needed a blade like her to clear a path through the world.

He climbed Muyu Peak and joined Ji Liang in plotting to rule the realm.

But he sensed that the force behind Ji Liang harbored ambitions far greater and more mysterious than he could imagine.

Xu Angui: "All we want is those four words: 'Heaven's justice is impartial.' Eight years ago, the military clans ran rampant, so they were wiped out. Heaven was the one who wiped them out. Today, the civil officials abuse their power to bully others, and Heaven is the one who will destroy them. We're only acting as swords in Heaven's hand, carrying out Heaven's justice."

Heaven's justice?

Heaven's impartial justice?

Hahahaha...

Ji Liang threw her head back and laughed silently, her stomach cramping with laughter.

A beast about to break free from its cage lurked in her blood-red eyes.

Why must the blood of other families be spilled to write the story of impartial justice under the Xu dynasty?

Why can the Xu dynasty claim the right to wield the sword and carry out Heaven's justice?

Who gave you that right?

And who gets to judge who deserves to die and who doesn't?

[Revenge-seeking girl x peerless prince. The heroine is clear-headed and brilliant, carrying her family's vendetta and her own fortune, always ready to run. The hero is stunningly handsome, immensely powerful, fiercely protective, and never gives up pursuing his wife.]

*

Reader's Guide

1. Happy ending, one-on-one, equally matched leads.

2. The heroine grows from a person consumed by hatred into someone who cares about the whole world.

3. The leads join forces and return to court. The main focus is political intrigue and battles of wits, with some household and palace power struggles. These play a minor role and serve the main plot.

4. The dynasty is loosely based on the Tang, with elements from other eras. The setting is entirely fictional, so don't overanalyze it.

5. All the main characters are smart and capable, and they all get to turn the tables. Trust me!

*

Content Notes

1. Multiple POVs and an ensemble cast.

2. The leads get together after Volume Five.

3. Courtesy names are omitted for ease of following the plot.

*

[Coming Soon]

Blurb for Reborn to Seize Heaven's Mandate:

In the twenty-seventh year of the Tianming era, the heavens changed.

Princess Xu Mu dragged the powerful chancellor Bai Cangzhou out of the palace and onto the city wall, forcing him to open his eyes and look at the blazing fires of Xudu and the Wuzu cavalry.

That day, they fell from the city wall together and died as the city fell and their kingdom was destroyed.

When Xu Mu woke again, she realized she had been reborn at the age of fourteen.

But as soon as she came to, someone tried to kill her.

A young man in plain robes saved her. Xu Mu looked at him and was shocked to recognize Bai Cangzhou as he had been in his youth.

That rescue revealed to Xu Mu the secret political machinations of the palace from her younger days. It also made her realize that in her previous life, she had been unable to hide her feelings for him.

But seventeen-year-old Bai Cangzhou already had a fiancée.

Xu Mu scoffed at herself for repeating the same mistake, only to run into the man who had left her a widow in all but name for five years in her previous life.

She fled in a panic. Staring at the dark river, she even began to think about dying.

Bai Cangzhou rushed over and grabbed her, scolding her: "What could possibly be so bad that Your Highness can't get past it in either life?"

Xu Mu froze for a moment, then shoved him to the ground. "So you're reborn too. Is it fun watching me act like an idiot?"

After a long talk, they agreed on one thing: they had to go back.

She would seize the throne and challenge Heaven's Mandate, extending Dongling's fortunes by another three hundred years!

But the court and inner palace were full of master schemers. How could she learn to plan and control the game?

During the three years she lay low, she watched them fight for power and learned their plots and schemes.

When she met Bai Cangzhou again three years later, she put what she had learned to use, set a trap, and spent a tender night with him in a warm bedchamber, then denied everything afterward.

Bai Cangzhou regretted it. Three years ago, he shouldn't have used her in his scheme and made her hate him for so long.

Theme: There are always people willing to protect their country in the name of the greater good.